The Ariel Helwani Show - Inside Boxing | Ryan Garcia demolishes Conor Benn, Jai Opetaia sets eyes on David Benavidez, 500 episodes!

Episode Date: September 13, 2026

Dan Canobbio and Chris Algieri open the show breaking down Ryan Garcia's second-round stoppage of Conor Benn in Las Vegas. Is fellow titleholder Teofimo Lopez next for Garcia and how does Benn regroup after this (02:45)?Outside of Canelo-Crawford, this was Zuffa Boxing's biggest event to date. Did it meet expectations and how does Zuffa fit into the current boxing landscape (30:49)?In the co main event, Jai Opetaia stopped Noel Mikaelian to retain his cruiserweight title, before welcoming David Benavidez into the ring (47:10).We end the show by celebrating 500 episodes of the podcast (52:21)!

All right, everyone, welcome in. It is another episode of Inside Boxing, represented by PPPB.com, uncrowned Yahoo Sports. I'm Dan Canovo. He is the champ, Chris Algeria. It is episode number 500 of Inside Boxing. We started this show September of 2017, right around this time. It's funny how life comes full circle. Was lucky enough to add this guy right here about four years ago.

It's been a wonderful ride. We'll touch on that towards the end. of the show, but we have a lot to get to because Ryan Garcia demolished Connor Ben in two rounds to retain his WBC welterweight championship, a drubbing, a coming out party, a big time show for King Rye. How are you, Chris? I'm good. I like that term drubbing.

I don't think it's just getting used enough, drubbing. And it certainly was. But I'm doing good. I'm about an hour since I got home. home red eye last night from San Diego. So I'm, I'm feeling spry. Not a hair out of place either. Yeah, you know, I got, I got, I was blessed with many things and hair was one of them. Bro, when I take a red eye, when I get off that plane, I look like a, like a bomb hit. I'm so used to it, dude. I'm, I'm, I'm a good traveler. I'm very good at it. So I, you know, I mean, I do fly first class.

That definitely helps. Oh, wow. Fancy boy. So I slept the majority of the way. So I took like a good, like, four hour nap on the way from the West Coast. Oh, that's perfect. That's all you need. You're good. You're ready to go. You're ready for another 500 episodes.

Yeah, you know, exactly. Exactly. 500, man. Congrats. This is, this is a day to celebrate. You're saying congrats to me. Congrats to you. You're part of this, man.

You're about, you're about half of them. Yeah, I mean, half. I mean, even even half. Like, you did, you did a lot of this by yourself. I mean, but now, now we're here. Now we're a team. Now we are going to the moon. That's right, baby.

We'll touch more on that towards the end of the show. Let's get into what Ryan Garcia did on Saturday night in Las Vegas, taking out. To the moon, Alice. Oh, Jesus. He might be on the moon. Who knows the type of night he had in Las Vegas? My buddy, Drake Riggs, is like Ryan Garcia is about to take over Vegas. He lives out there.

I can just imagine what Ryan Garcia's night was like. I don't know. Does he even party anymore? He used to. That's not the point here. The point here is Ryan Garcia taking it, taking it from Connor Ben, beats him in two rounds, wasn't even competitive at all. First round comes out a little frantic, I would say, Ryan.

I'm using a lot of energy moving around that ring, throwing everything a million miles an hour. So was Connor Ben. First round was just a lot of heavy artillery. And Ben ate those shots pretty good. I thought Ryan looked good, but a little herky jerky. Second round comes, just absolutely evaporates him. with the right, not the left. The left was working in the first round.

He was spamming that left like it did his whole career. Throws that right hand that we saw a lot, the Barrios fight, absolute peach of a right hand, drops Ben. I don't know how Ben even got up. And then he didn't throw a punch after that, Ben. They stopped the fight. We'll talk about it if we thought it was a little too early or all that.

But thoughts on Ryan Garcia, and he's really coming into form now. So Ryan goes out and does exactly what he said he was going to do. He said, this guy does not. belong in the ring with me. I pray for him that doesn't leave on a stretcher. And if it wasn't for Thomas Taylor stepping in so early, Ben was going to leave on a stretcher. He had absolutely no answer. Actually, he had no answer from the opening bell. He, Ryan threw a left hook, 10 seconds into round one. It had been right in the middle of the face. He had absolutely zero defense, no reactions

at all. Anyone who's going to say, oh, he was weight drain. That's why he had no chin. No, he got hit with every single punch Ryan threw. Ryan's not a volume puncher. We've talked about this on our air. You are the numbers guy, Dan. Ryan doesn't throw a lot of punches. Ryan didn't miss anything. He was throwing right hand left.

He was throwing right hands to set up left hooks, and the right hands were landing clean. He landed so clean, he was like, all right, I'm going to knock this guy with a right hand. First round, the amount of power punches that Ryan landed was absurd, because, again, Ben had zero, zero defense. And then the second round, He knocked him out going backwards, going backwards with a right hand.

So not only did he not use his vaunted left hook that everybody was calling for and everybody was looking out for. He was going backwards with a right hand. And, I mean, hit him right on the money. Like you said, a peach of a punch. Great shot. Ben goes down. Was the stoppage too early? Was it early?

Yes. Was it too early? Probably not because Ben didn't complain one bit. He wasn't seeing the punches coming. he was just kind of trying to duck and evade and Ryan was just throwing absolute nukes from every angle. Ryan, honestly, like, Ryan did good. I'm not taking any of the way from Ryan's performance.

But he just came out swinging, like it was a sparring session with a guy that had no business being in the ring with him. And it turned out, that's exactly what it was. Right, there are people that are out there that are praising Ryan Garcia because this nature of boxing, we, we, you kind of overreact. It was not a good performance by anybody.

It was, it was a bit of a sloppy shell. It was sloppy to an extent, but he has, he possesses these skills and he possesses this arsenal that not a lot of fighters have to do. He's super talented. It is the power, the speed, the length, and the trigger pull, awkwardness. It's the trigger pull. It's his ability to find the gap and get there. That's really what it is.

You can't teach that. And yes, at times it was sloppy. But you can't teach to speed. The footwork was good, too, at times. To get in position for those shots. Like, he missed the left hook. The final, the punch that dropped him, that was the beginning of the end. He misses the left hook, but he's still in a pretty decent position with his athleticism.

