The Ariel Helwani Show - Ariel x Ade, episode 5: Usyk vs. Fury 2 is rapidly approaching!, is Klitschko really coming back?, what's up with Tank Davis, and Joseph Parker joins us

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

Ariel x Ade is back! Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo kick off the show with a temperature check on the building excitement around Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury 2 (04:24). Then they discuss whether a potential Wladimir Klitschko comeback makes sense for the winner (10:20).Next, they digest the early rumblings of a fight between Teofimo Lopez and 'Boots' Ennis, before Helwani proposes Keyshawn Davis vs. Andy Cruz take place on the same card (20:55).Sparked by Richardson Hitchins win over Liam Paro, the two talks about a potential pairing of Hitchins with George Kambosos (32:17).Heavyweight Joseph Parker joins the show to preview his upcoming bout against Daniel Dubois and express his desire to face the winner between Usyk and Fury (42:33).The duo dives deep on 'Tank' Davis' recent comments about retiring after 2025 during the press conference for his fight against Lamont Roach, wondering what's going on with Davis (01:02:51)?Finally, they react to Tommy Fury pulling out of his fight with Darren Till and whether his explanation passes the smell test (01:10:57).

Hello and welcome to a brand new edition of Ariel and Ade quickly becoming the number one show for all things boxing and it is exclusive to DAZN Boxing right here from our New York City studio. studio what happened there to my music i liked it i was vibing and then it went away and now it's back and then it went away working through the kinks working through the kinks here baby of course we're here the global home of boxing the zone boxing 150 plus fight nights and they've got like i think seven off the top of my head between now and sunday night clearly the place to be for all things sweet science and this is the show for all things sweet science talk. I'm Ariel Hawani in beautiful and very dark, as you can see, New York City. And joined, as always, across the pond by my guy, Ade, 21 and a half inch python. That's correct. You've got one hand up.

I don't know about the other one. One arm up. No, no, no. The other one. Yeah, yeah, yeah up. I don't know about the other one. One arm up. Yeah, this is the strongest arm, the right arm. And this, as you correctly said, is 21 and a half inches. How are you, my friend? Not bad, not bad. I kind of have a bone to pick with you.

Well, two bones, actually. The first one is fast becoming. Yeah, the first one is fast becoming the best boxing show. I mean, is there a better one? I can't think of a better boxing show. I'm struggling. I want to be a little humble, but yeah, yeah. The first one is Fast Becoming, the best boxing show. I mean, is there a better one? I can't think of a better boxing show. No, I mean, I want to be a little humble, but yeah, sure. No, no, no, no. Forget the humbleness. Forget the humbleness.

This is the best boxing show. Number two, this is more of a congratulations, but at the same time, I'm questioning what's going on. 15 times in a row, MMA Journalist of the Year. Yeah, that's right. Is there no one else? Is there no one else? I'm coming for Boxing Journalist of the Year as well. Don't you worry one else Is there no one else I'm coming for Boxing journalist of the year

As well Don't you Don't you worry You know That was interesting That was really interesting You know why Because

A lot of people I saw a lot of Congratulations And platitudes And all kinds of nice things Being thrown my way Especially on social media And there's my

Good friend Slash co-host Ade Not saying Oh So happy for my guy, Ariel. Ariel's the man, this and that. He's overcome so much.

It's just 15 times, what is going on here? It felt like a bit of a shot, a backhanded, honestly, maybe a fronthanded compliment. No, no, no, a backhanded compliment or dare I say a fronthanded insult. How about that? I wasn't sure how to take it. I was actually going to screen grab it and say like, what what's up with this you are kind of correct because i started off by complimenting you saying i just want to start my show by saying congratulations to my friend ariel but as i was saying i was like one second 15 yeah like 15 that's called dominance like

not even yeah but there's also a part of me that feels sorry for the other like nominees is there any point in turning up like even you when you stood up to collect it, you was like, oh, here we go again. I didn't even see you smile as you walked up. You was like, okay, I've done this before. This is getting boring now. No, it's not getting boring. I'm very grateful. That's what I felt.

I'm very thankful. Look at Barry Sanders. Barry Sanders, one of the all-time great running backs in the National Football League. Every time he scored a touchdown, all he did was hand the ball to the referee. When you've been there before, you act like you've been there before. You don't need to jump up and down. You don't have to make it about yourself.

It's business-like. Thank you, grateful. Thank the family. Thank the fans. Thank the fighters, most importantly. And it's on to number 16. We are- Who is like your hottest competition?

I know this is you. To be fair, you're probably not going to name any names. But who is the guy you're like, okay girl but he's like okay this year might be dangerous this year could be close uh other than flat earth froch no one ariel the man soon soon to take over soon to take over anybody really interested what's that frank what's that frank would you say said it again Frank? What'd you say? Say that again. Play that again. Gives a flying fuck about Carl Frock

or what he's got to say. Is anybody really interested? I mean, Frank said it, not me. Frank said it, not me. That's Frank Warren. Why does Frank Warren keep calling him Frock? I don't know if he's trying to disrespect him because he knows his name's Froch.

Yeah. I would imagine. You see, we're trying to get the vibes up. It's the holiday season. Now you take me down this road. It's all you. You're the instigator, by the way. You're the problem here.

I am a bit of a troublemaker. I come in peace. Peace and love. Peace and love. And what a time it is out here. I mean, I don't know if you know this, but as we're recording this right now, we are 11 days, just 11 days away from Alexander Usyk versus Tyson Fury 2. A fight that we saw, saw of course for the first time back in May who would have thought and now

here we are about to see it again 11 days away from the big scenes and Riyadh really the last big event of the year as far as combat sports is concerned you could really make that case yes there's a big rise and show that Ryan Garcia is fighting on at the very end of the year but this is the massive one and we

are 11 days away. And by the way, shout out to our good friends at DAZN. They just put out a mini doc on the channel right now. It's killing it. It's a great look at the first fight back in May and a preview of the upcoming fight. There it is, Usyk Fury 2, Witnessing Greatness. Do suggest after this program you guys check it out.

Your level of excitement, buzz buzz hype as we are here 11 days away does it only kick in once you get to re-ed or are you fully hyped right now no no no it only kicks in when i get there okay um i don't know why it's when i see both camps they both wear you know the isik wears these crazy tracksuits by the way like incredible like honestly like throwback to the 80s tracksuits uh tyson Fury comes in with Gypsy King and all these camp turns up as well. So when you get there and the camps kind of cross paths and sometimes things get a little bit out of hand, that's when you realize, okay, we've gone up a level. When you sit down, we're both, I'll be sitting down with Fury and Usyk on, I think and then you can really sense the tension in the air

this fight is gonna deliver it is it's going to um sometimes rematches don't always go the way you want them to go but I just feel like this fight could be as good as the first one I think Tyson Fury went into the first fight maybe thinking he was the boss he was the bigger man clearly Usyk can't hurt him he's going to destroy the little gap tooth middleweight that's what he called him that's not what I'm calling him and then all of a sudden round eight and nine happened and I think Fury was like okay what do we do here now this is this is harder than I thought so I'm not saying Fury underestimated him but I do think Fury can go up a couple more levels and I also think Usyk's got a bit more as well so I'm so intrigued this is

clearly number one versus number two. I know Daniel Dubois floating around, but this is number one versus number two. And I think it's going to be 12 rounds of war again. I really do. I think this is going to be sensational. Agree or disagree. And we'll get really into it next week

and you'll be joining us from Riyadh next week. So looking forward to that. Way more pressure, in my opinion, on Tyson Fury's shoulders than Usyk's shoulders. Agree. Usyk's done it. Usyk's already become undisputed he was undisputed at Cruiserweight he was undisputed at heavyweight he's ticked the box already Usyk could have been walking off into the sunset saying you know I've clocked the boxing game you guys can deal with all the rest yourselves he doesn't really need to do this obviously look he's getting paid a bucket load of money or a truckload of money.

So that's the reason, right? But ultimately, he's already beaten Tyson Fury. He's coming to the heavyweight division. He said, look, give me the number one and number two. He beat AJ number two. He then took on number one. He beat him. He's done what he needed to do.

All pressure is on Tyson Fury here. Tyson Fury has to right the wrong. He just has to. He can't, when it's all said and done, have back-to-back defeats against Oleksandr Usyk because then we then start to say, okay, where was Tyson Fury really when it came to the best heavyweights of this generation,

best heavyweights of all time? If Tyson Fury overcomes Usyk, then those conversations can go again. But right now, if he loses back-to-back, considering all the stuff he said about Usyk beforehand, it doesn't look good. It doesn't look good. So, yeah, for me, all the pressure is on Fury.

If Usyk loses, it's one apiece. You do a trilogy. If Fury loses, it's done. Books closed. Another chapter. And just curious, sometimes sequels aren't as good as the original. And also, you know, it's maybe a minor detail that only the hardcore fans are paying attention to, but it is not for the undisputed title, right? Because of the IBF splintering off, and now Daniel Dubois is their champion, and of course, we will be seeing him

defend that title against Joseph Parker, and I'd be remiss if I don't mention that on the back end of today's program, we got into the whole Journalist of the Year thing, the big goose himself is going to be joining us from Samoa, the great Joseph Parker. So I can't wait for that conversation. But because it's not undisputed and because we've seen it already, does the level of excitement change at all for you? Or maybe it's greater because we saw it the first time and the first time was tremendous. No, it's a good point. Look, I mean, the first time around was incredible.

And I think we didn't believe it until we saw them sort of nose to nose in the ring. I remember a lot of people said, oh, it's a good point look i mean the first time around was incredible and i think we didn't believe it until we saw them sort of nose to nose in the ring i remember a lot of people saying it's never going to happen so i don't think you ever beat the first time but i think the second time comes as close as it can and you look at rematches that have happened in the past especially fury rematches the second wilder fight was better than the first one the second one was one of the best heavyweight fights i think i've ever seen it was was crazy. The third one was even good as well. That was crazy as well. So I do think a rematch can be as good as the first one. And I don't necessarily care that it's not for Undisputed. Usually what Undisputed means is who is the best in the division. This will crown who

is the best in the division. This is still number one versus number two. Again, I mentioned that Dubois had a good sort of 12 to 18 months, but this is number one versus number two. Again, I mentioned that Dubois had a good sort of 12 to 18 months, but this is number one versus number two. I don't think anyone would disagree with it. So we will find out who number one is. And I think that's the most important thing. The Undisputed title was fantastic, but we've seen it. Let's just now have a fight and it's going to be a fight.

