The Ariel Helwani Show - Ariel x Ade, episode 7: first annual boxing awards show

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo celebrate the year in boxing with their first annual awards show.The duo hands out 14 awards for 2024, including Fighter of the Year, Knockout, Promoter, Event, and more. Plus each man makes one wish for 2025.

Hello everyone and welcome to the very first episode of Ariel and Ade right here on DAZN, the global home of boxing, our first episode of 2025. Let's be clear, we are up and at them already. We've had several shows back end of 2024 here we are kicking things off after a brief brief holiday break and a lot has happened since we last had a show of course the big tyson fury alexander usik rematch happened in riyadh saudi arabia we shall be talking about all of that and a whole lot more on today's program and in case you are wondering why I am wearing this snazzy little tuxedo, it is because this is our very first annual Ariel and Ade Boxing Award Show. I mean this in my opinion. And I've looked around.

It is the most robust. It is the most comprehensive. And already they are saying the most prestigious award show in all of boxing. And it's not just myself handing out the hardware on this lovely Tuesday evening here in New York City. No, we do have to go across the pond to London town where my co-host resides. The wonderful, the talented, the charming, and the dapper Ade Oladipo. Look at this guy. That's Tuck's number what?

What is that? Number eight? Number nine? What is that? Number eight? Number nine? What is that? No, this is the reused number two. Ah. Is this the Monaco tux or is this the Galata? This is the Monaco tux.

Well done. No, no, this is it. Good eyes. Yeah, nice. I was going to do the black shirt, but I thought, you know, you can't go all out on, you know, episode one of the award show. You can't do that. So I've gone with the white shirt, the classic.

Yeah, you hit us with a black shirt. What was that? Just like three, four weeks ago. You can't reuse it within the month. I got it. You know, I can't. It's a bit cheap if I were to do that. It's a major faux pas. And by the way, you are correct.

This is the best boxing award show. I've seen a few in the last couple of weeks. This is going to destroy all of them. Thank you. Blow them out of the water. So is going to destroy all of them. Thank you. Blow them out of the water. So you are correct on what you said. I can't wait. It's been a long time, it feels like.

It's only been about two and a half weeks or so, but it feels like it's been a long time since we last spoke. So much has happened. Of course, the big one in Riyadh. How was your holiday break? Can you give us a brief catch up here? I mean, I saw you on the broadcast. You and the whole team killed it.

Do you feel well rested? Do you feel ready to go? Ready to tackle 2025? How are you doing, my friend? Dude, I was hanging on. I mean, that end of that Fury-Usyk fight, or should I say Usyk-Fury fight, I was hanging on. My voice was going.

Those weeks are so long. Yeah, my voice, I could barely talk to Usyk. I didn't even know what I was saying. I was like, just get me out of the ring. Get me home. And then Daniel Dubois happened to hop in the ring I'm like what are you doing but I kind of liked it so it was weird I was trying to pretend I didn't like it I was like come on come on get over it get over it um so it was um an interesting week some good fights obviously Alexander Usyk

showing why he is the best heavyweight in the world maybe one of the best heavyweights of all time so um yeah I think there's a lot to take away from what happened um on that night and by the way i'm so happy that you you you tell us how you really feel on this program because i remember in the immediate aftermath of dubai crashing the party everyone's like how dare he how dare he and i just said without looking at anyone's take including yours which i saw after i said i loved it i said yeah good on you daniel dubois this is what we want out of you some some panache some character some chutzpah and everyone's like oh time and place daniel time and place screw that nonsense wedge yourself in there and so why did

you say on on social media that you didn't like it and now here you're saying the opposite which one is it because well one second you know a bit of hindsight i watched it back and i was like daniel this is actually quite a good move on your part yes you're being I you know you know my only fear for Daniel is the overlooking of Joseph Parker to get in the ring and do that that's my only concern one second you got a big fight come February 22nd against a guy that I think we both believe will cause him some trouble and I saw Joseph Parker after we're on the plane coming back and he wasn't too happy about it. So I was like, oh, Daniel maybe overlooked Joseph Parker and just sort of go to Alexander Usyk. But I thought it was good. I like to see this character of Daniel. Daniel's now become a bit of a superstar and

superstars do what they want to do. So I wasn't too mad at it. I have a feeling Daniel Dubois' name will come up plenty of times throughout this award show. I do want to add one other quick thing Regarding this little conversation that we're having here Out of the blue yesterday I got a WhatsApp message from George Lockhart Daniel's nutritionist, dietician Strength and conditioning coach

I mean he's a jack of all trades We've talked about him on the show Out of nowhere he just writes me Happy New Year Ariel So I write back Happy New Year And by the way, what is the cutoff? Is it the 6th of January? Is it the 7th? Is it the 4th of January? Is it the 7th?

Is it the 4th? 7th. Okay, so happy new year. Today's our last day. It's the deadline. In any event, I say happy new year back. He says, I've never felt more confident going into a fight. This is the best training camp that I've ever been a part of.

Under six rounds. Remember I told you. I was like, damn. All right. You've seen a thing or two This is about Joseph Parker Against Daniel Dubois By the way On February 22nd

So that made me perk up Just a little bit Speaking of heavyweights I did see on social media As well That you happened to be Hobnobbing With the great

Anthony Joshua Hobnobbing I mean Hobnobbing me I mean Look at you guys Look at the boys Look at the little boys look at the link up where's this this was in nigeria you know obviously aj spent his christmas and new years

in nigeria i'm in nigeria i'm seeing aj everywhere he went to go and see our president went to see the governor of lagos and i'm like one second when's he gonna come and see me what's going on you know i mean i'm in nigeria what's and then on my last day i happened to go into this nice little spot overlooking the water and one of my friends is there and he comes out the toilet and says aj's over there i'm like where he says over there so you know i wait for aj to take all the photographs as he's doing and i kind of give him a little body shot he turns around angry then he sees it's me and it's all happy wow high five he's dabbing me up he's like you know having a little conversation i'm like well you know what's's me and it's all happy wow high five he's dabbing me up he's like you know having a little conversation i'm like well you know what's going on and he's just i felt it was

nice to see him in a very nice space because that was the first time i've seen him since the um the war defeat so i was like okay where is he mentally and he seemed to be in a good space and um i think a couple of days before that he did an interview interview with a Nigerian media outlet saying he wants Tyson Fury. And he reiterated that with me as well, saying that's what he wants next. So I'm not giving any breaking news. It's already broke. But that's what I think he wants to do. So that's good to hear.

Didn't mention Dubois or, you know, the Alexander Usyk trilogy. He wants to have the biggest fight. And the biggest fight, I think, in boxing is AJ versus Fury. Never mind all that. Most importantly, has he refollowed you on Instagram? No. He wants to have the biggest fight and the biggest fight I think in boxing is AJ versus Fury. Nevermind all that. Most importantly, has he re-followed you on Instagram? No. Hmm.

I thought maybe. He didn't, he didn't even, I even tagged him in my story, hoping for like a reshare. I saw him, give me some followers. Yeah, nothing. Nothing. No, wow. And he saw it. Oh, he left you unseen.

Yeah, yeah. I saw it. I saw, you know, he shows you who's looking at the photo. I was like, I'm going to look at my story and nothing. I was like, it's unseen. Yeah, yeah. I saw it. I saw it. You know what he shows you? Who's looking at the phone? I was like, I'm going to look at my story and nothing. I was like, it's cool. It's cool. He's keeping you, you know, he's using his range, his distance. Yeah, basically, yeah. He's keeping a big off lip.

Yeah, but it's okay. It's okay. We're still boys. We're still Nigerian brothers. Yeah. It warmed my heart. I know how much he means to you and how much he has meant throughout your career. So it warmed my heart to see you guys link up in Nigeria.

It was wonderful stuff. All right. Shall we get to it, my friend? Shall we get to it? Everyone's waiting. Can we get back to some awards? By the way, do you know how many boxers and promoters have reached out to me saying, am I getting an award today?

I'm like, wow. Wow. This is big. People are watching this for like, I think they think they're getting physical awards. You're going to get a tweet, people. That's about it. You're going to get a tweet, maybe an Instagram post. Well, we have the awards ready. I mean, we could take this sticker off and put another sticker on there.

And maybe our friends at DAZN can gather all the addresses and ship them out. If they'd like to, Alina uh maybe we can get someone to do that for us that would be nice that would be very nice guys um you know i don't know maybe sol could do it for who knows someone out there is there anyone that could do it for us um anyway uh let's get into it let's get into it okay so in total my friends uh these are the categories i do want to let you know it's as robust as it gets it's as comprehensive as it gets we'll be handing out awards for the male and female fighter of the year, KO of the year, fight of the year, round of the year, prospect of the year, trainer, promotion slash promoter. You can go either way with that one.

Looking forward to that one. Event, card, moment, upset, most improved, promo of the year. And at the very end, both Ade and I will give our sort of wish for 2025 as it pertains to boxing in particular. And so stay tuned for that. That's not an award, but it's just a resolution, if you will. Let's get into it. And let's start with one that I have to say I had a lot of trouble with This was the one You know there's always like one or two categories That you go back and forth You waffle on

There's a couple that right away boom boom boom You put it in you move on to the next But fight of the year for me Was probably the toughest And if I could break the fourth wall for a moment We did an MMA award show on Monday And I didn't love Any of the candidates

For fight of the year there were a lot of like b's out there but no a's or a pluses as far as boxing is concerned i thought there were several a pluses and so i had a really hard time with this one shall i lead things off shall i go first with this one um yeah the floor is yours the floor's yours because I agree with what you're saying. This one I really struggled with. I could have picked five. Yeah. I could have picked one. So can I, as we're doing it, can we mention the ones that we didn't pick? Yes. They feel bad leaving them out? At the 11th hour, we had a deadline, and I like to adhere to all deadlines. At the 11th hour, I will tell you that my pick was Ryan Garcia versus Devin Haney.

That was my pick. I will never forget sitting ringside. I was sitting ringside with you in Brooklyn, Barclays Center, and I'll never forget the feelings that we had going into that fight. Everyone thinking that Haney would dominate, for the most part, everyone. I know you were feeling Garcia as well, but for the most part, that was the feeling that it would be a one-sided beatdown, if you will. And I'll never forget, I think it was second round going into third, or maybe third going into the fourth.

We were sitting sort of like corner of one of the turnbuckles, and at the end of the round garcia looks in our direction i don't know if he was talking to us but he said i'm different like that and i was like damn he was talking directly to us he looked at us and he was feeling as if to tell us yeah yeah and that's when i was like oh my and by the way the the noise in that building the noise in that building when garcia Devin, like, I mean, we've been to some arenas and stadiums together. That was as loud as it got. It was fantastic. So good. That's, that's not your pick. So it was one that I loved and I thought the drama and I thought

the, the, the, the skill on display, but ultimately for two reasons, it was a little more one-sided than you would like for a fight of the year and ultimately i did have to move it down because there are pds and infractions and i don't think that ultimately controversial or not who knows what the truth is you can reward you know a fight with with with this type of award this type know, honor, when there's something like that attached to it. And so ultimately I went with Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano too. Back and forth they went on the biggest of stages. What an unbelievable showdown.

