The Ariel Helwani Show - Inside Boxing | Mid-year awards, PBC to DAZN, Fury-Joshua update

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

Dan Canobbio and Chris Algieri open the show discussing the recent broadcast deal reached between DAZN and PBC, and what the major promoters in boxing being under one roof means for fans (04:18). Moving onto the latest roadblock regarding the potential Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua fight – what time the event will start (11:06). The organizers want the fight to air on prime time in America, which could mean a late start in London.  After making MMA picks (18:28), it’s time to hand out awards for the halfway point. Categories include performance, fight, moment, knockout, trainer, round, and disappointment (33:07).

Everyone, welcome back to the episode of Inside Boxing, presented by ppv.com on Crown Yahoo Sports. We are getting ready. I'm looking at the calendar right now. It's Thursday, July 9th, which means we're halfway through 2026, which means it's time for our mid-year award show. So we'll have all of our thoughts on what has been a pretty good boxing year. We've got some news and notes. A lot going on, Chris. A lot going on.

I'm ready to talk boxing. I'm ready to talk football. There are times in certain years where this time of the year, there's not a lot going on and there's not a lot to talk about. So we should be very happy with the state of boxing right now. So we have a ton to talk about, lots of new stuff coming out, good fights being made, good fights being talked about. Life is good, Ben Dan.

Boxing is well, and that means life is good. No big fights this weekend. Conimer Greger steps into the Octagon. We'll have our MMA picks in our fan duel segment in just a little bit. Talked about the football. We were just talking about it before we hit the live button here. I got myself into a little bit of hot water on the old Twitter machine. After USA lost, I was like, ah, I was just so like down-trod.

They got embarrassed. Yeah, yeah, they look like they didn't belong. I fire off a tweet. Now that we can speak freely, soccer sucks. anything. Along those lines. Like, the sport's awful to watch, I think is what I wrote. Sent it off, went to bed, didn't think twice, wake up.

Nigh-Hlaimed. Nine hundred replies. Yeah, that makes sense. And I want to clear the air. You were just bitter. I don't really like watching soccer, football. I love the pageantry that is the World Cup. I love the countries getting involved.

I love the events. I love the parties, love people. Everything about it. I find myself enthralled watching the drama. That's for the actual game. It's not my cup of tea. I'm an American. We didn't really grow up with it.

I didn't play it. I kind of want to walk. I wish I didn't send that. I love it. I really love it. Yesterday there were no games and I'm like, found myself like, what the heck? There's a lot of regret with that tweet.

Dumb. My brother, my brother, Robbie, was like, he just wouldn't let it go. He's like, that's one of the dumbest tweets I've ever seen. I would have been in your replies as well. I was on X, I would have been like, dude, what are you doing here? For a lot of people, like, were really pissed. They were, like, trying to get personal. They're like, you cover boxing.

Boxing sucks. Baseball guy. Someone, like, superimposed a picture throwing me through a street. Absolutely. A couple of things you can't do. You can't, you can't. Not only that. I fire off that tweet and then the next day is that Argentina three-goal epic comeback.

Ridiculous game. Like, insane incident. You must have been shitting yourself. Oh, dude. Every time, every time they play, it's just like, I have a cardiac arrest. I'm just waiting for the mighty cardio. And, and listen, having a game at noon on a Wednesday, ruined my entire day.

Because, like, how are you supposed to come down after that? Or on a Tuesday, rather. It's like, all right, well, now it's 2.30. And I'm jacked up. What the hell am I doing now? But I was going to say a couple of things you can't do in public. You can't talk bad about soccer. You can't hate on dogs.

You can't hurt dogs. You do that. You're fucking done. But dude, the soccer one's just about as bad. From the way people are going to react? It's pretty, pretty bad. Yeah, it was bad. Pretty bad.

I apologize, everyone. Soccer is great. You took that one on the chin now. Cheers to you. Sorry about that, everyone. We will have our mid-year awards, but let's get it some news and notes before we get to that. She, PVC has joined the zone. This is pretty significant.

The deal begins with the spent zoo fight, which is in two weeks. That will air on DeZone. PBC fights have been on the zone, like they do these joint paper views like Benavides, Zerto, and some others. But now it looks like from moving forward, even PBC events, you know, non-Big ones or like non-Benevarez ones or non-Tank ones will be on the zone. And it's a multi-year partnership from everything I'm reading. So Roli versus Tio will be on the zone, also airing on Amazon as well until that deal runs out. caveat to this is that Tank Davis is not part of the deal. like Tank Davis is in his own stratosphere.

So when he decides to come back to boxing, he will have to negotiate his own deal. So not saying Tank won't fight on his own, but he is such a moneymaker and different than the rest that those will be negotiated separately. But now every major boxing promotion is under one network slash streamer. I feel like we used to pray for times like this.

Yeah, yeah. And I think, you know, we've been moving toward this for a bit. It was just a matter of time. You know, PBC was like an island of itself with, you know, these, these Western boxing promotions holding out. So now we're there. I think it's good. And it makes for a hell of a schedule for DeZone, man.

That's a, that's a heavy lift. They're going to, they're going to have a rough year. And I think it's good for the company. I mean, they're going to expand, obviously. I've worked with the company for, for many years. And I've seen it evolve. So this is, I mean, think for fans, this is great. This is great.

You're getting boxing in the same place. And then for hardcores like us, it's easier to make these fights happen. We're going to see these cross-promotional fights on the same network. It's great. Yeah, there's no reason a big fight should not be made anymore unless, you know, starts to get dangled with Netflix, which we're seeing with like the Ryan Garcia, Connor, Ben, Tyson Fury, at Joshua. But for the most part, like 95% of the sport is going to be now on the zone.

So there's no reason why a match from fighter can't fight a PBC fighter. It's also one more deterrent for guys to sign with Zoufa, because then you're really putting yourself on an island. Like, if you want to fight any of these guys that are all on these. other promotions like I'm gonna I'm gonna single myself out now I can't get on these these fights you know that's I said every single promotion there's always one Zufa is not part of it well I kind of I put it out as like every single of the western promotions plus we have match we got we got some of the European ones as too and Queensberry um but it's kind of like

yeah we know where Zufa stands in terms of um you know where they are with the old guard Well, if they start scooping up like Shakur, who Dan Raffield reported, and he's a pretty damn good reporter, that Shakur is signed to Zufa. So I don't know how that works. Obviously, we talk about these ring events that could also be on DeZone. And then there's the Zufa ones where on Sunday nights that air on Paramount. But if Shakur signs to Zufa and then they want to make that Devin Haney fight, for instance. I'm not saying that this is going to happen. But will that be on DeZone?

on Netflix. That part is still a little murky, but I would say for the hardcores out there, this is a very good thing. Because you have to justify the DeZone Ultimate subscription. It's a healthy subscription. It's like $500 a year.

So you want value out of that. So there is no reason now the DeZone people, the powers that be, the promoters, all come together and put their best foot forward. Big fight Saturday nights,

they're calling them. Like, I want, yeah, I want 45 of them at a 52 weeks. a year. Maybe that's a little high. But I want solid fights every Saturday night across the pond here on the zone. You pay for that 500 bucks at the beginning of the year. You don't think twice about it and you watch your fights. Will the sport ever be fully mainstream? Is it going to cross over? We'll get some help with T&T here and there. But for the boxing fans out there,

if you can shell out the ultimate plan, this is a good step. It's still expensive. Yes. I'm not saying it's not expensive. It's a lot of money. Because I think about it. Like, I was lucky to grow up in a boxing household. Like, my grandfather was adamant that we had to have every premium channel,

so we could watch every fight. We could have HBO. We'd have showtime. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have been able to, I couldn't afford this. I couldn't afford $500 a year. You know,

I would have had to like literally work as a kid to, which I might have. I probably actually would have done that. But that's, yeah, it's become expensive to be a boxing fan. It's unfortunate. And which is why we're not mainstream.

