The Ariel Helwani Show - Inside Boxing | Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn rumors, Inoue vs. Nakatani quickly approaching, weekend picks

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

We open the show discussing Dan Canobbio’s experience at the MVP MMA press conference, interviewing Nate Diaz and Francis Ngannou, and all the behind the scenes scenes for the upcoming Netlfix card on May 16 (01:17). With Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani quickly approaching, Dan and Chris Algieri look at the storylines around what is the biggest fight in Japanese history. Can Nakatani pull off the upset? Will Inoue go to featherweight after the fight (13:46)? Ryan Garcia and Conor Benn are in serious talks for a summer showdown in Las Vegas. The fight would be for Garcia’s WBC welterweight title and would be big business. But what happened to the Devin Haney rematch (34:29)? Shakur Stevenson recently showed interest in going back down to lightweight to fight the IBF champion, Raymond Muratalla. The guys debate if that is the right move for Shakur and what weight class he could settle in at (43:07). Finally, we hit the latest in the light heavyweight division, where Callum Smith-David Morrell was postponed and Ben Whittaker will now be the main event. How far away is he from title contention (46:57)? 

Thank you. It's another episode of Inside Boxing, presented by ppv.com, an association with Yahoo Sports and uncrown. PPPV.com May 2nd will be streaming David Benavides versus Zerto Ramirez. Live interactive chat. No subscription. Stream it to any of your devices, watch parties on a phone, on a plane, anywhere. PPPV.com is your home for live boxing.

May 2nd, David Benavides, Zerdo Ramirez. as quickly approaching as I look at the date here. It is Thursday, April 16th. Lasted two weeks away from which would be a great cruiserweight bout for David Benavita. So go follow ppV.com, our proud presenting sponsor, it allows us to do this podcast twice a week. And follow us at Inside Boxing Live. Subscribe to the channel on YouTube.

Very rarely ask you to do that, but I'm going to have to start asking a lot more. Like the video. Go over to Chris's Algeria's Instagram. Like it. unsubscribe, then subscribe again. How are you, Chris? I'm good, I'm good. And also tell your friends.

Tell your friends. How about that? Old school style. Old school. Tell your friends. Tell somebody. I'm good, man. I'm good.

I can't be this Thursday already. We're here and we're talking boxing once again. I feel like Sunday was just yesterday. But that's how these weeks go these days. It's flying. We're in the middle of what should be a very crazy stretch of boxing. I'm here in New York City. dangling over.

Your background's looking pretty cool, pretty sharp over there. I am in the New Yorker Hotel on 34th and 7th. Outside of my window is Madison Square Garden. I can see. Love that. Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, obviously went down at Madison Square Garden. Ahamara Lee stayed at this hotel. Joe Keambo, our friend, sent me a picture of Muhammad Ali

laid up in bed in the Yorker Hotel after the Joe Frazier. face all messed up. Quote was, I'm not going to cry, but he's laying in the New Yorker bed. They haven't updated the New Yorker since then, by the way. I'm going to say, my friend, this is the smallest hotel room I've ever been in, bro. When I walked in, I went, is there like another room? Is this door go to like a hallway? Nope.

It's about, I would say, like, 10 by 10. It's almost like a jail cell. But it's really nice. I got the window with the breeze. I got the TV with the Yankee game on. I got Madison Square Garden right there. Best location you can have if you have a fight at the garden. But man, I've stayed in there for a few of my garden fights,

and it's rough, that's rough spending time in there. It's a little haunted too. It's dark. It's dark. It's haunted. It's a little scary. Yeah. The rooms they used to put me in,

I'm really big, though. I will say that. Yeah, you probably got the suite, right? Yeah. Yeah, I had huge rooms. Love that. I'm here for most valuable promotions. Their kickoff on ESPN on Friday night,

Alicia Bumgardner, stepped in the ring against Mo. Bo Mi Rishin, Korean fighter. Nice. Who fought Caroline Dubois, who's a really action. Action fighter. Yeah. And then we have Shadasia Green, unified champion at 168 pounds,

fighting Lonnie Daniels, who recently fought Coloressa Shields, took Shields to distance. So it's funny because Baumgartner, everyone's asking Baumgarner about Caroline Dubois, and Baumgartner is talking about Amanda Serrano. and Katie Taylor this whole week. And then you have Shadija Green where every question for Shadija Green is about Clarissa Shields. So it's like one of these trap types of fights for them

where they cannot overlook their opponents. I expect both of them to win their sizable favorites. Yeah. Bum Garner is like a minus 1,200 favorite, which I think is a little too wide. But man, she's out there in full effect, at least you have Bumgarner. I think she will let it.

And is embracing being the heel. She wants to go into WBE. She's talking about. She told me she's doing some like, game show in Malaysia. She's the next three to five years, I feel she used to be doing just about everything, pissing people off along the way,

which she seems pretty fine than doing as well. Well, I think that's brilliant on her part because how long is she really going to be able to be at the top of the sport? And if you're already talking about other stuff you want to do, you probably don't have that much interest to be in there. She's going to try to make as much money as she can. And then move on to the next and keep making money.

I mean, I saw her the collaboration with Ronda Rousey. Rhonda did something very similar, where she was able to go to the WBE, she's been in movies, she's really been able to diversify her portfolio, so to speak. And I think it's a smart move for someone like her to do that as well. Yeah, there's a little bit of like a blueprint being, that was laid down by Gina Carrano and Ronda Rousey, who I had the honor of being in their presence yesterday at this press conference.

We had the boxing press conference, and then we had the MMA press conference for the Netflix card on May 16th. So I got to interview Nate Diaz, Mike Perry, Francis Nganoo, man, that was awesome. The Nate Diaz one, I was just telling you before we started, we went live. Like, obviously, I've interviewed some bigger names in boxing. Haven't really dabbled into the MMA world in a while. But Nate Diaz is like, you see him, like slapping media members, making them look like fools.

