The Ariel Helwani Show - Ariel x Ade, episode 4: Turki Alalshikh drops massive news regarding future Riyadh Season fights, including Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

On a wild episode of Ariel x Ade, Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo begin with a tribute to Israel Vazquez, who died after battling cancer (03:09).Then, the pair react to the stacked fight card being made official for Feb. 22 in Riyadh, headlined by the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol rematch and featuring Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker in the co-main event. Next, they discuss Boots Ennis' notable omission from the card (06:32).Turki Alsheikh drops in for a one-of-a-kind interview on a variety of topics (40:02) including how the Feb. 22 supercard came together, why Boots is not fighting, a potential Wladimir Klitschko comeback, Francis Ngannou potentially facing Deontay Wilder or... Jon Jones?!Then the two interview Liam Paro, who battles Richardson Hitchins in San Juan, Puerto Rico on Dec. 7 (01:07:10).Finally, the duo recap the Galal Yafai and Sunny Edwards fight, including the audio from Edwards' corner and his retirement announcement, before closing on the revelation that Wade Plemons for Misfits Boxing (01:15:18).

Good evening everyone and welcome to a brand new edition of Ariel and Ade, this show of course exclusive to DAZN Boxing televising the great sport of boxing. It is, of course, the zone over 150 fight nights all year long. And we've got a juicy one in Puerto Rico this weekend. We're going to be talking about that and a whole lot more on today's program. Episode four. Let's kick things off. Of course, I'm Ariel Hawani in beautiful New York City, the Big Apple, and I'm joined as always by my co-host across the pond in London town, the one and only Ade Oladipo. There he is. Hello, Ade. How are you?

Why'd you turn the light off on the green chair logo over there? What's going on? What's happening? Well, because, you know what's going on? My camera. My camera has stopped working for some reason. I'm going to take it back. I'm going to take it back to the shop tomorrow. on my camera my camera has stopped working for some reason i'm gonna take back i'm gonna take back to the shop tomorrow so i'm using my laptop screen and the blur just kept on bouncing back so i thought you know what let me be professional i don't want that to kind of affect anyone so here we are this is me being professional about this you're you're the absolute best you are a pro

and most people wouldn't break the fourth wall like that but you had to scramble you were you were sweating but you got it done you had another source you had another video source and you look fantastic no one would know if we didn't bring this up you know this right really so the quality isn't like that diminished no one would recognize i'm just trying to be nice you know okay okay so it's bad right now no no no it We've transferred that. We've gone back to the 90s. Listen, the world is just one flat earth. We're just one flat earth. So we're all connected. They're debatable. That was an inside joke. You probably don't know what I'm talking about. In any event, we have a lot to discuss. We have a lot to discuss on today's program. We have a lot to get into.

And of course, the massive news that broke on Monday evening. We debated it. We were bandying about it. We were trying to dissect what's real, what's not on last week's show. Now we know what is in fact real as it pertains to the February 22nd card in Riyadh, the Riyadh season card, Better Be Ev versus Bivel 2. We're going to talk about all of that. Plus, we're going to talk about Sonny Edwards retiring. Plus, we're going to be joined by the 140-pound king defending his throne. One second. One second. He's the king?

I think so. Listen, if you're a champion, you're a king. You're crowning him as the number one? No, but there's multiple kings. There's multiple kings. There can't be multiple kings. Why not? That doesn't sound right.

So what is he, the prince? You're going to tell Liam Power when he comes on that he's a prince, not king no no he's the king i'm just that's right asking you if you're confirming he's the king i'm just uh liam power who will be defending his ibf title on saturday back in puerto rico uh this time against richardson hitchens they had a very fun uh face to face we'll talk about all of that and more but ad but Ade would be remiss if we don't start today's show by mentioning that we are doing today's program with a very, very heavy heart. We found out on Wednesday morning, excuse me, Tuesday morning, today is Tuesday, that one of the great Mexican boxers of all time, the great Israel Vasquez,

has unfortunately passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was just 46 years young. It was WBC President Mauricio Suleiman who revealed the news Tuesday morning on social media. There is a GoFundMe page in his honor. And right now, over $44,000 have been donated to help support his family. This is what Mauricio wrote. Thank you, Israel, for so many great memories that you have given us through your actions inside the ring,

but most importantly, outside of it. You are now eternal. Rest in peace. Everything will be all right. 44-5, 32 knockouts. Of course, the quadrilogy with the Hall of Famer, Rafael Marquez, which a lot of people remember as some of the best fights of the past,

you know, two decades or so. Three-time champ, fight of the year honors in 2007 and 2008. The great Israel Vasquez, when you talk about the heart, the spirit of Mexican boxing and what it means to be a Mexican boxer, he, in my opinion,

displayed it all and represented it all uh very sad news to hear about on this tuesday morning yeah i mean look i want to echo some of the words you just said there you know when you think of mexican fighters and kind of how they're bred they are bred like uh israel vasquez um just came to fight right i mean fought one way and that one way was very successful. As you mentioned, a long-standing IBF super bantamweight champion. Those fights with Marquez are legendary, legendary. Four fights, he won one.

I think won two, in my eyes, one of a split decision, which I thought he won. The one in which he did win, as you said, was Ring Magazine Fight of the Year. I think it was Round 3, which was Round 3, which, sorry, was Round of the Year as well. Very, very sad. And look, we've got a few big boxing events coming up, and I hope that they honour him. Long-standing Ring Magazine champion. Obviously, His Excellency Turkey Al-Sheikh

now has control of the Ring Magazine. So hopefully they do honour him, whether it be this December 21st fight card with Feryan Usyk or the February 22nd fight card with firin usik or the february 22nd fight card that we're going to talk about a bit later so um yeah very very sad news i didn't know that he had a long battle with cancer um and hopefully that go fund me page that has been um arranged hopefully that can that can lead to a lot of donations from sort of fight fans boxers past and present because um you know he leaves a family, a family behind

and hopefully we can support them all. Uh, his longtime, uh, former trainer, Freddie Roach, also releasing a statement via boxing scene forever, a world champion and a legend in boxing. One of the best boxers I've had the privilege of working with a world champion, Israel, my friend, may you rest in peace. Now, My condolences to the Vasquez family and to all those who called Israel their friend. So once again, our condolences to his family, our hearts go out to his family, just 46 years young, the great Israel Vasquez passing away and we finding out this news. Very, very sad and shocking news on a Tuesday morning. Hard to transition from that, but we will do our best.

Positive news that we received, obviously paling in comparison, but news that we had been waiting on for quite some time. And that was, all right, who's going to be on this February 22nd card? And it was revealed, Ade, right there. No, give it to the people. It was revealed right over there. There it is, the last crescendo. And just as I predicted last week, Better Be a Bivel 2 would in fact be the main event.

There they are. What do you mean? What do you mean? What do you mean just as you predicted? One second. What do you mean? I was just reading the report. I said it.

I was just reading the report. You said, you said, is Dubois Park going to be main event? I said, absolutely not. No. Better Be a Bivel. And by the way, that's interesting. Can you put that fight poster back up again? Can do that can we put it back up again sure what's interesting about that fight post as you can see like the opener is yuli zhang um agate cabello

but there's another one going around another fight poster which has boazzi callum smith as the opening bout so obviously clearly conversations going on as to who walks first in that one but you look at that fight card and look i'm in some of these old timers, right? I, you know, in the seventies and sixties, there were better fighters. There wasn't, there wasn't, I've done my research. There wasn't, that's the best fight card we've ever seen. That is the best fight card there's ever been. Every single fight on that card is either 50, 50 or 60, 40 at worse. We have four world title fights and undisputed title fight it's it's crazy there's no fight card in the history of the sport which has a fight as good

as jean cavial two top six top seven heavyweights walking first it's insane it's incredible now some people will moan because some people are just born like this but some people have said okay look it's it's six 12-rounders. It's going to go on for too long. Don't watch it. Just tune in for the co-main and main. What's your problem? It's ridiculous.

How are you moaning about such a great fight card being put together? It's insane. And the one that surprised me the most was Boatsy Smith. Like, sometimes I have a sniff about these things. Sometimes, you know, I know people in the know. I've got my connections, Ariel Hawane. No one told me about this one.

So I'm guessing this one was just added, lastminutecom but yeah honestly great fight card and I mean good luck to anyone that's going to try and top that because I think it's going to be not impossible to top okay so just for the record here is the lineup as it stands right now obviously Artur Beterbiev versus Dmitry Bivol undisputed light heavyweight their first fight instant classic we get to see it again. In the old days, you're probably waiting two, three years and there's a bunch of negotiations and drama and will they and won't they and mandatories and splitting of the belts. We're getting it now in this new era. How lucky are we? Daniel Dubois defending his IBF heavyweight title against Joseph Parker. I mean, what a fight that is. I am delighted that it's not Dubois versus AJ.