And that's all I really care about. I don't necessarily, you know, I'm not, I don't really care about belts as much as many. I just want to see the fights I want to see belts are an extra addition to it so i don't care if there's four belts in the ring six seven i just want to see the best versus the best and we're getting that december 21st and for the past 14 or so months we have gotten incredibly spoiled with these big fights and the vast majority of them of course happening in riyadh saudi arabia and they're happening because of one man and one man only, and that's Turkey Al-Sheikh,

who joined us unexpectedly last week on the program. He was in bed. He was enjoying the show and then all of a sudden wanted to just pop in and drop like 85 bombshells on us. It was tremendous theater. And one in particular pertained to this fight. This one came out of nowhere. And initially I wasn't really quite sure and I think you would be in the same boat.

I wasn't quite sure where he was going with this, but he did drop the bombshell that he is interested if he wants, and it seems like there's been some sort of discussion pertaining to all of this. The winner of this fight would fight the great Vladimir Klitschko, who has not fought in about 10 years and is pushing 50 at this point. In case you missed it, here's what he had to say. if he accepts Klitschko to get back and have a chance to be the oldest

heavyweight champion ever. So his last fight, Ade, 2017, he's 48. Do you have any interest in Vladimir Klitschko? We didn't really get into all the news that Turkey dropped on us because, of course, Liam Power was waiting and it was the back end of the show and we obviously didn't expect him to stop by for 30 minutes. I don't know what's happened. I can't hear you, Ariel. Can you hear me? I can hear you just fine. Can you not hear me?

There you go. I can hear you now. Yes, I've got you now. All right. I appreciate that. What I said was last fight, 2017, he's 48 years old. We didn't get into all the news that he dropped on us because Liam Power was waiting. We were very late for him. And then, of course, we had to wrap up the show. It was an unexpected surprise. Do you have any interest in a 48-year-old Vladimir Klitschko who, by the time this fight happens, will have not fought in eight years fighting the winner of this fight? Yes, I do. You do?

And that goes against everything. It goes against everything I preach. I don't know why, but I'm somehow intrigued. Who doesn't like a bit of Rocky Balboa, right, in our life? And it just reminds me of Rocky Balboa when he fought Antonio Tava. It wasn't one of the best movies, but we all saw it and we all enjoyed it. Vladimir Klitschko, I will say this, because I know there'll be a lot of people saying, Ade, come on, you was against Mike Tyson.

It isn't that extreme. Vladimir Klitschko is 48, but he's in fantastic physical shape. And there is something about him walking to the ring, flanked by his brother, big ass shoulder pads on, and I'm like, take my money. Take my money for that Tyson Fury rematch.

Obviously, it won't be Oleksandr Usyk. They're very, very close. No chance, right? You can say that definitively. No chance. Definitively, two friends. No chance, right? You can say that definitively. No chance. No chance? Definitively, two friends from Ukraine. They'll never, ever fight each other. All right.

So it has to be Fury. Yeah, there's a dislike. There's a massive dislike. Obviously, Fury beat him in Dusseldorf many moons ago. Sorry, Vladimir Klitschko wanted his rematch. It never happened because obviously we know what happened with Tyson Fury outside the ring. He's been itching for that rematch ever since. And he will only come back for Tyson Fury.

And I think I'm up for it. I think I want to see it. I really do. I actually feel like I could be more intrigued with Tyson Fury versus Vladimir Klitschko than Tyson Fury versus anyone else not named AJ or Dubois. I honestly am kind of intrigued with the madness. That's two big names. And by the way, I want you to say that to Joseph Parker

in about 25 minutes time, all right? Because if he beats Daniel Dubois, he should fight Tyson Fury. If, of course, Tyson Fury beats Usyk. And oh, by the way, if Fury beats Usyk, they should run it back one more time, right? It should just be a trilogy, no? Yes.

I mean, look, there's a queue. No, there's a queue no there's a queue there is a queue there's a queue there's if you're right if fury wins it should be usic it then really should be daniel dubois or joseph parker or joseph parker i said it there you go thank you and then it should be aj then it should be vladimir klitschko sometimes sometimes you can jump the queue and vladimir klitschko obviously looks like he's got the right ticket here to jump the queue. I'm not mad at it. I'm not as mad at it as others. I can see the Hollywood story,

the romantic story of Vladimir Klitschko coming back for one more fight. As I said, flank blaze, brother, and putting on the big shoulder pads and making the ring walk. I kind of like the story. I like the idea of it. It would be quite the scene. I remember vividly Jim Lampley's call of George Foreman when he knocked out Michael Moore to become the oldest heavyweight champion.

It happened. It happened. And Jim's retelling of that story and why he said it happened is tremendous. And he always cries every time he tells that story. I did see Nikita Badarian on twitter kind of call out the the i don't know the the irony in in those who said the tyson fight made no sense and was criminal he was 58 and those who want this fight are these is nikisa joking is nikisa joking well i'm asking are these is he making is he making the comparison absolutely No chance. Not even similar.

Mike Tyson was in a wheelchair six months prior. He had eight blood transfusions just to make the fight. Mike Tyson is 58. Come on, come on. Vladimir Klitschko, I mean, you can watch his Instagram right now. He's in the gym all the time. He's fit. He still trains. I know for a fact that he even still spars.

Not big sparring. He's not sparring sort of, you know, top heavyweights, but he's sp he still trains i know for a fact that he even still spars not big sparring he's not sparring sort of you know top heavyweights but he's sparring young kids up and coming it's nowhere near the same absolutely nowhere near the same and by the way the last time we saw mike tyson professionally in the ring he himself said i haven't got it anymore i can't do this anymore yeah whereas we saw the last time we saw vladimir klitschko in the ring he went life and death with aj so they're nowhere near comparable again i'm not saying that we saw Vladimir Klitschko in the ring, he went life and death with AJ. So they're nowhere near comparable. Again, I'm not saying that Vladimir Klitschko should fight Tyson Fury because, look, there is a cue. But you can't make the comparison with Mike Tyson.

I mean, that's silly. No chance. I agree. And I also think it's a little bit funny that the heavyweight division hasn't been this interesting in, what, I don't know, 30 or so years since the 90s. And a lot of people blame the Klitschko era for the sort of dull period. And now we're asking him to come back or there's some interest in him coming back when things are super hot and there's a queue, but I get it. It's historic.

He's a legend. And there's a great story with Tyson Fury. If you're offered two baskets, if you will, and one is Fury AJ and one is Fury Klitschko too. Which are you taking? There's an easy answer. Fury AJ. Okay. Thank you. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not that crazy. I mean, Fury AJ, I know I've been singing the praises of Vladimir Klitschko, but come on, Fury AJ kind of has to happen just for boxing, just for British boxing, at least. I don't know if there'll be much interest when it comes to worldwide eyeballs on it, but just for British boxing, we need to see Fury AJ. But I just don't know if, I don't know if AJ gets to fight if Fury

wins. I think that's the problem here. Okay. So hopefully everything remains intact. We're 11 days away. Can't wait for it. It's a great way to end the year. We did get one change to this December 21st card, and it's about a fighter that we were talking about at length last week. It's about Israel Madrimov. We were worried, hey, how's this guy going to fight on the 21st of December? And how's he going to fight on the 22nd of February against Virgil Ortiz? He was scheduled to fight Bohacic on the 21st of December. And then all of a sudden, it all kind of makes sense. We find out that he has acute bronchitis and he's being replaced by ishmael davis and some of the conspiracy theorists out there are saying wait a second how is this possible what are you feeling about this he's now out of the 21st of december

and he's remaining on the virgil ortiz date on the 22nd of february hopefully you got all of that how do you feel about this little switcheroo? Yeah, it's interesting. Eddie Hearn did a few interviews in the last week or so, and he's been asked this question. He's like, oh, no, no, it is bronchitis. There is no conspiracy theory thing going on here. But I've got my conspiracy theory hat on. I'm like, come on.

Come on, Eddie. One second. I mean, what does he do? Does he take the risk against Boychuk? I mean, look, even if he won that fight against Boychuk, and credit to Ismail Majumov for wanting to do this, but even if he won that fight, that was never going to be a walk in the park. This was never going to be a one or two round blowout. That was going to go 12 rounds and it was going to be a little mini war. So there was no way on earth he could turn around and fight Virgil Ortiz February 22nd. Just not possible.

Like physically, it's just not possible. he would be walking into that ring against Virgil with some some lumps and bumps it's just it's true so um look I heard behind the scenes that he is really sick so maybe it's just a coincidence but I think it makes sense it makes sense that he is removed from the fight card concentrate on Virgil tees that is again I've said the greatest fight card I have ever seen. You'd want to be on that one and let Ishmael Davis take your place and maybe try and cause one of the biggest upsets this year against Boychuk. Davis has now made a bit of a reputation for himself being a guy who steps in on short notice. And one of my favorite scenes of that Wembley card back in September, his fight against Josh Kelly, I believe I was sitting next to you and we were sitting in front of his family.

He has two boys who I would say are probably 12, 13. And the way they were rooting him on, especially in the late portion of the fight. And he did come on. Like it was, it was, it was quite dramatic. I sort of fell in love with his story and, and, and his family and just seeing the two boys trying to will their father to victory. Good on him for taking another big time fight on very short notice. Yeah, look, I mean, he took the Josh Kelly fight on six days notice.

