The Ariel Helwani Show - Inside Boxing | WBC creates messy David Benavidez-Noel Mikaelian-Jai Opetaia situation, Foster defeats Ford, Serrano ties knockout record

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

Dan Canobbio and Chris Algieri open the show discussing the recent WBC ruling that Noel Mikaelian must fight David Benavidez or be stripped of his title. Mikaelian was close to finalizing a deal with lineal champion Jai Opetaia. It’s a messy situation that has a lot of ramifications for the future of the sport (02:19). Dmitry Bivol returned to the ring this weekend and pitched a shutout over Michael Eifert, showing he still has it. Will he fight David Benavidez next or will he get a third fight with Artur Beterbiev (15:46)? O’Shaquie Foster defeated Ray Ford in a very nip-and-tuck fight that saw him pull away late. Shakur Stevenson then entered the ring which led to a debate on who Foster should fight next. Fellow champion Emanuel Navarette is the clear choice if Foster wants to unify the titles (24:26). Over in El Paso, Texas, Stephanie Han defeated Holly Holm in a fight many thought Holm won. Will Caroline Dubois be next for Han? Can Holm still get the Katie Taylor fight despite coming off a loss (38:39)? Amanda Serrano got a stoppage win and tied Christy Martin’s knockout record. She has mentioned retiring at the end of the year (45:15).

Welcome back, everyone. It's another episode of Inside Boxing, represented by pvvv.com with Uncrowned and Yahoo Sports. I'm Dan Kidobio. He is Chris Algeri. We're coming to a little later. Usually come to on Sunday. It is now Monday, June 1st.

Your boy, Dan, had a brutal travel day from El Paso. So not the easiest place to get out of other variables as well. But we power on because that's what we do here at Inside Boxing, bringing you the best content. Go like it. Go subscribe. Go tell a friend. Chris Algerie.

How are you, my friend? I'm good. I'm good. I'm in Long Island at the moment, as you well know. But the people listening don't know that. We are blocks away from each other, guys. And we're pretending that we're in alternate universes across the globe. But we're not. I'm actually going to grab some lunch yet to this.

You shouldn't. Now that the cat's out of the bag, I didn't know you were going to give away that secret. Yes, Chris is on Long Island for some type of family thing. He tells me, Dan, I'm going to be in your town, in Bay, literally blocks away from where I live. And I'm like, oh, that's great, Chris. I'll be in El Paso, Texas for MVP3. I'm driving by his place, taking photos, sending it to him.

He's like, at least we're going to be able to hang out, though, after this. So that is hilarious. If you were literally down the block, it's a lot easier to do it via Zoom or whatever, Riverside, than in person. So we'll get a nice meal after this. We'll hang. We'll hug it out. I can't even speak.

I'm very tired. These trips are killing me, but they're so much fun. They're so much fun. It's like boxing is a drug, man. It's a drug. Like you're there all week. You're going through all these events and you're thinking about a million other things. And you're gearing up for the fight week.

And then the fight comes and the crowds and the fights. And then you leave and then you miss it. And then you wait for the next one. That was the case in El Paso. We'll get to that in a second. Stephanie Hahn beats Holly home. Huge crowd. Like it felt like a movie, like a hometown girl.

and Stephanie Hahn, who they love fighting on ESPN against the legend. Look at that in a second. But I wanted to start with some news that broke over the weekend that's pretty important and could be a tell for what is to come with the financial or political, I should say, aspects of boxing. So this whole David Benavita's Noah Mikkelin, Jaya, situation is getting more interesting and we're starting to see some of the tea leaves here. Friday, we get a boxing scene report from Lance Pugmeyer that Opataya is finalizing a fight with WBC Cruzeaway champ, Noah McAleon, for a fight later this year.

Then no longer, no shorter than 10 minutes after that is posted, the WBC steps in and says, no, McAleon must fight David Benavides or he gets stripped of his WBC title. As we know, that Benavitas holds a WBO, WBA cruiserweight belt, it was also in this report that Benavides turned down a fight with Opataya saying that he wants the, it wants to be undisputed. He wants to go the four belt route and Opataya has nothing for me. Opataya does have something.