I'm like, is this going to be my time? If he doesn't like my questions, is he going to just be like, fuck this. He did put hands on you. It looked like he was going to snap your arm like a chicken wing. Like he went right to risk control, grabbed your elbow. I was like, oh, there it goes. You know why? Because I call them a podcaster.

He hates podcasters. Because he started asking me questions about one of the bits we were doing. I was like, see, man, you're a podcaster. And he's like, no, grab me. I was ready to, I had a cocked. I had the left-hand cock. I was ready to go. That's the thing.

When you're a fighter, you don't ever want to be media. You don't want to be what I have become. So, like, that transition went when you're first, because he's still fighting. So, like, obviously he's not. But down the way, you know, that might be something that he goes on to, not, but he might end up being a podcaster. Look at Jake Shields. Jake Shields is a super popular podcasting podcast that makes him money, you know, so you do have to kind of, like, you live long enough to become your enemy kind of thing. Nate Diaz could do whatever he wants,

bro. I didn't realize, I knew he's how big of a star he is. Like, he could do whatever. Once he leaves fighting whenever he decides to leave, because he's 40 years old, and he's still commanding $10 million paychecks, supposedly for this Netflix MMA card, do whatever he wants. Like, there are companies that would shell out major dough for him to do podcast or do some type of media. I don't see that for him. He doesn't really enjoy it. But he was in very good mood and in good spirits for our media session. And I'll tell you this, at the press conference yesterday, I got the pass so I can run

around and go backstage and, you know, me, bro. I'll go into every room and I'll try to get the coolest area. So they do the press conference and it ends. And Nate immediately beelined it to his dress. dressing room. So I follow the whole crew. Lights up the biggest blonde I've ever seen in my life. I'm wondering he was in a good mood. Big loose fucking blonde and it smells something like I've, it's like another strand of weed that I didn't even know no existed. The kids these days tell me they're very, it's very strong. But imagine the cat, yeah, like there's strong weed out there

you can buy a dispensary. Then there's Nate Diaz's stash. He's got no line. He lights up the blunt and I'm like, this is like watching like Willie Nelson's Snoop Dog Cheech and Chong. Like he's in that stratosphere of potheads. And it was like, holy shit. It's like watching Rembrandt paint. Watching Nate Diaz light up a blunt. And he passes it to Rhonda, Rousey, and she hits it. Oh, wow.

And I'm like, I don't care that I'm out rolling. I don't care that I didn't capture this on my phone. I saw my own eyes. That was a cool thing. Dude, this ain't boxing, man. That's what I'm saying. This ain't boxing. Wow.

That's what I'm saying. I had all the MVP social kids with me and all the MVP guys that worked at event. And I'm like, I'm so used to boxing. I'm like, this is such a different world for me to interview Nate and Mike Perry, who I have so much respect for, who was just like reinvented his life and reinvented his fighting his fighting his fighting his fighting. Nate Diaz in what I consider the real BMF title bout on May 16th.

And Ganu sat down with him, which was like, oh, he's awesome. Such a cool dude. The aura? Like, whenever you talk about aura? Like, in a way, had his own little aura when I met him. Obviously, Canello, when he walks in a room, he like command. it. When Ngano entered the room, you're like, holy shit,

that's like one of the baddest man, baddest men in the world. I've met some really top flight professional fighters in my years of being a pro-kickboxer and being in MMA gyms and boxing, obviously. For instance, Inganu, meeting him, he is like jarring how big

and imposing he is as a human being. Shaking his hand. His hands is gigantic. He's just a giant, giant man. He's a huge boxing fan. Yeah, which we've, we've learned that when he comes and fought and actually fought Tyson Fury to a really close-slip decision. Huge boxing fan. So when I first met, I'm like, all he was doing was asked me about boxing. This was probably seven, eight years ago.

But I was like, holy God. Like, each ad was the size of my face. Like, the guy is so big. And he's, you know, he's like ridiculously giant ripped guy. But also just the nicest, coolest down the earth dude, just like, like genuinely giddy talking about boxing. Yeah. He loves boxing. Like, when he wrapped on the interview, he said, he's like, he's like, he loves boxing.

still wanted to talk he asked me questions and stuff and i had to get his thoughts on a j in fury because he fought both of them right and the fact that a j kind of like vaporized them like that's some alpha male shit yeah well to this day man i think a j still has the single best punch in the heavyweight division i mean that that right hand is is nuclear he can crack you that thing and put you away um and he's got the delivery system unlike wilder who you know he's not as he's not as accurate as he used to be, AJ still is. And when he believes in it,

forget it, man. He's taking your head off, just like he did for Francis. Yeah, like, he wouldn't give me, like, a direct answer on who he thinks he's going to win First Fury and AJ.

He kept talking about all of Fury's attributes. Like, he's slick. He kept saying slickery. I was about to say that's not a word. As someone that makes up words all the time. Right. Yeah. You, you mean...

I was like, Serngano, that's not a... That's Richard. Slickery. I was like, he's like, Fury is very slickery. And he can keep you at distance. Well, it's like strategic.

Strategery is not a word, but it's very good word to use and slickery. He kept talking about Fury, which leads him to believe he thinks Fury will win. I couldn't get the exact answer. I don't know. He's being very diplomatic. I've been able to talk to some people, and I spoke to Robert Garcia and Stephen Bremen Edwards the other day. We're all split on it. Robert thinks Joshua is going to win.

Bread was leaning towards Tyson. And these are all lean. because we're still far away from it. I was leaning towards Tyson, but then I talked to Lance Pugmeier, and then I saw the point that Ucic is now hanging out with Joshua, and like from a psychological place, I don't care if they're swinging kettlebells,

I don't care if they're doing boxing athlete. That doesn't matter to me. But psychologically, that means a lot to me. I'm like, oh, my God, now I'm starting to lean AJ a little bit. I don't know. I'm truly 50-50 on the fight, but it's just interesting to talk to people, because listen, Dan, people are excited about this fight.