And well done for him going all the way in that fight. And as you say, he nearly caused a big upset in the last couple of rounds. He wasn't fit going into that fight. I mean, he was as fit as I guess he could get in six days. With this one, it's not as crazy as people think yes it's taken about on two weeks notice but I don't know if you probably noticed with the rear season cards there has been this kind of midweek fight card that's been put on he was due to fight on the midweek fight card so he was going to sort of be in and around 154 pounds 160 pounds anyway

so he has been training for a fight obviously not to the level of a boy chook but he's been training so this one isn't necessarily two weeks notice it's two weeks notice to fight boy chook but not two weeks notice to have a fight but still nonetheless it's a big opportunity i mean this is co-main event of the biggest fight of the year i mean and that's coming off a loss and this is why we say and hopefully it's changing with boxing now, a loss doesn't define you. If you go out there and you perform, you'll get another opportunity. And I think Ishmael Davis is proof of that.

You lost to Josh Kelly, and here, come the end of the year, what a Christmas present. You're fighting Boy Chuk, co-main event of Fury Usyk, or should I say Usyk Fury. That's an insane story. Okay, so last week, you know,

we were talking about Virgil Ortiz and Boots Ennis and Madrimov, obviously factored into those plans. Well, things started to get really interesting towards the end of the week because we were wondering, all right, if Boots Ennis isn't going to fight Virgil Ortiz, who the hell is he going to fight? And we were trying to figure that out as well. And then all of a sudden, there's Teofimo Lopez on the top- top rank card in Arizona talking about some potential opponents and then all of a sudden potential opponents in 2025 and then all of a sudden the birthday boy Bob Arum does an interview with Boxing Scene and says that he is trying to put together a Tiafema Lopez Jaron Boots Ennis super fight if you will and we presume that means Lopez would move up to 147. I doubt he's moving up to 154. 147 in a sort of top-ranked matchroom DAZN ESPN supercard, if you will.

Now, I do want to say this. We both work for DAZN. We have no inside knowledge. No one tells us anything. Us talking about this here, I do feel like I need to say this, is not some sort of validation that there's any more than just talk attached to this, because people may run with that. But I'm curious your thoughts on this, because all of a sudden I was like, I wasn't really thinking of that. I don't think people

were putting them in the same sort of orbit, but I am starting to get very interested. And then especially, and we'll get to Liam Parrow and Richardson Hitchens, and we'll get to the New York scene all of a sudden coming up, but maybe, you know, a Boots Ennis, Tiafema Lopez supercard that attaches some other matchroom top-ranked fighters fighting here in New York, bringing big-time boxing back to Madison Square Garden. There hasn't been a big-time boxing event

at Madison Square Garden since Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano won in 2022. I could see some, you know, you got New York going up against Philly in that main event, plus maybe a Richardson Hitchens versus, I don't know, a George Kambosis co-main. Now we're starting to talk about something. Okay, I'm getting crazy here.

What do you think about this talk from Teofimo Lopez and Bob Arum? I love your excitement. I've been dying for big time boxing to come, not to the theater with all due respect to the theater i'm not talking about the theater i'm talking about the mecca the big msg yes big msg you're correct because and i'm happy you just sort of pointed that out because i see a lot of people say i'm fighting the msg it drives me to them good luck to them and it's not the big

msg we need to start sort of separating the two um your excitement mirrors mine i'm super excited by this one because look we discussed boots on last week's show and boots has been getting a lot of stick right he's been getting a lot of i wouldn't say hate but people saying okay you're a dark you're this you're that this is the way he shuts up a few people not everyone but he shuts up a few people by taking on tiafema lopez tiafema lopez i think a fantastic fighter who seems to rise to the level of these opponents when he's in there against people not so great, he becomes not so great. When he's in there against people that are world elite level, he seems to become world elite level. I.e. Vasily Lomachenko, I.e. Josh Taylor.

And he will do the same against Boots Ennis. I think it's fantastic matchmaking. Teofimo has been calling out the top dogs at 147 for a while. He's chased Terence Crawford around the world. He wanted that fight. That's never going to happen. The next big man at 147 is Jaron Boots Ennis. And look, Boots, you can turn down Virgil. We kind of, okay, fine, cool. Whatever reason. You can't turn down this one. If Boots turns down this one, there's going to be a lot of people that are questioning, okay, what's going on now? Because you want it to stay at 1-4-7. The unification fights at 1-4-7 are not as big

as Tiafema Lopez. Barrios is not as big as Tiafema Lopez. Brian Norman is not as big as Tiafema Lopez. Stani Onis is not as big as Tiafema Lopez. Tiafema Lopez is a much bigger fight than all of them. Maybe, maybe even a bigger fight than Vir altice this is a super fight a super card msg pay-per-view book it now book it the zone book it matrim book it top rank book it espn wow i like that clip that off that's that's even more excitement than i had just moments ago uh love the idea of aram and hern working together on a big card like this like yeah i know sometimes they'll they'll work on some smaller cards we saw them you know, with Catterall and Taylor and all that stuff. But this would be big time stuff. And maybe this was in the works. Maybe this adds more to, you know, the reasoning behind why

Boots didn't take the fight against Virgil Ortiz. As much as I want to see that, to your point, this is a way bigger fight. Do you like the idea of Lopez going up to 47 to fight Boots?? Like just for him, let's talk about him and his career and his, you know, his progression. Do you like that for him? I love it. Yeah, I love it. I love it. I mean, look, he's done, he's a, I almost feel like Teofimo Lopez somehow gets kind of disrespected a little bit.

And maybe that's because, again, it's a good performance, then maybe a not so good performance. But again, this is a guy, yes, maybe Loma was undersized, but this is a guy that beat Lomachenko. This is a guy that then beat Josh Taylor, who was unbeaten. Yes, the asterisk, because maybe he lost to Jack Cattrall. But he's beaten one of the best at 135, then one of the best at 140. He always wants to challenge himself, and now he's asking for the man, the best, I think everyone knows this, at 147.

I love the idea that Teofimo is one in the big fights he's one in the big names and you've got to praise and and we we should we should put a lot of stock into that because there's a lot of fighters right now out there that are not doing that so um yeah look so much praise for Teofimo I think he's a fantastic fighter I think he's a character in a sport that needs characters but ultimately when he gets in the ring he delivers there's been a few hicc characters. But ultimately, when he gets in the ring, he delivers. There's been a few hiccups along the way. Kambosis was one of them.

But then he always writes that wrong in his next fight. So I think this is a fantastic fight. I think it's a 50-50 fight. I really do. We haven't seen boots in there with anyone on that kind of high level yet. Where we've seen Tiafemo in there against so many high-level fighters. And win or lose, he comes to fight. So I love love it i think it's fantastic matchmaking if it happens you know we're kind of workshopping through this all all you know throughout the show here but um can i throw

another one your way another one i'm trying to think of this and i'm not trying to do the 5v5 i don't know if it has to be that you are you're clearly doing it i mean okay i guess i'm doing it but you know let's be honest top rank hasn't really like, yeah. Okay. I know Tyson is, is sort of top rank and there's a couple of guys that show up on these re-add cards, but they haven't really, they haven't really like been partaking in all the festivities with the Queensberry guys and, um, you know, the, the matchroom guys. I know what you mean. Because it does feel quite more European plus golden boy as opposed to. Yes.

And they have their deal with ESPN. It is coming to an end midway through 2025. Keyshawn Davis, top rank. Andy Cruz, matchroom. That's the one. Right? What about that? That's the one.

What about that? That is the one. You know what? You know, the thing is, I almost feel like Andy Cruz so far look obviously I'm beaten as a pro but I still feel like I'm watching him kind of find himself as a professional obviously such a good amateur amateur for a long time as well and I almost feel like when someone has the deep amateur resume that he has it takes a while to kind of switch to over to the program which is completely different Keyshawn's already there like Kishon has switched over already like Kishon's calling out Javonte Davis Kishon wanted to Tiafema Lopez fight but but

there is obviously history there you know Andy Cruz beat Kishon to win Olympic gold so there's a lot there I love that matchup I wonder if Eddie would take that right now because I think Eddie would kind of say what I'm saying where Andy we just need to see a bit more from the pro ranks before you chuck him in. I don't know. I don't know if I agree with you. I remember when, when Haney and Progray fought and Andy, I think that was the second pro fight. And he was like, wasn't he FaceTiming with Keyshawn Davis saying he's ready for you right now. Andy's beaten him, I think three times on the amateur scene, including, you know, most notably, I don't think Eddie Hearn would back down from that. I mean, Eddie's the one out there you know defending their matchmaking you know all week long with people saying that they're they're rushing prospects and and it feels like what you're saying is he should

kind of wait i feel like he should double down and be like no you want to fight the best you don't want padded records you want to do this like they do perhaps in the ufc where you're three and oh and you're you're fighting another top guy? F it. Let's go. Andy Cruz, Keyshawn Davis. Put it on that card as well. There was a time, and you are correct, when Keyshawn, sorry, Andy was kind of FaceTiming Keyshawn and it was almost like, it felt like Keyshawn didn't want Andy Cruz. I remember watching Andy Cruz in LA for the re-ad season LA card and I was like, not yet maybe not yet i think there was a time when eddie would have chucked andy cruising just because of his amateur record with any guy at 135 i just think he needs a couple more fights in the pro game just to get just to get used to it the smaller gloves the point scoring's different because i still watch him and he kind of point scores as opposed

to really wants to hurt someone kishan wants to take your head off and i just feel like it's a different sport and i almost feel like andy just needs a few more fights but but why not i wouldn't mind it but if i was andy cruz's manager i'd say oh let's pump the brakes on that fight for now that's what i would do this may not be music to richardson hitchens ears because after his tremendous win over Liam Parro in Puerto Rico this weekend, he was calling for a New York versus New York clash against Tiafema Lopez, which I think could bring big time boxing back to Madison Square Garden if they don't go this route. Love the idea.

So we've got two potentially good options. Now, of course, that's another matchroom versus top rank card. Even the great 50 Cent was showing him love. Oh, was he? Really? Oh, Even the great 50 Cent was showing him love. Oh, was he? Really? Oh, yeah, yeah. He was showing him love. And we haven't had a ton of big names lately out of this region. And so it's great to see one of our own, if you will, Brooklyn's finest come through and get a big win over the champ and now become the champ. Were you surprised ultimately that he did what he did? I mean, that was, I don't want to say it was one sided, but it was quite dominant against Liam Parrow, especially back end.

