The Ariel Helwani Show - Inside Boxing | Najee Lopez beats Manuel Gallegos in Fight of the Year contender, weekend results, voicemails

Episode Date: March 15, 2026

The boys are back and kick off the show recapping Najee Lopez’s wild win over Manuel Gallegos, its Fight of the year worthiness and Chris’ experience being on the call for it. Could Lopez climb the ranks at light heavyweight and what does this mean for ProBoxTV (02:39)? Next up, we dive into the full weekend of boxing from Golden Boy’s show, featuring wins from Arnold Barboza, Alexis Rocha, Gabby Fundora, Oscar Collazo and Anthony Caccace overseas (18:03). Lastly, we take your voicemails! Calls ranging from HBO Boxing content, Ryan Garcia-Devin Haney, to the current state of club level shows in the US (27:09)!

All right, everyone, welcome in. It's another episode of Inside Boxing. I'm Dan Kenobio. He is the champ, Chris Algeri. We're presented by ppv.com, March 28th. Sebastian Fondor takes on Keith one-time Thurman streaming live on ppv.com. That's a live interactive chat. No subscriptions.

You just pop in your email and you buy the fight and you go on with your life. No year-long subscriptions. No two-year subscriptions. No lifetime subscription. a lot of streaming services out there want to lock you in not ppv.com you stream it to your phone tablet big screen tv have a watch party that i mentioned the live into your active chat yes did i mention that chris once watched a fight on an airplane that's how good the streaming capabilities are it's some of the best in the business so follow ppv dot com there are a prepresenting sponsor they have been

for several years order fundora versus thurman on ppv dot com let's have a great time on March 28th, which is quickly approaching. Hello, Chris. Welcome in to Inside Boxing. What's up, Dan? Good to be here with you on a Sunday. I got my morning, Joe. You got me ready to talk about this.

Saw that. Saw your Instagram story. That's a heavy breakfast, steak, eggs. Some leftover steak from yesterday, from, you know, barbecuing up, and I love me some steak and eggs. So got a little kimchi in there, too. So I've got to get some kind of vegetable. What does that do for you?

It's good for digestion. Actually, let me really. really good for you. You know, you're in your, your stomach issues. Kimchis is really high probiotic. It's a fermented cabbage and it's spicy. It's very spicy, but really good for your gut and digestion. I bought some, some of that digestion soda. What is that? You know, like the healthy sodas. Gingerill? No. You know, you know, like they're selling sodas now, like poppies. There's sodas that are supposed to be for your budget. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, the poppy. I know, I know that one. Yep. Yeah, I got a couple of those. So I'm doing my part. All right. Let's get into it. It was a interesting weekend in boxing Friday night.

We had possibly the fight of the year. You're on the call. Najee Lopez stops Manuel Gagos. In the 8th, Saturday night we had some, and day we had some mediocre kind of boxing. It wasn't the greatest slate. We kind of knew that going in. We also have voicemails that we're going to get to on this episode. But we'll start with what was the clubhouse leader, what is the clubhouse leader, what is the club house leader for 2026 fight of the year. Najee Lopez, Emmanuel Gallegos, ProBox TV.

You were on the call, Chris. That energy inside that arena was radiating through my screen. What a fight. What a fight. What a night. What an arena. My voice is still hoarse,

if you can tell, so if you guys are listening at home and I sound a little different today, it's because that was an intense night of fights. The whole card was good, top to bottom. But the energy in there was good. It was crazy.

We're pulling up. Christina Pontch was on the call with me alongside Pauli Malaghi, as usual. So Christine and I are arriving at the arena, and like, you know, it's like 545, 6 p.m. People are walking up already. They're showing up early, and they stayed all night long. Great crowd over in Orlando. The Puerto Rican base fan base over there is fantastic. But great energy all night long.

We had good fight after good fight after good fight. We're saying, wow, this car is really good. and the main event has a lot to live up to. And God did it deliver. I mean, absolute war. First round, Naji Lopez goes out there, looks everything that we think he is, super sharp, great jab.

I mean, awesome ring control, cracking power shots, setting everything up with the jab. And then round two, clash of heads, they get cut, and war begins. From there on out,

it's a shootout. These guys are just back and forth, nonstop action, heavy punching, hurting each other. back and forth. Naji gets dropped. He hurts Gaigos, goes in for the finish, and then gets dropped to the right hand. Gagos comes right back.

And then Naji got back up and actually stopped him the very next round. But, I mean, absolute war. Both of them were cut, blood all over the place. I have blood all over my suit and my white shirt from the fight. I'm going to take everything to the dry cleaner today. But, I mean, dude, the scene in there afterwards, people were rushing the ring. coaches were getting into fist fights. Najee's in the middle of the ring

lying down, praying, literally crying, through the blood and tears in the middle of the ring, gets lifted up. I mean, people were going absolutely insane. Edgar Berlangus there screaming his absolute head off because he's very good friends of Najee Lopez.

Brian Norman, was a former stablemate of Najee Lopez. He was there. He came on the call and spoke very highly about him. Yeah, man, this kid is riding really high. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was spectacular watching it from my couch. And it was pretty cool to see it was like free and streaming on YouTube,

a really big, large amount of people watching. I'm really happy that ProBox is getting their shine because you guys have been putting on these types of cards, new types of fights for a while now. I know we spent a lot of time talking about Zufa. You know, this is pretty much Zufa was trying to do is what ProBox has been doing. Right. For a while now. I know you're not going to say it, so I will.

that's why you need an atmosphere. Like you could never recreate. Like I bet you're the same amount. How many people were in the arena that night? Two, three thousand? Not even. Not even. It's a smaller venue.

You know, it was packed, but it's not a big venue at all. So 1500, 2000, maybe. But it's more accessible than the apex area, not to turn this into a zoo versus ProBox thing. But my point is you need that environment. You need that colorful. like it was just colorful.

Like it was a great fight. And then the scenes afterwards were insane. You have Burlonga, like you said, you have some of these fighters there. You have just like the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. The thrill of victory is Najee and going to his knees and maybe a little bit of agony from the pain and what was an unbelievable fight. But yeah, the scenes were nuts. I want to talk about Najee Lopez because I feel like a lot of fans, some fans knew who he was,

but now everyone's going to understand who he is because this is the fight of the year so far and it's going to be really hard to top it. He's now top 15, or he was top 15, and still is, in all sanctioning bodies, at light heavyweight. You know, the people are talking about, oh, man, you know, like he finds himself in these fire fights.