We're never going to be mainstream. We're never going to be mainstream. We're never going to be like the NFL, the MLB because of this. The barrier to entry is just too high. But like you said, it qualifies why we're going to spend the money. Because if you break it down, it doesn't turn out to be that much expensive, except for these extra paper pieces as well. But I don't know. Well, the paper is a part of it.

The 500, I could be wrong. The 500 gets you all the paper pieces. Oh, okay. That's better. So they really make it detrimental if you don't get the ultimate. Yeah. Because AJ versus Pranga is a pay-per-view. Ouch.

So what they're going to do is put everything on pay-per-view now. So when you look at it and go, $80 or whatever for Pranga, AJ, or $500 for the whole year, and you just get every fight. Because, like, they're saying PPV, even though these are not PPVs by what we have been accustomed to, even 20 years ago. I mean, though I got pretty watered down. So, like, I think. the ultimate plan is worth it as a boxing fan.

Like I said, I'm not trying to... No question is worth it. No question is worth it. Like, yeah. Yeah. Because you spend 80 bucks for average and if you add it up,

really starts adding up real quick. But it's good. It's a good deal. Tank not being part of it is kind of interesting. That's weird. That's a weird caveat. Like, he, dude, he's, he's that big of a player that he can,

he's got his own orbit. PBC just wanted to have, they have their, that's their main thing, even though he hasn't fought in a year and a half. And according to Bill, Haney and had a conversation with Al Haman and said that Tank will not be fighting this year, 2027 at the earliest.

They, I feel he gets PBC saying, all right, this is our, like, our commodity. We still have to hold on to him and we still have to act separately. And we still have to,

like, maybe work a deal with Netflix, per se, or I think it's smart for PVC to protect one of their only ask. They're keeping one in the chamber, just in case. Just in case. I agree.

I think it's a very smart move. And I think if he can, if he can do that, if tank moves the dial that much, which obviously he does, we've been to his fights, then it is a smart move for PPC to hold back a little, a little powder. Staying with the business aspect here, have you been following this absolute nonsense? That is the A.J. Fury update, 2 a.m. now? Yeah, I thought it was 4 a.m. now it's 2 a.m. I mean, it's just nonsense.

Nothing good happens past midnight. My grandfather told me that. That's a great, great learning moment. for a young man here for your grandfather and he's absolutely right that's why I always leave Vegas like you know I jump right on the plane

I take the red eyes home after fights on on Saturday on Saturday night yeah get my ass back back home nothing good happens after midnight in Las Vegas

or in the UK but also the fans there dude are they gonna make it they party hard and they start in the afternoon and they go all day and then you're gonna have to get them to 2 a.m. to 4 a.m.?

I don't know I understand this is like a like I said about this fight, a fight that is eight years expired. Don't exactly clamoring for it. Will we watch it? Yes. But we also have to deal with these painstaking details

that have been seeping out over the last couple weeks, whether who's promoting it where it's going to be. Now Turkey, what time is it going to be? Where is it going to be? He's now like got political where, oh, if the mayor lets us do it at 1 a.m., we can do it at Wembley.

He's putting it all on the city, putting it all on the mayor, putting it all on their ordinance. It's because they have to occur a few of 11 p.m. in the UK, in London, Wembley, and all that. What Turkey is not saying is that this is Netflix is putting up the money. They're putting up the bulk of it to do this fight. Netflix believes that their 325 million subscribers, a lot of them in in North America, will tune in for this fight. So that's what our main focus is. So it'll be on at two in the morning, one in the

morning in the UK, which means about a 9 p.m. start here in the U.S. They have a lot of smart people at Netflix. They crunch numbers. They look at a lot of different charts and all that stuff. And they are deeming that Fury Joshua is a big driver of subscriptions here in the U.S. And for that, UK fans be damned. Show up at 2 a.m. in the winter, December. Yeah, that's right. I didn't even think about that. It's messed up. But boxing is messed up. But boxing is messed up. Yeah, you brought a great point about Netflix. And if they say it has to be in this time frame, it's got to be in this time. I love the Saturday afternoon British cards when we have them and we can, we're done by 6 p.m.

There's nothing about. I mean, that's ideal for me. I don't need a prime. Not good for the U.S. watching on Netflix. I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't know.

It's gotten to a business thing now. It's definitely Netflix driving. Well, that's, dude, that's a numbers thing. That's an algorithm thing. That's like you said, Netflix is smart. They crunch the numbers. They know. where the viewership is.

I just don't know if that's going to be a big driver of subscriptions. This is a huge UK fight. It's a huge boxing head fight for us, but the majority of fans, I don't know. Just casual boxing watchers. Netflix fans, are they really going to tune in for this?

I don't know. I don't know. They got the Fury documentary. Joshua came over with the Jake Paul fight and was the star. I don't know if that, how much that translate. The UK fans get kind of screwed in this. whole thing, but the flip side is

Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren, you had eight years to make this fight, you didn't, for whatever reasons. The fighters had eight years to make this fight, and they didn't, for whatever reason. So now it's in the hands of someone that's willing to put up the money, which is Netflix. Can me still complain about it? For sure, I'll be still going to watch? Yes.

Will those crazy UK fans show up in one in the morning? Yes, absolutely. You know what the problem is? So you have to deal with a lot of things. No bothers me here about this? The UK fans who are such good fans who are guaranteed to tune in are being taken advantage. And that's what boxing is, what's what we do? You know, we always say like, boxing is like, you know, the, she's the bad boy, she's

the bad girlfriend, you know, that you can't get what out. But he's also the bad boyfriend who beat you up and then expect you to come back. Because that's, that's what, that's what boxing does. We got these great UK fans, and we know they're going to show up no matter what, so we just take advantage of them and just, and just sop in the I don't be back. It's just, I don't know. That's crazy. You know what I was while watching last night out of nowhere?

came across it on YouTube. Ali Frazier 2. Yeah. Kind of forgotten about it. Not one. That is the forgotten about five. Not three. It wasn't great.

It's the one in the middle. Then I went down this Ali rabbit hole, of course. I watched when we were kings. I watched the whole thing again last night for maybe the 50th time. I've seen that years. Unbelievable. So good. Unbelievable.

Best documentary of all the floor still. Best documentary. Best documentary. All time. 100%. So cool. Just amazing. But you saw when he fought

what was that at 10 the morning in Congo rumble in the jungle yeah for a foreman to accommodate the 10 a.m. in the 10 a.m. in the 10 a.m. in Congo to accommodate the U.S. market. So it's not like unheard of. I fought pack you out 11 a.m.

on Sunday. Like it damn that must have been crazy. But whatever it is what it is. We're fighters. We're entertainers. We have to do it. Like it's not crazy. It's not and also talking about the legal thing or in terms of the mandates and leaving it on the on the federally what's going on over there.

This has happened before. There is precedent. Zuh Hatton was was a fight that was, I think of something at like 2 a.m. or something like that or 1 a.m. And then also one of the UFC cards did it as well. They've been able to push back the curfew. So it's not unprecedented.