I don't care that it's happening, seven years too late. Oh, definitely. There's a major buzz for it, and I just hope it happens, because we're getting into that territory where now we're discussing it at length, and is Josh going to take a tune-up? Last I heard, Eddie said he was, so. Tune-up, right? Yeah, like August type of fight. But also, he put out that Wilder could be the tune-up. That ain't no tune-up. That's a bad idea. I think Riyadh is putting up the money for this fight, and they said no. They said no. From what Herne told IFL-L-TV, was they said no to Wilder, too risky.

They've probably learning a little bit now. Riaz said no? Rearts said no? Okay. So they're, this is according to Eddie, an IFL TV interview. They said too risky. So maybe they are starting to learn, like not to get burned by, you know,

if they had their way, I think they'd go right into Fury versus Joshua, obviously. Totally. That's what Turkey wanted when he brought, he set up that whole bungled announcement in the after the fight. Five million viewers in the UK for Fury versus MacModov talking to some people here and the Netflix people that are at this event here in New York City. Very good number, they say, because it's not the same, it's not the, it's a smaller country. Less people have Netflix in the UK. So five million is like equivalent to like a 20

million here. So that they're very happy with the number. So per capita, it was still a good, a good number for that. Yes. Yes. I hope we do get Fury. I mean, but what does that mean at the end of the day? Did it cost more? Was it more expensive? Over there? Then which fight? Like what?

Like, is it like, yeah, I mean... I just think it's a smaller country, so not as many people have the... Have it. Hmm. You know, it's a smaller country, but they love boxing 20, 30 times more than they do here. Yeah, absolutely. It's a much bigger deal, but I don't know, man.

It's like, all right. Was the Netflix person that's here going to tell me, no, we hate... We're unhappy. No. Well, no, listen, it's a good thing because the worst thing could happen is that they have a bad performance in Netflix. It's like, all right, boxing doesn't work. You know, these numbers are diminishing. Let's move on.

I don't think that's the case. Oh, they're very happy. Let's start off with a fight that is not getting nearly enough chatter. There's not enough, in O.A. Nakatani chatter on the timeline. We're less than two weeks away from what is the biggest of. fight in Japanese history. 55,000 they're expecting at the Tokyo Dome, a complete sellout, close to a $30 million gate, which is insane.

There's only been two other fights at the Tokyo Dome in the history of its existence, Tyson Douglas and Inouye versus Niri. Now we can add Inouye versus Nakatani. Not getting a lot of buzz here in the U.S., like there's not anything on it. I just found out last week that it's going to be on the zone officially. I didn't even have a broadcast home here in the States. It doesn't mean it's not going to be a banger of a fight. Obviously, with Nakatoni's last performance,

kind of put a little bit of a damper on it. But this is going to be amazing. This is in a way's toughest fight. It's the biggest fight in Japanese history. I am all for it, 8 a.m. May 2nd, let's go. Yeah, I'm Joe super jacked about this fight. I'm not sure why it's not getting the coverage that it deserves. And for them, they don't care, obviously.

Let's get over there. It is. Yeah, they sold. 55,000, they don't care. They sold out a month ago. The tickets were gone a month ago. That's crazy. So, you know, speaking about, like, you know, UK is a smaller country so that, you know,

them selling out or they're getting 5 million views is, listen, in Japan, getting 55,000, that's, that's even, that's even crazier. So, and especially because they did it so fast. So talk about a boxing culture that's really dialed in because this fight is as good as it gets in the lighter weights, man. I mean, the fact that we can't go, suck. so we do have to watch it Saturday morning. But I'm working a fight Friday night for ProBox.

Then Saturday morning is Nakatani, Inouye, or Inouye, Nakatani. And then Saturday night is Zerto and David Benavides. It's one of those weekends. It's like last year's, remember last May, second weekend? It's not as big, obviously has been a big weekend for boxing, going back to May, whether even before that. Last year was the Canelo Skull, which we don't ever want to talk about again. the Times Square card and then the in-of-way on Sunday.

Yeah. And we used to have one event, you know, in these big weekends. And it was just the biggest event possible on everybody to. Now we're just like, we have so many different products out there because of these different promotions and different networks. I don't know, man. I love where boxing is out right now. It's a little crazy, you know, but it's gives us plenty of gunpowder. Oh, it's crazy for sure.

Diceke, Cigara, our friend, the reporter. I always catch up with him. He interviewed me about my thoughts on Inouye Nakatani. I was picking his brain a little bit. And he was like, he was like, I know you guys can't go because he listens to the pod every week. He's like, I know how bad you want to go. But he's heading, he's actually flying. He's flying to California to cover Otani and the Dodgers.

And from California, he's going to Japan. Because this is like the biggest thing ever there. That's so awesome. This is the biggest fight in the history of Japanese boxing. and that's a country that's rich in boxing history. And it's so crazy that they're 122-pounders, the biggest fight in the history of their country. And it's two of their own.

One obviously trains here in Nakatani. I don't know. This fight's awesome. And I saw an interview from Rudy Hernandez, and it's crazy. He touched on every single thing that I thought was an issue in his last fight against Hernandez. So Nakatani struggled with Hernandez,

and I was just like, ah, you know, he didn't move his feet enough. He didn't throw enough the set of jabs. He didn't, you know, fight at the right distance. He expected this guy to just go away. And, you know, it really did a really good interview with boxing scene and he was talking about all of those things. You know, the footwork, the movement, you know, being able to fight at a distance. I was really impressed with that, not only the eye to recognize it, but also that, like, all right, we really got to work on this. And listen, you got a guy like Nakatani. I bet you he's a incredible student. You tell him to do something, he's going to do it. And I really think, I'm, I know Vegas does not agree with me.

I think that that fight was better for Nakatani, to have to go through those many rounds, go through a tough fight, deal with adversity. And then also realize, like, this 122 is different. I can't just hit these guys and they turn to dust. I have to set things up. I got to be more deceptive. And especially with Inouye, you can't just use your jab as a rangefinder to throw power shots. It's not going to work.