We didn't think that they would be able to top the first fight back at Madison Square Garden. One of the greatest events, greatest nights that I've ever witnessed as a fan, as a spectator, as a media member. And you see the cut early on. I'll never forget at the end of the first round, I thought Katie Taylor was done. And who knows if it's a three-minute round, if she is done. But we said that about the fifth

and 10th round in the first fight a few years back, and she's able to come back, come back, come back. And then there's the great irony of the cut happening. And if they would have, in fact, stopped the fight because of the cut, Amanda Serrano would have won because she was up on the scorecards. But slowly, but surely, slowly, but surely, Taylor comes back and wins a somewhat controversial decision, just as she did back in April of 2022. It was the best of boxing. It was the best of women's boxing, regardless of gender, in my opinion, Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano, too. My fight of the year, but I have to say an extremely hard one to choose because ultimately, I thought there were three or four

or even five great candidates. What about you? Yeah, in terms of if three or four or five, I hope that Dmitry Bivol, Artur Baturbev is in that five because that fight there, I could just, you could almost just watch the feet of the fighters. That was skill for skill. That was two different styles gelling and matching up. That was two guys going to war, if you like,

that have known each other for years. That was a Russian dance showpiece. And I loved it, but it isn't my fight of the year. My fight of the year happened in the UK back in March. It was the big boys. We love a domestic dust-up over here Ariel Hawane nothing beats it for British fight fans and I'm talking about Fabio Wardi versus Fraser Clark one we obviously saw what happened in number two but number one was insane honestly it had absolutely everything it had the knockdown it had where you point a point where you thought okay Fabio Wardi is just going to win this and he's going to almost be too too powerful too strong too fast for Fraser Clark Fraser showed all the amateur skill and all the amateur pedigree dug deep hurt Fabio Fabio's nose is all busted up

blood is pouring down his face he finds a way to kind of come back into it it's a rocky fight it's back and forth and in the end it in the end, it was a draw. And it was a draw that, I hate draws in boxing. It's the worst thing in sport, a draw. But it almost deserved to be a draw. It was a fantastic fight between two heavyweights.

Fabio Wardi's gone on to be a top 10 contender now. Fraser will come back again. But that for me had everything. That's my fight of the year. Very, very tough. I'm going fabio wardy fraser clock one i love that one easy i wasn't i wasn't expecting it to be honest uh i remember

that one a sunday afternoon in march uh i love a good sunday afternoon card because here in the united states it was happening in the afternoon over there uh evening time i think after a big was it a man city liverpool match right after, something like that. Oh, look at you. Yes, I remember these things. What's going on? How? I mean, look, when you're supporting the number two team in the Prem right now, you remember these things. You remember these things, my friend.

And, of course, we have the big showdown against Liverpool back at the City Ground next week. Anyway, oh, around this time next week, by the way, Tuesday of next week. In any event, I didn't think you – I thought you – look at that. I thought you would go with a heavyweight fight. I didn't think you would go with that heavyweight fight. I thought you would go with either Usyk Fury one or two. You were there for both of them. And I'm not quite sure where to rank them at this point because they were both classics.

I think I might, if I had to rank them, go with one first just because of how great that ninth round was. But I thought you were going to pick one of those either one or two and maybe a little bias because of how recent it was too too obvious too obvious mine was a hipster choice okay i like i could have gone there you do a bit too obvious everyone's gonna pick to those everyone's gonna pick those and i thought you know i want to go something a bit more domestic maybe something that went under the radar you know everyone's maybe forgotten about but every time you watch it back, as you people will watch it back now I've mentioned it, you're going to say Ade's 100% correct. This was a fantastic fight.

What about Raymond Ford back in March? And we don't have a comeback fighter of the year or a comeback of the year in our particular award show. perhaps we'll get there. But I thought, you know, we were in Riyadh and I was watching that fight. It was at the Turning Stone Casino near where I went to school at Syracuse University. It was a top-ranked card against Kobolatov and he was done. And then he ends up winning in the 12th round at the buzzer, essentially. I saw a lot of people pick that fight as a contender for fight of the year i saw a lot of people pick uh better be a bivel um i saw some people even throw out dubois joshua because of how back and forth it went uh how dare they how dare they ford ball what about that one the fivers fight good fight good fight you know what it was

it was a fight that didn't it had so many little moments rather than a big moment in it it was kind of back and forth and little moments it wasn't really a big moment like the serrano taylor fight had that moment because of the cut and i think of fabio wardley fraser clark i think of the busted nose and get fraser clark getting knocked down there wasn't that big moment with nick ball raymond ford it was a very good fight but it can't be fight of the year. Good fight, but not fight of the year. I don't think anyway. Sure, sure.

Ortiz, Virgil Ortiz against Boyachuk? Steady. I might mention that a bit later. Yeah, yeah. That was another great one. It might slip in a bit later. That was a fantastic fight, by the way. By the way, did you consider Taylor Serrano?

Yeah. Yeah. It was my third choice. So I went Fraser Clark Wardley. I went Bivol Baturbiev. I Taylor Serrano? Yeah. Yeah, it was my third choice. So I went Fraser Clark Wardley. I went Bivol Baturbiev. I went Serrano Taylor. Okay. And I was very, very close to actually just, again, like you on the 11th hour, just chucking Serrano Taylor up there.

Just because it might be as good as the first one. And I thought the first one was just everything you could want in a fight. This one might have sort of eclipsed it. But I just, I don't know what, maybe it's because, you know, I'm a bit, you know, soft to the big boys. I kind of feel like, okay, those boys delivered. And again, it was a lower level fight. If you like the others, uh, elite level.

And I thought these guys were talking the talk before the fight and they walked the walked and delivered. So maybe that's why. Fair enough. Um, by the way, shout out to the YouTube chat. We are live right now in the DAZN boxing channel who are mocking me for. Mistaking that it was, it was, it was Arsenal city, not city Liverpool. I'm so sorry that I didn't remember the Sunday evening matchup back in March

of last year, almost exactly 12 months ago. I mean, I got one of them right. For freaking sake, uh, in any event, congratulations. Congratulations to all. Uh, let's move along so we go from fight of the year to round of the year i'll let you go first here because those two are always tied um i wonder if you know this is the impossible award yeah this is like the most impossible thing again they're going to be people in the chat like come on let's let's not forget

that fight that happened mexico the 20th of november i can't remember everything i can't remember the one i do remember is a fantastic fight in the 154 pound division between virginal tees and sir here boy shook yeah who you just mentioned um boy shook by the way complete animal i watched his fight against ishmael davis i was ringside for it and i was like wow this guy is just frightening honestly frightening frightening. Him and Virgil Ortiz decided to fight in a phone booth from round one. But round eight had a bit of everything because Virgil Ortiz got knocked down. Says it wasn't a knockdown. It was a clear knockdown. The referee counted and rightly so.

That seemed to really pee off Virgil Ortiz. And he came out after the count like a man possessed and went toe to toe with boychuk who fair to him went toe to toe with virgin or tease these guys were just swinging away all skill and all brains were thrown out the window and it was man oh man and it went from a round which virgin or tease lost to a round which i thought was a draw fantastic round again if you haven't seen it, please go and watch it. Virgil Ortiz, Serhii Boychuk, round eight,

round of the year, easily. Over 125 punches thrown and an incredible, I mean, I'm reading some of the stats here over on uncrowned.com. They also,

the crew over there, they gave their round of the year to this particular fight um in this particular round excuse me um virgil atiz versus sergey boychuk an unbelievable pick and it's mine as well uh i had a feeling we were going to agree on this one here are some of the highlights as you are as you are seeing them play right now you just recounted some of them the the the knock down the slip and then bang, bang, bang. Just incredible action.

You weren't at this fight, were you? I wasn't, and I'm gutted that I wasn't at that. And I'm like, I'm sort of selling the zone. Can you get me to some of these American fights, please? These Golden Boy ones, because they seem to have so much action, honestly. And Virgil Ortiz is an action-style fighter, and so is Soho Boychuk,

which is why I'm a bit upset that we didn't get Boychuk versus Israel Majumov. I think that would have been a fantastic fight. I understand why we didn't get it, but still would have been a great showdown between those two. But Boychuk's an animal, Ortiz is an animal, and Ortiz may be fortunate to get away with the win here.

Because, you know, having watched the whole fight back, I mean, you could give it to Boychuk, but again, it shows the kahunas, if you like, on Virgil Ortiz because he got hurt several times in this fight, but decided to bite down on the gum shield and fight. Not box, fight. And that's probably why he got his hand raised at the end of the fight. Virgil wins via majority decision back in August. He wins the interim WBC super welterweight title. And as you mentioned, we'll see him back in action in February in Riyadh on that incredible card.

Okay. So we agree on one out of the two so far. Let us move along now to another tough one, because again, I thought that there were a ton of great candidates for this one, and that is knockout of the year. Knockout of the year, always a fun one. If you're talking about combat sports, you're talking about boxing, MMA, kickboxing, it doesn't matter what it is. It's always a very fun one. And this particular year in boxing gave us some tremendous knockouts. I'll kick this one off Ade if I can. There were a few that I was thinking about, and we could talk about the honorable mentions in a moment. But I will just say I am sticking to my pick that I made back in July of this past year. I was ringside in Tampa for the Jake Paul, Mike Perry fight, the MVP card. I was working for DAZN and I watched the Ashton Silva, the H2O Silva versus Lucas Body fight.

And let's be honest, that was a fight that was supposed to showcase H2O Sylve. He was someone that they had high hopes for. They wanted him to be on the Netflix card. They were talking about, you know, some pretty big names going up against them and those didn't come to fruition. And so in comes the relatively unknown, undefeated Lucas Body fighting at a Niagara Falls, ontario and he delivers one of the most vicious one of the scariest knockouts that i've ever seen either in person or on television and and for me my perspective was sitting there ringside you're not just seeing what the tv is showing you if you're watching it at home you're actually seeing it with your own eyes and after

he knocked him out h2o silva very young man in his early 20s, did not move for quite some time. It was scary. It was scary for a young man to get knocked out like that. The kind of knockout that could affect the rest of your career and life, honestly, it could really derail things. Luckily, he hasn't fought since. No plans for him to fight just yet. The kind of knockout that you need an extended period of time off after you suffer that one. It was vicious.

It was scary. It was one for the highlight reel. That night I said, it's my knockout of the year. Five or so months later, it's still my knockout of the year. Here it is. On the way down, he hits him with the left. And he falls face first and he's convulsing there. Absolutely terrifying stuff.

It's, it's easily the knockout of the year. Like nothing comes close. Nothing. So I agree with you. I mean, you could have stopped the knockout of the year. Can we see it again? Let's see it again as Ade's talking. I don't want to see it again.

I don't want to. It's scary. Fair enough. It's the scare. Honestly, but watching it back, it is actually scary. Most knockouts, like the AJ Dubois one, I wasn't scared. I mean, AJ was trying to get up. He he fell back down but I know he's okay that one I was very concerned I remember a couple of months later I don't know what prompted me to do it I went on

Ashton Silva's Instagram page just to see if he's okay like what's he doing because it scared me that much it reminds me there was a knockout. I'm going to say 15 years ago, Paul Williams got knocked out by Sergio Martinez, just like that, where they kind of go face first, they face plant. And that's what this reminded me of. So yeah, that one without doubt,

knockout, dude, it could be knockout of the decade. Yeah. I can't remember a knockout like that, apart from the one I just mentioned. Well, what's unique about it is he hits him on the way down.