It's not the craziest thing in the world. Does it suck for the British fans? And it is kind of a slap in the face. Absolutely. But life goes on and boxing continues to do boxing things. Yeah. Turkey's not going to throw Netflix under the box. He's not going to say, well, look, this is what Netflix wants.

He could, but he's like, once again, pushing it towards politicians, pushing it towards, you know, we can just do this in Miami, we can do this in Vegas and probably get a site fee. How come he doesn't want to do it in the UK? It seems. It seems like it doesn't want to do it in the UK. What would be the reason? Because I think he's, I don't think, once again, I think Netflix is driving the bus here. I really think they want to do it?

So they don't want to do it? Do you think Netflix doesn't want to do it in the U.S.? Or they do want to do it in the U.S.? I think if they had their wish, they would do it in the U.S. And they would do it at prime time. And that's what they care about it. So they don't care about the gate. No.

Why would Jake Paul fights did well? Why would Netflix care about the gate? They don't. The Jake Paul fights did well at the gate. They weren't horrible. And that MMA card did well at the gate. It wasn't a full sellout for Netflix. But it's all about getting people to sub.

Tyson, AJ is going to be a sellout, dude. That's going to mean 90,000 people in there. That's going to be insanity. No matter what time. Yeah, I think so. People are going to take off work for a week for that. That's awesome. I hope it happens, but I have these details was just so annoying.

There's a couple other details. They both had the fight and win before this. This makes me nervous, too. Pranga, bring a. You never know. You never know. It's boxing. It's heavyweight boxing.

You never know. Well, watch is not going to do anything to feel. No, no. But, dude, a cut, something stupid. injury. That's what you worry about. I'm worried about anything. So many things can happen.

So many things. Let's get to our Fandandu segment. MMA's biggest star is back in the Octagon, July 11th. That's this Saturday. You can bet on all the action with Fandle. Right now all customers can make a knockout bet with 50% profit boost. 50% on any fight night bet, including McGregor versus Hollow. It's a really good card.

So whether the fight goes a distance, first round knockout, over under, you can boost your bet and take home even more winnings. Method of victory. Like I said, over under fighter props, so much more. There's no end to the bet types on Fandall. Go to Fandall Sportsbook now. Get your profit boost. 50% profit boost. McGregor back in the octagon.

That gets me interested. It's interesting, yes. Interesting is the word I'm going. Watching him on what what version of McGregor we're getting what's unfolding this week. I've had a couple, I've noticed some things. Little, some, some perceptions I have. Number one, physically he does not look the same. The guy looked like he aged 20 years in five years.

The living has, has, is catching up. He is 37, which that's usually where even guys who are holding on, that's where we fall off the, all off the cliff. Two, he does not talk the way he used to talk. not have the gift of gab anymore. It's, it's, it's, it doesn't have the same fluidity. It doesn't have the same confidence behind it. We're dealing with a very different guy. And it's, it's odd to see it because he was so dynamic, so explosive on the mic.

And he was when he fought. When he, when he was on, he really was supremely talented and really fun to watch. I don't know what version we're going to get. From what I'm seeing from the outside, it's not going to look good on the inside because usually that went hand in hand with him. So, this could be a rough night. So a bald spot. I saw that too. Yeah.

Yeah. It's like, you're right. Like five years ago, 10 years ago, he was the coolest guy walking the earth. The swinging arm billionaire walk thing. He's still trying to. The Mayweather lead up. I was at the Brooklyn Presser. It's like some of the first media I ever did.

And man, that was huge. What was that? 17, 18? What year was that? 2017. He actually, like, talking about him talking and doing all these interviews, he pretty much brought up the fact that someone said, hey, did like the fame get to you? Like the things that bring down a lot of fighters? He's like, uh, yeah. He's like, in 2017, I was an athlete. He goes, I fought double champ at the MSG. And then I got the McGregor fight. I mean, the Mayweather fight. And then I get a whiskey brand. I'm on top of the world. He goes, I go into my garage. There's 100 cases of whiskey. He goes, I never. was a drinker, which I kind of don't believe. But it wasn't a big drinker. Now I got two bottles under my arm. I got all this money. And he said he's just, that's where it all went downhill. And that's why he is a plus 182 underdog as of Thursday. But I will say this. Our guy at Fandle sent

this over to me, Mike Mascone. Shout out Mike Mascone. 86% of money line bets are on McGregor. His fans still believe it. I saw that even in some of the videos where they, you know, they were talking to him and had some of the, you know, the fighters. and other people, they're asking all these different people, like, you know, who they got. And they still are diehards, man. It's, they don't, they don't look at the reality. They just look at what he is, that persona. There is value on McGregor landing something big.

I mean, it's a big, the odds are huge, but there is, there is some value. You still believe in that left hand. You still believe in what is Kyle McGregor. You know, he has a shell of himself hasn't fought in five years, hasn't won since that Soroni fight. Holloway, minus 235 favorite. I expected that to be wider. To me, what I'm looking at is the over-under. How long is this fight going to last?

2.5 rounds is the over-under. Plus 100 for the over. Vegas thinks that it's going to go under two and a half rounds. It was minus 128 for the other. Yeah, I think it's going to go under too. When's the last time that he's gone past... What was that when he's seen the third round anyway?

I mean, it's been a long time. Seroni fight ended so quick Remember the shoulders Yeah, yeah That was the last time He looked good That was his last last win Um

Yeah no he He went four rounds Against Khabib That was a while That was a while That was a while I think he went more How many rounds he go

With Dustin Poye Before that Not when he broke his leg Because that I think Happened in the second round But the first one I think they went a couple rounds Three three

Three maybe three rounds Three four rounds Well that's why I'm like He's in the best shape I see like You say he doesn't look the same But like everything Their coaches are saying

Like he took this camp Really seriously He's in the right line always had a good chin. What else are they going to say? He's got a good chin, but he's got a weak heart. Gives up. And Holloway's got some of the best hands in him.

And he's got a great chin, and he's relentless. He's just in a groove. He's got a gas tank like you couldn't believe, and he's got big cohenates. He fights. And it's at 170. Which is a very helpful for McGregor. He's a much bigger man than Max. Max stoppage.

So we're looking at some parlays now. Max stoppage. over two and a half rounds, plus 277. Max stoppage under two and a half rounds, which I think is the Algeria special, plus 171. It's so much juice here if it's over, though. See, now you mentioned up the weight class.

Does McGregor's size allow him to last longer? Or does it allow him to get tired faster? You know, because then you got one of the other. Because like I said, his chin is good, but that heart and that cardiovascular system, not so much. But he's also bigger, more durable, it takes more shots. I don't know. Gregor lands one, and he, say McGregor wins,

this is the year of the upset. I did predict Gaci to beat Tuporia. That just flips everything upside down. Oh, yeah. Then you're looking at a legitimate title shot. He'll fight Gachi. Yeah, 100%. 100%.

Which, man, if you're writing this, the story of McGregor's life or career, that would be, that would be it, man. But I just- McGregor's stoppage is plus 270. I don't see him beating Max. Yeah, I don't see it either. I'm being realistic here. I was looking at some of these prop bets.

Max to stop Connor in round one, plus 600. Wow. So, different than boxing. Five minutes. That's a long, that's an attorney. And there's a lot of ways to stop a guy. It's not just, no, no, no, sorry. It's T-K-O-K-O.

Okay. So it's not a sub. I don't think this fight is not anything. Regardless, there's still a lot of ways to stop a guy. You can kick him in their head. You can name them. You can cut them. You can hit him with pans.