Were you surprised that he was that successful against Liam Parrow this past weekend? Yes, I was. I don't want to be one of those people that pretend they knew everything beforehand. I didn't, I didn't know Richardson Hitchens was, was, was as sharp as he was. I thought Liam, you know, sometimes I was going to say I thought Liam looked flat, but he looked flat because Hitchens kind of worked him out. Especially when Liam tried to jump in, Hitchens was just too sharp. I thought he looked really big on the night as well. I'd love to know what he weighed on the night because he looked really big. I thought he actually looked considerably a lot bigger than Liam Parrow. He looked as sharp. He could fight on

the back foot. He looked aggressive on the front foot. And he seemed to work out kind of the southpaw style of Liam Parrow, I thought, quite early. I thought the first three or four rounds were close and then he went away with it. I was disgusted with the 117-111 scorecard for Parrow. And I don't think we're talking about it as much as we should because in the end, the right man won. But that judge needs to be looked at I mean I almost find it impossible and I've watched that fight back a few times I have no idea how you scored it 117 111 but look it's a big win for Hitchens and uh I love his story I've seen that he's been you know walking around Brooklyn with Eddie talking about how boxing saved him and this is the good side of boxing I think we need to see where it does save these young kids. What would Hitchens be doing if it wasn't for boxing? But now look, he can now help his family, help close friends, and now be in big fights. He wants all the big names.

He wants all the smoke. And I think I love success stories like that. Yeah, you know, great personality, talks a big game, backed it all up, right? Looked fantastic. He did talk about the irony of, you know, some people thought that he was gifted a decision in his last fight. And then this time he's on the receiving end of a, of a bad scorecard. You know, this is, this is boxing and we see it in all forms of combat sports. Unfortunately,

I don't know if that will ever change. There was talk of power fighting Cambosis, right? Our last two, our last two guests on this program, the last couple of weeks. And now that seems to be out the window. This, this idea of two great Australian fighters, I guess you can still do it on that card. That's being talked about in the first quarter, but it won't have the same stakes attached to it. Do you like the idea if they don't do,

um, Tiafema Lopez versus Richardson Hitchens, that seems a little bit more far fetched. And to be honest, I don't see Lopez signing up for that one. Maybe Cambosis coming back to New York, the scene of where he beat Tiafema Lopez and fighting the new champ. Of course, now Cambosis has signed with Mattroom. Not really. Not really. Why? Why? You know what it is? I like Cambosis. We had Cambosis on the show a couple of weeks ago, and I even kind of praised him before you gave him that introduction.

I was like, oh, give him a proper introduction. But I don't like the idea of a guy coming off a loss, which he did, moving up in weight and getting the first crack at a new champion. I just find that you jump in hoops there, I think, a bit too much. And even prior to the loss against Vasily Lomachenko, I actually thought he got beat by Maxi Hughes. So I feel like I need to see you at the weight first, do something, beat anyone, someone in the top 10, top 15,

then okay, get it. Look, one thing I will say about Kambosos, he will sell the fight. If he does get the opportunity, he will do the press, he'll do that correct, he'll get under the skin of itchings. So he'll do everything correct. But I do feel like there needs to be some sort of order and some sort of system here.

And I'm all for someone jumping, but I think that's one too many jumps, I think. Some will argue and say, come on, you were trying to give the Joe Cordina, Shakur Stevenson thing a go, and you are correct. So maybe I'm contradicting myself a bit here, but I think there are too many hoops being jumped if Kambosos gets the first correct at Richardson-H Hitchens although I think Hitchens said he wouldn't mind it because I think

he would he would probably view it as easy work again no disrespect to Kambosos but I think he would view it as easy work in light of what Kambosos has looked like recently and also to your point George would sell the fight and there's a great story there him coming back to New York uh scene of probably the biggest win of his career so i feel like it would be very easy to sell that one but from a meritocracy standpoint i i definitely do i know you don't like the meritocracy stuff do you you're not a fan of that i know i can tell literally like all i'm about what are you talking about i'm literally the guy who always bangs the drum that there has to be meritocracy there has to be a ranking system there has to be yes i get it some has to be, yes, I get it. Some people can skip the queue

because they're a little more popular, but you can't screw over the guys who may not be the largest voices in the room and the sexiest names. Bro, don't even start. Sorry, my bad. I feel like the blood is boiling up to my forehead here. No, no, no, I take it back.

And I'm happy you said this because there are people out there that don't have big name promoters or managers that don't talk, that don't sell fights, but yet they do win. They win, they win, they win. They put themselves into a position a bit like Arnold Barboza Jr. who fought recently, who maybe doesn't beat the drum and say, give me my opportunity and scream and shout. And they have to kind of find out the hard work, work harder to get the opportunity. And I feel like those guys deserve the opportunity. And people shouldn't always jump the queue.

No greater example, in my opinion, than Joseph Parker, who will be joining us in a few minutes, right? I mean, there was talk of Dubois and AJ running it back. And he's like, hey, can I get a fight? I haven't fought since March. Do you want to just expand a little bit on this heat that Eddie Hearn has been receiving regarding the matchmaking? There was an interesting tweet exchange that we could show here in a moment where he was defending the matchroom matchmaking.

Here's J-Rock weighing in. No bullshit. Matchroom needs to fire their matchmaker. Apologies. I'm just reading it ASAP. That's through three, excuse me, blue chip prospects in the last two cards, and Eddie responds with, Bad attitude.

If you lose fights, you should be winning. It just means you weren't good enough. It's called sport, and you can come again. Okay, you can leave it at that, but he didn't. In speaking to our good friends over at IFL TV, a very passionate Eddie Hearn defended Matchroom's matchmaking. Take a look. If you can't beat those guys, you're not the fighter that I thought you are. And if you lose tonight, it's not the end of the road for you. You've got to rebuild and you've got to

come back better. If you don't want to watch competitive fights, if you don't want to see prospects tested just a little bit when they're eight to one on, fuck off you don't want to see prospects tested, just a little bit, when they're eight to one on, fuck off and don't watch my shows, because I'm going to give you real fights, and I'm going to give you entertainment, and guess what, sometimes when people underperform, or they're not good enough, they're going to lose, not every prospect is going to go on and be a world champion, but if you spoon feed them them and never put them in anything competitive, one, it's a shit product. Two, it's a con for the fans.

And three, you're not doing the right job for the fighter because when they get to the top, they're not going to be good enough. Do you know what I'm saying? J-Rock, whatever his name is, or what is it? Julian Williams. Same thing. Oh, bad night for Eddie Hearn. He got two prospects.

Not really. Eddie Hearn found out that tonight they ain't good enough. Eddie, the kids say when you're on fire that you're cooking. Eddie was cooking there. I couldn't agree more with every word that he said. I couldn't agree more with it. Yeah, Eddie was cooking. And, you know, normally Eddie gets a lot of stick.

Every time he puts those kind of videos out, he gets a lot of stick. But this time, I always immediately, for some reason, I go to the comment section straight away to see what they're saying and I think 90% of the comment section was like finally I agree with Eddie like it was like I hate Eddie but I agree with him Eddie's a so-and-so but I agree with him and he's spot on I think I like Jay Rock former champion 154 pounds good fighter but he is wrong in this one it isn't a case of spoon feeding and and giving these prospects easy fights all the time just to build their record it's about a case of matching them hard i mean obviously you've got to have certain fights to learn your trade but ultimately when you're ready to go go let's see

what you've got and let's put you in a 50 50 fight and in 50 50 fights you're going to lose some and you're going to win some it's that simple um And you will come again. I think a great example is Raymond Ford. Raymond Ford was in a 50-50 fight against Nick Ball. Very, very close fight. He lost. In his next fight, he won. And all of a sudden, people are talking about him being a champion in the weight class above.

It happens. Honestly, this sort of easy matchmaking thing just annoys me because you see guys that are 25 and 0 and you look down their record, they've not fought anyone. Honestly, like one second, what's going on here? You're just building a record just to sell to TV and to fans that know no better. It's embarrassing. Let's start to see tougher matchups. I think the better matchups we get, more viewers tune in and ultimately you make better fans.

I think I 100 100 agree with eddie hernia and i'm not just saying this because i work for matrimonial zone i'm saying it's because it's fact no it's 100 fact and and and truthfully the the losses shouldn't mean as much if you go in there and fight a tremendously talented young fighter 25 26 year old a supremely um highly rated prospect who cares if you lost if it's a great close fight who cares that that's not the end of your career I mean I'll even go as far as to say like if someone gets rocked or dropped people talk about it for six seven fights and and they use that as like oh the stain on your career I love what the Cuban fighters are doing like the David Morales of the

world the Andy Cruz of the world they're like yeah eight nine and oh give me the big fights let me jump in there. 10 and oh, that's what it should be. And so I agree with everything that he's saying and it shouldn't be an indictment. It should really be, hey, look, match rooms, you know, it's sink or swim over there. It's sink or swim.

Now, there could be other places where they pamper you, but to your point, then when you look under, you know, the hood and it's 25 and oh against 24 no names then what does it all mean yeah and look eddie hearn and matrim and the zone are we're talking this is a football phrase but the premier league right this is the top of the top um and ultimately if you're in the top league and you're getting paid well you should be match hard now you can learn your trade maybe off the cameras if you, and go and work for smaller organizations.

And when you're ready, come back to the big leagues. But at the big leagues, unfortunately, when you're there and you're getting paid well, we're going to have to match you hard. We're going to have to match you hard. We can't, again, keep spoon feeding you these easy prospects. We can't.

We've got to find out eventually, are you good enough? Are you good enough to go to that next level where you're fighting for world titles? Are you good enough where you good enough to go to that next level where you're fighting for world titles are you good enough where you're going to be unified champ are you good enough one day to get the undisputed if not it's okay take a step back and and let's learn again um but yeah you can't keep feeding these guys easy fights what do you learn from an easy blowout like what do you learn nothing. You've got to be in tough fights

and you'll get better once you are in those tough fights. I'm telling you now, Edgar Belanger is a good example. Edgar Belanger, I think, was, was it his first 16 fights, first round knockouts or something ridiculous like that? He got matched hard finally and all of a sudden he kind of got unstuck.