You're going to get hurt that way. So I think it was an eye-opening experience for Nakatani that, listen, I got to make adjustments to be better for Inouye, and now we're here. Yeah, the boxing scene article written by Lance Pugmire interviewed Rudy Hernandez, trainer of Nakatani, and he was very forthcoming with a lot of information here. I was reading it, like, wow, I went into some thing to talk about in camp. Nakatani has worked on advancing his movement, boosting his versatility, Chris Power, rapid footwork.

A few weeks ago, according to his article, others in the gym expressed some concerns to Hernandez. The Dakotani was slow to mix in the new changes effectively. Hernandez poo-pooed all that and said when you're working on something, it takes time on fight night. That's when we want to see the results not in the gym. But going back to that fight with Hernandez. No, the fight, he had his last fight with Sebastian Hernandez.

I'm getting the trainer in. Right, I literally did that yesterday. I was like, it's Hernandez, right? Because I'm looking at Rudy Hernandez. Rudy Hernandez, Sebastian Hernandez. Right. Rudy Hernandez is a trainer. Sebastian Hernandez was Nakatani's last performance and less opponent.

That's why I believe maybe there's a little bit of luster off of it, a tiny bit here in the States. It's because Nakatine. Nakatani knocked out Hernandez, then there would be even more. I do also believe that it's just not being promoted here. Someone commented on social media that, you know, Japan, they block. everything. So we're not getting any of the video highlights. We're not getting any of the promotion. They are very territorial

and they don't care. Like you said, 55,000 people. They don't need to. That's why Inouye is like forced to come fight here. He never wants to come to the States, never wants to do media. He did a TikTok live last week and he gave away a lot of information I want to get to in a second. But with Nakatani and Sebastian Hernandez, 1.15, 113, 2 judges had that. I don't know how one judge had it, 1-18, 110. for Nakatani. That was just

ridiculous. Hernandez landed 247 power shots. A massive surge over the final six rounds where he landed Nakatani and now threw Nakatani. First six rounds, Nakatani looked great and then he hit a wall. And yeah, I wonder what his path to victory is in this fight. He's a 3 to

one underdog, according to draft Kings. Inouye's minus 400 favorite. Which is interesting because Inouye hasn't been this close of a or small of a favorite since the Fulton fight in 2023

where he was minus 270 in the Fulton fight as a favorite he's minus 400 against Nakatani but think about Nakatani and like his path to victory here like you said you just said before

like he can't just like throw a lazy jab and expect to get it done there but what he has going for him is the length is his reach is his jab and movement is he going to have to try to out box in a way

who we've seen over the last couple of fights can beat you in many different ways and definitely he's showing more of his boxing skills in a way lately. So it's going to be really hard to outbox in a way because I know we think of this as this knockout guy. He's an excellent ex-fundamental boxer and he's got a fantastic jab.

That thing is lightning quick, it's powerful. He has different, he's a variety of jabs. And really his first step is just so quick and he follows that or leads with his jab. So he masks his footwork so he gets in close. That's why he's able to get those power.

punches off the way that he does. Nakatani is going to have to keep this fight at a distance, and he's going to have to use a variety of jabs, whether he's blinding Inouye, whether he's disrupting his lead hand as well, whether he's setting up his power shots if he does get in a way to take a backward step. But you've got to be able to control that first step. Because if Naya Inouyei explodes across the gap the way that he does, Nakatani's in real trouble. He's going to have to make sure that he uses that extra three-inch reach that he has. And the way to do that is that have a dominant lead hand position, lead hand and lead foot position. And using that lead hand as a salpaw as a disruptor, I think is going to be really important for

Nakatani, but also it had that fade to be able to pull back and slide back in. But keeping that lead foot on the outside, so he's going to quote those right hands down the middle, it's a tall task, but he does have the skill set. And I've been saying this for years, stylistically, I can see how Nakatani wins this fight. And if it were not for that last fight with Sebastian Hernandez, is that he struggled mightily, these betting lines would be a lot closer, a lot closer. It's a shame, but also as a way to make money.

Because if you actually do think Nakatani can pull it off, if he is the guy, you got a wider line. Yeah, I kind of like what I've seen from Inouye over the last couple of fights. Boxing beautifully, the Cardenas fight, I think, scared him a little bit. Neri dropping him. He's been dropped in two of his last six fights. he's 33 years old

he has one more or two more fights at 122 he says before he goes up to featherweight he's got a lot of miles on that odometer and it's not as he has a bed 33 years old

not that he has a bad chin and not that he has bad defensive lapses in a way he just wants to go for the knockout and he's just so willing to trade that he finds himself in these exchanges and he's getting hit on the chin flush Nakatani has phenomenal power.

That Maloney knockout still comes to mind. Brutal. One of the most brutal knockouts I've seen in person. Disgusting. I love the Malonis. I'm glad they've recovered from that. But he has got a lot of great skills, Nakatani. He does everything great.

He's got the footwork, speed, power, length, everything. I just, I'm not ready to write off Nyei in a way. I haven't, if anything, I think he's figured out a way to master being 33 years old, maybe losing a little bit of his reflexes, out boxing these guys, shutting these opponents out, like these top 10 guys in weight classes,

like out boxing them. But still having, like, moments where he'll put together a combination, which we just don't even see boxing anymore, combination punching. Like, there is, this doesn't exist in the sport anymore. So to see Inouye,

I'm not ready to write Inouye off yet. I do think Inouye's going to win this fight. I do think it will be some moments in there where he's pushed because Nakatani is young and, like I just said, of great attributes. But this should be a Nakatani,

excuse me, in a way, decision win. It should be, yes. And I lean that way as well. This is, that would be the third fight in a ball where in Iowa anyways, gone to decision because he beat David Picasso his last fight and then MJ Akkadalli of the fight before that,

both 12 round decisions. He got stung in the, the MJ fight too, in the last round. You know, he didn't go down, But he's been down a couple times. You said like, yeah, he's been dropped two of his last six. But he's also been hurt a couple times since then, too. It's not just, you know, when going down.