You know, he could have boxed a little more. What can you tell us about, you know, Naji Lopez and how quickly can he ascend into maybe the top 10? So, Najee is, he's a really interesting, case. When I first met Najee, when I first came on Pro Box about three and a half years ago, and he used to fight at heavyweight in the amateurs. Had a couple of fights with Jared Anderson, like was a good international level heavyweight amateur. Very good amateur pedigree. He came up with some good guys, like I said, Jared Anderson. And then when I met him,

he said, he's like, oh, I'm on my way down. I'm, you know, I'm getting my weight down. I'm going to fight at light heavyweight or even super high, super high middle. I was like, whoa, he's big. He's six foot three, wide-shouldered. So when he said, that. I looked him up and down. I was like, man, you're, you'd be a really big 75 pounder. He's been campaigning now as 75 for most of his career. I've called almost all of his fights on ProBox TV. And he's a very sharp boxer. He's got great athleticism, really good athletic build, the way he's able to utilize his jab. His reactions are very good. He's got fast hands. Good puncher as well. But he wants to knock you out. He, he, he punches with bad intentions. He's not just going to score points, even though he can. He can get behind that jab. have all night long. He could have done that the other night. You could have done that with Gallegos.

And it would have been a lot safer, for sure. But we wouldn't have got the classic that we got because he wants to hurt you. He doesn't want to just score points. He wants to knock you out. And Gallegos is a perfect foil because that guy, he loves 50-50 exchanges. He wants to trade with you. You can hit him. Dude, he was stone-faced all night long. It didn't matter. You get cracked. You would get hurt. Whatever. Face stayed the same. Goes right back at you. And even, you know, you mentioned the thrill of victory in the agony defeat. That made me think of Gallegos, walked out of there with his chin high. He was, yeah, I looked at the, they lifted him up.

That was pretty cool. And he should feel that way because he gave it his all and he was close a few times, you know, to winning the fight. But fought with absolute honor and respect. Fantastic showing. They both were giving each other a lot of respect after the fight. But yeah, this is what boxing is all about, baby. And Najee Lopez Listen, he got called

He was actually in the running I think for a better BF And Better Bender Bender Bender Evon obviously didn't fight But he got the call So he's he's he's people know him He's he's getting these these calls And I think a lot of people are gonna know him now

I got to speak to him briefly after the fight He was just he was so overjoyed And so emotional And I said I was like hey man I'm like you always had it But now everybody knows that you are So that target's gonna be on his back And he's he's ready for it

So he'll get into the top 10, or I assume the next series of rankings, he'll skyrocket into the top 10. I would think so. You know, Gallegos is, you know, he's lost a few times already. You know, Kilocal stopped him, Pacheco blasted him out. But he's very capable. And I actually, I told Nagia that night, and I said it on the air. That's the best version of Manuel Gallegos we've ever seen. He came in really good shape and he was very determined.

But even going back and watching Gallegos and Khalil Co. So the first fight, obviously, we know he dropped Cole three times and finishes him, gets a stoppage. In the rematch, he gets stopped after five. But even that second round with that of that fight, Khalil Koh got hit with a body shot. His eyes went like huge. And he was like, oh, no, I'm back. I'm back where I was in that first fight. He was very much in that fight.

But ended up, I know, getting stopped later on. And even in the Pacheco fight, I didn't realize how competitive that fight was until Pacheco caught him with the body shop and stopped him. Gagos is a tough customer. So I think he should break in. to the top 10 with this win. Yeah, Lopez landed 50% power, 40% of his total punches. They combined to throw almost 1,000 punches. And that was eight rounds.

Yeah. So it was pretty cool to see him bounce back in that eighth round. You know, seventh round, he goes down, cut early. It just had everything you want in like a big fight or a fight in general. Yeah, you want to see blood. You want to see both guys, you know, have moments. You want to see evenly match type of fight. You want to see someone the right guy emerge and then climb the ranks the right way.

I think that's what ProVox does really well. And they will continue to do that. So, yeah, that was an awesome thing to see them. I mean, if that's the fight of the year to me, if something eclipses that, then great. I think you said that on the broadcast. Like, if that's the bar, the bar, the bar is set pretty high right now. Yeah, if that's not the fight of the year, we're having a fantastic year because that fight was phenomenal. I went got my haircut yesterday.

I made my barber watch it. I put it on. He was like, he's like, yo, he's like, that's your voice. I'm like, yeah, yeah, but watch the fight. Watch the fight. And, yeah, we were on the edge of our seat. Same barber? You've had the same barber for years?

Same barber for years, yeah. Yeah. Parker the Barber. So he knows what you do. He knows, well, yeah, he actually cut Anthony Joshua's hair for the Jake Paul fight. That's a good fade. Yeah, yeah. Jake was, I mean, Anthony was in town in Miami, obviously, for the fight.

and he was looking up, you know, the best local barbers, and my guy has a big following on Instagram. So he found him on there and he de-m'd him. And then, you know, Parker told me about it, went down there, cut his hair twice. A good tip? I'm sure. I mean, he said he was treated really well, and Anthony is a great guy.

So singing his praises as a person, which is cool to hear. I had my old barber for years, and obviously he knew what I did, and he was, like, super proud. Like, whenever I did anything on Netflix and stuff, he had, like, posted on Twitter. Or socials. And then I got a new barber. And, like, he's like, what do you do, man?

And I was like, oh, you know, I work in boxing. He's like, and all the other barbers, like, they turn around. Like, what do you mean? Like, you box? I was like, no. Does it look like I box? I was like, no. I was like, I literally just call the fights.

And I'm like, what do you? Like, which fights? And I pull up the Instagram. They were like, oh, my God, this dude was at this fight. It was at this fight. Like the barbershop will always be like a boxing haven. Absolutely. That's, it's a, it's a men's arena of a barber shop.

And boxing is the greatest male. male-dominated sport to talk about. But yeah, now barbershops. I mean, listen, it's the coming to America scene in the barbershop where they're talking about Joe Lewis, you know, and Rocky Mocon. Yeah, 247 years old. Yeah, 7 years old when he bought

Rock and Resort, Rock and Vice, Chicago, but yeah, no, it's, that's a big part of it. But I was going to say about the actual action while it was happening. Because when watching it back, it's not as violent, always, right? It's always when it's live, it's so much more violent. Yeah, when you're live, you're so much more.

I have to remind myself that when I call fights, it's like not everyone's here. You know what I mean? Like people are watching at home, but not everyone is like in the energy in the arena, it's so much different when you're watching at home. But still, it was a big fight. Yeah, this one, it did bleed into it a little bit.

You could tell. The energy in the arena was really good. It was bleeding out into the telecast. But while they were trading, they were both throwing such heavy leather back and forth. It was bombs away. And at any moment, you're sitting here, we're watching it. You're like cringing.

Like, I'm calling a fight, but also cringing while I'm doing it. And I'm trying to, like, stop myself because, yeah, I'm still a person. I'm watching two guys throwing bombs at each other at close range. I mean, it was just so intense. And at any moment, you're like, these guys are getting clipped and the fight could be over. You know, and it almost happened when Naji was going in for a finish and it gets dropped with a right hand. And then they clash heads together.

They're bleeding. There was blood everywhere. I don't know. It was, it was such a, such a fun, fun night. I couldn't sleep after. I was up for, I was up until 2 in the morning. Yeah, I couldn't say. Easy.

Yeah. Polly said he was going to go work out. He said he was going to go to the gym and that was hilarious. He said, I'm going to go work. I'm going to go work. I'm going to lift the weight. I was like, I'm going to change my life. I'm going to change the way I eat, sleep, breathe.