He stopped his feet on a die. To land that right. He stopped his feet on a dime. Yeah, to land that right. And you said this time and time again, Chris, where it's like a lot of people look at Ryan Garcia and they think streamer, they think Instagram celebrity, they think this, that, and the other. The dude has a decorated amateur career. 200 plus amateur fights.

200 plus. This isn't a guy that took up boxing after he was famous. Like, he became famous from boxing and has taken it this far. So he does have a lot of skills, and he does have a lot of talent. It's always above the years with him. But he possesses a lot of skills that are going to make it really tough for anyone at 147. He's so long. He can just whip those left and now the right.

He has two, he's a two-fisted fighter. It was always the left hand. What did Tank Davis say in the lead up to their fight? Always got us a left hand. Always got his left hand. Now he's throwing the right. And now he's just throwing the right. He's damaging fighters with right hands.

I've talked about his right before. He finished off Duarte with the right. He heard him initially with the left, but the right hand was what finished him. Even in the tank fight, he was landing right hooks behind Tank's ear that Tank didn't like. Ryan's got a right hand.

And obviously we saw him drop Barrios with the right hand and right away in the first round. And now he just scores a knife. You know, basically, it was essentially a one-punch chaos with Ben. He got up, but he was already gone. And it was with the right hand, again, going backwards. No, he has a two-fiz-a-puncher. His ability to pull the trigger is there.

And that comes from the million times that he's pulled that trigger because he has. He has 230-plus amateur fights. He has been to a high level in the amateurs and now is coming into his own as a pro. He's been in with legit competition now, very high competition. Um, and I think he's gotten past being under the lights. He's gotten past, um, that little bit of, uh, uh, you know, like issue we had with dealing with certain kinds of fighters. Um, he, he talks to talk and he backs it up. He's, he's, uh, he's really coming into his own. And I think maturity has plays a lot

apart in this. Um, he's shown his last two fights that he actually will prepare properly. He will show up. And listen, he's got, he's got the ability to be the face. of this sport. Like I really hope. Brian, I'm talking to you, Ryan, if, bro, keep this going. This is so good for our sport. You can literally save boxing. Keep being this guy. Keep showing up.

Because we need, we need him. We need a guy like this to, to take the reins. And if he keeps showing up like this and he keeps preparing properly and keeps winning in spectacular fashion, what the hell else are we asking? What more are we asking for? Yeah, I totally agree. He's got, he's always had a lot going for him with the marketability. It was always like, can the talent catch up and the skills and the in-ring catch up to the out-of-the-ring stuff?

And I did a little reaction video yesterday. And it's something I've said in the past, too. Like, what made Oscar Delahoya so special. I just use him as an example. He had the utmost utmost amazing skills, Olympian, world champion, just in the ring talent through the roof. Charisma star power. It met it. You have a rocket ship when that happens.

You're taking off. You're a massive star. Now, Ryan Garcia will never reach the skill level and the accolades that Oscar had. It doesn't have to. He can keep doing this and keep getting nice wins. But he's starting, his boxing skills are starting to creep up to where he is outside of the ring. It's never going to be like, blah, bab, perfect, but it's getting closer close. That gap is shortening.

And what we see now is a guy that can take over the sport with Canela Alvarez on the back of eye with the heavyweights, all starting to age out too with, the North America not really having a star. Like, this is, this is it. Because I was getting text messages last night. I always used this to gauge it, too. I was getting text from people that don't usually watch boxing. Just messages from, it was just easy to access last night with it on Paramount.

I don't know his next fight, where it's going to be on the zone or not. But the dude moves the needle. And if you go in there and do what you're supposed to do, which was take out, Connor Ben, don't let it linger into the later rounds. Take them out. Knock them out. Highlight real stoppage. Ryan Garcia, the name, the stoppage.

To the casual fan, to the sports fan, they're going to say, wow, this guy's legit. This guy's not going to know that Connor Ben is a C-level fighter. This is going to see a big knockout, and they're going to see on a prime with Dana White there and all of them. So I 100% agree with you. This is so good for boxing. He has to emerge. Someone will always emerge. And, you know, talk to Canello, he always said, like, Ryan's the guy.

Ryan's the guy. Ryan's the guy that could really, really take over. He just has to keep it going. And like you said, above the neck and stay focused too, because when he's focused and he's dialed in, you know, coming in 145 pounds, he's really hard to beat. And he's now been on their big stage, too. He's got big time, big fight experience, too, which is a huge thing. So I agree. I think it's so good for boxing that we can have someone like him.

If you could just stay on the straight narrow, don't veer into the craziness, okay? Just stay straight. I think part of that comes with. with maturity, you know, like, listen, I wasn't famous when I was 21 years old. He was. It's really difficult to do it. Now he's getting closer to, maybe even earlier than that. Yeah, he's getting closer to 30 now.

I think he's growing in maturity. He's a dad, you know, like I think, I think his maturity is catching up to, like you said, the talent and his skill and the fame. I think, I think we're in, I think Ryan's in a good place. I hopefully, hopefully can keep this together. He does seem like he's a lot more stable and does feel like he's doing the work. I don't even, I haven't told you this. I had one of his, one of his, I'm not going to, I'm going to keep them nameless.

One of his trainers reached out to me about this fight months ago, like, month, probably, yeah, probably months ago, you know, asking me about Connor. And I was like, I'm like, wow, this guys, these, these guys are working for real. This is not just, this is not just in the living room wearing sandals workouts that we're seeing on, on, you know, online. He was working for real. And he did that with Barry O's too. He showed up in a much bigger shape. And for people at home, Dan and I, we talk all the time.

Dan was really concerned that Ryan was not going to make weight. Didn't, you know, came in on Tuesday as to show up to the press conference or the faceoff. People are saying, oh, Ryan was cutting the weight. He's having trouble with that. He's posting that he's gambling. Turns out, guess what? He was doing exactly what he said he was. He was not struggling to make the way.