He has the lineal and ring title. I want to have mentioned the Zufabelt. This is just some of the stuff that boxing fans just like have had enough of and just complete political nonsense. and now it's getting even more confusing with Zufa in the mix and we've been talking about this on this show for a while. This is a mess, Chris, a mess. It's getting very muddy, very, very muddy the waters. And it's keeping good fights from happening

and that's exactly what we don't want. And there's a lot of egos involved in the sport. There always has been between the fighters, the promoters, the managers. Now, these networks, like it's weird. I mean, boxing is that are very high, high right now. We're getting great fights, but then there's this stuff. You know, I guess it's not, you can't have the good without the bad. But, yeah, this is, this is weird, muddy stuff.

What do you make of it, though? Like, I understand, yeah, it is weird. We're living in, like, crazy times now with Zupa. It's 100% powerplace by both guys, by both sides, by Zufa and WBC, interjecting that fight, trying to get, you know, the Jaya, stepping in between McEllian and Opataya is obviously a move to grab that away from Zufa. and have their guy fight, and then that's what it is.

They're using political power to fight battles. That was my main takeaway, and we don't know for sure. We're drawing conclusions. You guys can draw conclusions at home. You're not dumb. We lay it out. We'll give our thoughts.

You guys can make your, draw your conclusions as well. Something I've been saying for a while now is with the Zufa stuff. And them, like we've seen a line drawn in the sand with, with IBF, they pulled out of that fight,

and they stripped dry up a tie because the Zufa belt was on the line. That's one circumstance. Now we have potential big fights that we want to see, between Zufa fighters and traditional champions. One of them of note is Ryan Garcia versus Conner Ben. And I've said, I don't know about this fight. I'd love to see it, but we have to get through the politics now.

There's even more red tape than ever. Connor Ben, Simon Zufa, Ryan Garcia is a WBC champion? Is the WBC going to want to work with Zufa? If Connor Ben wins that fight, is WBC OK happy with him holding a belt, being part of an organization that wants to actively put them out of business? So now we're seeing this here. Is this a power play by WBC in the last minute?

They worked very closely with David Benavides. Benevitas was there petitioning to become mandatory for WBC. They had his belt front and center. WBC was trying to get involved in Benavina's last fight, even when his fight wasn't even on the line. But this is the reason when I say roadblocks. Ryan Garcia can quote tweet means I don't know shit about boxing. Okay, respectfully.

You did say respectfully. Respectfully, Ryan, like, look at this situation right here because it's an absolute mess. And I do think one of the biggest takeaways here is that WBC does not want to work with Zufa. And they don't want their belt potentially going to Jayopataya and Zufa. A lot of power moves being made. The lines have been drawn. And in the beginning, things were kind of like, you know, you'd see a little, it's still work. And now I think it's, it's, we're at full of war at this point.

Because we're literally not getting fights like that should be happening because these, you know, they're stepping in and making power moves back and forth. Yeah, I don't know how this works. I don't know how this pans out, Dan. I feel like this is going to be a long, drawn out thing. It's kind of like, it's like Trump thinking we're going to go right into Iran and come out and be real quick. Nah, this is probably going to drag, you know, just like it is.

So, you know, that's how these conflicts tend to go. They drag, man, they drag. It's politics. You're right. And we pay. And the fans pay. You're bringing up politics and you're bringing up obviously a dire situation in a war. But like it's the same type of shit.

Yep. Battlegrounds. Like nothing, there's not going to be no resolution right away. Like Zufa is, if they're going to take over, it's going to take several years, like, maybe even a decade before they get everything that they want. And there's going to be skirmishes in battles like this the whole way. This is a skirmish. This is absolutely skirmish.

There's a lot of other things that you can take away from. My main takeaway was, okay, WBC is like not so fast Zufa. This is a power play. We can do this. We do have power in this sport so we can go and tell Noah our champion, Noah, you have to fight David Benavides, who is a WBO and the WBA cruiserweight champ. So that's like one big takeaway from here. Another takeaway is that Benavita quite possibly doesn't want anything to do with Opataya right now.

I don't think he's scared of him because I don't think fighters are scared of anyone, but there is a lot of business that goes into David Benavitas. When you're at this stature, top five power for pound, you're trying to be number one attraction in the U.S. You want these dates that Canelo and Floyd had, the coveted Mexican dates. You're a business. You're an absolute business now.

And for some reason, he believes that Opetaya right now doesn't make business sense. It's why when he told me, you know, in the interview we did, like 10% he puts that fight out, a really low percentage with Opeta because of these situations. But it makes me think this Benavita's, I think Benavita's wants the belts because the belts are leverage.