I adore AJ just like you, but Parker deserves that crack, and I am happy that he is getting it. WBC world middleweight title fight, Carlos Adamas against Hamza Shiraz. What a fight that is. 21-0 against 24-1. As you mentioned, Ji-Le Zhang versus Agui Caballel, and some people are saying,

these are the two guys who don't want to fight your boy Martin Bacoli. Whatever it is, it's still a tremendous fight. It's a big test for Caballel, 25-0, going up against the big man, Ji-Le Zhang, who's looking to get back on track. Love it. Love this fight and love the fact

that you've got the heavyweight division in focus once again. Shakur Stevenson against Floyd Schofield, aka Kid Austin, 18-0 against 22-0. Here you have a youngster in Kid Austin. A lot of people saying, hey, a little too soon for him. A lot of people saying, hey, Shakur, this is who you signed to fight for matchroom when you chose to go the matchroom route. We're going to talk about that in a moment.

And, of course, Shakur wasn't linked to the card as it stood last week when Dan Redfield first reported all this. So that's an interesting one. Now here's where things get interesting. Those two fights, okay, Joshua Boazzi versus Callum Smith out of left field. But the real juicy one, if you will, is Virgil Ortiz not fighting Butsenis and instead fighting Israel Majumov. But can I say Israel Majumov with an asterisk? Because lest we forget, Israel Majumov, but can I say Israel Majumov with an asterisk? Because lest we forget, Israel Majumov is scheduled to compete in what, 18 days as of right now in Riyadh in a tough fight as well. This gives me, I'm a little anxious about this one. I don't love

when they put the cart before the horse. Yeah, as you should be, as we all are. As soon as I saw it, I was like, one second. Okay, so Madrimov is no longer co-main event. Me too. I said it to you, I think. I was like, you probably did. I'm probably stealing that. Apologies.

I'm stealing this from you. I was like, is he no longer co-main event against Boychuk on the Fury Usyk undercard? And then obviously I saw an Eddie Hearn tweet go out that said, no, he still is. So I was like, one second, that's impossible. And Boyachuk is no walkover. Boyachuk actually, let's not forget, gave Virgil Ortiz all sorts of problems. So he's a very, very good fighter.

This is a good fight. Unless he runs through Boyachuk in one round, which isn't going to happen, there's no way he can fight Virgil Ortiz. It's just, so that's the big, you're right, big asterisk. And I do feel like there are a few standby fighters. If I'm them, I stay ready.

One of them being Xander Zayas. So I think it's more likely we see Virgil Ortiz versus Xander Zayas than Virgil Ortiz versus the man on the poster, which is Israel Majumov. I would be shocked if Majumov can turn around that quick. I mean, we don't see it in combat sports that often. I mean, Chamayev did it, right? I mean, Hamzat did it. I remember many often. I mean, Chamayev did it, right? I mean, Hamzat did it. I remember many moons ago. Yeah, he's not fighting Boachuk.

He's not fighting that level of competition. You know, he's fighting- I just wanted to show you my MMA knowledge. I appreciate that. No, I appreciate that. He's fighting Reece McKee and John Phillips. It's totally different. Why do you think they did this?

I mean, there are other guys out there. You know, as you mentioned, Zayas' name was thrown around, Fandora's name been thrown around. Like, why do you, why do you think they are going back to the same guy? Makes no sense. Honestly, I would love to give you an answer and say, okay, they did it because of A, B, and C. Honestly, it makes no sense. There are so many 154 pound fighters out there. Sebastian Fandora is almost waiting in the wind. Like, can I fight someone? He was supposed to fight Errol Spence. Errol Spence looks like he's still on holiday.

He's the WBC champ. And remember, let's not forget as well, when I spoke to Virgil Ortiz, he listed out his top three and his top three was Sebastian Vandora, Jaron Ennis, then Terence Crawford. If no Ennis, if no Terence Crawford, why not Sebastian Vandora? I would love that. I mentioned, exactly. It's a world championship fight as well. I mentioned Xander Zayas, obviously signed to top rank. Everyone's high on him. Maybe a bit too early, but a bit like Floyd Schofield.

He's asking for the big fights. Give him the big fight. Remember, Virgil Tease is a small 154-pounder as well. So it doesn't have to be a killer at 154. Just put him in the ring with someone. So this Madrimov one makes no sense. I mean, if Madrimov can do it legendary incredible legendary incredible honestly incredible i don't think he will be able to but it doesn't really hurt the card but i hope what it doesn't do

is remove virgil from it if madrimov picks up an injury or a nick hopefully they've got someone in waiting you know it'll be fun um and and you're going to be there february 21st excuse me december 21st february 22nd uh that's going to be a storyline all week right okay a does he win the fight but b does he remain healthy if he wins here's the thing if he loses on december 21st do you keep him on the card does he have to win against bochuk to remain on this card in your opinion yeah he has to because it's a little weird if he's coming off a loss and then fighting Virgil Ortiz considering the names that are wanting to fight Virgil exactly again look if there were no names waiting in the wings then okay fair cool I get it but

there are so there's too many um and Virgil's a big name this isn't like you're just trying to get Virgil on the card and Oscar's been talking about Virgil being on this card Virgil's probably the banker to be on this card before anyone like before any other names on the card and oscar's been talking about virgil being on this card virgil is probably the banker to be on this card before anyone right before any other names on the card that we just read out virgil was the guarantee to be on this card so how they've not sorted out the guarantee to be on this card with a legit opponent kind of mind-boggling i think they were banking on boots i think they were banking on boots and there was no plan b because i think they assumed boots would definitely just take this opportunity obviously we're probably going to get to boots in a minute but obviously boots said no and now they've been scrambling a little bit but how they honestly when i saw it i thought it was a typo i thought they messed up the name and the image i

was like that can't be israel madrimov because he's got a big big fight so it is a bit of a weird one and it is the one asterisk of the whole fight card. But regardless, the fight card is still the greatest fight card we've ever seen. Still is, regardless of that. One million percent.

And it's very important to note that here we are kind of, this is how you know it's such a good fight card. We're talking about maybe like the fourth or fifth biggest fight on the card. And we're kind of debating

if it's the right call to have this guy. You know what I mean? If you're debating, oh, should it be Cal Smith, Joshua Boazzi, or Zhele Zhang and Kabayel walking first? That's when you know when it's those names being discussed, when it's these types of problems, if you will. That's how you know that it's a super deep card. Here's my hot take as far as the card is concerned.

The fighter with the most pressure on his shoulders, and, you know, these are all, what is it? Seven or so fights. So that's 14 fighters total. The fighter with the most pressure. And I feel quite confident in saying this. Can we say it in three, two, one? Okay. Three, two. Wait, is it one and then the name?

No, no. One, then the name. Okay. Three, two, one. Shakur Stevenson. Shakur Stevenson. Shakur Stevenson. Yeah. Look at us.

Look at us. Look at us. Okay. Why? He has to win. Yeah. There's no two ways about it. Shakur Stevenson, you know,

Mattrum signed him. He was the biggest free agent on the market. Mattrum took him on. Eddie's promoted him really well so far and then he's been injured um so this is almost his big coming out party with eddie hearn big coming out party with turkey floyd was way down the list of who shakur stevenson should be fighting there is obviously there's giovante then there's about five other names and then floyd schofield um shak's looked, I'm a big fan of Shakur Stevenson, by the way, so hopefully if he's watching this, don't take this the wrong way,

but Shakur's not looked his best in his last couple of fights. He hasn't. He's been critiqued. I remember he went on a kind of a tirade. He went mad at everyone who said he didn't look great. So Shakur, please don't come for me. This is just me being honest. He's not looked great. He's had his injury. I still think he's a pound for pounder he has to prove it here is this young upstart who's not on his level that's called him out and Shakur's almost laughed at the call out like are you serious dude like no one's gonna let you fight me and all of a sudden Oscar will say I know you're right I'm not letting him fight you then Floyd to his credit has pushed it through Shakur Stevenson should be levels above Floyd Schofield like Shakur Stevenson should show

why he is considered top 10 pound for pounder if he doesn't perform there will be more questions asked because again he's not looked good in the last couple of fights and it's Floyd Schofield again no discredit to Floyd Schofield but Floyd Schofield isn't Javonte Davis Floyd Schofield isn't Vasily Lomachenko Floyd Schofield isn't some of the big names at 140 who shakur was linked to floyd schofield is a young upstart who floyd who shouldn't really be in the ring with shakur so yeah all all pressure all pressure on shakur stevenson to get the job done not just important to win though right because to your point the last two fights really uh wins and he's still undefeated 22 and0, but he didn't wow the crowd and especially fighting in New Jersey, in Newark, at the Prudential Center,

that's his home turf. And when you're not endearing yourself to that crowd and there's shots of people leaving early or not sticking around for the post-fight interview, then you know there's a big problem. And the other one was, they put him on Super Bowl weekend on the Thursday before the