He probably was gambling. He's probably chilling, whatever. And I told Dan, I told you, I was like, he's not big enough to struggle. He's going to be fine. He's going to make the weight. He's not that big of a wealth of weight that he's going to have to. really struggle. Ben on the other hand was definitely struggling. And even then, I thought

there was a little bait and switch of Ben being making it a bigger deal than it was. No, no, no. It was a really big deal. And unfortunately, we did our prediction episode prior to the way in. And Dan, you swayed me, you son of a bitch. You swayed me into thinking that this is going to

be a decision. Because I never said that. I was always saying, Ben's going to get knocked out. But when I saw him gained 30... Wait, wait, wait, wait, you don't believe that, to you? The 178? I don't believe that. I heard he was 173 when I fought him.

Walthowates gain a lot of weight, dude. They gained a lot of weight. So, whatever. He was probably 178. He probably, that was got, all right. So fighter perspective, you gain weight. You have a couple of meals. You drink a ton of water.

You wake up the day of the fight. You're down like six or seven pounds. So he's probably in the high 60s. Regardless. us. I saw... On fight night? I saw that weight gain and I was like, oh, no, he's getting starched. I saw it and I was like, this is fake. No.

He wasn't on the scale. I've never heard of a guy 30 pounds? Absolutely. I've seen... I've seen it. First hand. I've seen it. Twelve hours? I've seen it for a cent. Definitely can happen. That is absurd. Like, do you feel the pounds being added on to? Did you see his face? He looked swollen before the fight.

He did his face. When they went to him in the locker room, His face looked huge. Swollen. But still, 30's a lot. Like, oh, yeah, but even if they were messing with them a little bit there, too. It was a bad cut. But again, that 30 was the day before after. Yeah.

That was like, that was like, I'm from a fighter. I'm telling you of what happens. You get off the scale. You hydrate with liquids first. Then you start introducing regular food. Then you have a dinner and you get a big dinner. He probably stepped right on the scale right after that dinner. He was wearing big sweatpants, whatever.

So, but again, then you, then you. You don't pee for the first, like, legitimately, like six hours after a way. Your body just, when you have a really bad cut, your body just soaks up everything you take in. You don't pee for a while. And then you pee, and then you lose a ton of weight. You'll pee off two, three pounds, easy. I'm dead, dead ass. And then you have dinner.

Then the next day, you lose so much weight overnight, too, because, like, again, you pee a couple of times. So you lose weight and gain weight at the same time. It's up and down. You're putting food, you're putting volume into your, into your stomach. And it has to process and go through you. We'll get back to Ryan in a second. So with Ben, it gets blown out of there in two rounds. You didn't think much of them heading in.

Like, I regret saying that he would go the distance. If I would have just bottled up how I felt after the pro gray fight, and I put out like a video after that where I said, this guy is a sea level fighter. I can't remember a time where a fighter has gotten this far, has gotten so many chances. has gotten so many opportunities by being a sea level fighter. Chavez Jr. became a world champion.

Yeah, I think Chavez had more skills and more determination. And he came up, he came up a different way. Chavez Jr. came up, and I think they did 10, 4-rounders, 10-6-rounders. He had, like, 40 pro fights. He learned along the way. But he was never really that good. And he's the opposite of Ben in that. He was very undisciplined, but he had more talent.

Ben has almost no talent, and he is all drive. He is a effort-based guy, and this performance was pitiful because he is an effort-based weight bully, and he had the weight, but he was getting pushed around and ragdolled this entire time. Ryan was probably 15 pounds lighter than him and looked stronger. Obviously, he was faster. Ben's explosiveness, Ben's physicality is completely gone. And let's call it for what it is. Since he failed his drug tests, he has not shown any of the explosiveness. He has not shown any of the physicality.

He has not shown any of the power that he showed during a very short window where he had three performances where they really stood out where this guy was like, wow, this guy's a power puncher. And that's been the narrative. They just show the highlight reels knocking me out, knocking Chris Heardin out, knocking Sammy Vargas out. those are aberrations. That's not what Ben is. But there's this narrative that he's this big puncher. And people are like, he's got a shot against Ryan.

He can knock him out. He didn't look strong at all. There was a point where he started opening up on Ryan to the body. I was just watched the fight again. I was like, there's nothing on those punches. Ryan was pushing him off with literally a post. And he would fall backwards.

He didn't look strong. He didn't look fast. He didn't look explosive. He had absolutely nothing for Ryan. And Ryan knew it. Ryan acted like it. Ryan acted like he was sparring with an amateur. He said it going in.

He's like, this guy doesn't know what's going on. This guy doesn't know what he's in for. I'm going to, and Ryan just went out there and just literally lined him up like a t-ball. Post out, here comes the right hand. Here it comes. Boom. Here comes the left hook.

Boom. I mean, he played with him. And he didn't break a sweat. He had no concern. Nothing coming out of him was concerning him. this is probably the last time we're going to see Connor Ben at this level because that didn't win him any fans at all

and it just makes it makes all the drug allegations so clear so apparent that he's just a completely different fighter now I 100% agree the dude was on PEDs I mean he failed a drug test you just use your eyes he failed a drug test for a three fight stretch he looked

unstoppable. He comes back from the suspension and looks ordinary. Ordinary at best. When you said C-level fighter, I'm like, oh my gosh, that's harsh, but I'm like, no, it's actually, the Progrey fight was bad. Progray was halfway out the door.

Didn't want to fight anymore. Had just been dropped by Haney, Caterall, had a life-in-death fight with Jojo Diaz, who was a 130-pounder. And then Ben couldn't put him down. Like, where's this vaunted power? And he just looks slow. And he looks slow.

again last night. It's just, I mean, yeah, if there's any question about whether this guy was clean or not is been, been answered, been answered. So having fought him, haven't fought him and how that fight went, and now you see the last four years of Ben. I know you've been very diplomatic and you take the high road, you're utmost professional, I'll give you a ton of respect for that. How are you feeling today when you watch Conner Ben get starched like that? I'm embarrassed. I've been embarrassed because I know we, he wasn't good. I said he wasn't good then. I didn't think he was good when I was in the ring with him. And I've been staunch since then. Like, you know, people around me, be like, I know, I think he's better than you think. I'm like, and he's not. I'm telling you. I've been in there. I've been in with the guy. But to see where he's at now and where he's come, I've only lost the great fighters.

Manny Paciow. Errol Spence. Even Ameri Khan. Miracan doesn't get his, his flowers lately, you know, as in recent years. but Ameri Khan is an excellent, excellent, excellent fighter. I lost the gray fighters and then Conner Ben. I lost the three gray fighters and then I lost the Conner Ben. And it kills me. It kills me. It eats me up inside because it's just not on the level of a guy that shouldn't be. Even at 30, I was 38 years old.