They are leverage. I was with Michaela Mayer this weekend. She's trying to fight Shantelle Cameron, but the WBC doesn't want to sanction it because WBC doesn't want to do three-minute rounds. And she's talking to Caroline Dubois in the room, and they're talking about how these belts are leverage for fighters. It gives them more money.

So does Benavitas think I want to get all the traditional belts? I already have two of them by beating Zerto. There's the IBF one out there that Opertaya got stripped of by with Zouva, like we just talked about. And then there's the WBC route with Noah McLean. So does he want to try to get the McLean fight? When McAleen gets stripped, there's a way for Benavitas to get more leverage and more collateral with these belts.

So when he does fight Opetallia, it's like, all right, you've got to come to me now. I think it's that, but I also think that David is taking a stance and being a champion for the champions, being a champion for the belts, meaning, and the champion meaning like he's like their prize. You know, he's what is going to be the, you know, the statue. that, the monument to the belts, as David Vez is taking that route. He's like, now, these belts matter, and they do. I agree with him.

So he's like, I want all the belts. I want to, I want to be undisputed. I want the belts. That's what matters to me. So, you know, the Opataya fight, it doesn't make sense right now. There's nothing for him to gain, you know, other than the ring belt, which I still think is important.

But, no, those other belts. It shows you what they think about the ring belt. Yeah. I mean, Benavita doesn't think much of it, at least. No, obviously, obviously. You know, but also it's one of those things because the ring out is technically, it's a prize. It's to recognize who is the guy. So like, if Benavides collects all those belts, everyone's going to look at him as the man anyway. So, and I think that's

the way David looks at it too. But I think David is kind of old school and how you and I are. Belts matter, man. Belts do matter. And I like that story about Michaela, you know, talking about how much belts actually do matter. And did you see this? The, the IBF and the WBO are going to have a joint meeting that discussed the importance of relevance of belts. I think that's pretty interesting, pretty cool. Yeah, I have that in my notes. I was going to get to that second. Yeah, that's in Orlando at the end of the year.

And I think it all ties in. I think there's some type of, there's something going on here. It's, it's the sanctioning bodies are pushing back against Zufla. They're mobilizing. They're mobilizing. And they're for survival. They say it's for the betterment of the sport. Do we believe that?

I don't know. but they're definitely doing it for survival. They see what's coming down the road. They see a powerful, powerful entity. But that's what I mean by, I think WBC is anointing David Benavides as the guy that's going to fight for them. Because if you're going to do this, you are mobilizing to make these power moves.

You need stars. You need champions. You need people who are going to be the voice of you. Because, listen, people don't love governing bodies. The fans don't love the governing bodies. They love their champions. And if you got a guy like David speaking for you, got a guy like Michaela, a guy,

a lady like Michaela Mayer talking about the importance of belts, it matters. Yeah, but I don't know how David's coming off here. I think he's coming off not looking great because when it comes down to it, there are a certain amount of fans that will understand everything we're talking about right now. Right. And be down with that and say yes, belts matter, champions matter. We don't like Zufo. We do like Zupa. That's the other side.

The fans that just want to see the best fights. Yep. And right now, what's the best fighter cruiserweight? David Benavides and Jayopatio. Right. Like, fans don't care. Which is not happening. Which is not happening anytime soon.

The fans don't, I would say majority of fans don't care. They don't care about this minutia. They don't care about these battles. They care about, give you Benavita's Opetia. I want to watch it on Paramount Plus because I already have Paramount Plus. I want to watch it on whatever. Like, just make it super easy and give me the biggest names. I would say majority of fans want that.

But like you just said, it's a business. this. You guys only have a certain amount of time in your careers to make the top dollar and make the most of your careers. You have to be very smart with it. Benavitas has been very smart. Almost surprisingly to me where, like, I think of Benavides as like one of the realest guys out there. There isn't much you can criticize about this guy. He fights fan-friendly style. He, for the most part, fights everyone you want to see in there with. And I got some pushback on social. It's like, no, not really. I'm like, well, at the time, Merrell was the boogeyman and no people were avoiding him.

He fought Caleb Plant. Yeah, after he fought Canela. Like, he fought Bubu Andrade. Like, he was a champion at 21. He had his pitfalls, but just shows me that fans will have a little, like, I have a problem with pretty much everyone. Yeah. Like, it's mostly like anti-Benevitas fans,

and you have your Benavitas fans as well. But we're not getting this Al-Betia Benavita's fight. And I think we just crossed that off right now. Yeah, no, I'll have recited. David said it himself. He gave reasons for it. And I don't think he's a man of his word, too. I don't see him going back on anything.