He's already out. Silva's already out on his feet and he hits him with the left. And not because he was being malicious, not because he was trying to hit him with a cheap shot, but it's just like he falls face first and you don't see a lot of those. You know, it actually kind of reminded me, honestly, of the Tyron Woodley knockout, Jake Paul knocking Woodley out the face first faceplant, the Ric Flair faceplant, you don't see a ton of those in boxing. Usually, usually they'll fall backwards. And so to see a young man fall face-first convulse and be out for quite some time, it was scary stuff. By the way,

shout out to Lucas Boddy. He was just there as an opponent. He beats the golden boy, the big-time prospect. He gets an MVP contract as a result. They're now his promoter. And then he gets to uh you know he was just there as an opponent he beats the golden boy the big time prospect he gets an mvp contract as a result they're now his promoter and then he gets to fight on the netflix card and he wins on that card as well so it just goes to show like you know what is yeah you know what though we'll say this i hated his celebration i get it in the moment i understand you you are celebrating again it's the biggest moment of your life, right? You it's, it's the lottery numbers, but I remember every time I watch it, I want to sort of want him to stop, like stop celebrating. Like, you know, when your opponent's out and out, out.

And I was like, just stop someone, calm him down, please. I think the referee tried to grab him. He ran away from the ref, went to his corner, his corner, tried to kind of hold him like stop, stop, stop. Because what was going on it's just a small thing look i get it is that fair though is that fair like in the moment i just i don't know it's easy for us to say especially after the fact but in the moment this is the biggest moment of the guy's life no i've seen i've seen so many people i remember seeing lee wood knock michael conlon out the ring and even lee but then again lee's a lot older maybe. Lee was like, okay. And he's had moments.

Lee Wood is a headliner at that point. This guy was just served up as an unknown opponent. Yeah, okay, okay. It's tough. Maybe it's just because it was so scary to watch. Maybe that's what it is. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Lucas, if you're watching.

No, no. Listen, I understand where you're coming from. And I have been critical of people, you know, like in MMA, you hit them with the extra shot you didn't have to or you celebrate like that you didn't have to but then you try to put themselves yourself in their shoes and like you almost like lose control of your body is the way it's been adrenaline right i mean yeah explain it must be crazy again as you say he was an opponent a massive massive massive underdog and then look what he's gone on to do as well. So now that Ashton's okay, which is fantastic, and now that he's gone on and won another fight on Netflix,

it's kind of worked out for both. Yeah. All right. Well, that leads us very nicely to upset of the year. And perhaps Lucas Body goes back to back with this one. How about you go first? Okay. This one is pretty easy.

I had to look at my, I've got my little iPad here with it just to make sure I've got the right one in front of me. This is easy. And if anyone has any other name, then you might be watching the wrong sport because this is easy. I mean, when you go into the lion's den that is Mexico and fight a Mexican monster named Jaime Munguia,

who is, I don't know what the odds are, but he is the biggest favorite to win since mankind. And you put him to sleep like that. You are definitely the upset of the year. I mean, it just has to be. And I, I want to make sure I've got his name. Correct. Is it Suras?

Yes. Suras. Yeah. A man that I've never heard of in my life. That's because you're a casual. I would like to say, ah, maybe I am. Maybe I just tipped her around this ball, but I've never heard of this guy in my life. And he goes and does that to Mingia. I mean, they were talking about Mingia versus Belanga and Bili. Maybe Mingia got up to 175. I mean mean they had already started looking at his other opponents and this guy there's no one who by the way by the way you look at his knockout record can't even punch can't even punch and then he does that that is easily

easily upset of the year easily no one say aj duar don't lie to yourself it's bruno serras okay so that one happened at the very end of 2024 and sometimes you you almost hate to give awards to things that happen in december because it feels like there's a recency bias but you're 100 right we had the odds up there um munguia was a minus 2500 favorite i mean it's just absurd uh and look at it bruno was a plus 1200 underdog absolutely absurd uh no one saw this coming especially stopping him uh yeah the the relatively unknown bruno sauras has to be the winner of the upset of the year by the way um daniel dubois what do you mean what do you mean relatively unknown unknown okay fine i just don't want to be disrespectful to the young Frenchman. It's okay. It's okay. Unknown.

Unknown, period. Daniel Dubois was a plus 300 underdog. AJ was a minus 500 favorite. That's been brought up. Not a lot of people were giving Daniel a shot going into that one. Let's be honest. Considering the role that AJ was on after the Ngannou knockout and, you know, the winning streak with Ben Davison and whatnot. But, I mean, just look at the numbers, right?

Plus 1,100, minus 2,500 favorite. Those are like... And you're going into his backyard? Yeah. You're going, this isn't Vegas. You know, this isn't a fight in New York. You're going to Mexico? Those are women's boxing odds.

Like, you know, Skye Nicholson is always a minus 2,000 favorite over whomever she's fighting. Or Clarissa Shields, like a minus 2,000 favorite over whomever she's fighting. Clarissa Shields is like a minus 5,000. Those are the kinds of odds you see in women's boxing where there's a lot of lopsided fights sometimes as they're climbing up. You don't usually see those on the men's side of things and certainly not the underdog

winning. If you had that ticket, bravo. Well done. Félicitations à Bruno Serras the what did you say what did you just say felicitation means uh congratulations oh french by the way what a what a time what a time what a time for french combat sports they're on fire in pro wrestling they're on fire in mma they're missing a guy they're missing a guy in boxing, if I'm being honest. Perhaps it's Bruno Sores. Maybe.

There was a guy in the Monaco show, and I can't believe I forgot his name, that beat Chef Clark Cruiserweight. He was very good. Very, very good. Very strong. So French boxing right now is on the rise. Good luck to them.

Yeah. Maybe we'll get the second coming of one François Botha. His name, by the way, Leonardo Mosquer. Yeah, Leonardo Mosquer. Yeah, very good. Very strong. He's a bit of a problem. So, and that's what, those were sort of, I think, a few days in each other.

Yeah. So, yeah, it's a good timing. I believe it was the same weekend, if not a few days. All right, let's move along now and go to one that I had a little bit of trouble with as well. Let's go to trainer of the year. And so trainer of the year. Easy. All right, so go ahead.

Why don't you lead it off? This is easy. There's only one man that can get this. Well, you know, before I mention his name, I do want to give a massive shout out to a good friend of mine, a good friend of the show, Mr. Don Charles. He does watch the show. I think what he's done with Daniel Dubois in the last 12 months has been fantastic. But it's difficult for me to give it to a trainer who's had one charge. Yeah.

As opposed to a trainer who's had several. Yeah. And I'm talking about Mr. Robert Garcia. Yeah. Who's had several fighters. I mean, Robert Garcia's fighters this year went 77 and seven, or 70 and seven, I believe. It was 70 and seven, yeah.

Was it 70 and seven? Yeah. So many fighters and how active they are as well. But obviously, look, he's star pupils, Jose Valenzuela being Isak Pitbull Cruz. That was on the LA Riyadh season card. Pitbull Cruz, a big favorite. There's a lot of talk about him fighting Javonte Davis. Valenzuela's like, I don't think so.

Jesse Bam Rodriguez had a great year he's moving to the pound for pound rankings we spoke about Virgil Ortiz yes maybe fortunate to get the win over Boishuk but got the win nonetheless there are other fighters as well but those are his three star pupils and all three won this year and excelled

so I think Robert Garcia's had a fantastic year and again he trained so many fighters. It's almost like an academy. He's boxing gym and they all get time with him and they're all doing well. Mr. Robert Garcia, I think your trainer of the year. Congratulations. A phenomenal year, hall of fame trainer. His resume speaks for itself and you make a very, very strong case. Not much for me to add other than the fact that the winner is Don Charles. And I appreciate the fact that you're not trying to show your British bias. But what he has done with this man who has turned the heavyweight division upside down, nothing short of amazing.

You remember that in August of 2023, everyone was writing off Daniel Dubois. Ah, he's got no heart. He can't do it. He quits when he has a broken orbital. He quits when he fights Alexander Usyk. Ah, he's done. And they built him up. And the thing is, Don Charles didn't just build up Daniel Dubois. He didn't just like, you know, fix the little holes in his game. He built up his confidence. And that might be the most impressive thing. He gave the man enough confidence to feel like he could waltz in there in the middle of the ring after Usyk beats Fury for the second time and demand a rematch.

Daniel Dubois ain't doing that a year ago. That's a man who's confident. And that's a man who has a tremendous trainer by his side. And you'll recall the week of the AJ fight, there was all kinds of rumor and innuendo that he and Don Charles had split up all of a sudden. And then we come to find out that it was all kind of nonsense

that he was under the weather. In any event, it was that big of a deal because of how big and important Don Charles is in his particular life and career. And he's done other things with other fighters, but I thought the work that he did in particular over the past 12 or so months with the great Daniel Dubois, to me was enough to give don charles the nod

uh you know i want to argue but i can't because i i do like don and he's the man said it's correct i love his interviews as well he's turned eyes for he will say it how it is yes i mean he's come on and he's thrown bullets at a lot of people um but you're right the turnaround in dubois not just in the ring but maybe even more importantly outside the ring because i think that then goes on to help you inside the ring has been incredible he's been a father figure for him um dubois i think now is the second best heavyweight in the world behind alexander usic i do think he's jumped fury now and that's down to don charles so no arguments here. I think Robert's done more because, again, he's got more, like, boxes under his stable. But no arguments with Don Charles.

And by the way, we did this on purpose because there's a common thread and they all kind of weave in very nicely. And so let us go and talk about most improved fighter. And I'll lead it off. And it's easy for me. It's Daniel Dubois. Because of everything I just said, I could literally say all those things all over again to see how far this man has come. And again, the skills were always there.

Let's be honest. You know, he was in there against some of the best. And I always felt like the way people talked about his heart or lack thereof, the way people talked about, you know, whether or not he can hang with the big dogs was always unfair. I remember the Joe Joyce fight vividly. And remember thinking how unfair it was that people talked about him quitting when he had a broken orbital bone. What do you want him to do?

And then he built himself back up. And then he's in there with Oleksandr Usyk. Until this day, we don't know if it was a clean shot or not. And that's why I'd love to see the rematch if, in fact, he gets by Joseph Parker. Nevertheless, we thought, OK, maybe at that point, we've seen him hit his ceiling. And what has he done since then he has won each and every time out and then you cap it off with the Wembley fight against AJ who at this point there's the renaissance and he's trying to get the title for the third time

and it's the AJ show let's be honest it was the whole week was about AJ he went in there stoic unfazed unbothered and did that to the golden boy supremely impressive and and i'll i'll i'll emphasize the confidence i'll emphasize his spirit but let's be honest the skills have improved as well in my opinion to the point where now we're thinking okay you get by joseph parker this usic rematch is supremely interesting at at least if you ask me. And so my most improved fighter is the great Daniel Dubois. Yeah. I mean, I can't add much to that. I agree, by the way, just for the record, it has to be Daniel Dubois. Look at the run. I mean, the run and look, he did well against Usyk. I mean, he did well against what we're calling a generational great. And then he takes on Jarrell Miller. People are like, okay, maybe Jarrell Miller is a bit too big. He stops Jarrell Miller in the last round. Then he takes on Hergovich, who I interviewed and Hergovich was almost laughing at the thought of fighting Daniel Dubois because he

had bashed up Dubois and Sparrow a few years earlier. Dubois bashes him up. Then he beats up my guy, AJ. I'm still not over that. And now he's fighting Parker. That's an insane run. No gimmies, no easy fights. And I think the biggest compliment I can give Daniel Dubois, and I just said it, he is the number two heavyweight in the world. I mean, who would have thought that a couple of years ago? When you think of the landscape of the heavyweights,

we've got some good fighters out there. Daniel Dubois is the second best, and he's an active heavyweight. And I think he's, honestly And I think he's honest. I think he's incredible. I think what he is right now is a problem for anyone, including the great Alexander Usyk if that happens again. So yeah. Um,

yeah, most improved without a doubt. Love it. Um, anyone else come to mind? I mean, there were, there were a few guys that I was thinking about.