But that's the TK. Okay. That's what I mean. Those are all different ways to get the same result. It's not like boxing. It's like, oh, is it right hand or a left hand? Even if you think McGregor can get past the first, max to stop him in round two is plus $6.50.

Wow. That's worth a sprinkle right there. Yeah. To stop him in the. second plus six man you're gonna get me in trouble

you're gonna get me in trouble with these these juicy numbers Dan I'm definitely throwing down on something I'm making a video on this after this for Vandal gonna be watching in Montauk oh that's cool Montau summer

bounce nightclub on the beach is putting it on a big screen oh that's pretty cool yeah it's World Cup games because I'm a big soccer guy as we stated in the show hope that one sees me there like yeah watching

It takes a picture. Look at this idiot. This guy actually does like it. Yeah. So head over to Fandel right now. The 50% profit boost on any fight night bet. McGregor Holloway make things interesting. Patty Pimblit on this card.

Dude, I think... I think Patty's going to lose. Van Wazza is good. He's mean. He's nasty. He's a Frenchman. He's got some really good wins. He's a nightmare.

He's a nightmare. I don't know if Patty. Patty's ready for a guy like that. How about the McGregor Pimlet? I want to feel something parley. You want to feel dread and loss in your bank account? Plus 531. In your bank account?

Yeah, I don't know. Plus 531. Hey, listen, what the hell do we know? We're a boxing podcast. Maybe Patty and... You know combat. And maybe Patty and McGregor do it. Thanks to our friends.

Fandle, go download the Fandle sportsbook app. All right, let's get to our mid-year award show. It's the mid-year, we're halfway through. It's been a good year. Some would say it's been mid. Kids still using that term? I don't think so. I think it's been, I would give it like a B-minus.

Yeah, decent year. We've had worse. We've had better. But no real big fight. No, the consistency is my main thing. I want consistency. There's just these long stretches where we're not getting anything at all

and there's a couple of them in the six months span. But then we also have like these sprints where we're like jammed all like three fights at a weekend. You know, we've had a couple weeks like that too. So it's just, yeah, I would like boxing to work together a little bit and spread things out a little bit. But we're still getting tons of boxing, tons of talk about and some good fights.

I will say this though, Chris, with the zone controlling the lion's share promoters in the sport, could we possibly see a schedule now? Well, I feel like they want to do every Saturday. So. Could we see a schedule? Can we see all these guys? People had a Peace Summit, right?

This ridiculous Peace Summit that happened last week. Which only had 30% of the people there that mattered. Stupid. I want to see Hearn, Oscar, Warren, PBC, whoever's representing PBC, you know, it's not really Al-Haman anymore. Lewis, whoever. Let's get them all in the room. Let's get a big giant raceboard.

just like a fantasy football draft and let's get some big fights and let's spread it out and let's get some actual schedule I remember when Showtime used to do their big rollout I went to one of Cyprionis Chippriani's Chip Briannis

in Manhattan It's probably the most prestigious I wouldn't even call it a restaurant It's like a catering hall People get married there and stuff Anyway Showtime did their rollout there in 2018 for their first six months of fights.

Every fighter was there. Wilder, Spent, Broner. This is 2018. These are the Stars then. They all got up on a stage. They announced fights. They did face-offs. They were in suits.

I was in a suit. That was great. We have something to look forward to. It was probably no fitting suit. No, I was. It was very bad fit. I was 2018. I just gotten into the media game.

Yeah, nobody's first couple of suits ever fit. I got a picture. My dad is actually the cameraman. That's a shout-up Bob Pinobio. You're not doing it all. E.L creator of CompuVox. I'm going to be my son's cameraman.

I got some great interviews that day. Anyway, maybe DeZone will, you know, do that with his ultimate plan and make some stability. January, we started the year off at Dalton Smith's upset of Mattias. That was nice. Chakor Tio, big time event, our event at Jack Doyle's, even bigger than that. Jarrell Miller's hair fell off. That's right. What else?

The launch of Zufa, which became probably the biggest story on of 2026. that all happened in January. February. Ryan Garcia over Barrios, Ryan's dad called Al Jiri piece of shit, called me his corny partner. We mended the fences there. We joined Uncrowned in February. How can we forget?

Shout out to Uncrown. Yeah. Mayweather Pachia 2 got announced. Frank Warren, Sue's Turkey, Usook RICO announced in February. On to March. Opataya Glanton. Opataya gets stripped. The IBF nonsense.

More Zufa nonsense. More sanctioning bodies nonsense. Virgil Boots blows up. up. Virgil goes to litigation with Golden Boy. We had Najee Lopez versus Emmanuel Gallegos, which you were on the call for, one of the best fights of 2026 so far. Top rank announces they're going to Desone Fondora Thurman, Atama Franklin in March. April, Wilder ejaculation story. I can't believe that made the recap. I mean, you know, that's a story. You don't, you don't forget that. Wilder Tizorra fight, which was got Chris angry. The angry is probably.

podcast we ever did was Wilder Chazore. Yeah. Fury MacMadoff, Ben Progrey, A.J. Fura, Saga begins after Fury beats Macbadoff. It's been going on ever since. The Senate hearing on the Ali Act with Oscar and Nico Lee Walsh and Nick Khan. May was the best. May was the best month of we had so far this year. Inouye Nakatani, Benevita Zerto, Usoc, Riko, Foster Ford. That's real. And then here we are in June with Boots Zias, some good fights this month. We're in July now, actually. And here we are in July. So up and down, ejaculates, callouts, fights, litigation, Senate hearings. That was a pretty... Just another six months in boxing. Boxing, Wild Wild West. Nice little recap there, Dan. That was, that was, I needed that because so much happens and we're so close to the sport. I forget where we are, lose timing.

It's a week to week sport. You forget about last week and you're on the next. I'm actually changing my mid-year awards as I'm going because I'm like, oh, man, forgot about that. Oh, I forgot about that. It's like, all right. Well, another thing, too, is I don't really like keep a log.

What I did was I went to my Twitter. I went to January. And I'm on that shit every day. I was wondering. I was like, you probably should just take a log at the end of every month. You're going to have to do this twice a year anyway. I always depend on like this guy fight ghost.

You just figured you checked your dear diary. Dan's, dance, my dear diary. Tonight was a great day. Deonti Wilder ejaculated all over the place. Yeah, I went to my Twitter, which is my diary, essentially. My box is a book diary. At least. Yeah.

Soccer tweet, horrible. Yeah, at least you know what the worst tweet of the year was. We should make that an award. Should. Worst tweet of the year. Oh, that's a really good one. I got many of them. So we have performance, fight, round, disappointment, story, knockout, moment.

I added trainer. Didn't do Fighter because it's only halfway through the year. Like, I don't think, has anyone fought twice so far. Zias fought twice. So I went with performance over Fighter of the Year. Like, Fighter of the Year is a year-end award once we... Did Boots fight twice? Was that first fight?

Zias fought twice this year. What about Boots? Did he fight twice? When was the blowout? He fought Lima last November, I want to say, October. Let's start with the big ones. We go opposite of the Oscars. We start with the big ones.