That's what a crazy fight like that. The motions, like they're, if anyone hasn't watched it, go out and watch it's on ProVox TV's YouTube. Very accessible, too. That's the amazing part. You know, it's not buried on the zone. Right. No paywall. Yep.

Paywall. It was like. right on YouTube and I think that's great for Najee Lopez. It's great to see a guy like that have a great fight and now he moves on and should get some big fights and a division that is pretty top heavy like beyond Better Beavre Beaville,

Benavita, should he go back down to 175? I mean, it's pretty wide open top 10. I mean, he can find himself in the top 10 and all of a sudden you're creeping up on a title shot and all of a sudden Better Beav and Bivol are gone or different wake glasses or retired. So if long as he keeps winning and maybe

institutes the jab a little more and some head movement. He could get himself right in the mix. Yeah. And not that it really means anything, but I'm looking on Box Rec right now. And they have him at number six. So he's, it's behind whom? Behind whom? Behind Joshua Boatsy. Yeah. Mim. Alam. Unal. David Morell. They're going to fight each other. For the record, David Morel was sparring with Manuel Gallegos. So that's, that's one of the reasons he was so prepared to fight a guy like Naji. because that's incredible work. Everybody worked with David Morel in Vegas.

He did part of his camp in Los Mochi's in Mexico with the Montiel brothers. And then second half of camp was in Las Vegas. And he was getting great, great work on there. That's why he was in such good shape. Some good fighter meeting nuggets right there. Chris pays attention in the fighter meetings. Well, I had to host him this time, you know, because Christina was traveling mostly and Polly was Polly.

So I had to kind of lead the fighter meetings this time. the carry the weight. When I do those fighter meetings, and I've done a lot for MVP, and it's usually guys that are like 2 and 0, 3 and 0. I just started off with. So, like, explain your fighting style to someone that's never watched you box. It's my opening question for every fighter meeting. Because I want to hear what...

That shows you also that you don't know them. Like, I don't know what you fight. I can't research for the fighter meeting. The fighter meeting is where I learned. Like, I always want to be prepared. I want to embarrass anyone. I want to disrespect anyone. But, like, at some point, I have to learn about you as well.

Like, so I can't be researching for the research. I like to ask, in a perfect world tomorrow night when you fight, what does it, what does it look like? Right. I get my head. Or explain your style. They go, oh, I can do everything. Yeah, I love that. I love that.

I can do everything. I'm like, so you're front foot, are you a back foot? Are you a puncher? Or you're all that. Whatever I need. I can do it. Whatever I need. Yeah.

And they think you're going to, like, tell the game plan to the opponent. Oh, yeah. They're always worried about that, yeah. Like, this is going no, this is going into my phone and don't worry about it, but I get it. Art of War. What a fight of the year type of stuff. Cool that you were a part of it and on the call. You've been on the call for some big ones, man.

Last year, Inouang and Cardenas, which could have been fight of the year. Another Pro Box TV fighter, Ramon, is a Pro Box TV guy. So it's interesting. And then two years ago, remember, I was on the call for Angelou Leo when he knocked out Vanado, who was also a Pro Box TV fighter. So it's weird. I keep getting pulled into big fights, even on different promotions,

but they're still ProBox TV guys. Unfortunately, on Saturday, the quality of fights took a big... Took a dip. Took a dip. There's a reason why we didn't spend too much time on these fights on Thursday's episode because I kind of knew what we were going to get.

Some of these fights are just not great. Barboza defeats Canada Sims. I thought Barbosa looked really good, but the fight never caught fire. Boboza at 147. He looks pretty good. That was the main event on Saturday with Golden Boy. Yeah, Barbosa, I like Barbosa.

Like, you know, we actually got to interview him before this fight on ProBox TV, getting ready for this. And we do with a lot of, a lot of Rick Moranjian fighters. So, met him a few times. We were out and doing shows on the West Coast. Really, really nice guy. And he's a good, he's a good, capable fighter. But, yeah, he just, he's not. not a wow guy. He's not going to wow you. He's very meat and potatoes. He's going to he's going to jab. He's

going to move. He does everything pretty good. He's a solid, solid guy. And Sims, Sims is a very good boxer, but like he just can't kind of get over the hump. So yeah, the writing was on the wall. This was not going to be a scintillating fight, and it certainly wasn't. Yeah, I'm trying to pull up his stats, Barbosa. He threw 60 punches around because I was going to say the problem with Barbosa is, you're not a knockout guy. Right. You got to be a volleyball guy. Yeah.

Like you, Chris, you weren't the biggest knockout guy, but you went in there and you threw a thousand punches. Yeah. Like sweet science, in and out, just constant movement, giving us something aesthetically pleasing to look at. Where I feel like Barbosa, that's usually not the case. And he's not the most exciting guy outside of the ring. So it's, like, really hard for me to get excited for his fights. But he looked good, and he beat Sims. And Sims was coming in off of that Duarte loss where it was very close.

I just thought Sims just couldn't figure him out. proposal was just a little bit better but he now moves on at 147 I don't know who will get there it's a division that's you know top heavy just like like like heavyweight Alexis Rocha defeats

Jojo Diaz rocha's first fight in 15 months Diaz just has become a B-side golden boy guy that you're like all right he's going to get beat up in this fight next to you know he's hanging around and he's crafty in there but I just Rocha look good

but just to talk about Diaz for a second It's like he got beat up on Saturday night, but not enough where he'll retire. Yeah. Which I think is horrible for him. He's just hanging on. He's just he won't go away. He's 33, but he's an old 33 between, you know, the wars that he's had. He's had some big fights.

He's fought some top, top flight competition. And also his battles, his battles outside of the ring with addiction, which was, you know, very out there in the open. Yeah, he's, he's been through a lot. So he's an old 33. but he's hanging on, man. He's still, he does just well enough to be able to stick around. And like you said, he's getting used as a Golden Boy B side. He goes in, he's a new weight class every time he fights.

You know, he was 35, 40, 47. He just kind of seemed like he's just showing up. But like, he does have skills. He's very good. He's a world class operator. It's tough now. Super tough. But that's, yeah, like you said, that's, I don't know how good that is.

You know, as you're, as you're getting older and fighting more of these guys and they're bigger. You're fighting bigger guys. Walthowates are big. You know, Alexis Rocha is a big welterweight. So you're taking big shots from a guy who can punch and is just a bigger man. After the fight or before the fight, does own Manix? I don't know if Golden Boy wanted him to push this or of Manix actually believed it.