Um, but I, I just didn't feel like there was anyone who was on the, like there's, there's, there's a name that's going to come up, but I didn't feel like there was anyone who was on the, like, there's, there's, there's a name that's going to come up, but I didn't feel like he was in the most improved category. I don't want to say his name just yet, but anyone else come to mind? There's no one that's made a real big jump.

What I will say in terms of a surprise that I didn't expect, like if I went back a couple of years ago, if I was to say this guy would have been world champion, I'm not quite sure. And that's a guy called Nick Ball. Obviously I said, you know who Nick Ball is is and i think he's run has surprised me a little bit um so maybe he kind of caught me blindsided so i don't know if he's improved because i i have to be honest i didn't pay too much attention to him two three years ago but he's run in the last year and a half has been extraordinary i mean he arguably beat ray vargas in the re-ad season card then he's beaten raymond ford he's had a fight I mean, he arguably beat Ray Vargas in the Riyadh season card.

Then he's beaten Raymond Ford. He's had a fight in Liverpool. He's scheduled to fight again. This guy fights every three or four months. It's insane. And his style really shouldn't be fighting every three or four months because it's action-packed for 12 rounds. So I don't know if most improves the right tag,

but someone that's kind of just come up on the blind side and surprised a lot of people is Nick Ball. Yeah, you know, one that I was thinking i was thinking about but again excluded just say it no no but the the point is it's ryan garcia because i'll and i'll say this because if you compare the garcia that we saw against haney to the gar to the garcia that we saw against oscar duarte it was a completely different guy right confidence wise there in it no but that's the thing that's the thing but like do you remember what people said about him after the Duarte fight like what are you doing what's with the shoulder roll what the hell is going on with you and then you compare him to the guy we saw against Devin Haney it was very different right it was it was a completely I mean confidence wise skill wise

no one thought that he would outclass Haney like that but again asterisk blah blah blah all that stuff and more okay uh let us move along now and talk about prospect of the year. Maybe the easiest one, right? I mean, fait accompli, easy does it, you go ahead. You know what the problem is? Yeah. See, with prospect, I mean, like, look, I'm just going to say the name straight away. Moses the Tower.

Yeah. He's just phenomenal. It's just easy. But is he still a prospect? I mean, if you beat a dempsey mckean like that are you still a prospect do you still fall under the prospect tag i i don't know so yes it's an easy one because i think most people are going to have him as that but i don't know if he still falls under prospect i think he does because of his age um and maybe because two years pro yeah

20 11 fights two years pro i think he's no longer a prospect but if you look back at the year that was he was in his prospect phase okay that's fair and well that's if that's the case those are the rules then yeah he is clearly the number one prospect in world boxing i mean he is uh phenomenon he's he's sensational he's he's got a presence about him as well. Every time I sit down, I'm like, how am I talking to a kid? I'm talking to this six foot four, six foot three, now 240, 250 pound guy that I think is going to dominate the heavyweight division. When I look at the landscape of the heavyweights, the top heavyweights, they're all like mid to late 30s. He almost can put his feet up, get a cigar out, a glass of wine and wait till they're done.

But he wants to fight them all. I think he's got everything. He's got the right attitude. I speak to his coaches. He loves the sport. It isn't one of those where it's all gone to his head. I don't think that's going to happen.

I hope it's not going to happen. We have seen superstars fall off when the money starts to get a bit bigger and the fame and the attention. But hopefully he he stays on track he's with a great promoter in frank warren who knows how to match make and build fighters he has everything to go all the way to the top and i just hope probably isn't going to happen but i just hope frank can somehow get away to give him a world title shot so he can try and break Mike Tyson's record. Because if he does that, it's not just breaking the record.

It's becoming a superstar in America. Because all of a sudden, people are like, who's broke Mike Tyson's record? And now the Americans will catch on as well. So I just think he's perfect for the heavyweight division right now. Oh, he's unbelievable. He really doesn't look 20, right? I mean, he doesn't look 20. He doesn't act like a 20-year-old.

We were introduced to him as a as a teenager i'll never forget getting into a cab i was in dublin for taylor cameron one so this is may of 2023 he's now essentially he made his pro debut in january of 2023 so he's five months in and i remember getting into a cab and the cab driver asking me what i'm there for and uh i tell him why and the first thing he wants to talk about is Moses Atama and now here we are in Ireland he's a Brit and he's like this is the guy this is the guy and I'll be honest at that point I heard the name but didn't know much about him I mean he's a neophyte in the game at that point and to see you know him go now 11-0 and then get the opportunity on this stage back in December,

Riyadh season, on a card with the likes of Fury and Usyk, and deliver the way in which he did in the fight that we thought maybe, all right, maybe we'll see him go into the third or fourth round. Easy, done and dusted, never a question. And so to your point, it's going to be very interesting to see how they navigate from here do they try to rush him to get to a belt that might happen but then what are the steps how how quickly do you push this guy because you don't really have to push him that quickly he's just 20 years old but nothing about him screams 20 right nothing about him screams 20 the poise the skills nothing yeah mean, you push if you're good enough. Like, forget the age.

As you say, he doesn't look like a kid. He looks like a man. He speaks like a man. He's got this commanding way around him like he is an experienced pro. I mean, again, I mean, look at Jon Jones to cover MMA. I mean, when he was good enough, he was. So when he was old enough, he was good enough. It wasn't a case of, oh, Jon Jones is only, you know, 20.

Let's not give him the Shogun fight. No, let's give him everything. Let's give him it all. Let's see if he can handle it. And wasn't a case of, oh, John Jones is only 20, let's not give him the Shogun fight. No, let's give him everything. Let's give him it all. Let's see if he can handle it. And I think Moses can handle it. I really do. There's something special about him. And Dempsey McKean is no pushover.

Dempsey McKean, prior to that fight, took Filip Hergovich to 12 rounds. I'm sorry, a 10-rounder. Took him all the way. Hergovich stopped him in the last round. And he just blew away Dempsey McKean like he was fighting a journeyman honestly I was so shocked by that performance so I think he's ready for a lot I hear so many good sparring stories I know it's sparring but so many good

sparring stories about him I heard that he and Daniel DuBois when they used to spar was just sensational imagine being a fly on the wall watching those two go at it now. So yeah, I think if he's ready, Frank will do the right thing. But I think if he's ready, let him off the leash, man. Let's see something big in 2025. And by the way, I'm always curious about this because quite frankly, I think that in the UK, they care more about boxing. The media covers them more seriously and in prime time and all that stuff. How's the media coverage around him now? Are people, I know it won't be AJ, AJ won the gold medal in London, but are they treating him like a big deal or is he not quite there just yet? No, no, they're treating him like a big deal.

You know what it is as well? I think because of Fury's defeat to Usyk, because of AJ's defeat to Dubois, they almost know those two are kind of out of the door soon. Chisora's out of the door. Dillian White's out the door. So there's a few of the old guard and they're now trying to find, okay, who are the stars that we can now bank on? And Dubois will be one of them. And they're hoping Moses could be very special. They already know Dubois is good, but I think they're thinking Moses can be very, very good. like go and conquer the world go to America become that superstar wow I think everyone now is talking about him so look it's going to be difficult to keep his feet on the ground but he's got good people around him a good family around

him so hopefully he can but they love him over here and of course who could forget that hot night in Paris back in uh August of this past year at the Olympics when he was a hundred yards away. And I had to just like go through the entire crowd and say, ah, yes, there he is, the future king of, oh yes, thank you. Thank you guys at the back. Appreciate that. I mean, there he was, look at me. I just said, oh, I don't care. Oh, Noah Lyles, get out of here. Summer McIntosh, get out of here. Kevin Durant, LeBron James, move out of the summer mcintosh get out of here kevin durant lebron james move out of the way the future king is walking the streets of paris i mean it's you see it right there you see it right there it's either you know ball or you don't know ball dude i didn't think he was big enough when i first met him i was like he might be kind of undersized for a heavyweight and all of a sudden

he's grown an inch and a half he's put on i think around 15 pounds and now he's a heavyweight now he's actually same size as these guys obviously look there's the land of the giants if you're talking fury and coley but he is what six four two thirty two forty that's a heavyweight that's the perfect size as well i think some of these guys are too big so he's he's got a lot i think he's got a lot to offer for 2025 all right let's get into a fun one here. Promotion slash promoter of the year. Why don't you go first, Ade? Look at you.

What? Look at you. What? Throw me the hot coal. What? Catch the hot coal. Why? Why? You want me to go first?

I'm happy to go first. It's an easy one. It's a layup. It's an easy one. Well, it's not an easy one. No, it's not. It's not because this one is confusing. It's confusing because, I mean, all right, look.

Riyadh season. His Excellency, Turkey Al Sheikh. Is he a promoter? 100%. If he is a... Okay, and Riyadh season is a promotion. 100%. Then it's easy.

Then it's Riyadh season, and it's His Excellency, Turkey Al Sheikh. They've put on the best events this year. They've put on so many. Was it nine they did in 2024, I believe? Seven in Riyadh and then LA and Wembley. I mean, you'd have to struggle to pick the best one out of those. They've all been big.

We've had fights that we didn't expect. We've had undisputed fights that we didn't expect that would never have happened if it wasn't for Riyadh season. We wouldn't have seen Furi Usyk, let alone see it twice. We wouldn't have seen Bivol Baturbe because it's a fight that financially

doesn't bring in the big dollars and both of them would want to get paid. So we wouldn't have seen that as well. I don't think we would have seen AJ Dubois at Wembley. Maybe, maybe not. So look, I think it's easy. I think it's his excellency,

Turkey Oshay, I think it's Riyadh season. And I think they've changed the landscape of boxing for good. I reallyhea. I think it's Riyadh season. And I think they've changed the landscape of boxing for good. I really do. I think it's completely changed now to the point where we now expect to see a Super Bowl-esque, WrestleMania-esque fight card every couple of months. And when we don't get one, we moan.

That's what he's done to the sport of boxing. So quite easily, he's excellency, Turkey O'Shea. 1,000% in agreement. 1,000%. That is the one that was the easiest one of them all, honestly, for me to choose. And the truth is this. That man, Turki Al-Sheikh, has revolutionized boxing. He has given hope to boxing, right?

He has given hope to boxing fans. All these fights that we thought could not happen, all these fights that we thought were impossible, that there would be a myriad of egos and roadblocks in the way, they're all possible. It doesn't matter. This upcoming card, what Lei Zhang press conference and had the opportunity to sit down with Frank Warren at the time. And he previewed that there was going to be a game changer announcement to come. Right. And he said that this is coming in the coming days. And it ended up being the Francis Ngannou versus Tyson Fury fight.

But the detail that we all missed in all of that was the introduction, if you will, of Turkey I Al Sheikh to the world of boxing. And since then, October of 2023, up until now and beyond, they've revolutionized the game. And I can understand why someone sits back and goes like, wait a second, where's their promoter license? Technically, they don't have one. And so technically, we're both wrong if you want to go by technicalities.

But let's be honest. They are the promotion of the year. He is the promoter of the year. And I'll go one step further and I'll give you a little preview. Here at Uncrowned, we're going to be working on a list in the year 2025, who are the top 25 most powerful and influential people in combat sports? Because we are the home of combat sports. And so we cover MMA, boxing, and pro wrestling. Number one, easy, i'll spoil it right now is turkey i'll shake we have never seen someone be that influential in all three facets all three genres at the same time boxing he's revolutionized he has the deal with the ufc there's a there's a saudi deal with the

pfl as well ufc is going there for a fight headlined by israel desanya on february 1st first time in seven years that izzy doesn't fight for a belt. He's headlining No Problem Fight Night in Riyadh. And then you see what they're doing in pro wrestling.