But he learned so much from that that I felt like we saw an improved Belanger um belanger could have easily been spoon fed all these easy first round knockout guys and by the time he got to canelo he's out there in the first round himself he learned a bit and all of a sudden we saw a guy that went all the way with canelo because he was match hard in these fights beforehand you've got to be match hard or there's no point i want to make two very big revelations to you right now all right ade you ready for this oh no no no go on it's turkey coming in again no no turkey even better even better if i if i do say so myself um at the very top of my wish list of of places

that i want to visit on this planet there's there's two places and this is item number one one is new zealand and the other is the great island of samoa now that's item number one One is New Zealand And the other Is the great island Of Samoa Now That's item number one Item number two Is this When we started this show

I had one guest And I think you can attest To this At the very top of my list As far as wish list Of guests that I wanted On this program Been beating the drum

I fell in love with the man When we got to spend A considerable amount Of time together In September When we were working The Wembley card And that's The big oos himself Joseph Parker And you want to know Why he's not just The big oos a considerable amount of time together in September when we were working the Wembley card.

And that's the big oos himself, Joseph Parker. And you want to know why he's not just the big oos. He's the big mensch too. Mensch meaning gentleman. It's an old Yiddish term because this man is on vacation with his family before he locks in for the massive showdown on February 22nd as he tries to become a multiple time now heavyweight champion going up against the big man daniel dubois for the ibf heavyweight title the big oost the big mensch himself my guy and yours joseph parker is taking time out of his scheduled vacation with his family to join us i mean what's

better than this i'd look at that man right there joseph thank you so much and thank you for doing this really appreciate it listen thank you guys for having me on. It's great to catch up and see you guys. Wouldn't be nice to do it live, but I'm doing it here from Samoa. So first, I just want to say, it's what we say here in Samoa. And I am on holiday.

I'm on holiday. It was a random trip for me and the family, wife and kids. Five days to spend in Samoa to catch some sun, do a bit of swimming, eat some mangoes, drink some coconuts. And when I leave New Zealand on Friday, I'll be gone for 11 weeks. I won't see my family for Christmas and New Year's, but I'm really excited for the opportunity that I have to fight Daniel Dubois

for the IBF Championship of the world and to do my best to become two-time world champion. That'll be so beautiful. You're the freaking man, Joseph. I can't thank you enough, especially on vacation. And I want to give you a shout out. I saw that you just launched your YouTube channel and the first video blog that you put up, fantastic production quality. You got to check this out. The way it was shot, everything was amazing. There's a scene there where you're eating with your wonderful daughters. You're having some toast and I believe honey. And then you take us to the honey factory to learn how they get the honey in the bottles.

Look at this production quality. Look at the cinematography right here. Joseph is doing big things. And I learned, this is you, by the way, with your cousin. And there's multiple outtakes there. It's really great theater. You guys did a fantastic job. You're laughing continuously over and over again. I learned while watching that, that not only are you missing Christmas, you're missing New Year's, and you're missing your birthday as well. You're really locking in.

How difficult of a sacrifice is this for you at this point, as you just welcomed your fifth child to this great world? know what i think it is difficult the most difficult part for boxing for me personally is leaving the family and and the kids are growing up now and they understand that i have to be away for work there are times where they can come with me and join camp and stay in another house and i can see the mirror day but this time i really want to focus um it is hard but we all have to make sacrifices in order to achieve greatness and it's just one of those things where I have missed a lot of Christmases and a lot of New Years because of training and fighting and this is just another one of them.

It gets harder and harder each time because the kids understand but it is part of the journey, it's part of the process and it's part of preparing the best I can for this big challenge coming up Joseph there is no one like on planet earth

that I'm more happy for than you for getting this opportunity I feel like me and Ariel have been banging the drums I know it has to be Joseph Parker for ages

and finally you get the opportunity how nervous were you though when you heard about AJ rematch and Vladimir Klitschko, and there was talks about Fabio Wardley as well. Was you always the top of that list or was your name kind of after Vladimir

Klitschko said no and AJ said no. It was spoken about, right. And you guys are very vocal. Thanks for, you know, drumming and getting me and helping to get me to fight and being local about it with the public and with the fight supporters.

I guess there was names like Klitschko and Fabio Wardley and Joshua having a rematch. And every time I sort of had a bit of like a positive feeling about getting the fight, then all these names popped up and it sort of went up and down, up and down, up and down. And I guess when I did um solid information i was getting the fight i was very much over the moon and i thought to myself i've been on the ring for so long uh my last fight was in march i have been training very hard i've been keeping in shape i've been eating good food and doing everything i believe right and then when the fight got locked in i was like you know what this is my second chance and opportunity

to showcase what I can do in the ring and to showcase what I've been working on and a lot of fighters do say out of the ring like, I'm going to be better I'm going to be bigger, I'm going to be stronger I'm going to be faster but I do believe fully

that I've been doing this great work with George Lockhart and Andy Lee outside of training camp that you're going to see all these improvements and there's only one way to find out that's fight night because a lot of fighters that stay out of the ring for so long they call you know you get something called ring rust and I believe ring rust comes from not training and not living the life listen I do have fun and I do enjoy myself but but mostly I do live the life. No, no, you do. I know that for a fact. I speak to Andy Lee quite a lot. February 22nd, I think is the greatest fight card ever. You headline the greatest fight card ever, which again, it is incredible for your career. Your career has had so many chapters. I think this

is a fantastic chapter. The last time I saw you, you look big. I mean, muscles, but big. I see all the stuff you do, all the squats, all the deadlifts. I thought, though, that was to prepare for Xili Zhang, because Xili Zhang's a monster, right? Nearly 300 pounds. Daniel Dubois is in that. He's around the 250 mark. Are you going to come in lighter now that you know it's Dubois,

or are you still going to come in the 270, 280? You don't have to give clues away. I'm just throwing a few things out there. Yeah, like you said, I thought it was a rematch with Zhang. So everything that we were doing leading into this rematch with Zhang was the only difference

with Zhang and myself was the weight. My endurance was better. I think the speed was better. Zhang is a very good fighter and he's got great boxing IQ, but the biggest difference was the weight.

So I was putting on the size in order to close that gap, the weight difference between Zhang and myself. With Dubois, it's a totally different fight. So we are going to trim down big time. And with Dubois, I have to be quick. You know, he, Wilder and Zhang, both power punches. Same as Dubois. Same as Dubois. Same as Dubois. But Dubois, his endurance is quite,

is on another level to those two fighters. So I have to really match him. I have to match him for the endurance that he's going to bring. But also he throws a lot of punches, power punches, combinations, you know? And whereas the other guys, they don't really throw too much.

So I have to really lift my game for Dubois. You know, it was back in 2018. And you've had a ton of big fights. I mean, even, you know, the last couple of fights, all massive, but perhaps this is the biggest since the AJ fight in Wales back in 2018, perhaps there's an argument to be made. I feel like you're a completely different human being, not just physically, but mentally, spiritually as well. Can you, can you elaborate on that, Joseph? What is the difference between this Joseph Parker and the one who fought AJ all those years ago? being, not just physically, but mentally, spiritually as well. Can you elaborate on that, Joseph? What is the difference between this Joseph Parker and the one who fought AJ all those

years ago? I feel like the difference with the Joseph Parker I'm in now is that I'm a lot more mature. And also, I appreciate the position that I'm in. I appreciate and I'm grateful for the opportunities that I get. And like the younger me, I did train hard and do things right, but not everything right. Whereas now I feel like I live the life and there's purpose behind everything I do. There's a lot more motivation, I'm a lot more disciplined and I'm fighting more so for myself personally. Before it was for my dad, coach,

different people that are in the team. But now it's more so for myself, my wife, and my kids. I feel like I'm a better boxer, I'm a better father, and I'm a better husband.

And I feel like that all together, I'm content, I'm happy, and everything now that comes is a bonus and I'm ready to take on the world.

You know, I knew about the relationship that you had with bonus, and I'm ready to take on the world. You know, I knew about the relationship that you had with Andy Lee and how he has helped in that transformation as well, but I go back to that trip, and I keep talking about it because we were literally in the car together for like an hour and a half one way.

I mean, we spent a considerable amount of time. It was me, it was you, and it was the great George Lockhart, and I was blown away by your relationship, how close you guys were. Like, you were like this in lockstep i understand he he lives with you in new zealand he is there every step of the way and he has worked with some of the greats tyson fury conor mcgregor just to name a few can you expand on that relationship and what he has meant to your transformation as a human being physically but also just you know having these types of people these ride or die type of characters by your side and i'd like to mention andy lee in a relationship

that we have andy is a technician and he's uh the brains behind the boxing and what we do in camp but when you when you bring in george lockhart uh from the very beginning George changed my thinking and his knowledge with the body with strength conditioning with nutrition recovery his knowledge is like something I've never heard before and our relationship George believed in me when we first started working together more than I believed in myself and he caught it from when we first linked up he said you are going to take over the division he saw potential but he also saw i was very green like i being a champion of the world he thought that i was um had a bit of strength and no conditioning but then when he when he started working together it was very different and then i realized i didn't really have any of that stuff in the beginning um What he said was raw talent and tenacity.

And I feel like I was gifted with good boxing skills, but I needed the strength and conditioning. I needed the nutrition. I needed the recovery. And now that I have George Lockhart and Andy Lee together, I feel like it's the best combination, including myself, to take over this division. How difficult was it, Joseph,

mentally to come back from the Joe Joyce defeat? I feel like that Joe Joyce defeat was a big one. And I think many said, okay, maybe that's it for Joseph Parker at the very top level, let alone a world title fight. How difficult was it to come back from that? Or did you always kind of believe in yourself that you could get back to the level you're at now? I always believed in myself.

But when things aren't going your way, sometimes you do question. Why aren't things flowing how it should or how I see it going? And then you start questioning yourself. You start questioning the team. You question what you're doing in terms of training. And I started asking all these questions. And then, you know, I said to my wife after the Joyce fight, this is not how it's supposed to be.