I want to insinuate that Goldenway would tell Manix what to say. But they were pushing Rocha versus Ryan Garcia before the fight. And I was like, what are we doing here? And then the fight plays out. And then Rocha afterwards is coming. calling out Ryan Garcia left and right because if Ryan doesn't have a dance partner, it's a Golden Boy fight, it's a California fight, I don't want to see that fight. Come on. I mean, a lot of stuff has to go wrong for Alexis Rocha, who hasn't fought in 15 months,

and his one win in the last 15 months is Jo Chou Diaz to immediately hop in there with Ryan Garcia. That doesn't really get me going at all. I'd rather see Raoul Curiel versus Ryan, right? Yeah, I think that's a good fight. Or Curiel versus Rocha, which was supposed to be the fight. Right. Rocha couldn't make the wait. Yeah, they had a draw,

but they haven't had a chance to run it back yet, but I think I'd rather see Curiel and Ryan. We heard Bobozo was also calling out Ryan after the fight. I don't know if you saw that. Well, if you're part of the Golden Boy stable, like, yeah. I mean, you're not doing your job. If you don't call out Ryan Garcia.

I wouldn't be surprised Roboza got it, honestly. I could see him getting that fight. It's not an intriguing fight, but, you know, it's... If something goes wrong, like if, obviously, I don't think that should be. core Ryan fight was ever going to happen. I'm like, hey, and he fights Broly. And then Ryan can't just sit out.

Like Ryan says, I'm coming back in July. It's like a place. It's like somebody. And Ryan needs to stay active. He needs to stay busy. I think he needs to stay in the gym, stay in camp. Because when he shows up motivated, he's something that he's really difficult to do with. So I think keeping him busy is probably a good idea.

And it's, listen, when Ryan fights, it's a big deal. It's a big deal. It's good for the sport when he fights. So keeping active, it would be beneficial for the sport in a whole. Gabby Fondora won. I think she's one of the best female fighters. I mean, she's fighting a 42-year-old woman. The opponent wasn't great.

But she's, she did what she was supposed to do. Like, you didn't drag out. She got her out of there in the sixth round. Yeah, she's one of the best women in the world. And in terms of, like, for punching power, she's probably the most dangerous female fighting today. You know, that used to be. That used to be Amanda Serrano.

You know, Amanda was the dangerous puncher in the female. male divisions and she, you know, guys, people always said like how hard she punched. Even men have said how hard that Amanda punches from sparring with her. And she was consistently knocking girls out. That's past her now. She's not, I mean, it's not a puncher anymore. You know, she's more of a volume puncher. She's, she's still aggressive.

Her defense is very porous and she gets hit more now. But, but Gabriel Fondora can really crack. And she's finishing girls time and time again. I mean, how many, how many, how many, how many, how many chaos is you have in a row right now? one, two, three, four, four KOs in a row for a female fighter, and especially because she's stepping up to, you know, higher level each time, that's really impressive. Only a matter of time, I think, before MVP will sign her.

I'm sure they're looking at her, like get her on ESPN. Oh, yeah. That's the draw of being a woman fighter right now is in signing with MVP. You get maximum exposure, more exposure than some of the male fighters, getting on ESPN on. Oh, for sure. For sure. Is there anyone to challenge her, though, like in these weight classes?

Well, yeah, someone I didn't write it down, Damon. There was someone that we're just tweeting nonstop that she has to fight this woman, she has to fight this woman. That's going to annoy me. But, yeah, there's someone that at 1.15, I believe, that she should be in the ring with. But I'm not going to be able to find it right now. Anyway, we'll get that later. Over to 1.30, Anthony Cachece. Kacace.

No, it's not Kikotche. Kakeche? That's what they were saying on the broadcast. It was, it rhymed with Apache. Apache, Apache is his nickname. Apache. Apache. Yeah, like the helicopter.

Yeah, like the hell. Ron. Kekachi. Apache. Kekachi. Kekachi. Keketchi. Keketchi.

Anthony. Anthony Keketchi. He won. Yes. Wasn't a great fight. Kind of figured he was going to win, though. We were talking about Dickens on air. We didn't know a whole lot about him.

He's kind of a scribe, dude. No, no, no offense at all. But, yeah, Kikate is, he's good, man. He's really come into his own kind of lightly, but he's very good. He's got, what, he's got one loss, and he's been on quite a tear, even though he's beaten all the British guys. Yeah, yeah, he hasn't been super active, but yeah, he's been on a tear. It beats up all.

37. Warrington, Wood, you know, Dickens, and, uh, there was somebody else. We got to see him fight some Mexicans, though, because we all know. that the Mexicans go over there. There's one waiting for him right now. Manuel Navarrete. Exactly. That's a good fight.

I like that. Yeah. So that fight never really, I mean, was this people out there that's what Dickens won? I watched it. I didn't watch it like fully because I was watching Italy beat in the world baseball classic. They are moving on,

be Puerto Rico. Let's go. Italia, baby. Yeah, baby. Anyway, Dickens loses. Kikace wins. Kukache, maybe. versus Navarrete.

Navarite. He's supposed to be fighting Charlie Swares, who he had a controversial fight with there. That's a tough fight there. That's not a four-wrong conclusion. That's a tough fight.

Well, Swarres cracked Navarite and, sorry, caught him, but they called it a headbut or that was bad. Yeah. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. All right, everyone.

It's time to get to our voicemails. There were some really good ones this time. We haven't done one of these in a while. I got to field them all week. some better than others. Mostly good. Our listener base has grown a lot, so they should be interesting.

It is cool to put out the bat signal, like voicemails, and then open up the laptop and see a bunch in there. That's pretty damn cool. So I thank you, everyone who called in. I would say moving forward, guys, try to keep them to like 30 seconds, because when they go on for like two minutes, they're great, but I can't edit them.

Like, I can't edit the questions. So try to keep to keep to 30 seconds. know that's tough and you understand our our plight here as podcasts is we're just long-winded sometimes but here we go let's get into it yo Chris Dan this is Max from New Mexico I am calling with the question about kind of broad but what makes a classic fight I'm calling on Saturday after that Najee Lopez fight and I would say maybe that was a classic fight but What would you guys consider what would be a classic fight?

Two fighters getting knocked down to the same round or a big comeback win, knockout or TKO. I'd love to hear you guys' thoughts. It may be what a modern classic fight today is. I mean, he explained it. Yeah. I think it's really the intensity of bull fighters. when you're watching a fight and they're both at a very high intensity level and they're really locked in and then they start ratching it up and you're just watching it go boom boom boom boom I always think of Oscar de la Jolla and Fernando Vargas obviously they had bad blood you know they had they had a rivalry but if you watched it was like all right first round Fernando got that round you know he looks like he's in control second round the Elahoya wins the second round third round Fernando wins a third round fourth round Oscar went in there back and forth and neck and neck where you keep seeing guys ratchet it up ratchet up ratchet up ratchet up ratchet up

and the competitiveness is really what it's all about. I think when you have that, you realize you're watching like a modern day classic. You're watching this fight and you're like, you know, like how Otorogadi and Mickey Ward when you're watching that fight. As you're watching, you're like, whoa, this is special. And I felt, yeah, of course. But I felt like that even with Najee, by watching that fight. And I was just like the way they were going back and forth that.

And I was like, ooh, I'm like, this is, this is something different. This is a very special moment. That's where the idea of like a modern classic develops. Yeah, it's a cool question. A casual? Yeah, it was a cool question. To a casual, I would say, like, both guys hit the canvas. It doesn't have to be the same round because that very rarely happens.