They just announced yesterday that the Royal Rumble is coming to Saudi in 2026. It's never been outside of the United States, not to mention all the other times that you're just watching

Monday Night Raw on Monday or a random Golden Boy card or a random MMA event and you see that Riyadh season logo on the canvas, they're everywhere. He's everywhere. They've revolutionized the game.

And if you don't acknowledge that, if you don't want to give them their props for what they've done to actually make combat sports better, you're, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're kind of just being a hater at this point. There's no, no, you are. Don't stutter through it, Ariel. You're hating.

If you don't acknowledge what he's done and what he's given. You know, there's at least three of the fight cards from Riyadh season this year have been around real boxing people, people that have covered the sport for 30, 40 years. And they've said this could be the greatest fight card I've ever seen. They've said it three times. Not once. Three times they've said this could be the greatest fight card i've ever seen that doesn't happen it's not normal and

i think the biggest point you made there was he's brought all the promoters together these people that weren't talking in fights never spoken if all of a sudden we're seeing eddie and frank together doing kumbaya around the fire because of turkey i'll shake we see it's insane these the february 22nd fight card coming up is frightening i mean joshua boixi calum smith walks first that headlines an o2 arena point because o2 is just over there yeah that headlines the o2 arena fight card that's walking first it's honestly it's insane it's insane i thought we might get one of these re-ad season cards a year yeah when we when i covered fury and god as okay this is great see you next year october we've had we've had eight

since then nice it's easily the greatest thing ever easily yeah and the bar is so high and and honestly this isn't one of our talking points or categories but it's really as far as boxing in particular is concerned but you can say it for all forms of combat sports it's really as far as boxing in particular is concerned but you can say it for all forms of combat sports it's really the story to watch once again this year it was my story to watch going into 2024 how they would influence all forms of combat and again now with the acquisition of the ring magazine he's already hinted at his plans for you know um ring only events outside of the season banner right and so what does that look like? Who is he partnering up with? There has been some rumors of him potentially partnering up with

Dana White for a boxing promotion. Dana's been talking about, you know, finally dipping his toe into the world of boxing. We know he's very close with the TKO group, you know, with the WWE and UFC. The one thing that they're missing is boxing. Are we going in that direction? Is he going to be involved? Again, all these things are very valid questions to ask because there are no limits. He has shown that there are no limits. And of course they have, you know, an undeniable amount of wealth.

And with that, doors are open. There's basically two guys who for whatever reason they haven't been able to do business with just yet in the world of boxing that's canelo and tank davis i don't even think it's impossible for that to happen in 2025 just because of the possibilities here and so he has clearly shown that he is open to doing business with everyone and i love the story that eddie hearn told um on on a show recently. I think it was with the legendary Steve Bunce, where initially Eddie was very critical of Fury and Ganu, and he was talking all kinds of smack.

And then all of a sudden he gets a message from Turkey Al Sheikh, and it's essentially like, hey, are you with us or are you against us? And Eddie went running. And look at him now look at him now so and by the way let's not forget that and let's not forget the mini concerts i know some people don't like them because i get it if you're at home it's probably a different feeling to when you're there but i mean to have oasis or liam gallagher was it liam or no whoever it is one of the gallagher's you should know emily stadium don't really know. I'm more into my hip hop.

Then you had Mary J. Blige and Busta Rhymes and Ciara. I mean, honestly, I can't speak highly enough of how he's transformed the sport of boxing. I am a boxing fan

and I'm getting fights that I could only dream of, fights that would never happen. I made YouTube videos crying, like when and why why what's going on with the sport of boxing all of a sudden my cries are over no more tears my dreams and my prayers have been answered by the way just for fun if there's a stickler out there it was like

he's not a licensed promoter of the actual promoters out there who would you give it to consolation prize consolation prize Who would you give it to? Consolation Prize. Consolation Prize. Probably Frank Warren. But then see, the problem is, see, when I say that, in my head, I just realize I'm thinking Riyadh season as well. I think Frank was firstly aligned to Turkey before Eddie was. Eddie's done a great job eddie's in australia right now yeah doing the job so eddie's worldwide he's mexico i mean he's doing everything usa mexico re-add london everywhere eddie so eddie's probably more of a worldwide promoter so maybe maybe Eddie, but Frank just seems to like,

Frank's got, Frank just keeps on going. Just keeps on going. Like it just, he's been doing this for 40 years and just doesn't seem to slow down. It's tough. It's not easy. There are great characters in the world of boxing when it comes to the promoters. Way better than MMA.

We are very lucky when it comes to boxing. The likes of Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren, and of course, Oscar De La Hoya with his content as of late. Bob Arum's crazy. He's enjoyed a renaissance. Bob Arum is out there. Ben Shalom, Demetri Salida, Todd DeBuff

is getting pushed into that role for top rank. But to me, it's a very easy one. It's Eddie Hearn. Eddie Hearn, in my opinion, in the truest sense of a promoter, meaning the guy at the dais who sells the fights to you, the P.T. Barnum carnival rocker, if you

will, and I don't say that in a disrespectful way, but that's what a promoter is, and he's very proud of that moniker. He's the best in the business, and I would argue the best in combat sports in terms of getting you emotionally invested in the fights, and his motor is unbelievable.

He reminds me of a prime Dana White, 2006, 2007 Dana White. There would be a line of people wanting to do one-on-ones with him, and that's what Eddie does now. And you'll go on these YouTube channels, and it's literally day. Dana would give you one interview a week. Eddie's giving you six or seven. Now, I would argue if I'm matrimonial PR, Dana would give you one interview a week. Eddie's giving you six or seven. Now, I would argue if I'm, you know,

matchroom PR, you know, let's worry about oversaturation. You don't have to do one of these interviews every single day on fight week, but that's just how he is. He's just constant. And he'll go from one side of the globe to the next. So for me, if we're not going to go the turkey route, which to me, it's obviously him.

If you want to go true sense promoter license old school rules then it's it's eddie hern and match him in my opinion yeah he's insane like when he does the press conferences and i've done those and they're not easy and he has no papers in front of him other promoters do yeah they've got their reading and he's just giving off the names of the fighters, the records, and it's just insane. He's going down the barrel of the camera. Honestly, I didn't want to mention him first because I had a work for Matt Trim,

kissing his backside, blah, blah, blah. But honestly, when you watch him up close and it's incredible. Honestly, it makes me want to up my game every single time because I just think, I don't know how he does it. I don't know how you can go From event to event to event Different countries and still have that same energy All the time remarkable

Alright let's stick with the promotion promoter theme Let's go to event Of the year and I'll tell you there's event And card and I think there's A distinction because event Is the show is everything and then There's the actual meat and potatoes card And so let's start with event And I'll go first uh nothing was bigger than tyson paul and and and save me your tears

save me your whining it was gigantic paul tyson tyson paul whatever you want to say 70 plus thousand at at&t stadium and it wasn't just because of that it was of course because of the platform and the amount of people, millions upon millions, hundreds of millions of people tuning in. And who knows after the fact, we only got the numbers a couple of days later. I'm not talking about the fight itself. I'm talking about the event, the pageantry, how big it was. Boxing has never been on a pedestal like that in the last 20, 30 years.

Of course, there was a time, you know, back in the day in this country, it's on ABC and prime time on a Monday night, it's Cassius Clay, it's Muhammad Ali, it's Joe Frazier, it's Sonny Liston, it's those types of fights. That was big time business. And the sport has evolved and changed and gone in different directions. This was a throwback to that. And so the event, the hoopla, the buzz was gigantic. And oh, by the way, we just happened to get my fight of the year in the co-main event. And so as far as event of the year and the one boxing event that got the sports world, and let's be honest, outside of the sports world, talking the one that transcended boxing, it was that one. It was Jake Paul, Mike Tyson in November in Arlington, Texas.

Out of interest, before I give you mine, which won't be Mike Tyson, Jake Paul, but I get what you're saying. I understand. If that wasn't on Netflix, if that was just your traditional pay-per-view, how many numbers do you think that would have got to? That's a great question.

That's a really good question. Domestically- You think that would have hit the million? Domestically, I think, again, it's hard to gauge how much people were talking about it because of Netflix. Yeah. Conservatively, the 750 to a million, conservative. That's good numbers. 750 to a million.

Oh, 100%. Nowadays, when everyone illegally streams, I think that's an incredible number. That's 2 million 20 years ago. I mean, it's just... And that's always the problem with the Jake Paul fights because his young audience are so used to streaming,

like pay-per-view. What is that? And so that's why I thought this one would be a home run. Regardless of how you felt about the fight, it was the first time in quite some time

that he wasn't behind that pay-per-view paywall, right? And so I thought a lot more of his fans and of course tyson was the great you know the great difference maker here the nostalgia factor people my age older than me when he stepped on his toe oh and then it just went a whole other level and you know i'll be honest with you i i this wasn't like oh yeah easy easy like i i thought about wembley it was that or wembley to me uh you can't No no no you can't do that I'm just telling you I'm just being honest But go ahead

I'm disappointed because me and you were together We vibed So I thought you might pick the event where we were together And we stood on the ramp And we looked around And we were surrounded by 90,000 screaming fans Not 70 90

Some say 100 I don't know if that's true or not. According to Flat Earth Frotch, it was like 65, but anyway. Okay, cool, cool, cool. You know, AJ fights for me have always been special over here. Of recent, obviously, he's done a lot of his work away from the UK, Riyadh season, and some of the events have been in smaller venues, O2 Arena. When AJ does a stadium event, to me, there's nothing like it. There's nothing like it. The noise, everything, the buildup. And I just hoped it would carry.

Because I remember speaking to Turkey and these people. I was like, wait till you get to Wembley. Because you think LA was something. You think some of the events in Saudi have been noisy wait till you get to Wembley for an AJ fight card and it delivered it delivered in every which way the noise from that venue was just incredible and obviously the outcome made it even I guess even more special right the way in which it ended? If it was just the usual AJ knocking someone out, maybe it wouldn't be so special.

But I just felt like just being on the ramp, surrounded, almost felt like I was in a fishbowl. Yeah. And I just thought, this is just incredible. I looked up, looked around me and I was like, oh, this is just, how have we got here? What have we done? Who have we paid to get here?

So for me, the daniel dubois event at wembley stadium was just i mean anytime you can fit over 90 000 people in a stadium to watch boxing not football or nfl which is standard boxing yeah it was amazing it has to be special it's one of the most memorable events that i've ever been to as a fan or as a reporter, as a journalist in my life. And you're 100% right. The buzz all week was great. And I'd never been to Wembley. And I love going to events in the UK because the fans are just different.

They're incredibly passionate. I love them over there. And there's that one moment that I'll never forget. You interviewed Eddie Hearn on the stage. I interviewed Frank Warren. I could not hear a word that I'll never forget. You interviewed Eddie Hearn on the stage. I interviewed Frank Warren. I could not hear a word that Frank Warren was saying. We were killing time, right, before the walkouts. And I could not hear.

And I'm wearing, like, I'm wearing IFB. And I'm supposed to hear him even better as a result. And I just told him, I said on air, I cannot hear you. So I'm just rolling with this. You could tell me I want to slap you in the face. And I'd be like, great. Now, what about Daniel Dubois' chances tonight? It was that loud. It was that

raucous. It was that much fun. The walkouts were tremendous. An experience I'll never forget. And there was some worry that it was going to rain. It held off. It was perfect. Ultimately, I gave the nod to Tyson and Paul because of how big it was. But you can't say

I'm biased. I worked both. How lucky am I? How lucky am I? I got to work both of them. How lucky are we? I remember I was messaging you. I was messaging you and you was even telling me, Addy, they have a barber here. They had a barber.