So I locked in another fight with Jack Massey. I went into camp. Leading into that fight, still, things weren't right. And more questions arose. And, you know, finding George Lockhart was probably the best thing that ever happened because he's a big reason why there's a big comeback. Understanding, when you understand your training, when you understand what you're doing, what you're eating, how you're resting, and you also understand your body and what it needs

and what it wants. When you understand all that stuff, your whole mindset changes. And from the Joyce loss until now, the person that I am in the fight of the confidence has grown dramatically. And I feel like, I feel like talking to you guys now, I feel like I can take over this division and I feel like I can take over and I can stay at the top for a very long time. Oh, I love it.

I love it. Just because the heavyweight division right now is crazy. I think one to 10, there's so many fights, so many different matchups that I think are fantastic on Daniel Dubois. Um, I spoke to so many boxers ringside who weren't, they were surprised that he beat AJ, but sorry, they weren't surprised he beat AJ.

They were surprised how quick and in the fashion he did it. How surprised were you with Dubois' performance over AJ? I counted, you know, with the Dubois and Miller fight, I sort of leaned towards Miller because I didn't know if Dubois had the great when when sort of hard times came into fight then her give it to fight came i still thought her give interest going to win then joshua i thought joshua was going to say the boy surprised me you know all three times but he also grew in confidence each and every time he jumped in the ring i feel like coming into this fight right now with myself like his confidence is you know way up here and um i was surprised in the way that he was able to

finish joshua i thought joshua would have done something different or showed something different but dubois all credit him put on the best performance on on the night or probably of his life in front of all the people in attendance and people watching around the world. All right, 11 days away. Your old pal, Tyson Fury, tries to right the wrong against Oleksandr Usyk. Can we be cheeky and ask for a prediction, Joseph? You know, I feel like this fight, the first fight, was very back and forth.

I feel that Tyson's mindset has changed coming into this fight. And I feel like if you have a different mindset, that can bring a lot of changes into how you train and how you approach the fight. I believe Tyson can beat Yusek. I went on a points decision, but it's a tough task to ask. Someone who's coming in with confidence winning the first time, but also hurting Tyson in the ninth round. So I'm tied with Tyson, and I think it's going to be a points decision.

Do you think that the winner of your fight against Daniel Dubois will fight the winner of this fight on the 21st of December? That's a trick question. That's a trick question. Oh, it's pretty straightforward. For me, in order to be the best in the world, I'll fight anyone out there and everyone. Doesn't matter who it is. But you have rematch clauses and you have, you know, the plans that they want are different from what we think is going to happen. But if the winner of this fight can fight the winner of that fight, it's going to make it happen.

Joseph, when does fight camp really start? When do you ramp it up where a phone goes away? Unfortunately, you say goodbye to the wife and the kids. When does that happen? I fly to New Zealand tomorrow from Samoa. It's been a beautiful time here. Swimming here with the kids and just enjoying ourselves. I fly tomorrow.

I get there on Thursday and then I fly on Friday, and I'll be gone for 11 weeks. So training camp will start on Monday, next week Monday, when I meet up with George and Andy Lee in Ireland. I'm coming to Ireland. I've got to come. I'm desperate just to come over and just spend a week. Actually, a week's too long.

Two days. Two days just to see Joseph Parker. spend a week, actually weeks too long, two days, two days. Forget Ireland, this man's in Samoa. By the way, Joseph, can I ask, what is the thing to do? If I were going to Samoa, because I grew up a huge pro wrestling fan, so I always hear about the wild Samoans and obviously Dwayne Johnson and his family

and now with Roman Reigns and whatnot. What is Samoa like? It sounds to me like a paradise of just incredible specimens like yourself just walking around and living the life is that what it is you hit the nail on the head there it's a it's a it's a beautiful place and everyone here is so nice and when you come here it's just a time to relax and enjoy yourself there's there's the beach there's pools um there's nice food um what i love to do is i like to sit on the beach

with a fish the raw fish and i just like to munch away um there's mangoes and you see and there's nice there's other food that you can eat cook here but that's that's what i like to do when i'm here you just sit there with raw fish by the way way? What is that? You just sit on the beach? What kind of fish? You grab it from the ocean and you just start eating it? Rip the skin. What? Put it in the water.

Munch away. Wow. What a legend. I love it. That's incredible. That's incredible. You know, I think one of my favorite athletes of all time, I stand to be corrected, but I think he is Samoan heritage.

Jonah Lomu. Is he Samoan heritage. Jonah Loma. The Samoan heritage. Jonah Loma. It's the Tonga. He's from Tonga. Ah, we will claim it. We'll claim him cause he was a legend. He's a legend.

The legend. Do you know who that is? Ariel? Do you know who Jonah Loma? Of course. Of course. Uh, he's one of the characters from the movie Moana, right? He's a rugby superstar

Rugby, one of the best rugby I only know about Samoa, I don't do Tonga, alright I only know about Samoa And by the way, by the way The greatest duo as far as A Jew and a Samoan Is of course Paul Heyman And the great Roman Reigns

And I feel like we've got something here, Joseph Can I be officially your version of this? Can I be your wise man? Can I walk you out to the ring on February the 22nd? Just hold the spit bucket. I don't need to have the belt over my head. I want to be the Paul Heyman wise man to your tribal chief. Can I be that guy?

There we go. See? See? See? This is the difference between me and Ariel. I'm impartial. Yeah. I'm impartial here.

I think it's a great fight. May the best man win. I see what you're doing here, That's fine. You're a Brit. You have to back your guy. I got the sum on. We're getting Dubois on next week.

We're getting Dubois on next week. I want to see what he says to Dubois. One quick thing, right? Ariel said to me to say something when I was in London for the fight. He said to me, go out there and say this something when I was in London for the fight. He said to me, go out there and say this. And I went out there and said it.

So I feel like with that example, you're already my wise man, Ariel. So we've got many more things to do, many more things to say, and many more big fights to approach. You didn't have to say that. You didn't have to tell the world that I was writing lines for you. But I do appreciate it. I do appreciate it, Joseph. I really do. By the way uh can i ask one last one if i may we were talking about vladimir klitschko perhaps you know screwing up the plans and returning turkey said that he was interested what do you think of a 48 year old vladimir klitschko fighting tyson fury if he wins next week listen um fishco keeps himself in shape i think we watched the mike tyson fight jay paul and that was a it was quite a hard fight to watch i feel like for me

i feel like when you retire from boxing that you should leave it alone for good but um everyone has their own agendas and everyone has their own ways of approaching things. Listen, if he wants to do it, he was a great champion when he had his time. Well said. I don't think you need to worry about that for now. Of course, we have the big fight in 11 days and then your massive one. And I have to say, and I know Ade agrees, I think we were a little worried when you weren't put on that Decembercember 21st card everyone was up in arms where's joseph parker where's joseph parker it all worked out we were angry we were angry we took it a step further we were angry i made

videos about it i said this is a disgrace this is this is i planned the camp and i flew to ireland to train oh god i had everyone there and then but you know what it's all worked out because you want this big it's all worked out. It's all worked out. Home and event are the greatest fight that's ever happened. All of the things that happen are just part of the journey, and it makes the journey a lot more beautiful when things do come together and you get to win and become champion of the world.

Amen. Wow. We are delighted for you and very, very excited about this opportunity. Good luck. Enjoy the rest of your holiday. Again, thank you so much for taking a little time out. I told you I try to keep it short, so we will do just

that. Enjoy the sunshine, the mangoes, the fish, all that stuff, and then good luck in training camp and can't wait to see you back in there on the 22nd of February. Good luck, my brother. I love it. I love it. I do love it.

Look at those arms, by the way. He put your arms to shame. I mean it. I do love it. The big oos himself. Look at those arms, by the way. He put your arms to shame. I mean, look at those biceps. No, he didn't. Come on. That's Joseph Parker right there. Love that guy.

How could you not? By the way, both guys are tremendously kind. No, no, no. You've obviously decided who you want to be. No, no. Don't try and spin it back. They're both salt of the earth. Can I walk you to the ring?

Can I walk you to the ring? Can I walk you to the ring? I mean, it's Paul Heyman. You were, I mean, Carly, Carly. Listen, I'll walk him out. You walk out Dubois. It'll be Ariel and Ade live from Riyadh, from the kingdom. Can't wait for that fight. Obviously, we'll be able to talk about it for quite some time.

By the way, a week after that fight is the big return of one Tank Davis. And he's returning to fight Lamont Roach. And, you know, we were talking a little bit about him, but now we've got kind of the complete picture. And a lot of people, Ade, were talking about Tank Davis's comments at the day of his press conference. He said he's done after 2025, right? He said he's going to do this fight and hopefully maybe two more, and then he's done. Now, we hear this a lot, but I want to play some sound for you from the scrum following the press conference,

because to me this was almost even more interesting than what he said at the day. It's a young boy comes up to him and says he wants to be a boxer, and he loves boxing, but he has some other interests as well. Take a listen to what Tank Davis said to this young boy. Tank, little man been waiting for you. He trying to get you signed. Yeah, come on.

There you go, little man. Tank, this one's for you. He's sharp, too. He's been watching for a while. Any advice you can give him as an amateur boxer? As an amateur boxer? Yeah. We got our silver gloves here.

Switch to soccer. Yo, you play soccer? You play soccer? Yeah. Don't box. You play soccer? Yeah. Don't box. You play soccer. I've been playing for seven years. For real?

You can fight. You love me? No, bro. Why soccer, Tank? It's more safe. His whole vibe was fascinating to me. First, he says he's done after next year. Then he says, hey, don't go into boxing.

It feels like he's got some harsh feelings. Shout out to Dan Can canobio he had a great chat with tank after the press conference yeah and he said essentially like i'd like to talk to a therapist but i feel like my fire will be extinguished inside of me if i do that what did you make of tank last week um fascinating i find him an intriguing character uh polarizing to an extent. And you're good to point out the Dan interview because that kind of shone a light a bit more on why he said he wants to retire. Again, this is a guy that says he wants to do therapy. We know there are issues and past traumas

that he wants to deal with, and he can't do therapy while he's still fighting. And I get that. I think some people are like, that doesn't make sense. It makes a lot of sense to me. I do think as a fighter, you're going to have to have that fire. It needs to be shining bright all the time. Once that fire has gone from you, then you can focus on other things.