But when both guys hit the deck, that means they're this close from each guy losing. But they can come back and win. Like, Najee Lopez hits the deck early. Oh, it's seventh round. You're like, oh, my God. This guy was supposed to win, and now he's cut or blood. Oh, that's another. This is for the casual.

Like, blood. One guy goes down. The favorite goes down. Like what Inouye gets dropped by Cardness. And you're like, oh. my God, and then he rallies to win. Classic. Both guys going back and forth, throwing over, you know, a thousand punches. Classic.

An underdog, classic. Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson and go up and down the list. Whenever an underdog upsets a favorite. But mostly like knockdowns like Baranchik and... Yes, Azepeda. Good gracious. I mean, that was had like six or seven. Good gracious.

Good gracious. That's a classic because both guys hit the deck numerous times. And ended in a vicious chaos. Like that's another Levels of classics. Like yours with Delaware was more like, all right, that's like a technical classic

where you got to be really hardcore locked in. But there's other ways where both guys hit in the deck I feel like is the number one indicator or a lot of blood, a lot of punches, those types of things. So that was a good one.

Hey, Dan. Hey Chris. So when I started box seven years ago, the age of 16, and I started coaching three years ago, Nobody really told me how much time the sport would consume, especially as coaching. I'm coaching two to three hours every single day, Monday through Friday, on top of my full-time job. Saturday, I'm doing film study over live fights and whatever fights come on my radar.

So I can be a better coach to my students. I want to know it. Yeah. How the hell do I have any time for women or for staying out with friends outside of flight nights? or anything like that. Y'all must be lying about being able to pick up women and girls and whatnot, you know, throughout the week. It's just impossible. How am I supposed to do this?

So it's like dating. He just wants to learn how to manage his time. Yeah, it's a time management question more than anything. But also, I think, you know, you could hear the frustration in his voice at the end there. Towards the end, it's down a little frustrated, my man. Yeah, a little bottled up. But listen, I'll say this. When I was fighting in college, you know, I was in college, I had a job, I was training people, and I was fighting professionally.

And I just did not have time for personal relationships, for girlfriends, nothing. That was not part of it. You're married to the game. Yeah, even my family life was like, I was just a, when I was fighting especially, I was just a miserable person at all times. I was so tired. I was hungry. I was overworked. I had no time.

I was completely focused on boxing. And that's just part of what a passion is. You know, when you're passionate about something that is as difficult and nuanced as boxing is, you got to be married to the game, just like you said. So in terms of your time management there, it's like, how much do you love this sport? Do you really love it that much? Well, your significant others going to have to understand that. You know, when you do meet this lady or guy or whatever you're into, you know, you're going to have to

come to that conclusion. Listen, this is a part of who I am. I am a fighter. I'm a boxing coach. I love this game. I'm passionate about it. But this is going to be part of our relationship as well. Tired, hungry, and no love.

Yeah, tired hungry horny. Tired hungry horny is not a great way to live life. But that's the life of a fighter. That's the life you choose. I mean, this guy, I haven't never really thought of it like that because I thought of it how I experienced boxing. a full-time media guy, and it's very, very time-consuming, just from my standpoint, of watching fights all day.

Yesterday, I watched fights all day long. Like I said, they weren't the greatest fights, and I'm sitting there watching them. But you still got to watch them. Still got to watch them. And then you've got to get ready for the show, and you've got to think about upcoming gigs, and you've got to prepare for those. You've got to listen to these voicemails. That's a big-time investment right there.

Hell yeah, it is. I've got to sift through these voicemails. But, you know, I'm not complaining because this is the best job in the world. But I think it comes down to just, like, anything. in life. It's like, how much do you love it? Like you said, this guy seems like he loves it. So, and he's 16. He said he started him 16 and he's seven years, so he's 23 years old. You got plenty of time for all those stuff. Like, do it now. Put in the time now. And then when you get a little older, you meet someone. And if you're significant other,

isn't into what you do, then get rid of that person. I'll say that, number one. Especially boxing. Yeah. If someone's going to try and get away, and I had some girlfriends over the years that just were not willing to deal with my other partner, which is boxing, And they had to go. I had to go. It was, it was, it was, there was, there was a no-brainer for me. Like, if you're going to try and get between me and boxing, you're out. Because that's not happening.

Hit the road. Hit the road. Don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you. Bro, especially like weekends, too. Like Saturday night. Friday night, Saturday night. Yeah, that's, that's, Sunday. I do the podcast.

So, I mean, you got to find someone that will maybe either watch it with you or understand it. Or me, hey, Sunday night could be on our night, Friday night, during the week. I think restaurants and dates are better during the week. I don't think it matters. It doesn't matter when you're an adult. Shouldn't matter. Yeah, exactly. The heck is this weekend when you're an adult.

What's the difference? It's another day. Was it no difference? Here, here we go. Hey, what's going on, guys? I just wanted to ask. So, you know, we saw Ryan, like, pretty much a swash barrios. We saw that he has a lot of boxing ability when, you know, he really trained hard.

We saw that he has a right hand. You know, he was using the jab. the one, two, he's going to the body. He's been a lot of good stuff that we haven't really seen him do consistently before. So with all these new weapons, and especially that right hand, how do you see the rematch with Haney playing out? Do you see Ryan be more dangerous for him, or do you see maybe more 50-50 fight?

Because we did see that Haney dropped Ryan Norman. Maybe he has more power at 147 as well. Yes, I think it would be way more competitive. I think when Ryan's locked in, like he has shown when the- if Ryan fights like he did against Barrios, and I understand Barris didn't give a lot back, he's very dangerous and he could beat anybody. Yeah, I think so. And I think a lot of those things, the key word from what that young man was explaining, he explained it very well, was consistency.

Because Ryan always had those things. Ryan has a right hand. I talk about his right hand all the time because his right hand that he was letting fly in the tank fight was a dangerous punch. And you could see it. It was very heavy. And Javanta was worried about it. So, you know, he always was a two-phids a puncher. The kid can just punch.

He's very fast and he's physical. So that was always there. The jab, the discipline, that's something we had never really seen before. It definitely makes him a tough out for anybody. But I don't know if what we saw in the Barrios fight is going to help specifically with Haney. Because if you try and box Haney, you're going to lose. You're not going to outbox him. He's a master box.

boxer. So it's going to come down to Ryan having to find that chin again. And if Haney fights a more disciplined fight, which I'm sure he would this time, doesn't want to take the risk like he took in the first fight because he fought a very risky fight the first time, leaping left hooks, which you don't, you can jab with a jabber, don't hook with a hooker. And Ryan's a hooker. You don't want to, you don't want to jump and leap in with him. And that was something that Haney was consistently doing in that first fight, which was a bad idea, obviously. So I don't know, it's going to be a hard fight to really call. And unfortunately, Unfortunately, it seems like it's kind of far away from happening.

But if this fight does get signed and we do go into it, I'm sure we'll be going a deep dive on how these guys match up. But yeah, I don't know. It's not just a foregone conclusion just to be like, oh, Ryan's going to be way more dangerous because now we can box two. It's like, yeah, but do you want to box the boxer? Do you want to go out there and match wits with Devin Haney, who seems to be in great control of his boxing ability?