Super Bowl, I recall, in Las Vegas. That was prime time spot for top rank. Everyone's in town, all the celebrities, all the athletes, they were showcasing him and it just didn't look like he hit the home run that they were expecting. Now, of course, they have divorced, if you will. I don't think it's important enough to just win. He has to wow us, if you will. For Schofield, in my opinion, I feel like it's all gravy. Like people are saying, oh, you're dumb. Your dad's dumb. Why are you taking this fight? Why are you jumping up? It's too soon for you. You're undefeated. Take a little bit more time. To me, if you hang in there with a Shakur Stevenson, despite even Shakur being a little bit, you know, not in the good graces of people,

this is a win for Floyd Schofield and hopefully setting the tone for other young fighters to not clutch onto that zero and just take risks early on in their career, in my opinion. Yeah, it's a win-win for Floyd. I mean, Floyd's in a great position here. I mean, Shakur is not the type of person to beat you up. So you don't go into the fight with the risk of being hurt. Like if you were say fighting giovante davis right where you know well i can actually get really hurt here and get knocked out shakur is more the embarrassing and you know win on points maybe stop you late but he's not a bruiser so you go in there knowing you're not going to get seriously hurt there's a chance you win the lottery by landing something clean but ultimately you go in there you get your

biggest paycheck your notoriety grows a bit as well. And you show everyone that it's okay, as you say, to go in there and risk that O. So I think Floyd's in a great position. And what Floyd's done in the last couple of weeks by almost insisting and fighting Oscar saying, I want that fight. Give me that fight. Don't stand in the way. I love it. More fighters should be doing this. Because what you have in boxing is a lot of promoters are protecting their fighters fighters are the bosses here fighters are the ones that are in charge they should insist on taking these fights risky fights of what grows the sport of boxing so big credit to floyd schofield but again as you mentioned big big pressure on shakur stevenson um you're right win isn't enough. He does need to look incredible.

He needs to look impressive. And I actually think he will. I think he's going in there with someone that's talking a lot of smack. Yeah. And I think he's going to show him that there are levels to the sport of boxing. So I think Shakur is going to look impressive

just because it is the first one for him in Riyadh season, the first one for him with Mattrum. I think he's going to go out there and do what Floyd, sorry, do what Shakur does best. I love it. I like it more than the Cordina fight or some of the other fights being discussed because of the risk for Floyd, but also because of the risk for Shakur. You got to look

good against a younger sort of, you know, up and comer, if you will, rising star, if you will, you have to assert yourself, you have to wow us. And you also have to prove that you are who we have been saying you are who we have been saying you are for the past several years and those last two fights were an anomaly you were unhappy you were unmotivated whatever the case is remind everyone as the great roy jones once said y'all must have forgot that is the y'all must have forgot fight if you will and shakur stevenson is that guy can we go back to to the whole Virgil Ortiz, Boots Ennis situation? Cause we were talking about that last week and,

and we have to be careful about this one. Cause I see, I see respected people in the media using the word ducks. I see respected people saying like, you know, want to know part. Those aren't words that we are used to hearing attached to Boots Ennis. And,

uh, I'm not comfortable calling a great fighter like that a ducker or anything like that what is your take on what happened here between Boots Ennis and Virgil Ortiz that's the one that we wanted that's the one that we thought we were going to get and then it all kind of fizzled out the next day after that initial report I'm I'm confused I'm confused as to why the names don't say Virgil Teese versus Jaron Boots Ennis. It makes no sense to me. And the reason I say this, because after Boots' last fight, you know, he spoke about the weight. I think Chris Mannix asked him in the ring, you know, who do you want next?

And I think he said anyone at 154 pounds. So he's clearly spoken about going up and it's clearly been a thought in his mind. Obviously, Eddie's come out and said, look, no, maybe there is a want to unify in the division. And I get that. But what I don't get is you look around the landscape at 147 pounds. There are no sexy fights. And if I'm being honest, there are no sexy fights. I mean, Barrios isn't a sexy fight. It's not a big money fight.

Nor is Brian Norman. That's not, nor is Danny Onis. These are not sexy fights. Virgil Ortiz is a sexy fight. And the thing about Virgil Ortiz as well, and I mentioned this before, he's not a big 154 pounder. I was with Virgil two, three weeks ago for Latino night. I kind of sized him up myself. I was like, okay, you are quite big, but I've been around, I've been around really big 154 pounders. He ain't that big. So it's not a case of boots, not wanting the fight because Virgil's maybe too

big for him. They're both the same size. They've been around both.'s not a case of boots not wanting the fight because virgil's maybe too big for him they're both the same size they've been around both there's a lot of money on the line as well i've been told it would have been a career high payday for boots and this so i i don't quite get it i will never ever call any fighter a ducker let alone boots and this because i think he's a fantastic fighter but maybe the timing was off i I did say this to you, I think, Ariel, whether it be last week or just the million voice notes I send you, that ideally, Boots would have wanted another month. He went 12 rounds. Then you want to take as a fighter, you want to get your body right again, you want to take five or six weeks off, and then

you want to go into a eight to 10 week fight camp. Those maths don't add up for Boots. Boots probably thinking, I'll be ready to come back end of March. And I'm not going to be forced into taking fights when I'm not ready yet. And I feel like a lot of people are taking fights when they're maybe not quite ready because the money is so big. Boots is okay. The bailiffs aren't knocking at his door. He doesn't need the money as other fighters do.

And I think he's got a plan and he wants to stick to it and he's not deviating for anyone when it comes to that plan that's what i think okay so when do we see him again and against who in your opinion based on this this supposed plan i think and he kind of has to do it now i think he has to unify 147 i think you i think if he if he fights anyone at 154 pounds who isn't on the level of Virgil, people will say, oh, one second, you ducked Virgil. If he stays at 147 and does unify, people are like, oh, okay, that was the plan all along. That wasn't what he was talking about in the ring, right? Yeah, yeah.

A month ago. This is crazy. This is my point. A month ago, he was saying 144. But I almost feel like he has to kind of now backtrack a bit and unify at 147. So, Eddie, I know Eddie's trying to make the connor ben fight with barrios maybe you push connor ben to one side and say okay barrios ns you do this at 147 oh gee um maybe this is a saga to end all sagas it is it is and boots isn't helping himself i feel like we need we should have got boots on the show today explain yourself boots like what's going on man because he must see all the messages i mean he's seeing the tweets the instagram stories he must not like this his team and his dad must not like this eddie must

not like this but it's happening people are calling him a duck i don't agree with oscar's calling him a duck yeah he'll do anything i don't agree with it but it doesn't look great right now it's a mess of a situation because just about a year or so ago when when showtime and and um obviously their deal with pb PBC was still a thing. He was one of the faces of Showtime boxing, one of the faces of PBC boxing. And now people are insinuating that he wants nothing to do with Virgil Ortiz. And maybe there's more, and maybe you're right. Maybe he does have to explain himself, not just in a statement as he posted immediately afterwards, explain the thought process. Maybe there's a plan.

And by the way, love the idea of him versus Barrios. Love it much more, if I'm being honest. I like it more than Ben versus Barrios because, and I saw today Barrios saying he wants Ben or Pacquiao. I mean, talk about the two. Where's that come from? Yeah, I saw that in the media. My guy Darshan, Everything Boxing, tweeting it out.

Ben or Pacquiao? And I think that that's like, what? Like, first of all, for Barrios, I understand those are quote-unquote money fights. But to me, Barrios versus Boots makes sense. And then just give us Ben and Eubank. And I know we talk about this almost every single week now. Like, let's not deviate from that. It's fine that it's not on this 222 card but

that's that should be the plan right there so yes stick to 147 say i'm gonna hold off on 154 let me go after the wbc title and those other guys can figure it out and then maybe i'll fight at 154 later in in 2025 that's you know that's what I would say. You know, sorry. Yeah, no, correct. You know, very quickly on Barrios, I mean, Barrios has had two really, really hard fights back to back, like brutal fights where his face, I mean,

you were there for the Abel Ramos one. I mean, his face is all swollen. He's really busted up. I think for Barrios right now, he's weighing up risk reward and the risk in fighting Boots Ennis is just maybe too much. And the reward maybe isn't as big financially as it would be for a Conor Benn or Manny Pacquiao. And he's probably looking at the risk in fighting both of those guys, especially Pacquiao, and probably think there is zero risk there and the reward is so high.

So I can understand his mindset thinking, do I really want to do tough fights back to back to back and Boots will be a tough fight for him? Or do I want to make some back and boots will be a tough fight for him or do i want to make some money and have quote-unquote easier fights and i feel like pacquiao and conor ben though there certainly are easier fights than uh boots so i can understand barris is thinking especially when i think of his last two the last two fights have been physically very hard to watch and i'm a i'm a barrios fan as well so i can understand why he's wanting the easier way out in this one i love barbershop fights debates all that stuff when it comes to combat sports, when it comes to boxing. And this card has it all.