He does get hit because, like you said, he's so offensive-minded. He does want to knock you out so bad. So there's going to be spots for Nakatani. And I found that, in a way, is susceptible to get hit early. Like we saw him go down against Cardenas and Neri. And late, like we saw in the Bacaso fight and the Akhmadalia fight. So there's going to be spots for Nakatani. If Nakatani is able to hurt him early, then I think Naya might actually score the knockout.

Because he gets up like an absolute monster. But I think if Nakatani's smart, he lets sleeping dogs lie, doesn't awake the monster right away and tries to outbox him, be fodder alone, make it uncomfortable, take it down the stretch, and then if, in a way, starts to get frustrated, which he does at times because he really wants to engage. that's where there's going to be openings for him. But ultimately, I agree with you. I think Inouye has a lot left and goes on to win a decision. And maybe not the widest of decisions.

Maybe Nakatani actually wins rounds. But I think it's going to be a respectable performance from Nakatani. So, Naya, Inouye, went on TikTok Live and said that he has one more fight at 122 after Nakatani, a fight that he's quote unquote always wanted before going. to his final weight class at featherweight. What is this fight that he's always wanted? To me, it has to be Bam Rodriguez, right? I mean, always, always wanted?

What does that mean? When did Bam really get on his radar? Like, I don't know if it's a weird, weird statement. Maybe I'm misquoting him, but a fight that he's wanted. Has he got to be Bam? Has he? Has he really talked about that? But what other fight?

What other fight is it? Like, he's cleared out the whole, division. Nakatani is the prize. Sam Goodman fight didn't happen. Come on. It's not it. Sam Goodman fight didn't happen.

Yeah, but the BAM rumors have been intensifying. You know, Robert Garcia has been going on the ProBox show and kind of saying, you know, we'll meet him at $130 one day. Like, no, that's not going to happen. Or, you know, we're always open to fighting Nio anyway. I know the zone wants it. To me, I can't read. between the lines here where I think it is Bam Rodriguez before he goes to featherweight. Like who else could it possibly be? That would be great and huge. I'd be surprised, but listen,

I've been surprised quite a bit this year in terms of the fights that are being brought up and actually coming to fruition. Um, in it was crazy. Like he's he's, he's now at the point of his career. He's, he has no problem taking on these challenges. Like Nakatani, boom, 20 years old. Never has. Never has. Never has. Never has, never will. Nakatani, 28 years old, Ben Rodriguez, top five pound for pound. Bring him on. If that's who he's talking about. Featherweight?

I mean, we kind of figured he was to go to featherweight one day, but now he's kind of solidified it. That's a whole other crop of fighters there that are going to present all sorts of dangers to him. Really difficult, dangerous fights at 26. If, I don't know, I don't think Napa, Inouye is going to retire undefeated. I really don't. because of his willingness to tangle with such dangerous opposition and always take the toughest fights possible. And there's no knock on that. He does not need, he does not need to know to, his, his legacy is cemented. He is all time at this point. But I hope he gets the recognition

for being a guy who consistently seeks out the toughest opposition possible because he's done that already and he actually continues to do that even at a quote unquote advanced age of 33, which for that weight class is advanced. So yeah, I don't know, man. Maybe it's BAM. That's so crazy to say, but like, what else would it be? Because we, like you said, you talked me into it. I didn't think so. Now, it's got to be BAM.

Yeah, I don't know what else it could possibly be. I hope it is. Like that would just be awesome. I don't know if BAM's team wants to do that. It would be, you know, he's at going up to now 115. No, 118 to fight Antonio Vargas for a belt, which I believe will be going down in June. So it would be one more weight class for BAM. He can do that.

I don't think that would be a problem. Yeah, but it's one more weight class up. That's what I mean. From one that he came up to where Inouye is leaving. Right. It's a lot. His team might say, hey, this is our last, this is our potentially only chance to make 10 times more than he ever will for the rest of our career. Like, bam, you're an unbelievable talent.

And, you know, is anyone going to come along at your weight classes over the next five years that will produce the same amount of money that you can make against Inouay in one night? essentially beat it away, Dan Rodriguez. Yeah, he could. It's crazy to say, but yes, he could. Imagine if you, that's the risk, that's the risk that would take. So the risk is you're going to make a shit ton of money. That's not risk. And you could potentially beat it.

I think it would be, I think in a way would be a very, the slightest of favorites in that fight. What do you think? I think he'd be more than slight. Two to one? Honestly. Two to one. Two and a half, three to one. Three to one.

That's pretty wide. Dude, the, yeah, I see him as being a sizable. favorite and sizable being the opportune word there. That's a lot. It's a lot to ask of a guy. And we always do this to these young guys, these smaller guys. Oh, what about make them fight? Like, they talk about in a way fighting Jervanta a couple years ago. It's like, come on. How many weight classes are you going to push these guys into where they're not going to be the same guy? Like, weight classes matter. We have them for a reason. And it's amazing when guys can go across vast weight classes. But like, if you just keep pushing them, you're just going to push them into defeat.

and they're just not going to be themselves, and then you're going to tarnish their legacy and talk shit, oh, well, he lost this guy. Well, you made him go up, five damn weight classes. The course of time in boxing over the history, there's always been catchweight fights, super fights that never even dreamed possible. Mani Pakeo Oscar Delahoya was literally like a Larry merchant,

like pipe dream one night at a bar, and all of a sudden it happened. So, like, sometimes you have to do that. You have to pull these strings, and that would be a crazy super fight. I think that would get, like... Anyway, it doesn't have to do anything. He doesn't have to do anything.

No, he seems like he wants to. Yeah, which is why he should be respected. He, like, enjoys this. He can't get up for the smaller fights. Or, he even, he's fighting. Everyone he fights, his top 10, either a champion or he has, like, what, 25 consecutive title fights? Yeah, it's ridiculous.

So Jose Guzman, a former opponent of mine in the pro. Oh, he's here, right, with him all week. And a good friend of mine, a good friend of ours, guy who saw him in the lobby. He's a staple in New York boxing. and Puerto Rican boxing. He's in Manasarano's camp. A great, great guy. But he was over in Japan.