Still shouldn't be me. It's just, when you watch him, there's nothing that I see and that he's put out there that he deserves to be on this level at all. Well, Christopher, it makes you feel any better. got a lot of comments on YouTube, got a lot of comments on Twitter. This one was for Algeri. Appreciate that. Thanks, Ryan.

This one was for Algeri. Yeah, it's, I think the, I mean, you can't fool boxing fans. They've been saying this about the guy for a while now. They show the highlights of him knocking guys out and we're just, you roll your eyes. You roll your eyes because you know why he knocked those goes out. You know that he's not that fighter anymore. And to get absolutely demolished in two rounds. It just ruins the guy's entire marketability.

He would walk around that tough guy. He'd go up to Devin Haney. He'd go up to Chaucor Stevenson and talk tough and talk tough to Ryan Garcia, talk himself into fights, talk his way into opportunities that he can't have. You can't do that anymore. You just got ragdolled. It wasn't even a competitive second for you in that fight. You got stomped out.

So I don't know where he goes from here. I don't know if he even cares to go on. I know that Zufa has options on him and they're going to try to have him at 160. and all that, but he took it as far as he possibly could. And you have to just kind of give him credit here because the guy faked until he made it and he went all the way to a single, excuse me, a Mexican independence marquee weekend in boxing against Ryan Garcia. I'm one of the biggest stages ever when he just clearly didn't belong in there.

No, you definitely can't give him credit. I give him a lot of credit for being as low level as he is to make it this far to, I mean, listen, He's not his father. His father was a fantastic fighter, literally an all-time UK great. And I'm a big fan of his father, actually. And he was a hell of a fighter. And he was just a brutal, brutal guy. He tried to be like his dad.

He's not his dad. He'll never be his dad. But for being what he is, coming from where he came from, to get to this point and make $20, $20, $25 million, never going to be a world champion. You get a world title fight, whatever, made a lot of money. and did what he had to do. I mean, yeah, props to him. Being able to do that,

because there's a lot of fighters out there that you always got that question. You want to be a pro fighter, right? Do you want to be, would you rather be a world champion or would you rather be rich? So you want to be a fighter, right? Do you want to be a world champion?

You want to be rich. Right, granted, you want to be both, of course. But they don't, they don't. People think they come together. They don't. They don't. I know plenty of world champions that are literally destitute.

Even guys who made a lot of money. but most guys don't make a lot of money. Do you want to be one to the other? I always think of Sergey Daryvinchenko. One of the best fighters to never win a world title, a professional world title. But he made a lot of money. A lot of money.

He fought all the good guys. He's got an upside down record, but like, God, he was always tough. He does really, really well. Made a lot of money. I would rather be a world champion. I am really, really proud to be a world champion. Should be, yeah.

I made a lot of money, too. But I'm not like, I'm not a, I'm not sitting on my, my mountain of gold. But I, I did well enough. But for me, my title is really important to me. Absolutely, bro. You did it right. I think fans understand that. They recognize that.

And it's a little bit of justice there. We saw on Saturday night. You know, you're ripping apart, Connor Bannon. I was as a C-level fighter and all that, too. So they kind of have to put the win in a little bit of a perspective there for Ryan now. This is not back-to-back winds of a Mario Barrios, who was a sitting duck. Sitting duck is a good term. And then you got Connor Ben, who is what we just said there, too. So, of course, boxing,

you can never just get the full credit. You can never just be like, come on to the show. Maybe Ussick, in recent times, it's the time where you could just kind of bury away, like any other asterix and all that. But then I'm getting Ussick. He struggles with Verde Hoven. It's just like, ugh. But before that, when he was taking out Fury twice, Joshua twice, Dubois twice. I mean, that's what you come on this show. You have to be an ardent, a big-time hater to find something wrong with those performances. With Ryan, like, you know, we are anointing him as one of the next faces of boxing.

We're saying he looks unbelievable with the whipping left and all that. But you also have to keep in mind who he has fought in the last two fights. It's Mario Barrios and it's counterbent. The Devin Haney fight, we're never going to make sense of that. It's ultimately a no contest. The tank fight, he loses. Dwarte fight, not a huge fight, but he wins that too. That might be his best win.

Is this a signature win? This is not a signature win. It's definitely his biggest and like maybe the most important for him and where he wants to position himself for the rest next five years. It's signature because of the magnitude of the event. Exactly. But in terms of the magnitude of his best, most respected win is Oscar Duarte, especially in hindsight. When you look back at that fight, because I remember when that fight was being announced, I was like, who the hell is this guy? Oh, my God.

Ryan's always fighting fucking nobody's. And then he had a tough time. And I was like, ah, see that, Ryan isn't, then I'm like, then Duarte goes on to keep winning the way he's winning.

And I'm like, oh, shit. And even Ryan said it. He was like, oh, guy, hit so hard. He hit harder than everybody. He'd harder than tank.

And I've been, you know, I talked to Robert, Robert Garcia all the time. Duarte is one of Robert's guys. And he said, yeah, now, Chris, he's a beast.

And he agrees. He was like, that win by Ryan. And Ryan stopped him. Ryan didn't just beat him. Ryan didn't get by, Duarte. He knocked his ass out.

And that, to me, is Ryan's best win, especially because of how good Duarte has looked and his power. And I think he learned a lot in that fight because he did struggle. He had to struggle. He had to overcome. And we don't see that a lot with Ryan. We see him fold. You know, we've seen him fold in fights.

We saw him overcome against Lou Campbell. We saw him overcome against Tuarte. I think those two fights are his biggest, most consequential wins from a boxing perspective. But in terms of a signature win, it was last night. Yeah. I mean, he was on single-a-maya. I keep saying single-to-mire. Mexican independence weekend.

It's a big weekend, man. Come for your ass, bro. Signa-maya is like nothing to them. It's the biggest weekend of the boxing year, Ryan Garcia, on the biggest stage, the way he did it, like I said that before, that's meaningful. But also the way he built it.

All the shit he talked and he follows it up. That's... And then afterwards, I love in the ring, you know, F to Haney's, bring on TIF. He just says everything you want to hear. Like, Dana White, said it after the fight. This dude's got everything going for him.