They had a barber. It was something. They got a barber. Yeah. So I was jealous not to be there. Like I'm jealous not to be at big events, regardless of what they are, just big events. There's nothing like it. And that was exact.

And look, both were massive. So one and two two two and one uh no problem with me okay so let's transition now to card of the year and and this is strip away the hoopla the crowd the the buzz all that just like the actual card delivered on paper your pick this is very difficult because immediately you know i did i started to look at the re-ed season events. I was like, okay, one of these must have been sensational. One of them must have delivered. And I immediately, for some reason, went to the Eddie versus Frank one. Matron versus Queensbury, five versus five. Because I thought all the matchups were fantastic.

Of all of them, Nick Ball versus Raymond Ford. Willie Hutchinson versus Craig Richards. Let's not forget, Xili Zhang, the final fight, Xili Zhang versus Deontay Wilder. We spoke about it, Hergovich versus Daniel Dubois. I thought there were so many intriguing matchups. The biggest matchup, though, was Frank versus Eddie. That was the biggest matchup.

But I thought all the fights delivered. There were upsets. I mean, I don't know how many people picked Zhang to knock out Wild wilder i don't know how many people pick dubois to beat hergovich so there are a few upsets hamza shiraz versus amma williams so i think that in terms of five really well matched fights big names the drama of it all queensbury beat Matrim 10-0 I think it was in the end I'm giving that as my card of the year the 5 versus 5 I love that one

and it was a novel concept and I think we're going to get another one of those maybe not Queensbury versus Matrim but it was tremendously stacked unfortunately we didn't get Better Be A Bivel

remember that was supposed to be the main event that would have been everything that would have been everything and so I'm going to give it to the one that had better be a bivouac just a few months later in october of this past year october 12th to be exact what a fight that was you said it was your second best fight i do believe of the year i did um that was the main event uh god willing

we'll get it again on february 22nd but in addition to that we had the uh fabio wardley fraser clark fight which ended in one of that, we had the Fabio Wardley-Fraser-Clark fight, which ended in one of the scariest knockouts, the rematch, of course, that we've seen. That could have been, by the way, a contender for knockout of the year, if not for the Lucas Body knockout. Jaya Pataya was on there. Chris Eubank Jr. was on there. We had the historic Sky Nicholson versus Raven Chapman fight, historic. Why? Because it was the first women's fights on one of the re-add season cards. It was pretty damn stacked.

It could have been even more stacked. We were supposed to get Shakur Stevenson on there as well, but top to bottom, I thought it was the best card of the year topped off by one of the best fights of the year. Difficult to argue that I was thinking about that fight card. The problem is see what you just did there yeah you said jai pataya was on it chris you yeah you're right you're right yeah yeah as opposed to

who they were fighting yeah yeah yeah yeah so i was like you know jai was yeah it was all right jack massey good fight i get it but it wasn't the super fight whereas i felt the ones i picked good fights both names hamza shirez am Amo Williams, you know what I mean? Craig Richards, Willie Hutchinson. But I can't argue. When the main event's Paterpi versus Bivol. There it is. Difficult to argue.

You know what I mean? It's difficult to argue. All right. Let's move along now. One of my favorites, promo of the year. Now I have to explain to the audience. Promo of the year could be several different things. It could be someone on the microphone cutting a meme promo.

It could be Daniel Dubois crashing the party and cutting a promo on Alexander Usyk. It could be an incredible advert, as you say, overseas. It could be a great trailer for a fight card. It could be anything that is used as promotional material to sell an upcoming fight. And so we could go in a million different directions. I am very curious to see, because I love this stuff, right?

It's straight out of pro wrestling. I love the build. I love the sell. I love all that stuff. I love the posters. It's all part of the fight game. I'm very curious to see which direction you go in here. And so I'll let you go first.

What do you got? Okay. Martin, I'm going to go straight for it. I'm not going to do no build up here. The five versus five one eddie versus frank i just spoke about it as being the card of the year that promo for me was fantastic now i don't know if you know the reason why us british fight fans love it so much for years frank warren has been likened to a character in snatch called brick top um great movie snatch um fantastic uh. Jason Statham's in it. Really good

movie by Guy Ritchie. And he played basically that character in this five versus five trailer. It's fantastic. Hopefully we're going to play it now. We can see some of it coming up. I think this is great. Everyone plays the characters really well. it's very much lock stock and two smoking barrels and snatch kind of concept and frank and eddie have always been likened to characters from both movies so i think that one for me promo of the year look at that i mean look at look at it look at this we could listen to a few seconds of it we'll have no f***ing around And absolutely no funny business

We're going to wait our turn And maintain our manners at all times Or this game's over before it's even begun Frank, let's have you do the honors Age before beauty, Eddie Let's get some farts made I haven't got all night By the way, both men

Perhaps getting the Oscar nod In a few months time lovely stuff i haven't got all night chop chop frankie by the way both men uh perhaps getting the uh the oscar nod uh in a few months time it was it was a great one i mean honestly again and not to belabor the point but everything that they're doing with these from the posters to the promos to the cards some of them have been some have been a bit i think some of a couple of i thought okay let's calm down it's a little bit much yeah it better be a bit was a little bit it felt like it just kind of went, right? It was like, oh. Went on a bit too long.

Yeah. I think the one for AJ Dubois, where they kind of fly to the ring. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm like, yeah, what are we doing? I love the Fury Usyk one, the most recent one. Yeah. That could have been in my. People were loving that one.

I think, yeah, I think this might have been the best of the riyadh season once apart from the first fury in ghana one but that was obviously 2023 uh i actually was gonna go completely off the grid i was this close i day this close i know which one you wanted to go to tell me tell me sunny edwards galileo that was it i was i was gonna go in that direction the bloodline one that we talked about just a few weeks ago, because I love the story, the backstory, the kids. I loved everything about it. It told the story in, what, a minute? It was beautifully shot.

And you know how I feel about the matchroom team. I think they do the best job of any of the true blue promotions out there, you know, getting you excited and interested in these fights. But ultimately, and I referenced this, by the way, when we talked about that particular promo, ultimately I went with a card that, by the way, we haven't even mentioned. We haven't even mentioned any of the results from the card in this hour and change that we've been doing this award show. And we go back to August in Los Angeles, the somewhat forgotten terence crawford versus israel madrimov fight card in los angeles had such a damn good promo for a fight let's be honest that had no

juice attached to it there was no juice there it was it was terence crawford moving up to 154 there was no story there was no history it kind of came out of nowhere remember it came after the the haney garcia fight you had to stay in new york do the press conference. And it was like, oh, really? And look at this. What I loved so much about it was it told the story of these two guys from two completely different backgrounds converging in a few months' time in Los Angeles. Look at this. This is old school stuff. This is beautifully shot.

It's beautiful. And then they go back to where they came from. Oh, look at that. Oh, that shot beautiful. And then they go back to where they came from. Oh, look at that. Oh, that shot there. Yeah. Come on, man. I have chills. A young Terrence Crawford with lofty dreams and goals growing up in Omaha, Nebraska.

Not much to his family's name. I love it. Look at this. How do you not love this? I love it. How do you not love it? Can we keep that Just a few more seconds More more more

And then you go to A dream of Come on man Okay Ade can you change your pick Are you ready To change your pick You win

You win You win The water I forgot about this one Dude I forgot about this Oh I forgot about this Dude I forgot about this What's this

I mean I saw this Ade And I was like I don't care that there's no story here. This sold me. This is what a promo needs to do. Look at this. This is theater. You know what this kind of reminds me of? Yeah.

This reminds me a little bit in terms of the backstory, the Ronda Rousey Holly Holm promo. To a degree, yeah. Yeah, when they kind of go back as to how they got there. No, this is magic. This is theater right there. I love that one. Yeah, you win kind of go back as to how they got there. No, this is magic. This is theater right there. I love that one. Yeah, you win. I chills actually.

You know who's going to be upset? Who's that? Alex Haynes. Of course. Yeah. No, dude, he said, when am I going to pick up my award? Ah, you know yourself. I said, tune in at 10 o'clock.

Oh, my God. And you don't give him the award. Listen, I was this close uh i was this close i was this close but that by the way same elements right same elements of the bloodline uh promo that we're talking about i just love when it goes back to the kids and uh the dreams and they're tough i mean nebraska uzbekistan there's there's no similarities there between the two of them but they came together yeah boxing right i mean it is it is really the rags to riches story, but it's more than rags, isn't it? I mean, where Terence Crawford came from and his upbringing is,

I mean, truly horrific. And hopefully one day, a bit like the Clarissa Shields movie, hopefully something like that comes out about Terence Crawford to tell the true story. Same thing for Madrimov, where he's come from. Yet here we are, both two guys, top of their sport. It's beautiful. It's beautiful what boxing can do and how it can change lives. And I think that little trailer told the story perfectly. Ah, yes. More of that, please.

More of that in all fight sports in 2025. Okay, just three left, Ade. Just three left. And we go to a big one now Moment of the year And now this is a tough one Because you can go in a bunch of different directions It's so subjective You honestly really can't argue it

Unless it's a crazy one You can't really argue against someone's pick here Because it's what spoke to you And if I may, I'd like to go first Because I think mine I think mine, off the top Some people might say like, wait a second, this makes no sense. And so I'll explain myself. My moment of the year were the three minutes that we got to see both Alexander Usyk and Tyson Fury engage in war in the ninth round of their first fight back in May.

And so you're thinking and listening to this and saying, well, you know what? We had round of the year earlier. Well, it wasn't because of how great the round was. And it was, it was because of it. It was a holy S moment when Usyk had Fury on the ropes. And I remember sitting there mouth open thinking, is he getting stopped? Is this how it's going down? Is this how it ends for Tyson Fury? It was a holy ass moment. Did he get held up by the ropes? Did the ref help him out? Who knows? But there was Oleksandr Usyk rising above, laying it all on the line, laying it all on the big man, Tyson Fury, who had called him every name in the book and almost coming this close to finishing

him, annihilating him. Who knows if we get the rematch if he stops him in that moment. Of course we did, and it was great, and I loved everything about it. But I remember just sitting there transfixed in that moment during those three rounds being like, holy crap. And let's be honest, boxing gave us a lot of great moments in 2024. But that moment right there, especially at the very end where you see Tyson Fury up against the ropes, and if this was a video game and his power levels were on,

on the telly, it's he's down to this. He's got nothing left and credit to him for being able to bounce back for the 10th, 11th, the 12th. That to me was my moment of the year right there. I'll never forget those three minutes.

Okay, dude, I have, I have a confession. Yes. In the 11th hour, I changed my mind. Wow.

That round nine was my moment of the year wow that that round nine changed it to that i know no no it was that i moved it and picked something else wow but that was my moment of the year up until the 11th hour up until your team when i had a hurry up and send your picks in and i was like and i changed and my moment of the year still is part of the alexander usic tyson fury fight the first one it's the moment the referee calls them together gives them their instructions yeah and sends them to the corners and i'm like oh my god it's gonna happen like i honestly even now as i'm saying it the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up i'm getting goosebumps like i'm like is this this is actually gonna happen like all the trash talk

all Tyson Fury getting a cut and the fights off like like everything is done the number one and number two are about to duke it out for all the marbles in the heavyweight division and i am here ringside about to witness it and i just couldn't believe it honestly i was like i can't i i almost you know i just i was it's almost like i was watching the fight by myself it's like everyone else went silent and it was just me watching like i had this this one pay-per-view seat that no one could buy. That was my moment of the year when the referee said, get to your corners. And then I knew it was on, it was on. So yeah, that was my moment of the year. Is it, is it weird that even when you watch the highlights, you're like, wow, I can't

believe they actually fought. You know what I mean? Like, and I know we saw it for 24 rounds and that moment was my moment, but there's nothing like boxing, especially when it's a fight, when, when, you know, it goes on and on and on. There's a saga just to get to the fight and get to fight week. And then that moment where they meet, my favorite

moment of those was Lewis Tyson with the, with the security guard line in between them. Of course, there's the great, you know, the great Tyson one from back in the day with his eyes going back and forth like there's nothing like that moment right before the bell rings uh and they meet face to face nose to nose and so you're right there i mean we could pick a million of them but that was a great that was yeah there's nothing like it i mean only in combat sports right because any other sport i mean we have the press conference for this three months prior to them fighting like where the press the press conference three months before that.