Yeah, talk to him about it. Yeah, and he was given some really good insight about how an Iowa-in-way trains. I was really, really surprised to hear that, you know, he doesn't do strength conditioning. It's super old school. He spars and he runs. He spars and he runs.

And it's funny, I've heard that so much from the best fighters in the world. Like, they don't do anything all that special. They just spar. Sparring is important. And not even a lot, apparently. And they run a lot. And it's so old, so it's what you think of,

like when you think of like Sugar Ray Robinson. Like, what did he do? He sparring, he ran. And so Sugar, he used to spar, I think, once or twice a week, and you'd only do four rounds. Wow.

But he had four sparring partners because he was trying to knock you out every round. And this is a 15-round fighter, Dan. Like, so he's just saving it for fight night. but he's on kill mode for four rounds once a week, and then the rest is just conditioning and running.

So four rounds of four different sparring partners? Well, in case he knocked you out, because it was very likely he was. I would hate to be that like second or third guy after the first knockout. It's just like crushing these guys. It's interesting to hear when you get a certain level of fighter, like in Iowa anyways on that level where you're like, you're in that goat status and you're like,

what are they doing difference? Like to look into their camps and see they're doing it so different than everyone else. It's really interesting. Yeah, I would talk to Guzman about that. He was telling me pretty much the same thing. Like, in a way, it's just like a very quiet down to earth. Superstar, he's everywhere, is on every billboard. And no wasted movement.

He said in his sparring and just no wasted movement at all, apparently. He's just no wasted anything. He's like the way he walks around the casino. Like, you see the way he moves. He's like, he's just, there's nothing wasted. Yeah, that's pretty awesome. So, yeah, we will be locked in on May 2nd, the whole weekend, whether it's Benavita Zerto on PPPV.com or in a way and...

Literally locked in a room. Yeah, that's going to be no talking to the family or friends or loved ones that weekend. Ryan Garcia and Connor Ben are in far-long negotiations for a late summer showdown in Las Vegas that's either going to stream on Netflix or DeZone. Can't say I'm shocked with this, Chris. this is the fight that should be next. If it's not going to be Ryan versus Haney, I am fine with Ryan versus Connor Ben.

It makes far too much sense for so many different reasons. One, WBC champion, WBC number one. Connor Ben is the number one contender. That doesn't make any sense, but keep going. Which makes it zero sense that he got there. He hasn't fought in the weight class in five years, has not made 147 pounds in five years. And then, so that, there's that.

But also, after the performance against Regis Progray, Ben left a lot to be desired in terms of what he can do in a weight class that is now getting tough again. Listen, this was a barren weight class for a bit, and it was really upsetting because this is one of the original dream weight classes where everybody tuned in and it was not. It was very weak. It was barren. And now with the emergence of Brian Norman, the return of Devin Haney, the Ryan Garney, the Ryan Garney, the Ryan Garvey. Rcia raising from the ashes like a Phoenix, you know, you've got Choucour Stevenson dabbling with jumping up there. We've got all these studs now at 47. This is a real weight class.

And a Connor Ben who struggles as much as he did to make 149 and a half, I just don't see him. I don't see a path to getting a title anywhere else. Ryan is, I mean, he's the most dangerous of the group, but he's also the most inconsistent. So there's a possibility you can catch him on an office. night, but also it's the biggest money by far of anybody out in that weight class, because Ryan is a legitimate star. So, yeah, the fight makes far too much sense not to happen. Yeah, financially, it's a blockbuster. It has to happen next because... Yeah, they're looking at late August. Financially, this is a blockbuster type of fight. It's a type of fight that Turkey

gets excited about and is willing to shell out the money. It should be a ring card. Makes sense in Las Vegas in the States. I know Ben has had three straight states. stadium fights in the UK, but this is a, this is a Vegas summer fight. It makes all the sense in the world, even though it doesn't make sense, like you said. I agree, Ryan Garcia is probably the most vulnerable of all the champions at 147, but he has the most of time. But also the most dangerous. He can, he can ice you. He's got that one hit or quitter. If he fights the way he did against Barrios, I think he should be able to handle Ben pretty easily, if not stop him in the later rounds. Ben will just, you know, get by with toughness and grittiness.

this. But yeah, I mean, I want to see Ryan v. Haney. I have no idea why that fight is not being treated the same way this fight is in terms of the funding with Saudi. Like, why is Turkey not just doing everything you possibly can to make Ryan versus Haney too, which is there right now? Are they doing the same thing they've been doing where it's like, oh, let's add another, they're not adding another belt, no, that doesn't make any sense either. Are they just trying to prolong it? Let's get another card out of this where Ryan should win. Let's roll the dice a little bit. Worst case scenario, Connor Ben wins. We have either rematch or we do Ben versus Haney. But I'm not mad at it, but I just don't understand this sport sometimes when the clear,

logical fight is right there waiting for us between Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney. But then another girl comes along and they're like, ooh, I'll take, it's like the meme. Like when you're with your girlfriend, you see the other girl over your shoulder. Like, why do we shift so quickly to now we're far along in a Ben Ryan discussion where a new shiny toy is now being presented in front of us. Because the landscape changes all the time and opportunities present themselves and you've got

risk versus rewards. The Devin Haney Ryan Garcia fight, I think is high risk, high reward for both guys. And then I look at the Ben Ryan fight and for Ryan it's a much lower risk and the reward is still very high.

Probably not as high, but still very high because Ben is a star in the UK. Ryan's a star everywhere. which is what I think is going to actually, like you said, I think it's going to be able to pull Ben to the states because anyone else, you have to go to the UK to fight Ben because he's the guy literally does put butts in stadiums and he's shown that he can do that.

Over here, he's just not as a well-known entity. And anyone who watched him in his last fight, he's not going to gain a lot of fans. So he's going to get pulled over here because, and also Ryan's a champion. So like Ryan does have that negotiating chip in his pocket there as well. So, yeah, the Haney Ryan fight. the fact that it's not being discussed is a little worrisome.