But ultimately, top line, what do I love most about this? I love most about this card, Matchroom, Queensberry, Boxer, Top Rank, P PBC Golden Boy All on one card All represent That's I mean Talk about Best card ever

Those are the Top six Biggest promotions In the world Right All under one umbrella On one night Also

Turkey I'll Shake Announcing And I want to get it right here I don't want to screw it up $19.99 In the uk is the pay-per-view price tag 25.99 in the u.s for a card like this that features one undisputed title fight three world title fights and three interim title fights i don't know how long all this lasts but i

mean this is this is this is the period that we'll talk about maybe in 10-15 years and be like remember that if it doesn't last like remember that time when we were getting all of this? Each one of these is a main eventer. And then to have all these promoters together, all of whom, you know, let's be honest, aren't the best of friends. Like there's, there's no real allies here, if you will. They kind of sometimes pretend like they are, but let's be honest, all of them working together to put on a card like this with not their own fights, you know, like we're talking like inter promotional fights, cross promotional fights. That to me is what makes this so exciting. Yeah. It's funny. I've kind of gone onto all the

promotional companies, Instagram and Twitter pages, and they've all kind of just tagged individual, their individual fighters. Yeah. It's a match from a match. And we've said, uh, good luck, Bivol, Kevin Smith, et cetera, et smith love that etc etc madrimov etc but look i'm all for it i'm all for it and one of the i think the key points you made there was the pay-per-view price uh in the uk it's kind of what we've been used to sort of 19 sort of 20 quid it's kind of what we're used to in america obviously this is where he's made a big impact i mean i, I mean, Javonte Davis fights Lamont Roach soon, and that's going to be $80, right? $80, maybe even $100. So the fact that you're saying, and I'm saying,

this is the greatest fight card of all time, and you're going to get it for $24? I mean, come on. Again, those that are trying to find fault with this card, you just can't because you're getting your money's worth and then some. No one likes pay-per-view but we understand what it's there for and if you can get a proper pay-per-view card

i think fans don't mind paying i think fans hate paying when it's just a main event and nothing can garbage this is a main event and five other or six other main events yep so i mean you can't complain some will but i don't think you can uh we are live right now it's 5 38 here in the united states of america east coast obviously five hours ahead 10 38 in the uk and i mentioned this because there's a developing story uh there was a press conference for the tank davisLamont Roach fight, which is scheduled for March 1st at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern. So four hours and 38 minutes ago. It has been pushed back several times.

And at 5.28, four hours and 28 minutes after it was scheduled to originally start, Gervonta Davis stepped onto the stage to kick off the press conference. You have hosted some of these in the past. I don't know if you've hosted one that started about four and a half hours after it was scheduled to start. According to the great Keith Idek of Uncrowned,

Tank Davis was in Miami at 1 p.m. He only left Miami on his private plane after the original start time and so that is a story that is developing I know a lot of fans were upset about the late start. That's a bit crazy I think the longest I've ever had to wait

I think we were together when AJ fought Dubois And that was like an hour and a half, right? Yeah, and I was like, this is a disgrace I said, what's AJ doing? This is a disgrace and that was an hour and a half and as you say it didn't really impact the press conference in any way I think everyone just carried on as normal uh to be nearly five hours late it almost says to me he doesn't really care about this fight he has no interest I don't think there is that much interest in it I don't want to poop on the fight that much I mean I like them on roach um i like tank i do i think he's

fantastic i think his character is fantastic i think everything about him is good i wish he would do a bit more for the sport in terms of appearances social media etc etc um but i just feel like he's not very interested in this matchup i don't think it's a matchup that gets him excited i don't think frank martin was a matchup that got him excited i don't know what problem is. I don't know if it's a case of his handlers don't just want to let him loose. Bear in mind, this guy is now 30 and let him fight someone of note, or is it Gervonta who's asking for these fights? I have no idea what's going on, but I just now want to see Gervonta in super fights at this stage of his career. I could say this and look like a fool in a few months time because Lamont Roach could be incredible.

But as it stands right now, I just don't see how this is a one step up from Frank Martin. I just don't. I'm tired of these type of fights for Gervonta. He's a pound for pounder and he's just not having pound for pound type fights. There was a reason this fight was pushed back. Remember, this fight was supposed to happen in December and it seemed to get no interest.

And now they've pushed it to March. It's just, I don't know. I don't know. What is it? A week after the greatest fight card of all time. Good luck. And that is a great point.

Also worth noting that, you know, these are two DC area guys, Baltimore, DC, and the fight is happening in Brooklyn. That seems a little strange to me. He's getting paid a lot of money

to fight these fights, so I don't begrudge him. But yes, as we talked about last week, we'd love to see him in some of those more high-profile fights. So that is a... Why can't we see him versus Shakur? What is going on? I mean... Imagine they slap Tank and

Shakur, like, third from the bottom on the Rietad Sees guy. That would never happen. But yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, everyone else is. I mean, you just mentioned PBC are working with Riyad Sees. And now like, so there's obviously, you know, Al Heyman does talk to Turkey or at least

there's conversations between those parties. Why can't we see the one that we've all been waiting for? I feel like we've already had all the super fights, right? We had Spence Crawford, Bivol Baturbia, Fury Usyk. This is the final one. It's a good point. This is the final superstar super fight that I want to see. This is the one that moves the needle when it comes to American boxing.

This is the one we've been asking for for a while. Not Devin versus Shakur, not Devin versus Tank, Shakur versus Tank. 135 pounders, no excuse about weight, both fresh, both unbeaten. And for some reason, it's not even discussed. Like it's not even gone to the table. I find it mind boggling. Like Shakur would take 20, Shakur would take 25%. Like Shakur would accept Gervonta having the lion's share and it still won't happen. I don't understand. Nonsense. Uh,

if I could just correct you on, on one point, all the super fights, except for, uh, Jake Paul versus KSI. Don't start this because I wasn't going to bring up your Carl Froch stuff.

Now you may see now all of a sudden. I brought, I brought it up in the beginning. The joke went right over your head. I brought it up at the beginning. I mentioned the flat earther, Carl Froch. I brought it up in the beginning. The joke went right over your head. I brought it up at the beginning. I mentioned the flat earther, Carl Froch. I brought it up. Okay.

Have you guys made up? Is it over? Cool? Oh, yeah. No more videos? Okay. No, actually, I think he responded. I think he responded.

He doesn't like you at all. I am getting... One second. We're live right now. I am getting, this is all happening in real time. He's trying to tell me

Carl Froch is watching and he's messaging. Don't you dare. No. Don't you dare. I don't believe it. Even more, okay.

Okay, one second, one second. Guys in the back, I'm getting multiple phone calls right now from Turkey Al Sheikh, and he says that he would like to call in and speak to us. So I'm going to give him the Zoom link to join us. I don't believe you. I don't believe you. All right.

Yeah. Whatever. Whatever. Guys, someone... I'm checking my phone. Someone link me... Okay. Here it is. Here it is. What do you mean you're checking your phone he's not he's not well he could he could call me

as well he's got my he's got nah and you think you're the only one that he can call uh he's probably very very upset about something you said and he wants to uh correct the record uh no no no i'm gonna send him this link right now and okay i think he's just happy that i said continually it's the best fight card of all time the greatest fight card of all time that's what i said it is it is well i'm curious about why are you laughing and i'm not laughing no i'm just joking because people are thinking that we're going to try to um you know uh backtrack on these statements greatest fight card of all time. And the beauty about it all is that you start to like debate the little, you know,

the little nuances. And again, like I said, that's what tells you that it is, uh, the deepest fight card of all time. There, there are some old heads and,

and, and much love to them, uh, who have, uh, said, Oh, there was the Don King cards from back in the day and all very valid,

but certainly of this era of boxing the last i don't know 30 or so years every single one of these would be a main event if you ask me every single one including boazzi versus smith right yeah because i mean i think of some of the biggest fights that we've seen in recent times kenano golovkin is one that like springs to mind i can't remember and this is maybe i'm getting old maybe. I can't remember, and this is, maybe I'm getting old, maybe. I just can't remember what the undercard was. Maybe because the main event was so big, you know? I just can't remember the undercard.

So there has been some incredibly good fight cards of recent, but they've been so main event heavy that I can't remember the co-main and what walked first. I think I'm always going to remember that Zhang Cabellel or Smith Boatsy walked first. They've never walked first in their life. These are main eventers. This is what they do. They main event. So, yeah, it is the greatest fight card.

Fingers crossed no one gets injured. We don't want to see that. But I am intrigued. The only, as you say, the big asterisk is Israel Majumov. That's the one that surprises me the most. And hopefully there is a plan B. Because I feel like Majumov versus boychuk's going to be an eastern european war but between those two they're going to go for it so um i hope

there is a plan b for if majumov gets injured um and hopefully that plan b is the young uh puerto rican zander zayas i think he's a bit of a superstar incoming. And it's funny because Virgil Ortiz's dad has actually tweeted to Xander saying, look, your name was put forward. I think he's a certain online, your name was put forward. Your name, unfortunately, wasn't chosen. That's not our fault.