I don't know. I don't know. But it's not an easy answer, as it might as it might look from the outside. side just off the rip. Ryan's got to figure out a balance. He's got to be able to box like he did at times against Barrios and then do what he did against Haney in the first fight. And that's what separates the good from the great is if you're able to combine both and pick and choose your spots, not get super excited like we've seen Ryan in the past

searching for that knockout. He knows it doesn't be a lot of animosity in this fight. And it's going to be supercharged when they get in there. But if you're just going to strictly try to outbox Haney, I agree with you. I agree with you. Not going to win that type of fight. If he tries to mug Haney and then. like he did, he might have some success, but also that was a really close fight.

Their first one, if you take away all the knockdowns. Yeah, people forget that. Craziest fight to kind of score and I understand there. But in terms of like it happening soon, like Oscar did an interview with Maddox on the Saturday Night Golden Boy card and said that's what he wants next. It's one thing for Oscar to say that, you know, Haney and Rowley, I think, are getting closer and closer. Like, they're almost finalizing a fight for May 30th.

I just can't believe we're making the same mistakes again over and over. and over in boxing when it comes to marinating fights. Like, Haney and Ryan should be next. Haven't we learned? They literally got burned just last year for this. It's happened. The same guy with Rolies. It just doesn't make sense to me.

It's like boxing doesn't have that many super fights. This is the best American fight out there, especially with Virgil and Boots on ice. Haney, Ryan should be next. No offense to Ralee. Perfectly fine. It's a great fight. Haney versus Roli.

I like that fight. Not in comparison when Ryan versus Haney 2 is just sitting there. We need a third belt? Oh, okay. So people are going to be like, oh, I'm not watching this. My only two belts are in the line? Oh, third belt. Here's my money.

Like, no, just make it now before Ralee goes in there and upsets the Applecard again. That should be his nickname. Rollie. He's Apple car. He's Apple Car flipper. That guy is making a name for himself doing that. Yeah, I agree. I think they should go right to this fight,

but that's not the way boxing works. The boxing rarely operates in rational thought, so we're probably not going to see it anytime soon, unfortunately. Delay, delay, delay, collect as much more as you can. This fight doesn't even need a belt, honestly. With the backgrounds that these two have, adding one more belts, like you said, that was a great point.

It's not going to make a difference. No, not at all. Let's get into the next one. Hey, Dan, Chris, great show. This is Don Ron Cass from Brooklyn, New York. do you think reps should be allowed to wear shorts? That's it. That's the question.

All right, please. Short answer, no. Absolutely not. Why? Better movement. No, I think it's, I like the, I don't like it being as casual. I like the idea of Fight Night being like a classy affair. And, you know, if you see them, they're going to button down shirt, they're tucked in.

They have a U-Tie tie sometimes. They have a U-Tie oftentimes matching shoes. There's a decorum to how the referee is supposed to dress and look. So, yeah, no, I don't, I think it would be, I also think it would be distracting. See a, you know, a guy that, you know, it's one thing to look at a fighter's legs. A fighter, you know, is going to be fit and in shape. You don't want to see Steve Smogers' legs? No, I don't want, no, I think, I, absolutely not.

The whole idea of a good ref is one that you don't see, right? Because they stay out of the action. So I don't want to bring any more attention to the ref And having a man's hairy legs out there Is not a Some sticks out there Funny question Donovan Casp, hardcore listener of the show

Love Donovan Broves brings something different to the table Hey, what's up guys? It's shown from Long Island I was just calling My question was What did you guys think If you heard Luke Thomas's

And then Mike Coffinger To hell last week for me it was like if canelo kirkland was verbal that would have been what it sounded like but i was wondering what you guys like me jerk reaction wasn't anything uh that's it hope you guys have a great weekend thank goodee that reference canelo kirkland was a person was an arm that's great wow i think it was more um i think it was it was more systematic in that it wasn't what it wasn't a single punch it was it wasn't a single shot that was a drubbing.

Luke went in. And Luke is a very good speaker. He's a great orator. He went out there and he just, he went double-barreled, unloaded, all the, all the ammo. He went full double-click, double-clip, emptied it. He went with everything. Oh, it was eight minutes long. Yeah, he went.

He went in. It was eight minutes long and he didn't stop looking at the train of the camera. He barely took a breath. Yeah, he didn't breathe. There was no ums. It was just pure, street. of consciousness, Luke Thomas was sitting on that for a while. Yeah, I watched it.

I watched it like 20, 25 times. It was wildly impressive. It was very impressive. Yeah, I'm not going to get any further into it. Also, remind me not to get on Luke's bad side, because I don't want to be on the other side of that either. I think he's a legend for that. Hey, what's up, guys? It's Jeremiah, from Ventura once again.

This question is for Chris. I just, I wanted to ask you for a really long time, considering that you come from a background in kickboxing, kickboxing champ, transition to boxing boxing. Why is it that a lot of kickboxers tend to transition really well into boxing, whereas other combat athletes from other sports don't do it as well? And you got Dillion White, Tenshin Nassikawa, Sturzakit, Sur Rungvi site, the clitch shows who had a kickboxing background. They all transitioned into boxing relatively well. I was just wondering exactly why that is. because why they're so good at boxing when they came from a kickboxing problem. It's you, buddy.

Take it. Great question. And he's right. So kickboxing specifically, like the kickboxing that I came from, and you mentioned those other fighters, is not Muay. So boxing for kickboxing is very different. The Dutch style of kickboxer, which is what, where Rico is coming from as well, is that Dutch style of kickboxing, which is actually where I modeled my own kickboxing background after. were very good punchers.

And the best kickboxers in the world are very good punchers. So the transition for fighters that come from that background and kickboxing, and not specifically, Muay Thai is Muay Thai knees, elbows, clenching, their boxing isn't very good. But the Dutch style kickboxers, their boxing is excellent. Their hands need to be good, countering abilities. kicks are setups, kicks are power shots, kicks are finishers, but there's a lot of punching in between.

And if you ever see really good kickboxers, you see they have very good hands. So that's why that fights sport transitions better to boxing more so than any other fights work. So Verhoven, not the biggest puncher. But does that make him even more impressive, the fact that he's been on top for so long? Yes. No, no. There's not, I mean, he's super impressive. And especially in the heavyweights, they usually knock each other out all the time.

So the fact that he hasn't been knocked out, hasn't been stopped, hasn't been beaten in 11 years is wild. It's very, very uncommon because kickboxing is super dangerous. There's kicks are, any, for anybody can get, I always say like, you know, heavyweight stone, you can't have a good chin in the heavyweight division because it only takes one punch. Well, then you get kicks to it. Forget it. I don't care who you are. Everybody gets, everybody gets their head kicked off at some point, but not Rico.

Yeah, we did CompuBox. We had a contract with Glory for a few years. And that's the hardest to track. Yeah. Of any of the combat sports, compu box wise, because they're throwing knees, they're throwing kicks, they're throwing a punch. It is so cool to watch. One of the most aesthetically pleasing combat sports out there.