Like this might be a snake-bitten fight. Oh, I hope not. I really hope not, too. I hate saying that, but it just seems like the fan, yeah. It's like the Floyd Pac-Yow. Like, it's just like, oh, this fight makes so much sense. You got to make that fight happen. And then it just gets kicked down the road, kick down the road.

At least it happened once. At least it happened once, Haney and Raymond, are both under age of 30. But this is why some fans just get so just tired of the sport is because it almost looks like Ryan will take the Ben fight because he knows that the Haney one will be there down the line. So he's taking a little bit of a risk. It's like, I'm not going to give you...

If you're saying girls, that's like being like, ah, you know, I'm going to date this girl for a little bit, and that girl will be there when I come back, and then you break up with a nobody at her, and she's got a new boyfriend. It's like, ah, damn it. It's risky, exactly. It's very risky.

And, but it's just like the one thing about the sport that the fans can't stand. It's like they know that we're hooked in. You know, we're going to watch everything. And we'll fight Ben, even though everyone wants to see the Haney rematch. Haney's pretty dug in on the drug testing, and I believe Ryan was tested for the barriers fight and will agree to do testing for the Haney fight as a whole other thing. That's what Haney says.

Like, they're pricing themselves out. Just, I don't know, man. Once again, not upset about Ryan versus Ben. I think that's like a perfect commercial fight. It makes all the sense in the world. Ben will talk it up. One thing, though, about how he's a draw in the UK. But is he, though, because the two fights with Ubank were,

Ubank had a lot to do, a lot to do with the crowd there, because it was that crazy rivalry. And then it was a Tyson Fury fight. So I don't know how much Ben is revered in the UK. I feel like even less now because they're smart fans. They watch that performance against Pro Gray, and we're like, this guy is just bluster. The going term is like he's domestic level. And he hasn't won any of those titles either.

Like, that's a, that's a big thing. If you, if you do read the comments, I read the comments now when I do the live shows for boxing scene, because I have to, it's literally as I'm watching. And that's all I ever hear about Ben is like, yeah, he's, even, even Josh, uh, Josh Taylor did an interview. And he was like, yeah, you know, he's like, he's like, he's not bad. He's just like, but he's not, he's not, you know,

to call out the guys that he's calling out and the world level, like he's, he's domestic regional level, he said. And that's, when he's, too. Yeah, the money's making. It's ridiculous. Like that's going to make anyone upset. It's going to make a fellow... You don't pick your dad.

You know, his dad is one of the best U.K. fighters has ever lived. So if you're going to complain about the money, it's like, well, okay, you're going to complain that he was born to a historic father? Any of us would have taken that same deal from Zufu. But also, in terms of where he's gotten to where he is, like, no, he's not terrible. He's not bad. He's put himself in the position to be here with his father's name.

So you can't knock that aspect of it. And I think a lot of people do because, you know, Now, fighters are bitter, but a lot of, and fans are bitter, but a lot of the fans from what I've seen in the comments sections are all like, they're all on the same page. You're like, this guy's, you know, domestic, regional level, it's crazy that he's calling out all these guys and making the money is for this world-class opportunities, but. Dude, nepotism, overpaid, past drug allegations. Dear dad's Nigel Ben.

That's a crazy amount of, like, three different ways to get hated on. And you're also not as good as you think. you are. Cocky, four. Yes. So, like, he's a perfect heel. It's literally everything people hate about fighters. He's hitting every demographic of hate.

And Ryan Garcia has got his haters, too, and, you know, kind of fell ass backwards into a belt and had his own drug allegations. So, oh, man, that should be one heck of a lead-up if this fight happens. I just hope it does, because if we're not going to get Haney Ryan, this is a good, consulate, say it again, consolation prize. Consolation prize. keep your eye on that. Shakur Stevenson versus Raymond Murataya.

This went down. It's not happening, but it could be happening. I think was Robert Garcia on your guy's show? Yeah, so I had asked Robert about Murataya and, you know, where he's at. Because actually, no, I had asked the panel. It was Robert and Breadman. And I had asked again about Shakur saying

that he was willing to go back to 135. Because I had asked Brett, what do you think he really belongs? And he was saying he's kind of, of a tweener, Shakur. That he's not frame-wise, not as big as, like, a Devon Haney where Welterweight's really where he's going to end up. He'll take Welterweight fights, but that's not really where his body. He's more like a 40, could still make 35, dabble. He can dabble in 35. He's probably, you know, more comfortable, most comfortable of 40, but he's a little small for 40 kind

of thing. And then, you know, so that brought me right to Robert. I'm like, well, Robert, if he comes back down to 35, like he's saying, would Morta Taya take this fight, like, now? And he was like, oh, yeah, absolutely. And he was very, very adamant about, like, yeah, if that or be the next fight at 35, sure. And then he said, but Morta Taya's not long for 35. He's big. He's going to move up to 40. So he goes, like, if we end up fighting a 40, that's fine too.

And then Shakur comes back and he's like, you know, barking at Robert being like, why would I fight him at 40 if he's got a title at 35? Meanwhile, he didn't watch the whole video because we live in a world of clips and titles. Yeah. But I think it looks in like more of like a respectful interaction between Shakur and Robert Robert's always respectful. Because, yeah, Robert Garcia said, like, we would fight Chacore at 140 or even 144. Then Chikora said, why would we do it at any other weight besides 135 if Murataya has the IBF belt and I have the ring belt?

And then Robert said, if you listen to the full interview, we have one more fight at 135 for Murataya. And then we're locking in at 140. If the one more fight at 135 is used to course, so be it. And Shakur said, perfect. So that would be great. If Shakur is willing to go back down to 135, where he's still the ring champion, he doesn't have that WVC belt anymore, obviously because they vacated it or whatever, the stripped situation.