We've gone for a bigger name. So it was like, he kind of sent him a little dig there, I thought. By the way, what's your level of confidence? Your boy, Dimitri Bivol, you got the shirt right over there. Can he right the wrong in your opinion? Yes. You feel that way? I thought. By the way, what's your level of confidence? Your boy, Dimitri Bivol, you got the shirt right over there. Can he right the wrong in your opinion?

Yes. You feel that way? But it's going to be tough. Hey, this is more heart than head. It's going to be tough, isn't it? I mean,

I mean, Artur Baturbiev is just a beast, isn't he? He's just, he's just not. And obviously that was a man coming off surgery. Now that leg gets a bit more rest.

But Bivol now, I think, will go in there. He would have gone in with a bit of apprehension just because of the knockout nature of Piterbiev, right? Everyone he fights, he knocks out. Bivol didn't get knocked out. Bivol got hurt a couple of times, but I think he's going to go in there a bit more confident. And he hurt Piterbiev a bit as well,

so I think he's going to believe in his power a bit more. I think he'll stand in the middle and trade as opposed to maybe fighting on the back foot which maybe the judges didn't like hence why he lost a couple of rounds but I'm just so happy they get to do it again and I'm so happy that they do it for Undisputed as well because there was a lot of talk about all the sanctioning bodies coming for their belts but I think they all realize that this is a fight that you want to want to be a part of so So I'm happy it happens. And then they can go their separate ways. And then we can see what happens with Benavidez and Morale and Boazzi and Callum Smith for vacant titles.

But let's just see these guys that have circled each other for about four or five years finally get it on again. Can't wait for it. Yeah, I was listening to an interview recently. I think it was earlier today, Daniel Dubois on TalkSport, where you work as well, saying that, hey, I would have loved the AJ fight, but I'm just happy that I have an opponent and that, in fact,

will be Joseph Parker on February the 22nd. Now, without further ado, he was watching us live. We are live on the DAZN Boxing YouTube channel and the DAZN app. We go all the way now, Ade, to beautiful Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Mr. Turki Al-Sheikh is joining us live.

It is very late over there. Sir, thank you so much for the time. Is that you? Are you there? Yeah, how are you? I'm doing great. Thank you for popping in. This is lovely. This is incredible. It is a new show now in DAZN, huh? It is a new show Now in the zone It is a new show

Are you enjoying it? Yeah You always The production And the content You deliver to the fans Is great Well thank you

I'm wondering I know it is very late over there Were you Were you watching And did something Pique your interest Was there something That you wanted to say

In response to what We were talking about We were talking, of course, about the big announcement that you made yesterday evening. First of all, I was busy in the real season the last three days. I didn't sleep less than four hours

on the full of the three days. Wow. There is a lot of question and debate when you talk with my friend. There is a lot of questions And debate When you talk With my friend And I am ready to answer Anything you want to

To ask To make it clear about this card And about the future of Real season cards Okay so I'll go first and then Ade you follow up The big one that we were talking about Was Virgil Ortiz-Butsenis. It does not happen, and we get the announcement that it's Virgil versus Israel Madramov.

Now, there's kind of two parts to that. Number one, why isn't it Butsenis? And do you have any concern that, you know, Israel is scheduled to fight? You put, first of all, you put three options before this, right? Tell me the three options. When you say options as far as who Virgil may fight? Yeah. Yeah.

Well, the one that I think we both wanted to see was Virgil versus Boots Ennis. And then we were talking about... First of all, he gave us his word and in the end, he changed his mind What I can do for him Oh no, we're not We're not blaming you What did he say to you? Like, how did he change his mind? He said he was in and he's out?

He's not connecting with me directly But suddenly he changed his mind And he stopped answering And he doesn't want to go to 153. And this is his choice. Okay. And so why did you go with Israel, especially considering Israel has a fight on December 21st? Before quarter hours, you give three options.

You and your guest. Tell me the three options, please. Go at it. Okay. So the options were sebastian fundora the wbc champion the number one option yeah they said to us uh the people on ppc they said to us they finishing fight for him against spence what can i do okay and then the number one option when I spoke to Virgil was Terence Crawford. That's the dream option, Terence Crawford.

Was there any conversation with Terence? I try and I push to do this fight, but Crawford now is not ready and not training. And he has a small little health issue, little injuries, but he prefers to fight with us after May. May and after May. Okay. This is the second option out of the options. Yeah, I think this option is good, is Romadjoumov.

I think my only concern is that he fights December 21st. What I said, I cannot put the poster without, with question mark, you understand me? Okay?

As a space. The problem, Ortiz, i give him my word uh after his fight in the last vegas and he's waiting long you understand me and you know the time is important for the fighters uh he must he try we try to put him in the car in December, and he wasn't ready. And after that, he needs to fight in February. I have a contract with him, and I guarantee for him one fight, okay? This is the options. He cannot wait for that.

I think Israel is perfect of course this does not mean we don't respect another fighter he will be against in December you know

he putting Ortiz in the floor two times, right? Yeah. Okay. But I call, and I have a long call with Israel around half hours, and I support him because he's here in his country. I like this guy.

He's clean. he's white heart he give me great performance against Crawford in LA and I have inspired me little guilt to push him to take this fight against legend like

Crawford and lose for the first time in his life in the beginning of his career you understand he just have 10 fights then I want to support him he have the great fight in in in in December and I call him I said to him usually people like Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali and their beak usually they fight 4 or 5 times in the year are you ready

to get fight against Ortiz and have chance again to have world title you understand me and he said to me if I am not injured or nothing happen in the fight I am ready I said to him

okay I want you winning or losing I want you to fight with Ortiz it will be great fight and this is make me in position delivered for Ortiz. It will be a great fight. And this is make me in position delivered for Ortiz fight. As

I said to him, you have fight with me until we have another bigger fight like Crawford or something like this. Is there a backup though for Virgil Ortiz if, for whatever reason, Israel can't compete two months later?

Yeah, of course. And who is that? You talk with Real Season. Who? We have a thousand backups. Don't worry. Okay. I want to tell you something.

I just take two fights from this card because the people push me. Eddie and Frank push me and call me 100 times. They said, what is this card? Do you want it 16 hours? I said, okay, cancel the last two fights. We delay it to March. It will be surprise also. Oh, so you're saying there's another one in March?

March is Ramadan in my country. That means your conclusion, you will know it will not be in my country, but we will have a big card. We will try to have a big card outside my country in March.

And can I ask, where would that be? I can answer you. If I finish it, I will tell you first. Okay. Can I ask who would be involved? You know the situation about Riyadh season. I don't want 100 phones on my phone

now bothering me. Before my sleeping. I understand. So let's talk about another fight that is in fact going to happen, and that's Joseph Parker versus Daniel Dubois. I love this fight, and I love the fact that Joseph is getting the opportunity. There is another point also, before you ask me about.

I am ready to answer everything, but also we are working, maybe in May, maybe in May, we will try. Maybe in May we will find a good day to have one of two options in the table. The first one is five versus five again between Eddie and Frank inside and, uh, uh, top rank and, uh, golden boy in another side.

Oh my. Oh, wow. America against England. Oh, these are two ideas we are discussing now to have something maybe in May like this. Okay.

Uh, so we'll see how that, um, shakes out. Let me ask you about, so we'll see how that shakes out. Let me ask you about Daniel Dubois versus Joseph Parker, if I may. There was some talk of maybe doing Dubois against AJ2 on this card. Ultimately, why did it end up... AJ is injured.

He's injured. Yeah, and he cannot fight before maybe May. And I want Dubois to take a chance. And let's see. Also this is. I will speak honestly. Because I don't. Fear from nothing.

The result of Titan. And Ozik. There is a lot of people. Waiting for. One of them is Dubois. There is also Joshua. And at the same time, there is a third person. I am dreaming to see this fight, to give chance to, if he accepts Klitschko to get back and have a chance to be the oldest heavyweight champion ever.

Vladimir Klitschko. Vladimir, yes. Yes. Vladimir, to break the record Of George Foreman Give him the chance He's 48 Turning 49

In late May May 25th This is perfect Perfect And he would fight who? Who would you want him to fight? Dubois Of course

Of course If you're smart But of course He will not fight Ozzy if he wins. Because, you know, two heroes from Ukraine will not fight each other. Okay, so he wants the Fury rematch. That's supposed to happen. That never happened.

This is the dream. Fury has a lot of people want him now in the line this is the dream Klesko all the people want to see it from 2015 again and there is also Joshua which will be the

hugest Britain fight ever and of course Dubois deserve this chance let's see. The heavyweight division is incredible right now.

One name that hasn't been mentioned in the last maybe few weeks that I thought might have a chance of fighting Dubois or Zhang or Kabyar was Martin Bercouli. Is there a reason that Martin isn't fighting Zhang or Cabell and those two are fighting each other? I will tell you why. Maybe we'll see them in May. March, March. In the cards outside the kingdom.