And then we go down. Performance of the year. Now, I'm torn between two big-time performances. Benevita's knockout of Zerto, Chikor's masterpiece of Tiafima. I tweeted this out yesterday. Shakur retweeted it. He always retweets it when it's positive. But when it's the slightest bit negative,

if he wants to fight me. Love you, Shakur. I'm going with Benavitas over Zerto. I left that arena in utter astonishment. My jaw was on the floor. I had never seen hands that fast. Zerto had never been stopped like that. This was a cruiserweight champion. Not the best Cruzeeat. That's Jayopataya. Still a champion, nonetheless. I was in all, in a different way than I was also in all with Shakur. But I left that Benavita's fight. There was a buzz in that crowd. There was a buzz in Vegas that night. That's my performance of the year so far. I'm going the opposite. I'm going Shakur over Tio. I thought the performance was spectacular. The way he did it to such a dangerous opponent was really impressive. Like with Benavita is over over Zerto, like, I knew he was going to win.

I didn't think it was going to be like that. So, but I was also like, I'm like, I'm like, this is, this is like a kind of no-brainer. And, you know, it's, I don't think Zerto's going to really give him that much trouble. Like with Tio, I was like, Tio has a lot of things that he can, he can make work, I don't know, and he make nothing work. And Jacor was able to completely shut him down, someone who is an excellent, excellent fighter. To be able to do that to someone at that level was wildly impressive. Talk about being in awe of a performance. So for me, that's no brainer.

Shikor over Tio, performance of the year. Yeah, my case for Shakur was that I rate Tiafimo higher than Zerto. I understand they're two different weight classes, but you can do that. Strength of schedule, opposition. You can use your eyes. and I know it's subjective, but I believe that Tia Fimo came into that Chikor fight with more accolades and better standing

than Zerto did for the Benavitas fight. Also, way younger. Way younger. Way younger. Yes. And Benavitas went up and wait, so did Chikor went up and way. It's just two different types of fights.

And it's the reason why I believe boxing is so special is because there's multiple ways to win a fight. There's different styles. You can choose which style that you like. The majority of people that responded to that tweet, you know, they love Benavitas because he was violent in there, and he says, stopped the fight, left no doubt.

There's people that love the sweet science, disarming an opponent. What do you call it? Domesticating them. He domesticated to you, female. He made him into a puppy dog. He shut him out. By the third round, even earlier.

That was impressive. Chricor, hats off to you. I would give to both these guys. I always like the honorable mentions. I could give a couple. I always, because it is half here. I mean, for the... Yeah, what else you got?

No, those are my two. Boots. Um, over Zias. That was insane. Yeah, but that would be a dissent third compared to these two. Definitely third. But like that,

the more I look back at that fight, I'm like, I posted something. Did you see this three-punch combination that boots landed? I haven't on my Twitter. He hits him with a body shot first with right hand. Then he hits him with an uppercut,

same hand, and then he throws a little like push shot at the left, all in the same sequence. Witchcraft. Again, he lets those hands go. It's one of the things I talked about. and the lead up to the fight, his advantages and prolonged exchanges

are next level. Yeah. Boots, Zias, great performance. Third round, was he hurt? Was he not hurt? He's so great now that we're debating if the guy was partially dazed for a few seconds. That's how great boots are. I don't know if we're debating anything.

He was in a bad place. He was hurt, and he was. I was there. I saw the legs leave. He was hurt. Leave. And the way he held. They left.

He was hurt. Hurt and dead. Hurt and tired. He goes up. I'm still fighting while hurt. And tired. Oh, yeah. No, he was banging while doing that.

Like, that's why he's going to be so much fun for so long. In a way, over an Akhtani. Great performance, Navarrete, over Sugar Nunes, which is really overlooked. Yeah. Yeah. Brennan Figueroa beating Nick Ball. That was a fun one. That was a fun one.

That was a heartbreaker. For many. See, he is the heartbreaker. For many. My performance is Benavides. Yours is Shakur. Great job. from those two. Great job from everyone.

Fight of the year, I think this is a, I mean, this should be it. It should be 100% of the vote. Dubois Wardley. It's one of the best heavyweight fights ever years. Frank Warren said it's the best fight he's ever put on. And that's Frank Warren, damn it. Love that fight. Loved it.

Dubois down early, Wardley rallies. Dubois ends it late. That's all you want in the heavyweight title fight. DeWan down twice. remember. He got up at the very first punch that landed, and then he got rocked with a shot, and then took a knee, and then roared back. I mean, brutal fight. It was blood. It was guts. There was knockdowns. It was heavyweights. It was two guys that looked like they could end each other at any time. You don't get much better than that, especially when it's heavy. Heavy weights just always make

everything better. Just big, bad, mean. And that was a fight where it was hard to pick a winner, too. That's another thing. It was like a very competitive matchup. It wasn't like, it wasn't, that's surprising. You know, it was like, I could see either guy winning that fight, but I think

the right man won because that was a hell of a performance. Yeah, I suppose they're going to run it back. That's pretty awesome. Another good fight this year. I'd like to know

what state ward is in right now. He took a lot of punishment and like his face was messed up. His statements seem good. He seems positive. It won't be until the end of the year. But that fight was awesome. It was sold-out crowd.

It was, the right crowd, the right venue, at the right time, accommodated the fans. There was that whole mess with Turkey kind of like took shots at that event, ended up selling out, ended up being awesome. Great fight. Honorable mention. Naji Lopez. Figueroa versus Ball.

Naji Lopez, Gallegos, which you run the call of. Yeah, that was insanity. Being in the room was nuts. I mean, we were in a pretty small venue in Orlando, but people came out and they were going absolutely bananas. The fight, that was another one, blood and guts. We had knockdowns. We had the guy who got dropped is the guy who won.

He wins by knockout. Beautiful performance from both guys. Super, super tough. Neither one wanted to give an inch, willing to put it all on the line. And the crowd was going absolutely crazy when the fight ended. You got coaches fighting in the ring. Guy, you know, nodgies on his knees, crying and primed. It was wild scene.

Wild scene. Awesome, awesome fight. So that's a very strong honorable mention. Only beat out because it's heavy weights in my opinion and the level. Well, that was the fight of the year. It's like a chart. It's like they had like that was my fight of the year until something was going to replace it. Like something, I hope that something tops worldly Dubai. That means we had an awesome year.

I just like anything in the discussion. It's great. This is all subjective. Like, you know. Did you watch Kona Walker? Sam Ekington? I did not. Sam...

These are I. I went back and watched the highlights this morning. I saw clips of it, yes. I know it's... It is what it is. I can't watch every fight. I know it was a big one, so I went back and watched the highlights.

Conan Walker stops Eggington in 10 rounds. Awesome fight. Got a lot of shoutouts on Twitter. That was a great fight. I'm sure there are some more out there that we missed. Eggington is a tough bastard. He's been around for a long time, man. Yeah, he is.

Great fights. I hope there are a lot more over the next six months. Round three, Boots Zayas is my round of the year. I thought you might go that way. Rounds are hard to pick. Talk about how much we go. I forget a lot of the rounds. Of course, of course. Very, very hard. But I went back and I went back and thinking of the year. It's actually this was on the undercard of Subra-Mathias and, and, oh, man.

the kid who Dalton Smith, excuse me, Dalton Smith versus Super Montes because now Dalton is a champ. So on a card of that, uh, heavier Centron versus Victor Sandival. Oh yeah.

That one round destruction where they're knocking each other's heads off in the beginning and like, and Centron, who is highly rated, highly touted and was really good, gets dropped so bad. His head almost got taken off

in the first round to a guy who was just like a journeyman. And then it's like blood and guts from there and it's like, anything can happen. Ends in the first round. You know, Centrone.

keeps his record or defeated, but that was a hell of a round. You're like out of nowhere, too. You're just like, whoa, what's going on here? Totally unexpected. January fights get lost. Yeah, too early. Too early in the year. Like we said, this is a week-to-week sport.