He's a super genuine guy. For anyone who's ever, you know, you and I have spoken to him, interviewed him. I've spoken to him and interviewed him many, many times. He's exactly what he is. He is not putting on airs. He's a real dude. And he's smart and he's aggressive. So I don't see him going back on things he's saying.

So yeah, we can, we can not think about that fight any longer. That fight ain't happening. I don't think we're getting that anyway. I know. I just didn't think we're getting at any time soon. I do think we do, we get it at some point. You know, Benavides is towards the end of his deal with PBC. Could that be a factor in this too?

Like, he, he tried, David tries to get as many belts as he possibly can, fight, you know, figure out his deal with PBC when that runs out. And that potentially sign with Zufa and make that Opataya fight, uh, even easier to make, even bigger. Um, with Opitaya, like, this, Noah, uh, McKillian fight. McEllian, McKeelian, McKeleon. this Noah McKillian fight was in the works for a while. They had a photo, a stare down photo that Zufa posted and then deleted. And I get Opataya McKillian makes sense because Opatai hasn't fought a top five opponent in more than two years.

It's my biggest beef with the ring ratings. It's like they want to be the end all be all. We're different than the sanctioning bodies, but they have gray areas and they bend the rules just like everyone else. Like Opataya McKellian makes all the sense in the world. He's a WBC champ. in my mind, I still think of Upitalia as an IBF champion, even if he's not, but technically he isn't, he's still like a title holder. He has the lineal.

He has the ring. That fight makes sense. So for WBC and Benavitas to swoop in like literally 10 minutes after the first report, it's just like that part I can't get behind. I think that's just like the fishiness of boxing. Like these sanctioned bodies work really closely with fighters. They work really closely with promotions. Like, you know, WBO always has worked super close with top rank. And it's just not great.

And, you know, it's left for us to kind of like pick up the pieces and try to figure it all out. But if you don't get Opitaya Benevides, there's a very good chance what's next. It's Benavides versus whoever for the vacant WBC title. Mickelene gets stripped. He still goes and fights Opataya for a good amount of money because it's probably a great deal for him for the ring and lineal. And then missing from all this is Beval Better Beavis situation. That fight seems like it's gone. Down to 5% when he told me it was 90.

David Benavillas told me Bivol versus him is next and it's 90%. Bivol fought this weekend. It's looking like he's in a fight better be of in this trilogy in Russia for a crazy amount of money. They found a new billionaire out there. It's all changing very fast. Yeah. The main takeaway from all of this is we're not getting David Benevita as an Opatai, obviously, but we're not getting the Bivol fight, the Benavut.

fight. The Benevita is a bed of all fight, which I was hearing behind the scenes, this fight's happening. That's going to be next. Now, dead and gone. So we're getting stuck. And also with Benavita is a cruiserweight. He said he's going to fight somebody for a vacant belt, most likely for the vacant WBC. There's not how many guys left at Cruzeaway. Curzoyate's always been a small weight class. It's kind of a bridger class. A lot of guys jump the ship. There's not a lot of top ten guys historically. And now a bunch of them already signed the Zufa. Chris Billion, Samith is another higher level cruise weight. He's with Zufu.

Yeah, he's fighting Ryan Rozicki this weekend. Rozicki's another guy who's in the top 10 who's going to be Zufa, so he's out. Opetai's out. That's three guys right there in a way class that isn't that deep. And Benavides is already beaten Zerdo, who is the other top guy around. Really, McAleon's in a good spot right now. He's going to make some bank. Yeah, he's going to, I don't blame him at all.

Like, go, like his teeth, the Zufa approached him. He was like, you fight O Pataya for probably a good amount of money. And he's like, yeah, I'm in. Yeah. And then at the last second, and according to WBC, I don't want to give their side of it, too. They said that McKillian didn't satisfy a bunch of mandatories. So we've given him a lot of chances to do right here. He, like, he can't fight O Patia.

He's got to fight mandatories. But then they just shove Benavitas in there. And they petitioned Benavita's team positions to become the mandatory. That's not how it works. It's never worked like that. Like, Benavides is the WBO and the WBA, so he's ranked highly there. Like, it's very rare that we see one of my biggest beefs with the sanctioning bodies is that all the rankings are different.