Oh, my. I don't want the IBF to bother me. You know. I don't want the IBF to bother me you know they will give me mandatory after two seconds after this fight against the war

or something else you understand me could this could this and you don't have to answer at all but could this be the one I've been talking about for a long time

a Riyadh season card in Africa we will we will do in maybe 25 or 26 big card in Africa we We will guarantee that. This is in our plan. But no, it will not be in Africa.

It will be too soon in March to have it in Africa. I would love to see Francis Nganou, your old friend, on a card in Africa in some way, shape, or form. We were talking earlier about Shakur Stevenson. Me also. Me also. Why, maybe, why will not see Nganou against Wilder again?

You're interested in that? I need to sit with Wilder two minutes to see his condition. I can catch it from two minutes. Sure. If he's ready or not. I don't want to waste time and money anymore.

I need to check first. If he still gets it. Have you talked to Francis about this Francis will come to me in December to watch the rematch and we have a lot of business together and yes I have in the table two options for Francis one in an MMA and one in boxing, I want to discuss with? Can I ask you what those options are? The MMA, you know, all the times,

my answer is all the time we want to do The biggest things Would that be Jon Jones? Has to be Jon Jones Beep Wow I mean let me tell you something Let me tell you something

You've pulled off a lot of things my friend You've pulled off a lot of great things If you could somehow figure that one out If you can get that one done that might be your greatest your greatest move of all if you can figure out francis versus john jones pfl versus ufc i will eternally tip my cap to you that that would be the one if we we we we we need we need to send dawai to the moon can I come with him? maybe we could sit together

you said you were going to have us sit together maybe we could do it together and we make peace on earth I like you brother but I think he prefers to go alone fair enough I was going to ask you about Shakur Stevenson he prefer to go alone. Fair enough. I was going to ask you about Shakur Stevenson.

There's a press conference right now that is happening. Shakur, the situation of Shakur is Zubaydah is injured and my plan for Shakur, I want to tell

you what I want to see in my life. Please. I hope I have the time to see it, but Shakur, my plan is this fight, then Zabida and then let's see

if Tank wants to be in our show okay so what I was going to say to you was he's doing a press conference right now Tank Davis as we are speaking and he just said next year he is retiring and so I think it would be a huge shame if he retires before fighting Shakur do you think that you can make this happen before he walks away from the sport

he asked me officially in the in the social media for two Ferrari I think the two Ferrari is much cheaper than what I pay for some fighters if he if this this is the cost of the fight, why not? Okay. Final one. And look, Ariel's probably got more questions to ask, but my final one has been Canelo Crawford.

It's been the biggest talk of the back end of 2024. Everyone's been talking about it. I don't know who Canelo will fight in May. Crawford wants to fight Canelo. I don't know if Canelo wants to fight Crawford has there been any conversations with Canelo or Canelo's team about this Crawford fight I don't know anyone

now from the Canelo teams and I don't have any connection but if he's hearing me we are ready to discuss but I want to discuss me and him directly without anyone in the middle okay that is very promising the other one I saw you recently with Naya in a way turkeys is there any plans of having him fight on one of your cards? Obviously, he's fighting at the end of this month, but there's been some talk of a potential super fight.

I give him options and I give him an offer and big things with him, not only in fight. I am talking with him and ambassador and movies and a lot of things between me and him and Riyadh season card. We hope that before two days I ask what is the situation my team they say we are close

to finish everything and I think we will see hopefully anyone in my country in to finish everything. And I think we will see hopefully Anoa and my country in 25 in big card. Maybe he gets a Bam Rodriguez. Let's see. But

if they catch the weight, why not? But I am trying to push now Crawford to have fight with him in this year, 25.

And I have a big meeting, inshallah, in the 19th of December with Garcia to discuss about the future. Okay. Loads going on. Loads. We'll end with this if we can, because I know it's late over there.

And I really appreciate you popping in. You can do so whenever you'd like. You have an open invitation. Carte blanche, as they say. I'm just curious. Thank you what what is it like you know we see a lot of back and forth with eddie and oscar and frank and ben shalom and and and and oscar and top rank and all this stuff having all these egos and personalities all working together you have somehow figured it out can you give us insight behind the scenes?

What is it like getting everyone on the same page? See, in the end, they are all reasonable people. And in the end, with discussing and with good offers and opportunity, they can work together. And they are professional. All the time I ask them to be professional. They don't need to be like each other. This is all the time I say to them, but at least we have respect,

especially in front of me, and doing business. This is business, right? And this is work. If everything goes right, and it's fit for everyone, why not? Okay?

In the end, if I can push to success sometimes to make everything right between them why not but sometimes i have a lot of headache and i get out from some this conversation between them them but actually the relationship now between Queensberry and Matchroom and Goldstar is perfect the relationship with Top Rank and

Queensberry and Golden Boy is perfect and the situation between Ben Shalom and everyone is normal and there is some fight we can do together

now we are discussing to do Bikoli and another fighter from Nigeria I forgot his name. He's from top rank. Yeah. He's from top rank.

And we are close to have a contract. I try sometimes to make everyone happy as I can and be fair between uh and jia and the kingdom with queensberry we start to work with uh frank warren from 96 in the time of naseem if you remember prince naseem and uh this is a long relationship and we are loyalty with the people who work with us for a long time and the situation with Eddie Eddie we work with him

also with long time now maybe I have a relationship with him from, I was minister of support in my country in 2017. And he have a lot of business with us, not only in boxing, in sn Gold Star and Mr. Spencer to open new markets in different countries also and support them. And next week, I was invited to Germany. I will go to Germany, the WBC ceremony, and there I will announce maybe a

big surprise for the next generation. Okay. Wonderful. A lot to look forward to, a lot

to be excited about. Thank you so much for this. A real nice surprise, and again, I know it's very late over there So really really appreciate it

And good luck Please we need We need in your program Also Not only focus in MMA We need big program like you To focus in boxing And to cover everything

Well you have come to the right place This is it, this is the new home Of Boxing Talk, All Things Boxing So like I said, you're welcome anytime Welcome anytime to come on the program And thank you so much for joining us In this nice little surprise Thank you

Good night, Turkey Al Sheikh Joining us from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia How about that Ade? When you're part of the Helwani Orbit People just drop in, they want to tell you things Turkey Al Sheikh Joining us from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia How about that Ade? See this is what it's like When you're part of The Helwani Orbit People just drop in They want to tell you things Ade

They want to share Their insights with you There were so many Golden nuggets Oh my gosh I'm getting messages From people I kept looking at my phone

Because my phone's going crazy People are messaging me Like managers Boxing managers Ask about this Please ask him About this Yeah literally

Please Ade Can you ask him About this fight I'm like, chill. Everyone's going crazy. But honestly, no, no, that was a fantastic surprise. And look, I think the biggest takeaway from it is that he's just the boxing fan that wants to see what we want to see. He just wants to see the best fights.

He wants to see promoters come together. He wants to see broadcasters come together. And so far, so good. I mean, Riyadh's season in terms of boxing, I mean, it only started with Fury and Garnu and you think of what's happened since then, the events that we've seen and the events we've got coming and the events that he teased us

about another event outside of Saudi Arabia, another one potentially in March. I mean, honestly, it's insane what's going on. And we can talk more about all of that, but I don't want to keep our actual scheduled guests waiting because we have been keeping him waiting for quite some time and he deserves our full attention. He is returning to the ring on Saturday, live on DAZN back in Puerto Rico. This will be his first offense of the IBF super lightweight title. This is a fight that has had some bad blood, some heat attached to it. We saw them in Philly in the ring. We saw a tremendous face-to-face that Matchroom posted recently. We are talking to the pride of Australia right now.

Let's go to Puerto Rico and say hello to Liam Paro, who's been very patient with us and so sorry. Turkey just kind of came into the show and we had to pick up the phone call. So apologies for that, Liam. But let us get right into it because I know we are short on some time. How would you describe the state of your relationship, if you will, with Richardson Hitchens? Because I saw the face-to-face and I'm curious what you guys said to each other,

but then I saw the face-off and it seemed quite testy, especially on his end. How would you describe it? Look, we know he loves to talk and that's what we took away from it and that's what he was doing on the ring in philly too but um look we're days away from um from the talk and stop and and anyone that knows me just knows i love to get get in there and let my actions do the speaking so i'm um i'm excited back in the beautiful country of puerto rico to to defend the

belt and yeah man i just I just can't wait. I can't wait to keep proving critics wrong and cement my name at the top of this division. Does it feel different now, Liam? I remember the last time, obviously, you went to Puerto Rico, it was Matias, and Matias was a big favorite, right? I mean, you're going in there and you're going against a hometown guy and you silence the crowd immediately. This time around, when I speak to a lot of of people you're the favorite going into this one does that feel different or is it still for you a mindset of

I'm still the underdog still the underdog 100% still got the contender mentality there's more and more to achieve in boxing every day so you know until the day I retire I've still got a contender mentality like I said I just want to keep achieving more and reaching the pinnacle of boxing. And, you know, I've got another hard test in front of me Saturday night. So, look, it doesn't change. It doesn't change. It's just, if anything, since winning the belt, it's just made me hungrier, made me more motivated.