You kind of forget what happened last week, last month. Like, that card was great. That whole card was good. Paul and Smith became a champion, and he's on the shelf because... Did he get hurt? Yeah, he got hurt. And Puello, they're supposed to fight. That was an awesome ramp.

Yeah, Boots, Zias, the magnitude of it, the ebbs and flows of a round. It has to have that. It has to have momentum swings. That's what makes rounds crazy. Both guys hit the canvas in the same round. That's wild. For Boots, he got rocked. He got knocked back a little bit.

Zias came on. Boots ends the round really strong. That, to me, is what rounds are made of. Memorable rounds. And the magnitude, huge fight. You know, a sell-out crowd, Barclays, one of the bigger fights of the year. Throw that into the mix. That was my round of the year.

disappointment. Hate to go negative here. I see you went with performances. I went with just Devin Haney in general. Love Devin Haney. Just in general. Him as a person. No, I like him as a person.

I like him as a fighter. I stick up for him. I always have. I love the win over Norman. I thought that was such a cool win to kind of tell everyone to go shove it. And we predicted that he was going to win. He wins. And what does he do?

He hasn't fought since. Or in July. Failed negotiations with Ryan, not entirely his fault there. Failed negotiations with Roli. Now he is on Twitter, his dad, negotiating different fights every single day. We're going to get maybe one fight out of Haney this year. That's ridiculous. What other sport does your main star, he is a star.

You might not like the way he fights. He is a star. He drives conversations. Norman Haney buildup was fascinating and it was big time talk in the boxing world. He drives conversations. One time this year, it better be big. It could be Kishon Davis and then I'll forget about the first. I will shut my mouth and take my bags and go. Yeah, I don't, I don't see Devon taking any fight that's not big at this point. I don't like, he needed that Ramirez fight because it was off that the, the Ryan Garcia fight. But other than that, he fights

big fights. You know, he went from to 140, right to right to pro grade, and he goes to the 47, like, he went to Ryan. Like, he's, he makes big fights. I think, I think at this stage, yeah, exactly, at 35 and then right to 40, I think at this stage, he's looking for the biggest fights possible. They've maneuvered him

to get here, to be able to do that and garner tons of money. But yes, and yes, it is, it is this disappointment that we've not seen him fight, but the whole ultimate division is a disappointment in that way. These guys just don't fight enough. These, these champions are not, are not active. And it's, uh, it's not good for the sport.

It's not good for their careers. It's not good for the weight class, but what are you going to do? Um, according to, uh, Bill Haney, they tried to make that tank fight. Bill Haney called Al Haley. Oh, is that how the tank information broke that he's not going to fight till 27? Yes. So Haney goes, uh, Bill Haney goes to Twitter and goes, I just spoke to Al, a ton of respect for him.

He tells me, tank will not be fighting this year, but we'll be fighting next year. makes sense. I was wondering why Bill was breaking that news. Right. Who knows the conversation you would happen? Whatever. I don't think he would lie on Hal's name. There's a ton of respect out there for Al Heyman. But let's just say like there was some type of like Al says, yeah, let's make that

tank Haney fight next year. So what does that mean for Haney this year? If you know that a tank fight is at there. Can you depend on tank? Do you still have to go through? Because if he doesn't fight Kishon Davis, I think he has to give up his belt. Oh, wow. But the WBO has ordered that fight. Yeah, they don't play.

They don't play. Gustavo? Yeah. Our guy? Gustavo O? They don't play. Gustavo? Yeah, that's, he's got a fight this year.

He can't just sit out and wait for tank because, again, Tank is a wild card? Also, is Tank going to come out and come right into a two years off, going to go right into a big fight? Does he, he, I mean, I would. I think it's big fights only for Tank. That's tough, man. Two years off.

I've had two years off. Two years off is like retiring. You have to, like, become a fighter again. That's, that's, that's, McGregor's five years. Yeah, well, that's, no, it's also a lot of, but yeah,

no. Yeah, so this could change real fast, my disappointment with Haney. You fights, of course, Davidson. Yeah, but just,

I just want to watch Haney fight. We like when Haney, like when Haney fights. Like Devon Haney. We too. How many stars in the sport? Take what we can get. What's your to disappoint?

I got two, and I went based on, like, fighters and, and performances. And it sucks because they're two of my favorite, are fighters. Two guys I really, really like.

The performance of Tio Fimae versus Shikor Stevenson, because I really wanted to see something from that fight, and it just didn't get it. And it's not a knock on Tio. It's more of just how goddamn good Shikor is. And then Marel. Just the way that Moral went out, dude. I really like David.

That's upset of the year. Yeah, it's got to be. I mean, I really like David Marell. I liked where he could go. I like the way he moved. Like, the way he tries to fight everyone. Like, he's willing to fight anybody at all times. but dude just took a he had a couple of tough fights in a row and it caught up real fast and it's a shame we might never see him at the highest level again yeah there's a debate there where like the people that say we should not throw fighters into the fire too quick we should marinate fights

we should marinate careers that's that side there's a whole other side but it's like maybe you know morel it just is what he is and then you put him in there with the toughest fights and he's going to lose him should he have lost his act chely absolutely not but he's actually The story upset of the year, 100%. So a disappointment on one side is a man's best moment of his life. Zach Chelle, I think is a schoolteacher. Awesome story. That was really cool.

Story of the year, Zufa. Zufa boxing dominated. They had their first shows. January, we were watching that Paramount show, which was essentially a club show, watching it and breaking down every single aspect of it. They've done, they had a few shows out of the gate. They did January, February, March. February, there was a good card.

January was the first one. The March one was the Opitaya. It kind of faded a little bit over the last couple of months because boxing, the traditional boxing schedule has ramped up. But Zufa isn't going anywhere between. When I say Zufa, I also mean like the Senate hearings, the Alley Act. It's all wrapped into one. And they, to me, were the story of 2026 so far.

They fell off so much that I forgot that this happened in January. So I didn't have that. That's my first one. But this is 100% the story of the first six months is the inception of Zufa coming out, making, doing shows. But they have fallen off precipitously. But there's also the send hearing. So that's part of it as well, just like you said. First, I'm trying to think.

I'm like, what is the story this year? I went Riko Verhoven. I think Rico and his effort with Ussick. And then the drama related to the stoppage. and then, you know, him coming back and trying to get it overturned. What happens from here? Basically, Usik, realizing that he's not the same guy and putting, getting rid of all the titles, this is all wrapped up in the same thing.

This is why this, I thought this was a big story. So there's, yeah, there's a lot, there's a lot of meat on that bone, too. Yeah, we're going to keep an eye on Zufa. Yeah, the first three were, we had eyeballs on it. But, like, no one's really watching it for the, there are people watching it for the fights, but they're not big names, these Sunday night cards. So the minute we have big cards starting to roll out now on the zone, TNT,

they're going to go to the back burner. And that's the biggest knock about Zufa so far is that these club shows, the Sunday night ones aren't really pushing, moving the needle, I should say, but they sign a Shakur, which according to Dan Rayfield, he did, if they can somehow, maybe Devin Haney fights Shakur on Zufa with Zufa's banner.

That to me is important. Like, Ussick fighting Wilder with the Zufa banner, that doesn't really do that much for me, because Usook has one fight. That's just buying a fight. Chakorhaney, that's a big move. Yeah, but don't you just buying a fight there, too? Because where do you go from there?