And then, you know, you know what a fight week's like. You do all the face-offs, you do all the interviews. And like, can we just get there? And they're tired of it as well. The fighters are tired of it. And like, can we just hurry up and get there? No injuries, no niggles, please. So when they then get in the ring, you actually, oh my God,

we're actually there. Like this is actually happening. Like this has been spoken about for two years and finally we're here so yeah that that moment sort of again gave me chills it does now and i could watch it again and it will give me chills continually because it was something so special between again number one and number two and it was for everything it was for everything and it doesn't get better than that yeah i i did consider um dubois knocking out aj just because of how big of a moment it was for him and i remember his reaction to the moment and there's 90 000 or so of his own countrymen kind of sitting there in stunned silence uh that he had just pulled this off and i know it was kind

of a gradual you know a gradual knockout if you will although aj did enjoy a bit of a of a gradual knockout, if you will. Although AJ did enjoy a bit of a comeback towards the end. But to me, nothing bigger than undisputed gold. And so we're kind of close. We're kind of close. Same fight, a few minutes apart, a tremendous one. And there were a ton that you could choose from. Certainly a great year for the sport of boxing. And so with that, we get to the two big ones.

Male, female fighter of the year we get to the two big ones male female fighter of the year these are the two big ones and if i'm being honest at a i i i wonder if there's dissension here i my prediction is we'll actually agree on both that's my prediction let's go female fighter first i'll give you uh i'll give you the floor okay there were two there were two wait there's a co-winner no well there's one that i think deserves an okay okay fair enough um yeah honorable mention but i i kind of was thinking i should pick her but i didn't and the honorable mention goes to sky nicholson i think said a fantastic year i think almost a breakthrough year to the point now where i think people kind

of found it disrespectful when she was calling that Amanda Serrano last year. I think this year people are like, oh no, I actually want to see that fight. That's kind of how Skye's elevated herself. Obviously, look, she's a champion as well. She doesn't get hit in fights. Like, honestly, I'd love to see the output of punches landed on Skye Nicholson. She seems to be able to avoid and land her shots so well. So look, she's had a fantastic year.

But I think Gabriela Fandora, the younger sister of Sebastian Fandora, is at a stellar year. 22 years of age, undisputed in the flyweight division, started the year as the IBF champion, then moved on and got three more belts. And you know what I like about her as well?

She comes and wants to cause you damage. She doesn't come and box and just hope to get a points victory. She wants to hurt you, and she invariably does. 15 fights, 15 wins, seven knockouts, which I think in the female boxing era

is fantastic, right? She's knocking out one fighter for every two fights she has. So I think she's fantastic for the fight. And not only that, but I think she will go through the weights class as well. She's around 5'7", 5'8", very big. Her brother's like 6'4", 6'5". So they're clearly a tall family.

But I think she's got the frame to go through the weight classes as well. I mean, Clarissa Shields is 5'7", just to kind of give you a comparison. So she really is tall for the weight class. But I think she's had a really good year. three fights, three wins, undisputed, the youngest undisputed four belt, undisputed champion there's ever been. So yeah, Gabriela Fandora is my female fighter of the year. I was going to add that, that last factoid there, the youngest undisputed champion ever. Um, yeah, that, that was my pick as well as well. 5'9", listed as 5'9". 5'9", wow, sorry.

Fighting at 112 pounds flyweight, and she's a giant out there. What a year for the Fandoras, right? Her brother, Sebastian Fandora, for the most part, a little more well-known with the big win over Tim Zhu. A potential upset of the year candidate

as well, to a degree uh he only fought once uh she fought three times and uh she was successful in each and every one of her fights and uh as you mentioned youngest ever undisputed champion male or female of the four belt era just an incredible year for her and i agree with everything you said about sky nicholson as well sky nicholson um you know, I remember talking to her about the Amanda Serrano fight in January, I believe, of 2023, and people were laughing. Or maybe it was February. It was after her fight here in New York City. People were like, what? Get out of here. You're not going to fight Amanda Serrano. I mean, at the time, she's maybe 7-0. People are laughing at her, but each and every time out,

she's fighting better competition. She had the big win in Riyadh over Raven Chapman and now primed to have a massive 2025 with some pretty big fights on the horizon. I don't know if she gets the Amanda Serrano fight, and it's a shame because especially if we're going to get the trilogy fight against Katie Taylor, um, which I would love to see at that point, you know, Amanda might just, you know, she might ride off into the sunset. There's nothing left for her to do, but I think it would be a fascinating fight and I think it would be closer than a lot of people initially thought it was going to be. Yeah. Yeah.

I think people, I think if you ask 100 people i think it's split down the middle i think i think people maybe say what's left with amanda and again it's the thing of um sky not being able to get hit but amanda will hit her and then it's how sky reacts to getting cracked on the chin it'll be interesting to see but i don't think it happens i think the old guard fight the old guard. Katie fights Amanda and the young generation fight the young generation. You rarely kind of get those crossovers

where the old guard fight the young guard. So I don't expect it to happen. I want to see Scott Nicholson take on Alicia Baumgardner. I think that's a bit of a super fight in female boxing,

but we'll see. Yeah, and I really want to see Michaela Mayer against Sandy Ryan too. We have to get some sort of conclusion to that fight with the paint and all the nonsense.

Hopefully back here in New York, I would love to see that one. Okay, so that's female fighter of the year. Congratulations to Gabriella Fandora. What a year, making history, tremendous stuff. Looking forward to a big year from her in 2025. And so we get to the final stop, Ade, and it's male fighter of the year.

And so I predicted that we'd be in agreement for female fighter of the year and male fighter of the year. One down check. Let's go. Let's say it at the same time. All right. Three.

Okay. Two. Wait, wait, wait. On one. Yeah, that's a good question. I was thinking of that. Is it on one or is it, it's three, two, one, name. Name.

Okay, go on. All right. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. Three, two, one. Alexander Usyk. There it is. Congratulations to the man. Pretty damn easy, right?

That was so nerve-wracking. I mean, pretty damn easy. No, no, no. No? Easy at all. No, certainly not. Undisputed champion. B. Tyson Fury.

Yeah, I get that. I get that. But Daniel Dubois not easy at all. No, certainly not. Undisputed champion. Yeah, I get that. I get that. But Daniel Dubois had a fantastic year. Daniel Dubois, he stopped Filip Hergovic. He stopped Anthony Joshua. Underdog in both of those fights. Considerably underdogged in both of those fights as well. So I think he deserves a shout.

Arthur Baterba has become undisputed. Started the year, beat Calum Smith. Ended the year, beating Dimitri Bivol. Controversially. Controversially, I agree. But you're right. I mean, Alexander, I mean, come on. Undisputed.

Giving away 50 pounds. It's wild. 50 pounds. You know how crazy that is? 50 pounds. I mean, just looking at it now, it's like, well, what is this? This is wrong. Just look at it now, the size difference.

Look at it. Look at that. This shouldn't be sanctioned yeah the size difference and he's just making up in skill i think that's why round nine in the first fight was so special because it almost was that rocky four moment when rocky barboa is actually going to knock down ivan drago and you're like really can it happen honestly he is so special and that's why when we did our last show and i was like i hope he retires because i don't want to see him go on and on and get beaten because of age no no and wear and tear there's more um there's more there's more to see there's more to do he's just too damn good he's just too damn good he's 38 soon i know but he's i know no one's no no one's chipping away at him just yet and and and and i don't know why there seems to be a

reluctance to to prop him up as a generational great but i feel like it's right there i mean the proof is in the pudding undisputed at cruiserweight now undisputed at heavyweight and and look who he has beaten especially in the last couple years anded at heavyweight. And look who he has beaten, especially in the last couple of years. And especially at heavyweight, he is a generational great. Maybe he doesn't have, and we'll never have 50 fights on his record like some of the others. But to me, like what he has done and at heavyweight, he is more often than not quite undersized in particular in the last two fights. Nothing short of amazing. His skill is incredible. You know, his amateur career is incredible as well. What a year for this guy. And when you consider, and I know this shouldn't necessarily come into play, what his country has been through over the last couple of years as

well. And he's kind of, you know, he's kind of taken that baton from the Klitschko brothers as the face of Ukrainian sport, right? Who's more popular than him? Off the top of my dome, I can't think of anyone. I know there are others out there, but no one more popular than him as far as active athletes. That's a lot of pressure too, to be that light for this country. And he goes out there and he performs each and every time out there. So blown away by him. Yeah, I never thought, it's interesting you mentioned that, because I never thought he would be better or bigger in terms of popularity than Vasily Lomachenko I thought Loma was going to be the guy and Loma's had a great career I thought Loma was going to be the one maybe because of

Loma's style of fighting I thought Loma's going to be the one to really sort of almost be that flag bearer for Ukraine Ukrainian boxing but it has been Alexander Usyk and back to your point as well about you know people not wanting to prop him up I saw something I think it was Timothy Bradley said something about he's not an all-time great and it's kind of ridicule and I was like what are you doing Timothy like this guy is literally coming to the heavyweight division had two fights and then said okay give me the number two in the division AJ I'll beat him twice he did that give me the number one who's the number one Fury give me that guy now and beat him twice like he doesn't need to start at number 10. He could easily have gone from number 10 all the way to number one.

Easily. I think we know that now. Bruce and the pudding. He's like, no, no, no. Give me the top two guys. Let's not play about here. Let's not play about. Give me the top two guys and I'll fight them straight away.

And he's done that. And then he cleaned up at Cruiserweight. Again, I think it's because none of the none of the names are from america so he's beating european names and i almost feel like there's this this is kind of disrespect sometimes towards european boxing which kind of needs to stop because a lot of the top guys are european at the moment so um yeah i just find it strange i find it strange that he's not giving these props he's an all-time great you don't as you say you don't need 60 70 fights this isn't you just don't need to do it.