Yeah. At least with the ring rankings, you recognize these names. There's a top 10. You might not agree with the top 10, but it's pretty on the money. Like, the only thing you disagree with is, like, to wear their position. You agree that these are the 10. Where in the other ones, you have guys that fought this weekend against Billval. Michael Eiffert, or you have guys like last week with Bejik who are in the IBFs or whatever organization's top tens.

You're like, where did they even come from? Like, how are they even in there? Yeah, they'll be number one contender in one and not even on the top 10 or the top 15 on another. And it's like, yeah, well, that's, that's, it's politics. It's politicking. It's, it's, you know. What does that really like? Yeah.

What does that even mean? Like, what does it really mean? How do you get into the top 10 of some of these sanctioning bodies? You, it's basically like, you petition, you politic, you, you, what do they call that in politics when you have a, um, gerrymandering? No, no. I just wanted to say that. Philibustering? No, no.

Filibustering? No, it's a lobbying, lobbying. Lobbist. Lobbying. You lobby, you lobby for your guys ranking. Using a lot of words here, not to say the word that we don't want to say. Yeah, lobbying. Lobbing is the word.

You know, you got a lobbyist who, who will put money out there to get somebody into it. a position to get a bill passed to get a fighter into the top 10. Yeah, same thing. A lot of politics to talk this podcast. We were starting off heavy with the politics. We will get to the fights. WBO and IBF coming together could alleviate some of these problems where we get one ranking system.

Like, it's not, they're not coming together. I want to be clear. They're not coming together yet. But the fact that they are. Well, doing a joint convention is a big deal. And they mentioned in the press release that like, you know, to kind of take, you know, head on with some of the challenges that we're seeing. You know, could we get a unified, a WBO, IBF rankings where it's just one?

Could they consolidate where there's just one belt? I mean, if three one, like, there's a lot of things here. Like, the WBC, I don't think we'll ever do this. I think they believe that they are the best and we are here. You guys are here. You know, I don't see WBC getting altogether. But, like, that's the only way to kind of fight off ZUFA is power of numbers, is to come fully together and become a major force.

But then it kind of like goes against with the people that like the belts are arguing for. It's like, do you like the four champs? I think you said you do like that. Four is a lot. Because then there could potentially be one champ if they all come. It's WB, I, B, F, WBA, WB, WB, C all to come together. That will never happen. No.

That will never happen. They have different. The way they operate, they're located different places. They have different cultures. They have different aspects. Everything about them is, they're just, they're very foreign entities. I don't see them all coming together ever. Working together, sure.

Obviously, they have a, they have a common enemy now that's trying to get them kicked out. So they'll come together them that way. But listen, if they were to defeat Zufa, like we were talking about this as if it was an actual conflict, if they were to defeat Zufa, they would fracture right away. And they go right back to warring with each other. Yeah, they got to do something. It's a good step in the right direction of W. I want to go to that convention.

I'm interested to see what... Like how it looks, right? I'm always at the Kareeb. Usually they do an MVP show the same weekend as the convention. So they can kind of get everyone all in the same spot. So there's a chance that we could have a fight there. But I would definitely go down there and check it all out, do content. I think Gustavo would have us from the WBO.

Yeah, something to keep an eye on. Obviously, we just talked about Bivall. He fought this weekend against Michael Eifford. Good gracious. Eiffert put in one of the worst performances in the history of boxing. He landed 12 punches in the fight, Chris. 12? That is the lowest total in CompuBox history for a 12-round fight.

That's one punch a round. That's not good. Zero connects in six of the 12 rounds. He never landed more than three punches in any round. Wow. Well. Thanks for showing up. Thanks for showing up, collecting that check in Russia.

he definitely made me look bad because I thought, you know, he's a young guy, he's, he's fit, he's going to come, he's going to bring it. Yeah, not so much. That's pathetic. I mean, it's bad on his part. Like, you know, I don't even know who was the sanctioned body that ordered it. Bivel dropped him early.

Yeah, it was a nice little left took off a jab, like right away. Like, he got his rounds in, but it goes back to like the reason why Bavala took him so long to get like notoriety, took him so long to become popular. He became popular after he beat Canello and then got the two fights with Better BF. But the knock always on Bivalt was like, he never gets out of like first or second gear, never goes for the kill.

Because he doesn't have to. He dominates you. He controls you. You can't hit him. He's a very good defense. He's, he's accurate, but he's not very busy.