If you can't fight other, you know, if you're not going to be able to make... Unless they sign them to a multi-fight agreement. But then how are you going to get dance partners? That's another thing, too. And then Zufa, or not Zufa, but Turkey owns 10% of the zone. It's getting complicated.

Zone stronghold. Also a story. Yeah. I mean, they made power moves. Made a real power move this year to fend off the onslaught that was coming from Turkey and Bring and Zufa and Paramount. It's been pretty interesting. But at the end of the day, we as fans are winning because we're getting a lot of good fights.

There's so much boxing on. There's so much boxing content. It's a great time to be a boxing thing. It's a little expensive. I'm going to be wrong, but we have a lot of content. What competition breeds, say, shit. Competition's good.

Well, I mean, it's the rising tide raises all ships idea, so. Yes, that too. Like, the reason UFC doesn't have any competition. They've fallen off dramatically. They have no competition. So what's their real, what's their real, you know, Drive to go out there and promote, yeah, to promote the McGregor fight's big, but it feels different. The White House card.

They got the Paramount. That was a big. White House card was massive. We'll say that. But when you don't have any real competition, you can kind of just skate. I wouldn't say skate by. But we see competition in boxing. Now, there's own ante's up.

Top rank, BBC, boxer, Queensberry to join matchroom and Golden Boy, which were there from the start. It's big. Knockout of the year. Oh, yeah. Umar Zembekov. Oh, that lead uppercut. The thing was nasty. On Ahmed Alibali.

That was the February Zufa event. That's my knockout. Mine is Alan Sanchez, Argentinian over Miguel Madueño. Miguel Maduanyo was super tough, super durable. Went 10 with Kishon. Got hit with everything. Didn't blink. Alan Sanchez ices him with a left hand.

I mean, head bounces off the floor, off the canvas. Brutal, brutal, knockout. and literally everyone's like, okay, I'm sorry, Alan, Alan Chavez, I said Sanchez. Yeah, Alan Chavez. I mean, the world knows who this kid is now. Alan Chavez, brutal knockout of Miguel Mendoeno, kind of out of nowhere because Medueno is normally extremely, extremely durable. I was expecting, we're going to, we got a little scrap here because Mdano's good.

He beats some guys. And now, now Chavez ices him with that left hand. That kid's dangerous. 135 is another stud. And Alan Chavez is there. if um what's his name cordina they're already penciling him for the seven on seven like they don't think he's going to get over to the states even if they like try to figure out a way for him to fight mason at the end of the year that's what i'm reading i saw that they're just like kind of moving on from

that and they're literally putting cordina in some seven on seven uh matchroom versus queensberry so alan chavez is uh next in line with the wBO for Mason? To fight Abdullah Mason. That's... I mean, Mason...

Risky business. But yeah, that's really risky. Really risky. Like, you saw this for Zias. Top rank will do this. Like,

Zias kind of took his career for his own hands there. I think Mason do the same thing. Yeah, he's definitely forced their hand. I think Mason. I think Mason will do the same thing. That kid wants all the smoke.

I think they will... I know he does, but not saying that he can't beat him, but, I mean, Albert Bell was he wasn't going to win Alarabelle, but like six rounds, I was like, shit. But we said that. We knew Alibaba was a difficult style and, you know, physique.

And they also had the history together. So that was just going to be a tough fight IQ-wise. But Alan Chavez is going to be like another Nox fight. Like a puncher who's going to stand and fight. Like how many of those can meet? I mean, before the age of 23, I don't know. We should really put the brace a little bit. But you can't because you're a champion.

You're a champion in a tough weight class. Yeah. Moses Atama, that uppercut over Jermaine Franklin. Pretty sick. Pretty sick. Franklin had never been stopped. Atama was even impressed with himself, even though he's not a guy that would ever, like, I was actually kind of shocked because he's pretty bad.

When's that bad? He's just a reserved guy. He's not media trained yet. He'll figure it out. But he said that he was impressed. He impressed himself with the stoppage, which I found pretty cool. Like open up a little bit. Like he was even, he impresses himself with the skills that he has.

Well, I think he left uppercut. The package that he delivers what he has, he's finding out, he's finding himself too. He hasn't been doing this that long. And he's so athletic and big. And when you start hitting guys that you're like are supposed to be tough and you see them crumble too, you're like, oh, wow. I think every fighter goes to that, especially guys like that,

who are special punchers the way that he is. When you've been watching, he's probably watched Franklin for years and he's like, now I'm fighting this guy. And then I blitz him the way I do. Yeah, okay. I'm impressed. Moment of the year I didn't put this in the

for you but Jarrell Miller's hair comedic moment of the year that was a moment and the way that he captured that moment and ran with it that's really something What on Jimmy Kimmel Ridiculous ridiculous

Parlayed it into his own main event That's so sick On his own That hair flopping off That shit was everywhere It went to every corner of the internet not just boxing, not just sports everywhere. Everywhere.

It was on Facebook. Like your aunt posted it on Facebook. It couldn't, yeah, that's a good point. It couldn't happen to a better guy either because Jarrell being able to deal with that and roll the punches. I think it couldn't happen to a worse guy. Well. He hung up on me. Well, that's, that's you guys, you guys have your history.

Personal vendetta here. Only God to ever hang up. I mean, the eight year history of this program. You must have said something to piss him off. But regardless. No. The way. Whatever. Not about me. The way that he ran with that and handled that, because if you know him, he's a, he's a very, like, fun, jovial guy. He's really tough and he can be too. But he's a, he's a funny guy. He thinks quick. So for him, they would take that and deal with it and run with it. I mean, no one else could have done it that way.

Bro, there was a picture out there of Ussick holding the hairpiece in utter astonishment. Like, that is wild. Wild. Wild. And we were at the party at the, at the. the bar, Jack Doyles, and I just happened, I was recording it. Like, the reactions in the bar, moment of the year, Jarrell Miller's hairpiece. Lopping off, Ussick, when the referee stopped the Ucic Rico fight. That's a big one. That was a moment. The shock of Ben, Connor Ben, signing with Zufa. Well, that was like the first, like, whoa, where did that come from?

I thought it was, like, my phone. I thought I was getting, I was getting, like, uh, Spammed. What's the word? Spammed or whatever. NBA Centel, there's an account on Twitter, but they just post fake stuff, but it's kind of real. Parody.

I thought I was getting parodied. But Conradin did Simon Zufa. He did. And he fought Regis Pro Gray. Did not look good. Not look good. And now he parlays out into a Ryan Garcia fight. What about the rest of the year?

Do you have any bold predictions? We didn't do trainer, by the way. But I didn't have one because I figured only these guys only fight once but i would say Andy lee Robert Garcia i said the same Robert Garcia based on how many god damn guys he has like you said they only fight once a year but he's got such a crew so many guys that are that are really top flight and guys are hanging in the

wind to like a Raul courriel who's like right there you know who can't get a title shot because the way classes is just full of stars um he's got a bunch of guys and then andy just just what he's been able to do with with certain guys i mean the transformation of ben wittaker has been pretty distinct You know, he really, like that Rivera fight could have been a tough fight. And Whitaker made it look easy. I was super impressed with that. It's such a trendy profession.

Such a trendy trainer. It's like you're at highs and lows. Like obviously the Freddie Roaches of the world, Teddy Atlas, Robert Garcia, you can just do it for a long time. But guys like Derek James, who's still a great trainer. But have you been following this Earl Spence back and forth? I just find it so sad. when like Abel Sanchez had his breakup with Golovkin and they start trashing each other.