You know, I love this feeling and it takes a long time, a lifetime of work to get here. So I ain't letting this up easy. Love the fact that you've been asking for all the big fights, obviously, Richardson, the mandatory, you're taking the fight, much respect to you. That being said, did you have to dig deep for motivation? You were talking about some big names and no knock on him at all, but he's still on the come up, if you will. Was there a part of you that kind of felt like, all right, maybe this isn't what I wanted right now, but let me do the business and hopefully those fights come in 2025.

Look, we just wanted to keep busy. Two years ago, I had a bad year with injuries and I just want to keep busy and I'm the happiest when I'm fighting and I want to be a busy champion. So we knew we're going to have to face him sooner or later. And like you said, none of the big names really bit. So I wanted to close the year with another good win and a good performance so we called upon our mandatory and we thought take it rather sooner than later so we're here now, we're motivated

and like I said, I love fighting so man, I'll fight anyone and it just gets me just as excited I love stepping in the ring and testing myself so that's um that's what it's all about i think being an active champion is the key i know you're one of those fighters that have gloves will go anywhere and fight but let's be honest liam is it not a bit strange that you're going to puerto rico i mean as soon as i saw it i was like one second is this fight not

going to happen in america in australia i mean puerto rico again would you like okay have they made a mistake on the contract? Look, to be honest, we didn't think we'd be back there that quick. You know, we love the country. It was a beautiful experience last time. We won some good fans. And, yeah, we did not expect to be back this soon, especially. You know, like I said, it's a beautiful country, beautiful people, and I hope to win more fans.

But, of course, we want to bring the big fights back to Australia and you know Eddie said to me personally like you know get get the job done here and he's going to bring some mega fights back to Australia so that's um going back to the motivational thing that's that's enough motivation there you know there's those massive homecoming fights to come God willing I'll get the job done on um on December 7th. So that's all I needed. You know, the Australian fans, the Daha boxing fans, you know, and not only myself deserve a homecoming fight, I believe. I think they deserve it too.

So, yeah, I'm keen to get the job done and, yeah, headline some massive shows in Australia. Obviously, you and your team will never look past Richardson Hitchens. But, again, there are some big names. I speak to Jack Cattrell quite a lot. He's desperate to see you in Manchester. We had George Kambosos on last week and he said, look, you guys are friends,

but money talks. That's a big fight back home as well. Providing you get past Richardson Hitchens, 2025 looks crazy for you. That's right. You know, but my target is strictly locked on Hitchens' head, you know, because without getting him out of the way, those fights are nothing. You know, they're not even there at the moment. That's how. You know, but my target is strictly locked on Hitchens' head, you know, because without getting him out of the way, those fights are nothing.

You know, they're not even there at the moment. That's how I think. But when you said there's the 140-pound division stack, me and Kata have had talks of title intentions before COVID back in 2020. So there's – I know we're going to square up in the near future. Like you said, Mattroom and Cambosis just signed. So that's another massive thing and yeah we are mates but business is business and i've always said the 140 pound division is my division

so i'm happy to keep proving that and look like you said man 2025 is bright but all focus on saturday night um so many big fights as you said i think you versus george cambosis in australia would be tremendous the australian fight scene with yourself and Jai Pataya and, of course, Kambosis himself, Sky Nicholson coming up, doing incredible things both in the world of boxing and in MMA. It's on fire. And with that in mind, all those things are great. But the match I really want to see, Liam, if I'm being honest, it's you versus Alexander Volkanovskianovski rugby league two former rugby leaguers not in fighting ade in rugby league you don't know this about these two gentlemen what are they gonna do what play tag with each other what are they gonna do head to head what do you say that sells out any stadium in in in australia what you say one-on-one backyard footy definitely when we're both retired both can eat and yeah i'll be honest we'll uh we'll get close to his weight and yeah for sure i'll challenge him to backyard game of footy one-on-one who had the better rugby league career you or alex i think he had a bit of a

longer career than me and i pulled up when i was about 16 but i was pretty good at rugby league but cutting weight and then boys getting bigger did not fit hand in hand so i have to so yeah it was boxing i'm glad i did now but yeah always always support it always watch it back home it's just pretty much the main sport there so yeah it's it's good can you lay out for us the dream 2025 how many times are you fighting and against who can we lay it out right here and now if all goes well on saturday in puerto rico yep um look no less than two three depending the outcomes you know um look i want to be the true king of this division i want to unify i want all the belts i also want that big domestic fight cambosis is there you know garcia comes back from from um his band, and he called me out after Montana Love Fight,

so that's another fight I'd love to run. Look, so let's go Cambosis and Garcia, the top two guys I want next year. Love it. Love it. Absolutely love it. That journey continues on Saturday right here live on DAZN from the beautiful Coliseo de Roberto Clemente

in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Liam, thank you so much for the time. Again, apologies from Ade and I for being a bit tardy. Hopefully you understand, and we shall make it up for you as you continue to climb up the ranks. So thank you so much for the time on this Tuesday evening. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me on the show. It was a true pleasure.

Thank you. Big fan. Our pleasure. Cheers, Liam. There he is, Liam Paro. So what do you think? What do you think, Ade? Liam Paro, Richardson Hitchens, a true pleasure. Thank you. Big fan. Our pleasure. There he is. Liam Paro. So what do you think? What do you think? Liam Paro,

Richardson Hitchens, uh, a tasty fight again, maybe not the fight that he was looking for. There was some talk of Devin Haney. He has some, you know, some big names on his list,

but Richardson, you know, no joke. No Hitchens. I mean, Hitchens can fight, but I mean, if you're,

if you're Liam Paro and you, you beat the boogeyman, Sabril Matias in his backyard. I mean, you, you have no fear of fighting Hitchens in fight. He can fight. But I mean, if you're, if you're Liam Parra and you, you beat the boogeyman, Sabril Matias in his backyard. I mean, you, you have no fear of fighting Hitchens in Puerto Rico. You have no fear whatsoever. So as long as he's minds on it,

I think you'll get the job done. I mean, Parra can fight. I think cause he's softly spoken. Um, I think people maybe take that as a weakness. This guy gets in the ring and he just flips the switch just like that. So I expect him to have big fights in 2025 and i expect him to win this one on points i think

it'll be close but i think he'll get past hitchens on points okay so that's this weekend in puerto rico before we go uh we would be remiss if we don't talk about this past weekend in birmingham initially we had scheduled a lot more time to talk about the lalia fives win over sunny edwards but of course we just got we just got interrupted you know yes and i don't think anyone really minds because uh i mean just like uh like a truck full of news was just dumped on our laps i mean we could do eight shows just based off of all the nuggets that we got off of that one i mean forget about francis and gun versus john jones just came out of nowhere as well. Holy smokes. Like that one.

I know we're a boxing show, but please appreciate just how big that could be. In any event, you were there in Birmingham, would have seen it was. There's so many different angles here. A couple of days later, do you feel like the shock retirement of Sonny Edwards, coupled by the viral moment in between rounds two and three, coupled by just the performance or lack thereof from Sonny, who I have the utmost respect for, has taken away from what Galal Yafai did in that fight. It can't not take away from it unfortunately and that's look I thought Galal put in a magnificent performance but I think anytime you fight someone that's already on the way out there will be a bit of a shine that's taken away from that um it just it's unfortunately just the way it is uh for what

it's worth I'm still surprised that Sonny has retired um like I'm always saying not get in get rich and get out uh the sport's dangerous and if you you're not 100% in, then you need to get out. And I think we saw at the end of round two that Sonny's not 100% in. This guy's got a lot of things outside of boxing. He manages quite a few fighters. He trains. He's always in the corner. He's fantastic when it comes to being on the broadcast as well.

So he'll be in the sport and he's already doing those things. And I feel like if you're already doing those things, can you fully commit to being a full-time boxer fighting people that are just fully committed when it comes to fighting so um I am a bit surprised just because his last performance prior to Galal was a good performance against Kuriel former world champion on the BAM undercard so I am shocked but yes you are correct I feel like I've gone round in circles here. My apologies. You are correct.

It's taken away from Galal. It should all be about Galal right now, but I feel like it's all about Sonny. And that's a shame. You have your ear to the street over there, especially in the UK. You were there, you were presenting. You did a fine job with everyone out there.

The great Tony Bellew and the whole team out there. The great Tony Bellew. Stop whole team out there. The great Tony Bellew. Stop. Stop it. I love Tony. Remember that time we went out for dinner in Ireland? It was a grand old time. Stop trying to drive a wedge between us. I'm a big fan and a great supporter of his as well. The point I'm trying to make before you laughed at me,

I'm wondering if you heard anything, if there were any whispers, any talk that this could be the end for Sonny Edwards. He said afterwards, I told my team this, you see his body language in between rounds two and three. If you're perhaps one of the few souls on the planet who didn't hear about it, he essentially told his corner, I don't want to be here anymore. It was shocking stuff, but it was pure, it was, it was, it was pure honesty out of Sonny. And that's what we've gotten throughout his career. He's a straight shooter. And so I appreciated it. It was shocking stuff, but it was pure honesty out of Sonny, and that's what we've gotten throughout his career. He's a straight shooter, and so I appreciated it. It was hard to watch, especially when you're in there watching a guy get pummeled by Galalia Fai.