I agree. I think it's the most fun. That K1 style style of kickboxing is very fast-paced. Three rounds normally, five rounds for a world title fight, and it's like they're shot out of a cannon. You know, the amount of punches and kicks thrown and the aggression is nuts. Hey, what's up, guys? This is Joey calling from Canada.

I'm actually calling Long Distance paying by the second for this voicemail. If that's any indication of my support of the show. My question for you today is, I unfortunately was not a fan of boxing back in the Floyd Mayweather era and I always

hear about the glorious days of the HBO 24-7 special and how they were the greatest piece of boxing pre-fight media as I often like to consume pre-fight media now I'm trying to play catch-up and I want to know

if I were to start somewhere and watching back some of these 24-7 series, what would you say the best one is? I mean, I don't got time to watch them all, at least, well, maybe down the road I will plug through them all. But if you were to say, tune in to the best piece of 24-7 doc from HBO, what is the one I should tune into.

All right, thanks, guys. Keep it up. Easy. Easy. Mayweather, Delaware, the first one. Yeah, that was a phenomenal one. The ending montage for that, episode four of Mayweather, Delaware, just a thought of it gives me like chills or running up and down my spine. Like, that is the best one.

Obviously, Ricky Hatton versus Delahoya. They had a great montage there about all Hattons where he came from with his corner. That was a great one. Ricky Hatton versus Mayweather. Yeah. Sorry. Ricky Hatton versus Mayweather. That was like, I think, the second one, I believe, the 24-7.

So they were in their back early. Yeah, those early Mayweather ones are, you have to start there. Yeah, I was going to say, like, he said he wasn't a fan of Mayweather. I think, I think with a keener eye, now that, you know, you're getting into the sport, you might actually appreciate Mayweather a lot more going back and watching him now. So maybe this, I forgot what the guy's name was, but he could give Mayweather a second chance and really look. Because he's one of those guys in hindsight.

When you go back and watch, like, he's, he's so goddamn good. It's the way I kind of, I always talk about, like, Lennox Lewis, didn't appreciate him during his time. But since have been like, nah, he's one of the best heavyweighs who's ever walked this earth. So I think, I think you should give Mayweather another shot. Mayweather 24-7s are a must.

You want to get it to Paci-Eaus if you want to watch, like, the rise of a global superstar and just how massive Manny Pachio was. Paco Marquez. Those are good. Yeah, any of those. Watch those. If you want to get out of the Mayweather

Pacquiao world of 24-7s, go watch Cotto Margarito 2. Oh, good one. 24-7. Good one. After the controversy with the gloves, epic. Epic.

And go watch the face-off with Max. A whole different Max ago. And Marquez, excuse me, the face-off with Koto and Margarito two. Epic, epic stuff. Yeah, any of those 24th.

And I would also tell them to go watch Legendary Nights. I went on a Legendary Nights marathon, and it's not the same format, but those are excellent. And they're like 27 minutes. When he first brought it out, that was the first thing came to my mind. I confused it two for a second. I was like 24-7 in Legendary Nights. I confused it too. But the Gotti, the Godi Legendary Nights, Godi Ward.

They're amazing. They're all over YouTube, too. Like, there's a guy that just uploaded all of them. and you can just watch them in a rip. They didn't make that many legendary nights. I think they made like 10 episodes. Yeah. Like there's a major void.

They stopped doing it after 2001. I wish they would have, you know, re-up that. The Chris Algeria Roussant-Provon-Legov legendary night would have been sick. Sick. I would have been sick. Yeah, we could. I want to do that. That's a good idea.

I actually had an idea. I want to, if we can get the rights to the fight, I think this possible. I want to do an episode where we, go through one of your fights like everything. Like we have it on the screen. You're telling us you're the locker room, the walk. Well, I guess we'd have to do with that one, the Ruslan one. That would be the first number one.

Yeah. Of course, the Pac-Yat won, Khan. Khan was a great fight. I would even like to do the, by my first ESPN fight, the Emmanuel Taylor fight, where they had a good little pre-show on that one too, where they came and interviewed my family in my house. Long Island. So that was a good one too. We got to get that going. But yeah, to our friend over here, watch everything.

Like you have the time. Every 24-7 was good. So I would say it doesn't really matter where you start, but maybe just start at the beginning. Hey, Dan and Chris. It's Andrew from NYC. Really big fan of the show. Congratulations on everything you guys are doing with the new podcast network. The big news this morning, right, in women's boxing, was that Michaela Mayor was signing with MVP. You know, I know that they, announced at MSG last week, or maybe it was earlier this week, the MVPW, and they've called it a league on social media. But I'm curious if you guys have a take or if you're aware, are there any plans for it to actually become a legit UBO if the Muhammad Ali Revival Act happens? You know, something I think is interesting is they've been able to amass plenty of female talent.

And, I mean, even look, they took the female world champions from overtime boxing when that shut down. I'm curious, though, my question is, do you guys see a world? in which in the future there could be a potential merger or acquisition with Zupa. I know there's plenty of Jake and Dana Beef, but MVP really has established a big stable of women and curious for you guys' perspective on it. Thanks so much. Yeah, I've heard this and I've thought about this for a while now. Like when you accumulate that much talent and it's pretty much everyone.

I mean, outside of Shields, Fondora, maybe like Scott Nicholson and some others, MVP has every relevant champion and contender. It's a, it's, they have everyone. So they cornered the market. They cornered the market very smartly. Now they have a network and now they have a movement called MVPW, which obviously stands for MVP women. And honestly, I'm not a huge fan of the UBO and like, we made our thoughts on that.

But I think it would benefit female fighters because we know that they don't get the same type of pay. It's just not the same type of revenue. for them to demand the same type of numbers that the men make financially. But if you can get into a league where there's a ranking system and it's easy to follow and you're going to get opportunities and as the talent pool gets better, which I know it is for a fact, I see it with my own eyes, there is a benefit. It does benefit female boxing to have a UBO to have a league.

What do you think? Yeah, I would have to agree. and I think everything that MVP is doing for women is very, very smart, and they're doing a very good job. And the women are now in a space where their earning potential is gone way up and getting closer to what they probably deserve. But also in terms of a potential merger later and Zufa taking over, unless Zufa completely dominates boxing and takes over and creates this new world order, I don't see that happening. Yeah, I don't see that happening. Unless the NWO, the New World Order of Zufa, who really does do what it's planning to do and take over everything,

that's the only way I could see them being able to buy up what Jake has built with MVP and MVPW because they're going to be very smart and hold on to that, very dear. They're going to keep that one closer to chess because, again, they've cornered the market. They have everyone. And eventually they will have everyone. You know, like you said, there's a handful they don't have.