Like Spence and James, he was there for the beginning. Like obviously it was over money, which is always the case. But at the beginning, at the lead up to the Crawford fight, apparently Derek James was a hot come out of it. He was training like seven different fighters. And there's like a little bit of a talk out there that he just didn't have time for Spence. Spence didn't spar apparently for months on end leading up to that Crawford fight. So, you know, it's a kind of.

whatever you've done for me lately type of profession. It's who do you. But guys like Andy Lee and... If you got a star. That too. But you have to... Like, Derek James,

you only have... It doesn't same thing with a fighter. You only have a certain amount of years to, like, cash in. So if you're the hot commanding, Ryan Garcia's asking for you, anti-Joshua in the same year. Errol Spence.

Like, how do you turn that down? Like, I'll figure out a way to do it. I'll figure out a way to multitest. But then you get performances starting to drop. Then you get... Someone's going to suffer. And you get fighters who are like, all right, well, this guys...

I've seen that in my own gym as well. If you don't have time for a certain guy, like guys get, guys get really buttered about that because this is my career. I'm on the line. Yeah, I understand you got other fighters and whatnot. But it's a difficult juggling that you got to do as a trainer. I'm not, that's one of the reasons I don't want to be a trainer. I was going to say, would you ever become a trainer? No way.

It takes way too much time, way too much time. There's too many, there's too many chiefs in the wigwam or whatever or chefs in the kitchen. Chiefs in the wigwam. Chiefs in the wigwam. That's amazing. That's like a third grade. Or yeah, chefs in the kitchen.

TEP because you got to deal with the manager. You can do with motors. You got to do, like this is your fighter and you got to, you know, it's tough. I see what Robert. You'd be damn good at it though.

Sure. Of course I would. I, I thoroughly believe that. But I see what Robert Garcia goes through. I'm very close with him and his team and whatnot. So I've seen it go there and he's talking about it.

I don't know. It's. You would have to change your entire lifestyle. entire life. You're going to live in the gym. You have to live in the gym. Traveling crazy amounts. I like training people.

Don't get me wrong. I like being in gyms all the time. But like, again, like you said, my lifestyle right now, not possible. It would be way, it's one thing showing up the gym, like giving a few pointers. Yeah. When I have to be there, like, I go to the gym and I want now. Like, I show up. It's cool.

I see the young guys that are in there. I work with some of the guys, you know, whenever I'm there, I have to be there. And I don't want to let people down, too. It's like, I got other things come up. I got to do stuff. I got a podcast with Dan. That takes up a lot of your time. People at home, it actually does.

Yeah, sure it does. I got to do research, dude. I got to do my homework. These are the episodes, you got to do a lot of research where you have to look stuff up. We just like to wing it and just go off of fields. I do a lot of prep.

Rest of the year. Any bold predictions? We got the Ryan's, like, we're going to have a lot of fights at the second half of this year. There's the guys that haven't fought this year. have stars are going to come back. Canola Alvarez steps back into the ring? We should have AJ and Fury. We should have Ussick's final fight. We should have Wardley step back in there.

We should have Dubois step back in there. It is a lot to look forward to the rest of the years. I'm so pessimistic, though. Like I want to say, I want to say like really good, like positive things. And I'm like, that's just boxing. This is never. Like, I would like to say, if we don't get Ryan Ben in September, I'd like to say that we get Haney Ryan before the year ends. Right. There's going to be some real shuffle. I would like to say that, but I can't, I can't confidently say that. I would love to just get them on a soapbox and be like, that's going to happen, but I can't. I will say this. I think that Canello's going to lose to M. Billy. Wow. Bold. So you would, you and Pauline Maunajia on the same page of that one.

You think, well, I'm on like a stream hater like Paulie is. Yeah, he just, he, I just think he, I, like, Aram said it best. Aram said that that guy belongs on a golf course, not in a boxing ring. Aram said that about Conello. Yeah, last week. Aaron's so awesome. So awesome. That interview he did with Hearn, I thought it was amazing. Amazing.

I was reposting clips. Like, he's still so sharp. It's so wild. It's insane how sharp he is. Like, he's still speaking eloquently on these squabbles that are happening in boxing. Everything. He's up to date on the Shakur. This guy in his lifetime, watch Muhammad Ali and Roli Ramirez.

Yeah. Yep. I watched when we were. King's, he's not in that, but like, when I was flipping through YouTube, like, here's Bob Aram next to Muhammad Ali. And his story about how he got at the boxing with Hearn was amazing. I just, he got Jim Brown introduced him to Muhammad as a lawyer, just as a lawyer. Oh, he's the most prolific, charismatic athlete we have. Want to get involved with him? All right. 80 years later,

Aram is still kicking. More than kicking. He's doing it. Yeah. What a legend. You might not like them. You might not do all that. You have to respect.

Most interesting man I've ever met in my life. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah, Canello's going to lose. We get A.J. Fury. We get Ben versus Connor. Ben versus Ryan. Brian versus Ben.

Haney steps in there with Kishon. Wardley Dubois rematch Usik fights Wilder Any other big names Inouye fights Not Bam yet But Inouy fights again Benevides goes undisputed at Cruzeweight

Leaving Jayopataya Hanging out with the ring belt and the Zupa belt So that means that Benavis still have to fight twice Or you think Benaviz What can pick up another belt He's going through it right now because what what mackalian is is wbc and what did he just win from

uh zirto uh two of right that's what i mean so no he the only one out there is the ibf which is the one that was stripped from opitia what if ibif is like i will put this up on the line very possible and well some benavita is on the speed you do it in the next one uh i don't if you've been fine i don't like to get into the the personal lives and rumors but benavitas is going through. I did not hear about that. His, his fiance went to socials

and said that our wedding is off. Not, no cheating, but he's falling into some of the traps that he's fallen into in his life. Well, it's only one side of the story. I'll say that. Yeah, I don't exactly love the, you know, Aaron.

She must be super frustrated and just fed up. I don't know the story. I don't like even talking about this stuff, but it's out there and Benavitas. Everyone, that's what it is now with social media and stuff. Like, we know too much about these fighters. Yeah. The access to the athletes is very, very slippery slope. Good and bad.

Double-sided things. Mostly bad. You want to have your vlogs. You want to have your streams. You want to see everything. But I'm an athlete, so I think it's mostly bad. It's mostly bad. Yes, it's mostly bad.

Like, I see guys forming opinions on David Benavitas now based off of what his wife put on Instagram stories. Yeah, personal life should be kept personal. I mean, this guy did lose a belt because of he, He fell the cocaine. It was a long time ago, but yes. Long-ass time ago. Guys, not the first fighter to use drugs.

Won't be the last either. Won't be the last either. You're crazy wild people. Like the fact that my dad let me around you guys as a kid. Your dad's a bit of a wild man, too. He's got that gene in him as well. He is. Bob Canovio legend.

Let's play golf later. Nice. All right, Chris, a good year indeed. Hopefully we have six more months of great boxing. no episode on Monday. I'm going to Montauk trying to take a little bit of time off. There's no big fights, but we will be back next week

to get ready for more. So if you see me in Montauk, say hello. That's it. That's all I got, Chris. You got anything to say? No. I mean, I'll miss you this weekend, but you'll be having fun. I'll be busy at home, so all good. All right, everyone, keep your hands up at all times.

Protect yourselves at all the time. Stay out of his DM. See you next week.