He wasn't getting knocked down, but if you don't want to be there, it's a dangerous place to be. Were there any whispers that he was feeling this way, that this was going to be his last fight, as he put it, win, lose, or draw? No, nothing. I mean, you mentioned Alex Haynes, who, again, did a fantastic job in the lead-up, right? The lead-up, all the promotional stuff he put out. And I was speaking to Alex, and obviously Alex was close with him, obviously putting all these pieces out, and Alex didn't mention anything to me.

I went backstage about 20 minutes before they both walked, just to kind of have a look at both of them get out very intense sunny the music was blaring he was smiling he was laughing kind of gave me a big embrace he looked in fantastic spirits it didn't look like a guy that was coming to the end like you know this is my last rodeo he looked like a guy that was going to go out there and do what sunny does which is dance and move and enjoy. So I was as shocked as everyone, how the fight played out in the first round, like completely, like it completely bamboozled my brain. And I just wonder if, and I said this on my own YouTube channel, I just wonder if maybe the way in which he lost almost pushed that retirement talk to the fore. But I do wonder if Sonny was as wonderful as we've seen him in the past. Maybe that doesn't come out of his mouth.

Do you know what I mean? So I just wonder if maybe the way in which Galal just kind of put it on him, maybe it made it made him think that maybe I don't have it anymore. I do wonder if Sonny won that fight. Would Sonny have retired? I'm not quite sure. I'm not sure. Cause I think there's something left.

I still think there's something left with Son. You think you see him back? I think absolutely, 100%. Okay. He's only 28. Yeah. Give him a year off. Let him do whatever he wants to do, and then he'll get that itch.

And he hasn't taken a lot of damage. So I think he'll come back, and we'll see that fight again, I think. Man. I would love to see that, but let's be honest. He's got a bright future. He's dipping his toe in the managerial side of things, commentary he's great at. Eddie Hearn was singing his praises afterwards.

He's a boxing lifer, as is his family, so he's not going anywhere. Hard to see, but again, full credit, full respect to Galalia Fai. What a performance, what a win, and now he is well on his way, and perhaps they have a new star on their hands. Matchroom does. Before we go, have to give a big shout out to our guy wade plem wade plemons uh announcing that he is going to step in the ring come january showing up on that qatar supercard on thursday i mean you got we were talking about this last week you guys kind of put all of this

on the map and then there he is did he give you the heads up did he did he call you up did he let you know tune in dude so upset i'm so upset like wow like me and wade came through this scene together like you know and i i back him all the time in fact i'm going online and i'm i'm risking the wrath of of mam saying look get wade back in get me and wade let's come in let's let's do this dance again little do i know know that Wade's having conversation with a man who's behind my back and he's doing the dance by himself. I'm very upset, but I will say this. If Wade is fighting on this card, was it January the 18th? I think. I believe it is the, uh, the Manchester card. Yeah, no, the, uh, the 18th. Yep. There it is. There is big way. He's a big boy as well, isn't he? You know, his weight is such a WWE fan. Like he's what it's look, look, look, there's nothing wrong with his arm. He's a big boy as well, isn't he? You know what it is? Wade is such a WWE fan like yourself.

There's nothing wrong with his arm. He's wanting to do that walk all the time. Look at that. He's put on a bit of timber as well, hasn't he? He looks solid. Good luck to him. Good luck to Wade. I think he's going to lose, but good luck to him. Wow, you're picking your boy to lose. Some friend. What are you talking about? Some friend. He should have got in touch with me and told me that he was

doing this. Wow. I mean, if he can't get in touch with me, I don't know if I can be on your side. You're picking HS Tiki Taki over Wade? I'm going for the Brit. Bro, come on. Nah, nah, nah. I'm joking. I'm joking.

Wade's my boy. I hope he doesn't see this. Wade's my boy. Wade's my boy. I'm team Wade. Oh my God. Some friend. I think I'm going to be in the corner.

For real? Oh, I got slapped. Well, yeah, I think I'm going to be. You're going to walk out with, I got slapped. Well, yeah, I think I'm going to be. You're going to walk out with the spit bucket? Yeah. That's a scene in its own right. That's worth pay-per-view. That's worth pay-per-view if you ask me.

By the way, I've not told anyone this. I'm just basking now. Oh, after saying that he was going to lose, you're then inserting yourself into the corner. We've got to find a way to come back, haven't we? All right. Well, that is coming up in January. As far as the next few

weeks are concerned, a ton of great fights. Like I said, 150 on the calendar each and every year and it continues to grow as far as the zone is concerned.

The global home of boxing this Saturday, Liam Parra defending that title that he won just a few months ago back in Puerto Rico

at the Roberto Clemente Coliseo in San Juan look at that 25 and 0 against 18 and 0 against Richardson Hitchens beautiful poster as well the

following week we had it's kind of stranger that poster it's kind of strange sorry to cut across you because I dig it even neither of them are Puerto Rican it's

quite strange Alexis Rocha 25 and 2 going up against Raul Curiel in California that will be the next big card. That's December the 14th, a Golden Boy presentation. And then, of course, we round out the year with the granddaddy. Reignited.

By the way, you were talking about the trailers. And you kind of had a little dig at them last week. You kind of had a dig at them not that trailer that trailer for this fight cinema incredible cinema it was cinema so good i think i think tyson fury could actually act like no i think i think he has his presence i think he could i think he could be in a film like i'm serious no no no no i mean he's tremendous and by the way i think he could be in a film as well just like as a hitman who does he is he is isn't he he is oh he is in a film he is in a film i'm pretty sure isek's in a film coming out very very soon oh it's coming out okay because i would have said

i mean i'm kind of a cinephile myself a cinephile is that the word i don't know i'm neither of those by the way i'm actually surprised that you showed up here because i saw that you had a tweet that got like 20 million views or something like that what was that i don't know what happened i don't even know what it was about you feel on a normal day is this how you feel like you said it dude dude it's on like 50 000 likes what is it i didn't even understand the reference okay so the football tweet it is liverpool play uh in the fa cup they play a team called akronton stan. Yes. Yeah? Okay. About 30 years ago, maybe even longer, there was a milk advert. And this little kid opens up the fridge and drinks the milk. And someone asked him, why are you drinking the milk?

He says, because I'm drinking the milk. So when I grow up, my dad say I could play for Accrington Stanley. The team at Liverpool. So 40 years later, Liverpool are actually playing the team from the advert. Wow. First time since? It's gone over your head. First time?

First time since. Yeah. Wow. Okay. That's why I said, that's why I said there's a generation of people who won't know how amazing this is. Yeah. Like myself.

I'm in that generation. And what league are they in? Are they National League? Are they, what are they? National, I believe. National League. Oh, how do you know what that is? Wow.

Christian. Well, you didn't know. You didn't know about the advert, did you? Well, I mean, I don't live, I don't consume the culture. We're 24 hours away from Forest beating City at Etihad. Okay, what do you mean? Hey, by the way, do you know I'm doing a football game tomorrow? Do you know this?

Are you doing Forest City? No, no, I'm doing Southampton, Chelsea. That's pretty cool. I like that. Pretty big big your boy's going places your boy's going places my boy exactly yeah yeah yourself he's gonna come and speak to me after i was like all right come over carl all right well tell him i say hi tell him i say he probably knows who you are i mean we just i think established that today with Big Turkey joining the program. What a day. What a day for us. You never know who's going to show up. You'll always get us, but you never know who's going to show up in addition to us, Ade.

A great time. Once again, we appreciate all the support very much. Thank you for tuning in on this lovely, lovely Tuesday evening. A lot, a lot to digest. I feel like we should do Another show tomorrow Just to digest I feel like I need all this

To just kind of like Marinate over me Why that music Frank? Are we going to the islands? What's happening over there? Frank is too shy To appear on this show I feel like he thinks

It's like This is the important Corporate show He doesn't want to talk On this show He talks on I don't think I'm allowed To talk on this show

Oh okay wow There he is Dave Hughes Yeah well done Frank yeah well done no one noticed no notice that you know earlier you didn't have to mention it I like the other music the other music goes fun it was very island vibes but kind of nice it was nice yeah this is this is the team is that is that. Is that the theme song to stop me talking? Is this it? No? This is it.

Stop talking? Yeah, this is it. Oh, I say goodbye? How does it work? Do I just say goodbye? No, I just say thank you so much for watching another episode of Ariel and Ade. If you want to re-watch all of this, it'll be up on the DAZN Boxing YouTube channel and, of course, the DAZN app as well.

Enjoy the fights this weekend, my friends. We'll talk to you next week. Outro Music