They may never get Clarissa, but, you know, how long is Clorosa? career going to going to span. So, yeah, that's an interesting, interesting question. Very interesting question. Yeah, and, you know, the powers that be at MVP, Nikisa or Jake, you know, they, they haven't come out in full support. They're not going to say, oh, this is a league, this is a, we're going to have our own

belts because they still are working with the WBOs, the WBAs. They're not going to abandon the sanctioned bodies just yet. I don't know for a fact what they're going to do, but as we've seen, it's like, They're not going to do that as of yet. But I would not be surprised because it would be a great. I think it would be very beneficial for the women out there. Speaking of Zufa, here's another one. Hey, Chris.

Hey, Dan. My name's Max going from beautiful sunny Florida. I was just watching a couple of the Zupa cards recently. And I've noticed a lot of names that I've seen on Pro Box cards in the past. And it had me wondering, you know, because Chris, I know you do a lot of work with ProBox. and Dan, I know that you even really started dipping your feet into the MVP prospects cards and stuff like that. I was just curious if you guys worry that something like ZUFWA is going to take away from some of these prospects that, you know, MVP would use or that ProBox would use on their cards. would it dilute the talent pool or do you just think that maybe it's when one person leaves

it's time for the next person to step up? Good, good observation. You know, I think I said that. Did I say that on air? Maybe not. Maybe I didn't say it on our show. But yeah, the last Sufa card, I think it was like six Pro Box TV alums on there. And listen, when there is a pool of B-sides or opponents rather, you know, it's everyone

kind of dips from. And you would see it. Over the years, if you really pay attention, you follow like a top rank. You know, as you see the undercard fights, you see where the development stages of guys' careers, you'll see a lot of the same opponents being used over and over again. So that's, they kind of have their own talent pool in terms of the matchmakers for the guys that are going to, they're going to bring in to fight their own talent. So there's always that.

And that's a career in of itself to be a quote unquote journeyman or an opponent or a B-side, even though with Pro Box, a lot of our fights, we don't really have B-sides because, you know, on our contender series where we match them evenly 50-50 bites. But even on the buildup underneath those cards, we do have fights where we are actually. Guys are actually getting built and you'll see some of those opponents. But I don't know, unless they sign them completely to a, like,

if they sign up all the opponents, because it seems like they're more signing undefeated guys who are building rather than just getting everyone. And they're not exclusive. You're going to see overlap. But if they do do that and they try and corner the market on the opponents too, It could make it a lot more difficult for smaller promotions like ProBox TV to get those guys. But man, the population is so big.

There's so many guys, so many fighters, and they're always coming up. I don't know how it's not realistic to be able to sign everyone. The population of boxer is just way too big. Yeah, I would say like there's two camps. Like there's the upcoming guys that are undefeated that you want to invest in. Traditionally promotions have, and that's what Zufa is doing. And then there's the B-side guys that have a few losses. and those guys do get steady work, but they're kind of overlooked.

They're not signing for-fight deals. But if Zufuah decides to do that, then, yeah, I do think the other promotions will suffer, obviously, because Zufa does have the resources and they do have the funds to lock in B-sides as well. Like they have a performance institute. They have benefits. They have amenities that the B-side guys, even the lower-level prospects are obviously looking at and saying, yeah, this is why I'm signing with Zook, because I feel like a performance.

professional athlete for the first time in my life. And it's no knock on ProBox or MVP that just not built like that just yet. But there's also, what's the incentive to put on B-Sides? If you sign a consulate and you can only fight for Zoufa, you got to keep the B-Sides active? You got to keep the opponents. No, you can just go and scoop those up. Like, those guys don't sign multi-fighters.

They get a phone call a couple months before a fight, maybe a couple weeks sometimes, and you take it because you don't have nothing else out there. Right. But in terms of like, I think what this guy was asking was more along the lines of, like, legit prospects. And yes, it's like Zufa is going to scoop up a lot of them. And because that's what they, that's all they have right now. Like, the Connor Benz, that's not going to be their, their, their, uh, bread and butter. It's not sustainable.

But sustainable is locking up a guy early on that you would see on an MVP prospect card or Pro Box card. Try out to MVP prospects and Pro Box guys, you know, something. And that's, we're part of both of those. but they have been putting on great competitive fights with prospects for a while now. They're the future. It's the lifeblood of the sport as these kinds of shows and these kinds of cards. Right. And Zufa now is getting a lot of eyeballs, obviously because of the power partners that are in it,

power players, I should say, and partners. So if you look at it that way, it's a good thing. If Zufa does continue to, you know, give these guys more steady work and all that, Do we have any more? I think that's it. We have one, wait, one more. I want to get in there. Here we go. Hey, what's up, fellas? My name is Kyle. I'm from Chicago. I've been listening to the show since about November of 2021. I first found out about you guys from all my years of listening to Ariel Hawani and his many iterations of his show. And I think it's great how your guys' shows have

merged together. And hopefully it will go around in history as a great example of a little. company merger, unlike some other recent mergers. You die? Sorry, fellas, I'm smoking a little bit. But anyways, my question is, that makes sense. Why is there seemingly no love for a trilogy bout between Dimitri Beville and Archer Better Vee?

He went on. He guy was stoned, rambling. He said the greatest merger ever, unlike some mergers today. talk about like like the CBS merger that we just saw with like paramount that's a very stone observation yeah I'm not I'm not high enough to answer that question but but in terms of the the question related to better be of a bivis why is there no love for it because I'm telling you I don't have love for it either I don't I don't I don't really cares I don't

I don't really care to see that fight again I think it's going to look a lot like the second fight and it's probably going to be lower level because better be it's getting older and he's very super inactive they both been inactive But it just seemed to me like Bivel figured Better Biav out and has got his number. I thought he won the first fight. I thought Bivl won both. First fight was close, but, you know, Better Biav got it. But then Bivow came back and I thought he showed a level of understanding of how to deal with

Better Biav that no one has ever shown. So, yeah, the third fight, there's just so many other fights that are way more, you know, mouthwatering. I want to see Better Biev with all the last. guys like David Morel. I want to see him with Benavides. You know, there's a lot of good fights.

I would, I would like rather than see him in than Bibble. And Bibble, exactly the same thing. I'd rather see Bibble and David Bindavides. I'd rather see Bibble and David Marell. So, yeah, no,

no love for the trilogy there. No, it's just going to play out exactly the same. I think it's just going to look and play out very similar. Like it's going to be a very close fight who we don't know one. And like you said, other fights out there. That's pretty much why there's,

There's no real appetite for that fight. All right, everyone. We appreciate all of your voicemails. Keep them coming. We'll do another one of these in a few weeks. Those are pretty good. Like I said, maybe just keep them a little shorter next time. But, you know, that's easier said than done.

That's it. We'll be back on Thursday with another episode. Chris, any final words for our faithful followers? Just want to thank the listeners. You guys are very smart. You know the sport. You obviously are paying attention. And we appreciate you guys and all you do reaching out, giving these voicemails.

Give them good questions because you make us think too. Love that. Like and subscribe to the channel. Very rarely ask you to do that. Inside Boxing on YouTube. We'll see you on Thursday. You've been watching and listening to Inside Boxing. Protect yourselves at all times.

Keep your hands up at all time. Stay out of those DMs. See you next time.