So he's got, and Murataya has the 135, and I throw away the belts. And if you just said, who are the two best at 135 right now? Shakur and Murataya are on there, especially with Tank out of the picture and a lot of the other guys vacating belts there. It would be for the ring belt. that's that one i mean because we're trying to figure out what chikorsen to do next and and like you said he is a tweener like he could fight the guys at 140 but they're not like the biggest names the best challenge i think is murataya 135 so he beat the he beat the biggest name of 40 already

so it's kind of he kind of laid ways to 140 by by dominating tio the way he did uh i think there is unfinished business at 35 i think the mortitia fight makes a ton of sense and they are the legitimate number one number two one thirty five i don't i don't care davis is he's he's not he can't be in the rankings right now he hasn't been out he's been out of the ring for so long um and yeah and 47 i think it's just it's too much right now i don't so i think 35 is where chukor should go and then after that if he wants to stay there if he doesn't want to i think he'll have options the landscape will change 140 was to solidify himself 140 will come back yeah if schgore wants to solidify himself as pound for pound, which he doesn't really add to because I think he is.

Like going to 140 and beating Tiafima, then going back down to 135 and beating the best opponent there, then going back to one. Like that's to me what the pound for pound kind of should be, you know, showing your skills across different weight classes or at least one of the criteria. But I would like that fight a lot. Maritaya Shakur would be fucking awesome.

This weekend was supposed to be David Burrell versus Callum Smith. That got postponed. Oh, boo. I was so, I was excited for that fight. That's a good fight. That's a sneaky good fight. Yeah, I mean, Smith hasn't fought since the Bozzi fight last February. Wow. Like, February 2025. Yeah. David Burrell was on, you know, the Benavitas fight and the Katiav fight.

I think Smith had an injury and they're trying to, still going on with the card. Ben Whitaker is fighting this weekend, headlining the card. And, you know, Morel was like, I'll fight Ben Whitaker. I'll step in and fight him, Which I thought was amazing because... What you should do. Whitaker, like, we don't know what the heck. He's he a prospect. Is he a title contender?

Is he a star? Is he not a star? Like, what is this guy? Did you see the response by Whitaker? I thought it was very respectful and smart. I think Whitaker's episode was right. Eddie was like, and Frank Smith were like, no. Like, we have plans to have him in stadiums.

Like, we're not going to do that. No. We have... We're 28. Olympian. Yeah, but they're still, they're running out of British stars. They just, they lost Connor Ben. Anthony Joshua is older.

You know, it's not that deep. You cannot risk. They invested a lot of money in him, too. You can't risk Ben Whitaker right now. He said, Eddie said five fights. Five fights is a long time at this level. Five, ten round fights. That's a long time.

Until he's, consider him top? Until he's ready for the top, he said. That's insane. Yeah, it's a long time. Five fights. He fights twice. I mean, how many times is he going to, if he does three or four in one year, which you won't. Still, we're still two years that way.

Five, five fights is two years. It has to be. be two years. So he'll be 30 years old when he's ready for the top contention. So, you know, he's 28. He had an extensive amateur career, obviously. He had started fast in terms of, you know, the step-up fights, but he's not David Morel fast. Dave Morrell was fighting for World's titles in his 10th pro fight, you know? So it's, they're different kinds of guys. But Dave Morel is a dog, dude. He, like, that's so funny of him and not a surprise to him to be like, well, fight me then. I'll fight you. I'll step in.

sucks, man. He just went through a whole training camp. I mean, you can attest to this. Went through a whole training camp. You got to usually come out of your own pocket for that. Yep. Fight doesn't happen. You don't get any money for it. You have to wait again and go through a whole other training camp. If they postpone it and they fight in the summer or the fall.

But the heavyweight division has come to a halt. I mean, Benavita is in Cruiserweight. He's probably the best light heavyweight today. Not named better B. Ever Bival. There, what are they? doing. I think Bivol is not fighting on the pyramid Gaza card, Usook and Verhoven. Better Biav doesn't have anything lined up, 41 years old. Like light heavyweight, which was like fun for a while. It's nothing now. Dormant. And there's no lack of good fighters

either. Weird. They're not fighting. I'm looking at David Marell. David Marell hasn't fought since July of last year. You know, he's not. going to be out of the ring a year by the time he gets in the ring. Who loves how long this column Smith? Actually, it's probably not the worst thing for Muriel. I know. He did have two back-to-back really tough fights. David Benavides and that Katiav monster who dropped him.

That was a rough, rough fight. But at least he got a camp under his belt for this fight. But yeah, we need these guys to get going. And no, it's actually looking pretty good in the rear view. That hot rod win. Yeah. You know, a lot of people were looking at that hot rod fight, and they're like, like, this is that guy that everybody's talking about.

You know, his first time going to 75. Yeah, and then, and then he goes out and knocks out Vosdick. So that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, aged well for Morel. Morrell is only for tough guys, only fought good fighters. Yeah. Yeah, so the light, heavyweight division isn't exactly moving, but Hot Rod will, is supposed to be fighting for the light heavyweight Zufa belt.

Is he? Is he? Who's, who's supposed to fight? Oh. I think he's going to fight that guy that had that crazy uppercut. His name is. Oh. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, I don't remember his name. It's kind of funny that that's considered like a title height for Zufa. Yeah, a guy that no one's ever heard of, and then Hot Rod. They're just giving away the Chris Billum Smith signed to Zufa, which is clearly going to be

El Potaya's next opponent. All right, Chris, that is it for this episode. We got some fights this weekend over at Madison Square Garden, some women's boxing. We got Ben Whitaker over in the UK, which should be a good one as well,

before we get closer and closer to May 2nd, in Elaine Akatani, Benavita Zerto Pro Box, the great big boxing weekend of 2026. Right around the corner, man. Time is flying. We talked about how fast this week is gone, but really this year is going by quick. But the good thing is, we're getting tons of fights.

Boxing is in a very, very healthy spot. We are flush with fights and a lot more good ones coming up. Everyone, protect yourselves at all times. Give your hands up at all the time. To add those DMs, we're out.