He's a good-looking kid. He could fight. He could knock guys out. He's got the gift of gab. He's got everything. He's a promoter's dream. In between Dan are looking sick about Cotter's performance.

He looks... In between Dan are looking sick about Conorbes before. He did not... He did not look good. I think they made a huge mistake there. Like, come on. Like, they thought this guy was the next

Ricky hat and he was going to sell out stadiums. Like, did any British fans even travel over? So that... Do any British fans don't have been like it? Come. They wanted them sparked out. I heard that too. I was talking to some important people. And we were talking, I was, you know, someone mentioned the popularity of Ben and they were like, he's not really that popular.

He's a completely, completely built. He was in a gimmick stadium fight with Eubank. That's it. And the Zoufa will just try to scoop up anyone they possibly can, like Johnny Fisher and the Ben's of the world. they made a huge mistake there. I don't know, but money really isn't anything to... Well, no, that was a pride move. That was a kick in the nuts to Eddie Hur.

And it's just, it's backfired. It's definitely going to backfired. It's already backfired. I don't know where he goes from there. Yeah. But for Ryan Garcia, like, if Ryan Garcia beats Tiafima Lopez, are we giving him credit then? Yes.

Yes. Because I think that fights next. Tiafima tried to get into the ring. They wouldn't allow him. But I believe that's next. I believe we get Ryan Garcia versus Tiafima. I wish we would get right to the Haney fight, but we're not going to get that. We're going to get Tio first.

And it's a hard fight to pick, honestly. It really is. I thought this version of Tio, who just fought Roli, which I don't think, he didn't get flowers for that fight. And I don't understand why. Roli's a really hard guy to fight. Really difficult style. And he's a counterpuncher. You have to get on him.

You got to push him. Like Cruz blasted him out because Cruz got all over him. Ryan got his ass kicked because he fought backwards. You can't fight Roley like that. You can't expect to just sit there and counterpunch Roley. And Tio Fimo is a pure counterpuncher. He has struggled every time he's had to go forward. He showed that he can actually go forward against Roley.

I think Tio did fantastic in the Roley fight because Roli's really hard to look good against. He's really hard to win against, to win rounds against. And I thought Tio did that, won that fight pretty handily going forward. Yes, he got rocked. Yes, he got cut. Yes, he got her. Whatever. I think he won that hand, that fight going away.

That version of Tio is going to be what's necessary to fight Ryan. Because you can't just sit there on your back foot and look to counter Ryan because Ryan will sit there all day. He's got the height and reach advantage and the power advantage. So you're going to have to push him and you're going to have to push and pull on him. Ben doesn't have that. There was no pusher pull. Someone interviewed me and I said like, oh, he's got a good push or pull.

Like, no, he doesn't. He's got a push. There's no pull. There's no way out. He doesn't come out with any kind of defensive measures. Tio does. If Tio can push, pull, make Ryan miss, because Ryan is so exposed when he throws the power.

There's going to be opportunity. Oh, God, dude, he had a few moments in that first round. He spins around. He's got his chin way up in the air. He was on a platter. If he had someone. His hand out over here, there's going to be opportunities for Tio to really take advantage. I love the fight.

I want to see Haney. And Haney was interviewed after and said, oh, I'm going to fight Ryan for undisputed. So it seems like there's some plight. plan here at 147. Ryan versus Tio, Haney versus Paro,

winners meet. Like that. Sign me up for that. He needs Paro. I don't know if Ryan gets past Tio though. I really don't. That's a tough fight. Ryan versus Tio.

You know, Ryan was criticizing Terrence Crawford for the last couple of months. He doesn't fight anyone young, doesn't fight anyone young. Look, I'm fighting 29-year-old Connor Ben. Yeah, age. That's it. That's what Connor Ben had it going from. age. The guy was not even in the same

strategy. I forgot to mention... Hold me a second. Go ahead. Now, with Tiafimo, you're fighting a guy who's your age and is up there in skills and accolades and has been in the ring

with legends and beat them. He's actually skill-wise, higher than Ryan. He's got more skills. Got more... This just doesn't have the explosiveness. No. Yes.

No, but he's got the athleticism. He doesn't have the power. He's not in his weight. Ryan... Ryan is... better at these higher weights. He was killing himself for the fact that he fought a 30 was insane, but 30, 35, he was really killing himself. So what's, what's Tio going to do to beat him, though? Like you said the front foot. Like, you think he can really walk him down?

No, it's going to be a push and pull because he's going to have to lead, pull, and counter. Lead pull counter. Lead pull counter. He can do it all night long. He's going to walk that tight rope. That's a, that's a tightrope. He's got to walk the ring, too. Ryan's not that busy. So Tio, who's a guy who needs to rest and repeat and recharge, because he is an explosive guy. He's a sprinter. He needs to be able to do that. He doesn't have the explosiveness of Ryan,

but he has better athleticism. He's got better footwork. He's got better IQ. The guy that fought Taylor, which is what he did. He led, he pulled, he countered. And he did it with athleticism and just fluidity and swagger.

He needs to be that guy. And Tio showed to have a good chin. He got no. He gets rocked here and there, but like, guess what, guys? He's a world-class fighters. These guys can bowl punch. And if you get touched, you can get hurt. But Tio has shown a pretty solid chin.

He's been down a few times, been hurt a few times, whatever. But, like, he's, he's solid. That's a good fight. It's a real good fight. I want to go back to the age thing. I want to go back to the age thing then. Because not a lot of people brought this up. Ben fought no one at a high level under 35.

I was two and a half months shy of 38 when I fought him. Prograde was 37 when he fought him. Eubank, both fights were over 35. years old. This is the first time he fought anyone near his age that was at a high level. And it showed. We know that. Because, yeah. But again, part of, part of his success was based on being a effort-based weight bully. Big for the way. Smoking mirrors.