Lewis is a guy that's clearly fell out of love with the sport. He's been through a lot. And we can only sort of see what he's been through from what he tells us. Can you imagine what he's been through behind the scenes? It's a dangerous sport ariel look as much as i love the sport of boxing it's a dangerous sport he's been fighting since he was six maybe he's just maybe the fire's running empty maybe he's just decided enough's enough he's made a lot of money it's not for everyone i've always said with the sport of boxing get in get rich get rich, get out. Get in, make as much money as you can, get out with your faculties in place if you can,

and that's it, leave the sport. And if the fire isn't there, it's a dangerous sport to be in if you're half-hearted about it. And right now, I almost feel like he's tiptoeing around the sport of boxing and he's going to come up against someone. And look, I still think Tank's a pound for pounder,

by the way, but he's going to come up against someone that is 100% in it it as opposed to Tank who seems to be in it when he wants to be in it um and I'm all for him retiring if that's what he wants to do I still think there's a lot to offer there are some fantastic fights out there but he's got a lot of money he's got a young family and he sees that as his priority right now and I have no problem with that do you believe him do you believe him when he says he's done after next year yeah i do i really do um i found it surprising that leonard ellaby wasn't there i found it surprising that his trainer calvin ford wasn't

there but i think um he fights once a year anyway i mean this is this isn't a guy that fights three or four times a year ariel yeah there's a guy that fights once a year who's very private he's probably on his instagram page right now there are no posts he almost doesn't want to be there he doesn't want to be in the limelight he he only started really speaking uh publicly about four or five years ago obviously floyd was doing all the talking for him this is someone that doesn't necessarily care to be on the front page of magazines he just wants to make enough money and then retreat back into the wilderness and he does that all the time so i wouldn't be super surprised um like boxers always say they're gonna retire then they come back but i wouldn't be surprised if he looks at his bank balance and think we're okay we've done

enough well you're 100 right he's getting paid a lot of money and he is certainly set for life. He just turned 30. He turned 30 last month. So let's just say, all right, end of 2025, he's 31. I just don't believe there's big fights out there. He got super fired up when a reporter suggested the Shakur-Stevenson fight. He says, who's he? What has he done? Who has he beat? All right, I get it but maybe at the end of you know 2025 with you know the fight coming up and then another one under the matchroom umbrella maybe he does entice tank davis uh there's also obviously the ryan garcia fight let's see what he does and there's the other gentleman you know there's there's maybe a devin haney who the hell knows i feel like there's always been these fights with tank there's always been these fights and for some reason so young we've not had these fights he is so young he is so young but again it's a dangerous sport and maybe he just feels it's time to get out oh maybe maybe it's like a two three year break but i just don't think that at the end of 2025 we never see him again i look i for one

hope not i for one think that he has a lot to offer um again i find him fascinating um and when he does speak like we saw him speaking to the young kid there you see almost a different side of him his eyes light up and I like that side of Tank the aggressive side I don't mind that either it's like a mini Mike Tyson so look I think he's fantastic for the sport I think he's the face of boxing I think he

ticks so many boxes I don't think he wants to do those things I don't think he wants to be the face of boxing I don't think he wants to be everywhere I don't think he wants to be the face of boxing. I don't think he wants to be everywhere. I don't think he wants to fight because if he did want to fight this, the guy that really could fight two, three times a year at best right now is a part-time boxer. And, um, again, that's why I wouldn't be surprised if he walks away. Sorry, just hold that thought. I'm, I'm on the phone with Canelo Alvarez. Um, I just heard you say that Tank Davis is the face of boxing, which is an absurd statement. Tyson Fury, I mean, come on.

Both those guys are face of boxing. Sometimes you get a little bit too crazy with these statements. Okay, wait, wait, wait. Face of boxing. You can make a case that Ryan Garcia is more well-known than Tank Davis, and he lost to him.

He's top five. Top five, fair. The face, the legitimate face. Top five. The undisputed face. I got carried away. He's top five. The face? Top five. The legitimate face? Top five. Top five. The undisputed face? I got carried away. I got carried away. You are correct.

It's Canelo. It's AJ. It's Fury. It's Tank. Ryan's in that conversation too, whether we like it or not. Ryan's in the conversation. I don't think Ryan's a bigger face of boxing than Tank Davis. He's in the conversation.

Your level of interest in this fight on march the first uh right across the bridge here in brooklyn back in brooklyn barclays tank davis lamont roach a fight that really should be happening in dc it's it's it's maryland it's it's baltimore versus dc i don't know why it's not happening at the the verizon center over there whatever they call that arena now what do you think you're interested i'm always interested in a tank fight like i would watch every single tank fight but i watch a lot of boxing so i don't know if that means anything um yes at one to ten one being not interested ten very interested six just because he's must see tv right we don't get him off must see tv yeah yeah i mean it's very it's the same interest i had

for frank martin right but i guess frank frank sold the fight a bit more because they went at each other. These guys are friendly. They know each other. They have a history as well. They've got an amateur team. Yeah. I thought Lamont did a good job. I thought he was carrying his weight at that presser, both pressers.

They had two last week. I don't think he was. By the way, you know, one thing is clear. Gervonta is really undersized. I mean, when you look at Lamont, who's coming up in weight, and he looks bigger than Gervonta. I mean, Gervonta is really undersized I mean when you look at Lamont who's coming up in weight and he looks bigger than Gervonta I mean Gervonta I know a lot of people saying oh Gervonta should fight these guys at 140 and he's he's far too small like I look at Gervonta and Gervonta really should be a 130 fighter yeah if he was super dedicated I mean he's fighting above his weight class so as much as people were saying that he's calling a guy above

I mean below his weight to come up, Lamont probably walks around bigger than Gervonta. So I think this is size wise, at least an even fight. That's part of his brilliance as well. Right? Uh, so small yet so damn powerful.

Now we're getting that fight on March 1st. We are not apparently at a getting the highly anticipated Tommy Fury versus Darren Hill fight on the 18th of January. You're so good at this nonsense. Close your ears if this stuff offends you. But I only want to bring it up for this reason, because I am baffled by the turn of events here. We get the crazy press conference.

Everyone's talking about it. They seem to have sold the fight. You get John Fury popping off. We talked about it. In that press conference, you have Darren Till, the former UFC title contender, say, yeah, you know, if things go awry, I might throw a kick. Afterwards, you get Tommy Fury practicing elbows, right?

He's hitting the heavy bag with his elbows. Okay, he's playing into it. Oh, you can't miss it. Who knows what's going to happen when these two crazy people go toe-to-toe at the co-op live arena. And then all of a sudden we get an instagram story out of nowhere late last week from tommy fury i can't believe i'm writing this but i'm now not fighting darren till on january 18 2025 for the one simple reason

being that darren has stated over and over that he does not want to abide by professional boxing rules and that if he is losing the fight he he will resort to kicking and other stupid MMA tactics. I'm a professional boxer. I've been out of the ring for over a year and I wanted this to be a great capital B-O-X-I-N-G boxing fight for the fans. I've wasted weeks in training camp. We are working hard to get a new opponent in date. I promise to get a better opponent and better fight for you guys. Good news around the corner.

Immediately afterwards, Darren Till responds with this. conference as a mental warfare tactic and since then i haven't said anything else i've been hard at work in the gym preparing for this boxing match with him on january 18th i said to everyone that tommy was going to pull out regardless of anything i fucking knew it since the press conference so now it's confirmed what what i said he's a shithouse family of shithouses and now tommy's not fighting i've been hard at work boxing for years. I haven't thrown a kick in two years. I threw one kick on a video as a mental warfare tactic. Never in a million years would I throw a head kick in a fight. That is only boxing rules.

I stick to the rules. I've always abided by the rules throughout my whole career. So now I've got to the gym to do my sparring this morning, eight rounds of sparring, and Tommy Fiore's pulled out. Tommy Fiore, you are the biggest shithouse I have ever come across. You are not a man. What is going on here, Ade? I mean, we could debate whether or not, you know,

Majumov has bronchitis. I'm calling Cap on this one. I don't understand what is going on, but I can't imagine it's because of those comments that he's going to throw the kick. Wait, so when you say you're calling Cap just because I'm an elderly man, this is the term that the young people use. Are you saying this is not true?

It's all fake? What are you saying? I do not believe that he is not fighting because of Darren Till saying he's going to throw a kick. That's absurd. Okay, yeah, I'm calling Kap on that as well. It's a joke. It can't be true. When I saw this, I thought, okay, it's a bit of a joke.

I think I tweeted it as well. I was like, okay, Mams, come on. Mams, obviously, who controls misfits. I was like, okay, look, it's a bit of a joke. I think I tweeted it as well. And I was like, okay, Mams, like Mams, come on. Mams, obviously, who controls Misfits. I was like, okay, look, what's going on here? And I think I saw KSI say, okay, the fight's still happening. So I thought, okay, this is just a little publicity stunt. I mean, Darren did so well on promoting the fight and hyping that press conference.