If you can do it in 30, do it in 30. Why stay around? So yeah, he's an all-time great easily. I would love to see him fight the winner of Parker and Dubois. Let's see what happens there. He seems interested. He seemed interested afterwards,

but he also said he's going to take some time off and perhaps we don't see him for the vast majority of of 2025 nevertheless you're right daniel dubois tremendous year others as well but to me uh no one had a better year as far as male fighters are concerned than the great alexander usic all right uh let us wrap this bad boy up with our our wish for 2025 everyone loves a good resolution everyone loves a good resolution. Everyone loves a good wish. We're so hopeful, and there's so much positivity in the air as we start the year. Everyone says, oh, I'm going to go to the gym more. I'm going to lose some weight. I'm going to eat better. I'm going to be someone

who goes to bed earlier. Well, as far as this show is concerned, there's a lot of wishes that we can have. There's a lot of things that we may hope for. To me, this was an easy one off the dome. I'll start at a, if I may. And my wish for 2025 is that we finally, finally see Tyson Fury versus Anthony Joshua. No better time than now. I don't care if they're on the back end of some losses. I don't care that we're getting it three, four, five years too late. It would be a spectacle. It would be a scene. It would have to be in either wembley or tottenham hotspur stadium or perhaps even the city ground because that is of course the focus of all great things uk sport at the moment but nevertheless it has to happen it would be a crime it would be a travesty especially in this era where the big fights are being made guys don't

let this slip through your fingers and and in in a, I'm not going to say it's more interesting than it would have been two, three, four years ago. But it is so damn interesting now. Both men, backs against the wall at the back end of their career, the championship rounds of their tremendous Hall of Fame careers. Who comes out on top? Who rides off into the sunset with the big win over their longtime rival? You could sell the crap out of this fight. And anyone who says they're not interested in it is a bold faced liar. It's Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, give it to us in the UK in 2025. I will be such a happy man. And I know millions

upon millions of others would agree as well. What about you? Oh yeah, no, that would be insane. And I actually think it will happen. I mean, I've got this confidence. Maybe it's because I spoke to AJ, you know, but I don't know. I think, I think it will happen. mean I've got this confidence maybe it's because I spoke to AJ you know but I don't know I think I think it will happen I'm waiting to hear from Tyson Fury obviously AJ's come out and said he wants to fight I think Eddie Hearn has mentioned it as well now it's all down to Mr Tyson Fury is the appetite still there does he still want to fight I think he does I think once the wounds heal um I think he'll want the AJ fight it's so much money I think it's more money than he made fighting Alexander Usyk. And I think he would want that fight Wembley stadium to see, um,

who is really the top dog. I say the top dog, you know what I mean? Who is, who is the top dog of the lesser top dogs? Cause Alexander Usyk is number one. All right. My wish,

my one wish. I still look, I love the sport of boxing. I have loved the sport of boxing since I was a kid. I also understand this sport is very much the wild, wild west. It really is. I mean, sometimes anything can happen in the sport of boxing when it comes to drug cheats and the bans they get

or bans they do not get when it comes to states having their own different rules and regulations. I still think this sport desperately needs a world governing body. I think it needs an overseer of all the nonsense, someone just to control it, because I think it can get out of control very quickly. I think Riyadh season has brought some level of control, some level of, okay, we know we're doing this

and we know we're doing that, but I still think it's a bit of a mess behind the scenes. So for me, a world governing body to oversee everything and rather than it does sometimes feel like promoters and managers kind of do what they want to do and they have no one no authority to speak to or no authority in which to answer to I think it needs a world governing body so everyone is under control because I still think so much mess goes on in the sport i love and i still think there's a lot of cleaning up to do love that one wasn't expecting that uh it feels like like like i went with like you know the fun playful one and you

went with the real hardcore i feel like i could have gone the other way around i kind of expected you to do listen i love it i love it it's a tremendous choice um let me ask you how far away do you think we are from something like this happening i don't feel like we are close because there's no old okay so this is real pie in the sky there's a greater chance of mine happening than yours right yeah but you said wish list i don't i don't think yours is a wish i think yours is going to happen i think mine's a wish i'm actually wishing that this could happen i mean some of the rules in the sport i just, I just don't want to get into it. It's laughable.

It's actually laughable. You can go to different states in America and this state might allow you to do this. Oh, yeah. You know this more than I do. It's nonsense. There's a lot of old guard rules attached to boxing.

Like I've complained about the press conferences and the mandatories and all that stuff. This would be nice. This would be nice. This would be nice for all combat sports. If there was a national or world governing body, it would be a tremendous thing. But I don't know. We might be very old and gray before something

like that really comes. I'm gray already, so I could be. But not very old. Maybe not here. But not very old. Not very old. Very true. Very true.

You know, Ade, we love to end our program with a parting shot, but let's be honest, there hasn't been a ton of boxing since we last spoke. Of course, there was the great card in Riyadh, but that feels too old. And so as we wrap up this first annual Ariel and Ade award show, and let's be honest, it's going to be happening for the next, God willing, 35 years. Here's my parting shot. You know what my parting shot? My parting shot goes to one Teofimo Lopez,

who has had a few parting shots all over social media, in particular on this day. He has been firing off tweets left and right. Have you seen some of these tweets? Here's one. I have. Only boxing news, I am fit and ready to fight. I weigh 150 pounds

And train steadily every day And every night My principles are That when you are at The top of the mountain You must continue to build And chisel yourself From the mind, body, and soul

Okay Not too bad What else? I wonder if top rank boxing Is hitting their minimum benchmarks With their ESPN deal Out of the 89 million I wonder if an audit

Would help ESPN No wonder why ESPN Wants to leave top ranking above. Wow. What Tiafimo? What else? Oh, now here he is going back and forth with Sandor Martin saying,

if this is chess, I am the board. Basically, Sandor is calling him out saying, Hey, what's going on? What's happening? I never needed drugs.

Did you putting up some stuff there? And then he says, Oh, the timeline doesn't work out. Anyway, spicy stuff from Teofimo Lopez on social media. I don't know what's going to happen with him.

It's never not spicy with Teofimo Lopez, but I thought that would be an apropos. I'm a big Teofimo fan. I just don't see him fight enough. Like, when was his last fight? I actually can't remember. I might have been joking, by the way. I can't actually remember who he fought last was it february last was it february

so it's a year ago nearly a year ago let me see more lopez let me let me double check here can someone can someone check that please yeah i will check it i think it was in february i could be wrong let's see here no no you're probably right it does feel like a very long time ago obviously it was june's there was there was there was the february fight but then he fought in june uh he fought it in miami beach against steve claggett oh yeah he retained the wbo and ring lightweight titles he fought to be fair look he's wanted everything he wanted the ennis fight we know that he wanted the terence core for fight. And for whatever reason, he can't seem to get those fights. Tia Fimo would fight these guys.

But there are big fights, 140 pounds as well. I just don't know what's going on. Honestly, I don't know what's going on. I think he's fantastic for the sport. Every time he's in the ring, he steps up, right? When it's the big ones, he seems to step up. So, I mean, we spoke about him a few weeks back on one of the shows when we heard about the Ennis rumors.

Yeah. And I give him a good chance in that fight and all of a sudden crickets, can't hear anything, nothing like why can't that fight happen boxing well we don't know when we're going to get Teofimo Lopez back in the ring but I'll tell you what, one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world is literally hours

away now from getting back into the ring. A rare Wednesday fight. How about this? Right here on DAZN. I was going to say, I don't want to be disrespectful to our fans in the UK or worldwide. Ring walks approximately 7 a.m. Eastern time here in the United States. Jai Opetiah making that walk back home against David Nika for the IBF and Ring Magazine Cruiserweight World Titles over there in beautiful Gold Coast, Australia. The return of the champ himself, a homecoming of sorts, a fight between two very good looking men. Will you be watching?

I will be. And I think the zone have hit jackpot with this one. Because let's be brutally honest, when Jaap Bataai was fighting the person whose name I can't remember, not many people were interested. All of a sudden he gets injured, upstairs David Niyika, and all of New Zealand and Australia and the Pacific Islands are like fully invested.

Fully invested in this one. So I think it's a very interesting fight. They've sparred each other. They know each other well. Nika's a good amateur as well, was a good amateur, sorry. Oputai, obviously a very good amateur, now a very good pro. Has it come a bit early for David Nika or could he surprise us a bit? I think this is an intriguing matchup. I will watch anything Jai Oputai because I think he's a future pound for pounder. I really do rate him highly but we'll see because he's been you know a lot of people have been asking questions about Alexander

is sick potential my yeah happens if he gets past this one first yeah he was talking about that all week long in Riyadh back in December very busy month here on DA zone in addition to that I love a good weekday card now anyway is famous for those Tuesday morning cards. And so give Wednesday mornings to Jaya Pattaya, if you will. Next weekend, we do have a Misfits card, headlined by Darren Till versus Anthony Taylor in Manchester. Our boy Wade Plemons on the card as well. He has remained on the card so long to the great HS Tikitaki.

He will not be fighting him. We are also getting a few more fights on this January slate for DAZN. You got Dalton Smith returning as well on the 25th of January in great Nottingham. Shout out to the beautiful

city in the UK. Also, Diego Pacheco going up against Steven Nelson on that same day. You got a head-to-head, a back-to-back if you will on the home of boxing and that that fight post is confusing isn't it well because you think that they're making me feel like they're fighting each other yeah yeah you got to read the fine print you got to read the fine print but two very good prospects pacheco on the cusp of world title fight don't smith wants a world title fight this year so big 2025 for both of those guys. Two very good fighters.

Big fan of both. And shout out to the quote, or at least the self-proclaimed quote, Clarissa Shields, who returns to action on February the 2nd, defending her straps against Danielle Perkins. She's back in- Heavyweight straps as well.

Yeah. She's back in Flint, Michigan. She's a massive star over there in Flint, Michigan. By the way, her film, did you see it yet? I haven't, and I feel bad. I haven't seen it yet. Why do you feel bad? Who do you feel bad? Do you think she's waiting for you to see it? Well, I feel like I should have watched it because I was raving about the trailer. Oh my God, this is insane. This is so good, her story. And need to see the the full thing because you know I know bits and pieces of a Clarissa Sawyer and the bits and pieces I know are so

she's got an insanely tough backstory and that's why she is what she is now this is how she's made and I really do want to almost piece it together to understand Clarissa a bit more because I do feel like she's misunderstood a lot so i i do want to watch it desperately because i think what she's done for female boxing how she's got to where she's got to needs to be applauded but i do think i can get a lot more from watching the film yeah i haven't seen it either uh but i'm looking for all that speed but i don't feel bad about it you could have jumped in this i don't feel bad about it uh when they when they when they make a film

for the actual quote, Katie Taylor, I'll watch that one on the day it comes out. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding, Claire. I love you. I don't want that smoke.

I don't want that smoke. Oh my God, you know yourself I don't want that smoke. Oh, she's going to kill me. She's going to kill me. Clip that. No, please don't clip it.

Don't clip it. Don't clip it. Actually, we're not live. The whole thing went down. The feed went down. We are not live. Actually, we're not live. The whole thing went down. The feed went down. We are not live. Look, we made up for some lost time. We've gone way over our hard stop.

We do what we want to do. Yeah, we do what we want to do. We do what we want to do. Next week, regular show, guests, the whole bit. Are you going to the Manchester card, by the way? Will you be there? What, to support Wade? No, are you working it?

No, I'm not working it, but I'm going to be there. Are you going to be cornering Wade? I want you holding the spit bucket. Yeah. In the works? Conversations are taking place. Wow. They're taking place.

That's a dream. That's a bucket list for me. Wade's my boy. That's a bucket list for me. I want to walk one person. I want to know what it's like being in the corner. I just want, I'll hold the spit bucket. I won't say a word. I just want to know what it's like Being in the corner I just want I'll hold the spit bucket I won't say a word

I just want to know What that walk feels like You know what I mean Yeah that feeling I know exactly what you mean Yeah And it will be busy there Oh yeah

It will be busy Go up live I'm happy they kept the car together Well thank you very much Ade For joining us This has been tremendous Thank you to everyone out there For tuning in

I had a blast Looking back at the year That was in the sweet science. Next week, regular show, right? Regular boxing talk. Who the hell is Deontay Wilder going to fight? What the hell is going on with Tiafema Lopez? Is Tank Davis really fighting?

Of course he's really fighting. And who knows what else is going on in the crazy and wacky world of pro boxing. Congratulations to all the winners. Shout out to you. Commiserations to everyone who didn't win we are sorry better luck next year good night from new york and london Outro Music