Built. Completely built. Smoking mirrors and Eddie Hearn. And then. A name in Eddie Hearn. A famous name in Eddie Hearn. And look what he did to Eddie. dude what is eddie feeling last night oh eddie so you were saying like all this one's for algeria like i don't care i don't i don't care to see anyone get gets get squashed out on my behalf that's not my thing eddie though eddie eddie eddie had a glass of champagne last night to

that to that did he light up a cigar did he do all that and with the stoppage um i watched it on the ts hay lines on the way home last night i wasn't like i wasn't celebrating that's wow um the stoppage was a little premature i thought i i would have liked to have seen a more conclusive ending. He didn't throw a punch, or he threw very little punches, Ben, after he got dropped. Didn't argue either, though. And if you didn't argue either. And if you go back and watch the final flurry, Ryan didn't even land anything when he was

up against the ropes. He just probably was so dazed from that first right. And you've got to remember this, too, with the referees. They're in there way closer than us. They can see the eyes. They can see. Thomas Taylor is one of the best friends. They can see stuff.

So Taylor sees he gets absolutely. rocked with that right hand. I don't know how Ben even got up from that shot and knew that this dude was on, was out on his feet when he was up against those ropes. Taylor saved Ben from getting absolutely slept. He saved him from Ryan's prediction. Ryan said, he's like, I pray to God that this guy makes this out, makes out of this ring, okay, because Ryan was on his way to put him face down, leaving on a stretcher. Because, well, do we need to see? We need to see. see that in the sport? Because I have two separate arguments I'm seeing from respected people in the sports. Like, we want a conclusive ending or do we want to save a fighter from a really big

injury? I think in this case, you save the fighter. I think, I think Thomas Taylor saw that Ben had no business being in the ring and was being so outclassed. It was a pitiful performance. He had nothing for Ryan at any point. And I think he saw that, recognized that. He saw the disparity in the speed and the power and he saw how hard he was. He was in close. And he also saw his reactions. If you really watch that back, Ben is making, like you said, Ryan didn't land those punches. He wasn't making the miss. He was just, like, he wasn't reacting to those punches.

He was just dipping and basically just trying to get, cowering away from the shots and they were missing because Ryan was throwing everything on them. So in that case, I don't think the stoppage was bad. I don't need to see him crumpled into a ball, slept, snoring, but it's not because that's where he was, that's where he was headed. Breadman tweeted. I think Bradman said we need more, we need a, it's better for the sport to have conclusive ending.

I think in a competitive fight at a world title level, yes. I think we do need to have that. Yeah. Yeah. This wasn't that. This was not a competitive fight. No, it wasn't at all. Did you catch after Tiafimo?

Ryan Garcia. Why didn't they let him in the ring? That was so stupid. There's a number of reasons there. I think number one reason is because neither guy is technically. signed to Zufa. Ryan Garcia still has one fight left with Golden Boy. T. Fimo is exclusive to the zone.

So Dana White wasn't about to have two guys step it to the ring, square off, have a viral social moment that they're going to use down the road to build up a fight that they don't have. Yeah, true point. Number two, Dana also said, you don't really believe in that. Like, we at the UFC don't allow fighters to step into the cage and face off for fights that are not signed yet.

I've seen it done in the past, though. But that's what Dana said afterwards. And that goes to a larger point of something we've talked about, what I don't like about Zufa, I don't like about UFC, where it's promotion, promotion, promotion, it's about the company. It's about the company. It's not about the fighters, not about individuality at all. They don't want to fighters to have any moment inside of a ring like that.

Then he goes and lets Benavita's in the ring with Opitaya because they have Opataya. He's signed with Zufa. So even if Benavita stays with PBC or whoever next year, if Opataya and Benavita's fight, then you know that Zuf is involved with us somehow. I really think that's what it. It was. Because it looked ridiculous, but T.

Ephema getting just ambushed by these massive security guards. It's like, dude, this guy's a fighter. What are we doing? That's 100% what it is. Fighter, goddamn world champion. Like, what are we doing? It was so frustrating. So stupid.

And Dana's so full of shit when it comes to these kind of things. We don't do that. We don't do that. This is not the UFC, bro. This is boxing. This is, we have. Well, they want to make it the UFC. Never going to happen.

Stars are too big. Guys are too good. It's, it would never happen. Well, they're ready, they're ready going backwards on everything. Well, that's another thing. Like, what they let slide and what they acquiesce on has been so ridiculous. You can't take anything seriously, like they said. Yeah.

They really backtracked on the, they allowed the WBA regular title to be on the line for Micahillian and Opataya. So they went from saying, we're not going to recognize the sanctioning bodies to now okaying the secondary belts. It's, it's out of control. And don't get me started with Dana's whole stance all week with the. the Eddie Hearn and the Joshua Fury fight, and he thinks it's all Eddie's fault.

Meanwhile, they have a signed contract saying the fight has to be in the UK. Now they're trying to change a signed contract. But Dana's the one going off about who's that fault here. It's all Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. And then they don't allow Delaware. Delaware was not in the arena last night. I saw a comment from Dana. He goes, I don't like DeLahoya.

He's like, but I wouldn't treat him bad if he wanted to come. What ended up happening? And also, I thought that was part of the problem with the lead-up this fight, not having De La Jollaolla involved. Well, they clearly told him you're not, we don't want you at the press conference or the way. They didn't want him up on the stage. They didn't want any moments with Delahoya and Oscar. Oscar's a bigger star than everyone on the card. What are we doing?

But here's the thing. I want to say this is so foul. This is so wrong. How did they do it? Oscar signed off on all of this. Oscar signed off on his fighter fighting on a different place. form pretty much signed him away for a fee. And part of that fee was you're not going to be allowed here.

So Oscar signed away on that. Golden Boy took the money to basically just stand down. But there was talks that he was going to be there on fight night. And the worst talks that Ryan Garcia was going to have him walk out with him. And then apparently the last second, I think Ryan Garcia rescinded that and chose to walk out with Barrera and Ray Mysterio Jr. because it was supposed to be Chavez Jr. and Delahoya. I didn't see the walk out. And then I've also read things.

I saw reporting from Dan Rayfield that they denied many Golden Boy Pres credentials. Employees, Prescredentials. So obviously there's a lot. Like, Dana can go up there and talk so tough up on the stage because he's used to talking down to MMA fans. And he's used to just like, and they always eat it up. And they're not eating it up anymore either.

They see what he really is about. I don't know. I just think it was so petty, but it's boxing. And it's all a bunch of pettiness in here. But Oscar signed off on this. I don't feel that bad for Oscar because he could have put his foot down more. Also, too, another thing that's absolutely absurd. Jose Ramirez, Alexis Rocha, was the second fight of the night.