I was super excited. And I'm with Darren. It was mental warfare. Obviously, he's joking. Come on, this is stupid. And if Tommy said he's pulling out for that reason then Tommy's lying come on Tommy you're not telling the truth here there's something else is it a Jake Paul fight on the horizon do you have something else for more money like what's going on because you you know very well that Darren Till isn't going to head kick you like what this is this is nonsense I can't believe we've been

talking about well it's a bad look it's a really bad look for a guy that a lot of people have tried to say isn't a real boxer anymore or doesn't deserve that kind of respect you pull out of a fight against darren till for this reason i don't know how you truly come back from this i don't know how misfits ever works with them i don't know how the zone ever works with them and it's you brought up something very interesting there because the one thing that i kept hearing was does he have another fight does he have the jake paul fight and then all of a sudden that day we get this video this morning from tommy fury right so i've just woke up and seen logan paul talk on his podcast yet again

about how i don't want to fight jake and i'm running scared i seen jake tweeting the other day about how he offered me x y and z on netflix I just wanted to come in here and say that no one's running from that fight I beat you once already I handed you your first loss the minute you stepped up and fought a real boxer you lost fair and square I can give you a second loss that's not a problem but let's talk some serious numbers down the phone if you want to get in touch you know where I am it's as easy as that I can come back after a year and beat the period so at the end of the day if you want to fight let's start some serious numbers you know where I am all right when I see that I start to think something's amiss something's rotten in the state of Denmark now all of a sudden you're talking about the Jake Paul fight and that was

the first thing that everyone was saying the first thing that everyone was saying when all this happened was all right he's got something else and is it the Jake Paul fight and who the hell wants to see that fight I don't want to see that fight I do not want to see that fight we saw it once it wasn't very good I don't have great interest in seeing it again like I don't I don't know how to say I was actually more interested in the Darren Till fight just because you know we've been invested in Darren he's trying to rebuild his fighting life as a boxer right now his first fight did did not go very well. And now here all of a sudden is Darren Till getting an opportunity against Tommy Fury in Manchester where he's a massive draw and it's Liverpool versus Manchester and

all those things. Cool. I'm in. It's fun. It's fun for misfits. What is going on here? And then to add more to this conspiracy theory that there's something amiss jake paul even tweets about the tommy fury situation what an absolute muppet he says buddy you just pulled out of a fight for the third time you have zero credibility i offered you eight million dollars and you ran away from it and now you got dumped by molly i would say a low blow but fine that's a low blow yeah i don't like that getting sued by the zone i don't know anything about that and still can't call a shot without your dad gtfoh let me google that really quickly what is you know what that i'm kidding you know

what that is wow what is this what's going on by the way change angles on us dude dude like my camera my camera i don't know what's happening to my camera but we're working with listen it's the big leagues well you'll get there you'll get but we're working with it. Listen, it's the big leagues. You'll get there. You're working with the Kings. Something's rotten here. Something's going on. This back and forth, I just don't like it. And by the way, worth noting, like he was saying, looking for a new opponent and all that stuff, Till's staying on this card, to the best of my knowledge.

It's not like Misfits is saying, okay, you don't want to fight Darren Till? We'll find you someone else. Credit to Misfits and Mams Taylor. They're saying, no, Till, we're staying in business with you. We'll find someone else for you. And it sounds like they're saying goodbye, Tommy Fury, which I think is the right and fair thing to do. Yeah, they should say goodbye, Tommy Fury. But it's disappointing that the fight's not happening.

I mean, let's not get away from it. And by the way, on that video that Tommy Fury just released, I hate the way he didn't even talk about darren till it's almost like he's moved on from like well one second yes i've not moved on from it like mentally i'm still there with it like how have you moved on and talking about jake paul he's clearly got something else and by the way if he does fight jake paul it's a really bad look that means as soon as something else comes along that's bigger you jump ship that that's honestly it's not a great look at all um i'm disappointed for darren entry right just say it's an injury something i broke my pinky and and then you're scared of a head kick i mean i've been to so many different fury press conferences they do anything and say anything they get with i mean

we were at the prime card for misfits where John Fury was going crazy and punching a plastic bike barrier. I've been around when John Fury's headbutted one of U16 members. So anything goes on in these press conferences, all of a sudden, now you're worried about what Darren Till says. Honestly, it's not a great look. I do like Tommy, but this one, nah, this one isn't good. Yeah. So we are not getting that one. And as of right now, I just checked in, not that long ago, they don't have a replacement for Tommy Fury just yet. We are not getting that one. And as of right now, I just checked in not that long ago. They don't have a replacement for Tommy Fury just yet. We're not getting that one, but we're getting a whole host of fights this weekend. I mean, golly.

We have, I do believe, seven cards between now and Sunday. There you go. On DAZN, the global home of boxing, 150 all year long. And you're getting seven, I do believe. And I want to highlight a couple of them, and then we'll say goodbye. And I want to ask you which one you're most looking forward to. We'll start perhaps on Friday.

There's a most valuable prospects card. Juana Walton is returning, and a fellow Canadian, who I believe I spoke about last week, Tamara Thibault, making her pro debut. A lot of people believed that she would win Olympic gold in Paris. She ended up being one and done. And so she's stepping in there fighting a fellow Canadian, Natasha Spence. I'm looking forward to that on Friday.

We've got a card in Ontario, California, a Golden Boy boxing card that I do believe we have the poster here. Do we not have any of the posters? Yeah, there it is. Uh, we have that card. Yeah. Uh,

that's, that's a really, a really nice one. And by the way, a nice poster as well. Also on Saturday. And I do believe you're going to be there, uh,

all the way in beautiful Monte Carlo. I love these Monte Carlo cards. I love it. It's, it's, it's a little classier. It's a little, it's a little, uh, what's that movie?

Ocean's 11, Ocean's 12. Shout out to the man, Gary Cully, the bully. Beatrice Fajeda is a big time prospect managed by the great Brian Peters. You've got that one as well. What else do we have? What else do we have? Oh, we've got the return of Dillian White. The return of Dillian White and Gibraltar on a Sunday.

Who says the zone doesn't treat you well? And there's probably one or two. Oh, and you got that one coming up, obviously, that we talked about at the beginning. What's the fight? What's the fight card? What's the name you're most looking forward to this weekend? Gary Cully and Maxie Hughes.

I think that's a fantastic fight for a number of different reasons. I i think we were together in ireland when gary cully lost to jose felix and it kind of the whole night was kind of disrupted because of it um i i don't think he's fully recovered since that defeat he's had two wins uh but it's not been the gary cully of old um exciting entertaining that's now become quite defensive. And Maxie Hughes was actually supposed to fight Gary Cully on that fight card. It was supposed to be him, not Jose Felix. He said no to it. He then went to America, had the Cambosos fight, had the Zapata fight. No shame in the loss to either of those guys, even though I thought he beat Cambosos. So he thinks he's a level above Gary Cully. And that's why he didn't take the fight then. I don't know where both are now.

Does Maxi Hughes still have something left? Is Gary Cully still a man that has scar tissue from the Jose Felix fight? So look, that one I think is intriguing. Chef Clark's on the card as well. He fights for the European title against an unbeaten Frenchman. And then obviously the main event, Ali Akhmedov versus Espinoza good fight as well um so look there's quite a lot from that card and then obviously i make my way to riad saudi arabia um are you going from monaco to saudi arabia i am wow what a life what about the private jet i got the private jet yeah wow a long ways from the the green chair streams back in the day i gotta say what's wrong with the green chair streams what's wrong with them i'm just saying it's a long ways from them i mean like it's like

you know four years ago you're you're begging me on dms and i hear you are going no no i'm just saying i'm just saying no it's a lot i'm saying good for you you've come a long way that's all i'm saying uh by the way uh i had the pleasure of of visiting monaco with my family this past summer um what a place man i'm so jealous that you get to go there. Just, it's magical over there. How long are you getting to come? Well, I'd love you to come. About seven hours.

That's it? Seven hours? Literally, I fly in. I'm not joking. I fly in Saturday, four o'clock in the afternoon. Gosh. The event starts at 6.30. I then leave and go straight to,

I'm a man in demand. I then leave and go straight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia because Tyson Fury is waiting for me to sit down and talk with him. So I've got to go straight away. You can't, you can't show up like at least Saturday morning, Friday night, you know,

go to the cafe du monde, get a little. I'm a, I'm a busy man area. I've got shows to do over here. I've got, you know, I've got a few things to get together.

I got to pick up my tux. There's a lot to do. There's a lot to do. I've got to sort out my camera. That seems to be letting us down every show. There's a few things I've got seems to be letting us down every show there's a few things i've got to do ariel fair enough there's a few things i gotta do can't wait to see you rock in the tux uh so a ton of action to come this weekend on the zone by the way parting shot before we go okay here it is we go back to atlanta georgia this past weekend all right home of our producer, one Connor Burks.

Let's go to BKFC. You love a good BKFC scrap, don't you? That's Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. They have a huge show on January the 25th. It's Justin Watson against Cole Farrell. Two-second knockout. Is that real? Yes.

Is it? A two-second knockout out of A. BKFC 69. I mean, how could you not love this? I know you're on the fence. Look at this. Look at this. Look at the technique.

Let me say it again. Let me say it again. What technique? That's not a technique. Kablam! That's not a technique. There is no technique. Lights out.

Two seconds. The fastest knockout in BKFC history. Come on. I thought it was four seconds, to be honest with you. No, it was two. It was two. Was it two? Was it two? They start in the middle. Bang. Come on. I thought it was four seconds, to be honest with you. No, it was two. It was two. Was it two? They start in the middle. Bang. Kablam.

Hang on. That was actually quite exciting and entertaining. You're in? That was good. I'm still not a fan. Will I see you, KnuckleMania 5, January 25th, live on DAZN? Is it live on DAZN? Philadelphia. Eddie Alvarez versus Jeremy Stephens. The who, the F has that guy cup.

I'm in. I'm in. I'm in there. That's a great fight. That's a great fight. That's a great fight, by the way. Yeah. Oh, man.

I did see the face off between the two. I saw the face off from the stare down. I saw it. Yeah. So it's a good fight. Two big guys. All right. Two strong guys.

Well, we'll have time to talk about that for now. Well, Frank, quick with the music there. I was going to start. Frank, Frank, Frank. Why is Frank playing the music so quick? Frank, you got somewhere to go? There are four directors. Frank, what's going on, Frank?

Is it the camera? Wow. Has the camera annoyed you that much, Frank? I mean, can you keep one camera on you? Come on. You got dinner planned, Frank? Is it because I'm holding my mic like this? What's going on, Frank?

Frank, you got some dim sum to get to or what? Geez. You booked a taxi? Yeah. I guess we're done uh safe travel to monaco and riad i'll be speaking to you next week live from riad until then love you ade enjoy the fights talk to you next week Thank you. Bye.