And it was a good fight. They fought at 3 p.m. local time. We're talking about a former unified champion in Jose Ramirez. And it was a great fight. Absolutely insane. And then the fight before McAulian and Opataya was, granted, a heavyweight. But he was fighting a guy who got knocked out in one round on ProBox. Orza Zufa heavyweight.

He got knocked out in one round on ProBox. Yes. That was a chance for Max and the guys on the broadcast to say he's the next great heavyweight. Flashes of Moses Atama. I like Van Hewder. I like him a lot. Pumped the brakes, guys. But they were not going to put that fight.

Ramirez Rocha, I didn't think they were going to bury it, too. That's why when you told me that they were fighting on the last episode, I was shocked because I didn't hear anything about it. Another thing, too, though, when did Golden Boy know about that? So Golden Boy, they purchased a fight, right? The Zufa and then put up the money and Rink put up the money to stage that fight. When did Golden Boy find out about it? Did Golden Boy find out, hey, yeah, we'll take the fight.

We're going to put it on our card, but it's going to be the second fight of the night. they know that or was it like were they told fight week um did they pull a fast one does ufa pull a fast one yeah we'll give you a chase jacis is is a is a robert rcia fighter and i've known about the fight for a couple of they've been known about it for a couple weeks but yeah but you got to ask robert garcia when when did you guys know that you were fighting the second i don't think they ever thought they were on the main card i don't i think that second fight though like how about the last fight of the prelim which i don't how about the first fight of the main card. Like, I didn't have to see

Mark Max Siao versus Cortez, but then once again, two Zufa fighters. Yeah, I don't, it's exactly what it is. It's your exact point about why they didn't let Tiafima in the ring. It was not Zufa fighters. They're not going to be in, and those are not Zufa fighters. It doesn't matter how good the fighters, but that just shows you how much they don't actually care

about the product that they're offering the fans. It is all about the company. Shareholders. It's all about the company. Ari Emanuel sitting Well, no, shareholders. Shareholders would be, let's put on a good product so we get a lot of eyes. That's not it.

It was a good product. It wasn't a bad product. I enjoyed the chart. I enjoyed the card. I enjoyed the card. It was $8 and it was on Paramount. It was easy to access. But if you wanted to put on the best card possible, you're not burying that fight. Yeah, and Dana preaches that all the time. It's a lie. It's a lie.

If you want to see good fights that are like literally for the fans, go to ProBox TV because that's not what these guys are doing. These guys are moving to a thing. It's basically a hostile corporate takeover. It's an entirely. Yeah, it's a WWE, TKO. It's, they all wanted to look the same UFC. They all wanted to be one.

And they're getting closer. Yesterday was like. See McAllian had to wear Zufuthrunks? McHenian's a world champion wearing Zufatrunks. It was eye opening yesterday in terms of, so they have the UFC event in the Noce event in Arizona from 2 to 8 p.m. Then they have this. It's impressive.

And it's also like eye opening. And you see Benavita's getting to the ring. You see Taney there. You see Bud Crawford. You see UFC stars were there, Pereira. You see WWE stars. You see Brian Garcia, who is a Golden Boy Fire on this card. It's eye-opening, bro.

The takeover is starting. I mean, if they could just shift away from trying to change the Ali Act and trying to implement that and just try to become like a behemoth boxing promotion that works with sanctioning bodies, And once it becomes like the cool promotion, I mean, that's probably going to be the route that they're going to try to go. It's just about de zone how much are they going to push back and how much are the, you know, the five families, sort of say, of the matchrooms and the Queensberries and the Gold Boys and top ranks. Like, how much are they going to fight back? Can they even fight back? Something I've been on record saying is I think Zufu will win out in the end.

They just have so much capital and they just want it a little more. But yesterday on September weekend, big time fight, it was pretty impressive to see what they could pull off. Yeah, I was like, wow. There's a lot of star power. I don't think they fall back and just become like a regular promotion. I thought maybe that in the past, but I don't think they're going to stop. It all depends on the legislation. And that hasn't passed yet.

I mean, it's taking longer and longer. And also, I don't want to get political. It's going to pass. The midterm elections are coming up and it's going to be a whole different. That's a good point. Dems are going to sweep that. But I, I, they're going to get through the, the political movement. They're going to keep pushing.

But it's, it's going to be an uphill battle. It's going to be harder than they thought. But eventually they're going to just keep pushing. I don't see them. Well, for now, they're going to be a regular ass promoter. They're working with other promotions. They're working with sanctioning bodies. They're acknowledging regular belts.

They have to. That's their only, that's their survival right now. and then throwing money, Turkey's money, at big fighters and big events. This is a turkey funded event. This was a ring card with Zufa signing. Question is, when the turkey money runs dry, and the corporation looks at the bottom line and sees what's going on.

Has any corporation looked at a boxing bottom line and said, yes, I want to be in, this is the business. No, they all pull out. That's my point. They're going to look at this and you're like, oh, we're like, where they already, live is done. Live golf is bankrupt. Officially bankrupt. Like, I've been told it's a totally different thing, the boxing.

It's a different fund. And it's just more sustainable. They have a better plan. They have a network partner. Live never had good network partners. I was watching, I never watched it, but it was on the CW, live golf. They had very poor media rights. The one thing about Zufa is they got good media rights.

They got paramount. for the next seven years, eight years. They got Netflix. So, I don't know. That's interesting. And it was eye-opening. And this was one of Zufa's big time events. Outside of Canelo Crawford, this is their second biggest event.

And I thought it was a home run. I was pretty entertained. A lot of people watched it. It was a good card. David Benavides, Jaya, Pataia. So what did you think of Opataya? I thought he was kind of sleepwalking. I knew that you said Mickalien was going to be tough.

And the dude's crafty. And I just think Opataya gets hit with a lot of shots, man. He gets hit with some flush shots. He stays in the pocket a little too long. He even said, like, I had to wake up a little bit. I felt like he was sleepwalking through some of that fight. But when he, the thing about Obitai that I love, the placement of his shots. The short placement, he's a very gifted puncher when it comes to the placement.

And he gets Mickelian out of there, who's never been stopped before in the ninth round. So I would say it was like a B-minus performance from Obatai. I didn't walk away saying, holy shit, Obataya is scary. If anything, I was like, Benavita's might. fucking run through this guy. Opataya is very athletic. I really think he struggles making the weight. And I think he...

He looked small. Maybe he looks small because... McAulian... Benevitas looked fucking huge. Benevitas is probably 225, right? Benevitas looked 250, when he came in the ring yesterday. He looked massive.

He gets so heavy, though. And it's not good weight. But even McAleen was bigger than... McAllen's big, though. McLean is big and strong. And I thought McElane, I said about I thought we're going to get the distance. And as I'm watching...

I was like, I saw his face getting lumped up and he's, oh my gosh, shit, he's getting, he's getting hit. And it was like by the six or seventh round, I was like, he's going to stop him. He was just too athletic and McLean was too, too stationary. But yeah, he was getting hit. I'm saying right now, Benavides stops Obitia. Stops him. And it'll be a good fight. They're going to beat the shit out of each other for as long as it lasts.

But I think by before under, under nine rounds, Benavita stops Obataya. Benavita's rain into that ring. Yeah. He was like food. He likes food. He's a big guy. He was like food. Yeah.

And he would eat up Michelian. He would, McAllen, he would eat up Obitaya. Again, I think the weight flattens him out because he's so athletic. He hits hard. He's durable. He's strong. He's got a good gas tank once he gets going. He starts a little slow.

Well, a lot of times a guy struggle to make weight. They start slow. And they kind of like get the gears. They're going through the gears early on. And then they build and get going. That's how, that's how Obitaya looks to me. But you can't do that, Benavides. You're going to take too much damage, warming up.

How about this devil header next year, Cinco de Mayo? Ryan Garcia versus Tiafima. Benevides versus Opataya. Let's fucking go. Let's fucking go. Problem with that is, how do we, what, what, it's a lot of moving parts. Ryan is with Golden Boy. Tio is with the zone.

Opataya is with Zufa. Benavides is PBC. How the hell do we make that work? There's enough money to be made for them to everyone to be satisfied. They should start negotiating now because it's going to take a long time. What's the thing with Tiafima? To Tiafima is like, I'm exclusive to the zone. Like exclusive.

I don't know what that means. Like I've heard that about Anthony Joshua. Next thing you know, he's fighting on Netflix against Jake Paul. So it's different. to go exclusive with the zone but then also fight on Netflix than it is to fight on Paramount. Because the zone

and Paramount are enemies. Full head-to-head enemies. They're going at it right now. So I don't know how they value, how much Desone values to you female there. I don't, like that fight last night was on DeZone in the UK and in Europe. Wasn't on the zone in the States.

And I know that they want to have this ultimate plan, right? And they want their subscribers to be satisfied. So a Ryan versus Tio fight and a Benavitas, but that's got to be on the zone here in the States. So Paramount might be the odd man out, but I know that they wanted this fight. Paramount made a big stink to get the Ryan Garcia fight. So they're going to try very hard to make that.

I got to see it, though. It's doable. Anything's doable these days. This is the one thing about boxing right now is any fight is doable. When you have Turkey involved, You have, you know, three of the four have fought, all of them have fought on Turkey cards. He was there last night.

So I love that. And that's single of them. If they do that, then that's a big, boxing's back in a very big way in the U.S. Just a few years ago, we're talking about Saudi. Everything's in Saudi. Everything's shifted back. Yeah, we're back to the U.S. Back to the States.

We're getting some stars here. We got some good fights for next year because we're looking at Boots and Kelly probably this year. Boots and Bud. That's not happening. Buzz not coming back. And then we're looking at likely boots. I think Boots gets by Kelly, as most people think. And then we're looking at Boots Fodora at some point next year, too.

That's a, that's a bang. I think that's a fall fight. Heavy weights are fun as hell. I mean, we got Wardley Dubois in a couple weeks. Yeah, I'm looking forward to that. September, the rest of September is a little light, but October is absolutely jam-packed loaded. every weekend. All right, everyone. I want to say thank you for tuning in over the years. Episode

500 is very meaningful to me. I know it's meaningful to Chris. Chris, you're not a sentimental guy, but I am. I'm going to start crying right now. No, I'm not. Thank you, everyone. This is so cool to me. I've started this show. I didn't even know where I wanted to do with it. I just wanted to talk boxing. My dad, my brother really pushed me in 2017 to just keep doing it every week. I was horrendous, the first couple episodes. Didn't know what to do with my hands. I have. I kept them up here and I was like just talking like an complete idiot. And then I just found my footing and just kept doing it. 500 episodes later, we had many different platforms, many different partners.

I want to thank, you know, John Boy Media was a big partner of ours. PPPV.com is our presenting sponsor on Crowned right now, Ariel Hawani, Yahoo Sports. Jack Doyle's Restaurant and Bar was my first sponsor of this show. I was able to talk to so many great guys, bring you on board too, which has been an amazing four years. I think we've taken it to another level. It's the best boxing show out there, period. Well, we could not do it without the listeners, the viewers, the best community. I've met a lot of you guys at our pre-fight parties.

I've heard from you in the comment sections and everywhere, and it's the coolest community. And it's awesome. I love it. Here's the 500 more episodes, Chris. Congratulations to you, too, because you're a major part of the inside boxing enterprise. Thank you, buddy. You've been a great job building this thing up. And, yeah, absolutely to the fans.

I met a lot of you guys in San Diego over this weekend at the ProVox TV fights and people coming up, I love Inside Box Live. I work more shows than you do, obviously, so I'm on the road more. And I get to see, I get to touch grass and shake hands with these people. A lot of people say they love our show and they're huge fans of Inside Box and Live. I listen to every episode. I get that a lot. I don't tell you all the time. I probably should tell you more, but I do get that very, very often.

Pretty much every show I work, I have someone come up to me and say that they listen to our show. So, I mean, I agree. We are the best boxing show in the world. I'm not going to be, I'm not going to be, what's the word? Coy about it. Beater on the bush. Not going to be coy about it. We are.

No question of the best boxing show in the world. Best boxing show, best boxing community. Thank you, everyone. Here's the 500 more. We'll be back later on in the week with more hijinks. Any final words for the listeners out there? Yeah, guys, just just, we got to 500 because you guys listen.

So if you weren't there, we wouldn't be here. Put it that way. All right, everyone. Keep your hands up at all times. Protect yourselves at all time. Stay out of those DMs. We're out.