He kind of goes to Ho-Hum decision victories, and you're like, it leaves you longing. Those 12 rounds of Bivel like that lasts a long time. It's a long time. Right. I thought those days might. be over like he could maybe get the stoppage but he's not he never really got stoppages in

some of these big wins either so he gets the rounds which is important like I thought he looked like physically I thought he looked good like you know the in and out and out obviously going up against a punching punching bag the guy was not punching back he looked like he looked like he looked like he looked like he looked like the way he doesn't mean you saw like he got he was in and out I wanted to see how he was going to look I obviously knew he was going to win a stoppage would have been nice but you know he goes in there and shows defense of brilliance. I mean, 12 punches.

I never thought a record would ever come close. I think the record was in the 30s. Twelve was never going to be touched. A third. A third of that. Twelve is never getting touched. Look about unbreakable sports records.

Kyle Ripkins' 3,600 games played straight. Is probably one of the bigger ones? It's an award of dishonor to be that guy that it only lands 12 punches. It's so much more. overshadows the fact that Bivel got up to, it was obviously fought defensively so, so smart, but it's more like effort, just his, efforts effort's effort was not there. Efforts, Iford's.

Iford's effort's effort was not there. Yeah. Shockey Foster defeated Ray Ford. Good fight. Majority decision. One of the judges had it even. Other judge had it 118, 110. It was not that.

116, 112 was more in line with what I saw and what a lot of respected boxing people had it. kind of a tale of two fights where first half it was nip and tuck and then Foster took over late, launched him out of the ring in round one. Yeah, wild. Firal moment. Referee doesn't take a point there. It was weird. Stop the clock.

Like, what the hell was that? Listen, I don't know if a point deduction was necessary there. It's just weird to see that event and then nothing getting mentioned of that. The breakfast kind just like, hey, cut it out. And he, he definitely, it was intentional. He threw him. Yeah. But he didn't expect him to go out of the ring that way.

Like, he went down so weird. He like slithered out. Yeah, yeah. He like literally, he just went, he speared right through the two ropes and was just boom. But he landed, like slow motion. He landed okay, though. He didn't, he didn't look like he took a bad fall at all.

It was pretty athletic move. You think they teach that? They ever, have you ever been taught? Like, hey, there's a situation where you go flying out of the ring. This is what you do? No. No. No, because you never know.

Because you could be by tables. Like, you could be by the announcer desk, the judge's desk. There's a lot of things that can be obstructions for you to fall over and get hurt. So they were lucky there was nothing there. It looked like Eddie Herman was caught him. But the rules are you cannot help them up. Can't touch them. Like one guy was like some random dude, like went to go help him.

And I think someone shouted out. And then Eddie, like, thought about it and thought better. Like you have all the time to get back into the ring. You have to come back into the ring on your own. I think it's 20 seconds. Yeah. That's like WWF style. Yeah.

Count you out. I think you have to get into the ring under your own power. Such a weird old rule. Right? That's some, that's really old. Some Jack Dempsey stuff.

Like, you don't really see this happen to off the fly. Very rare. Very rare. Like, you see a guy hanging out. Like,

I think it happened to Hopkins against Joe Smith. Yes. Yes. Went through the ropes and fell. He fell on the table, rolled out. And the fight was over then.

Yes. That was when he wasn't able to get back in. Yeah. He was hurt too. He was dropping, literally dropped and fell through the ropes. I think when our, I was like, that's it.

I'm getting back up here. Before the first round, it wasn't hurt or anything. It was the first round of the fight. But I think he, if the reps went and took a look, not that it would have mattered in the ultimate scoring of the fight, but maybe Foster, we could have changed some of the way they fought early on. But I thought he tossed them. Like, you know, in NBA, you see a hard foul, they call foul, and then they go review

it to see if it should be a technical or flagrant. And then, you know, it can escalate. So obviously there was some type of foul there or some type of something went down. He goes flying through the ropes. In between rounds, because this is 2026, guys. Like there is replay in other sports. Boxing has it. In some states, doesn't have it in others.

You can go look and make a decision. Did he toss him? If he tosses him, then you can maybe take a point off. None of that happened. No, that's the thing. It's not so much that a point wasn't taken off or should have been taken off. It was just like, nothing was handled. It was just like, okay.

And now we give a stern warning. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, don't do that. Basically was like, cut that out and then like, let's keep fighting. All right. Well, okay. Okay. I guess this, I don't know. Do you want, I don't want points taken away.

I don't want, I don't want a point. And I don't think it changes. It doesn't change the result anyway. I don't think. It doesn't. Even, even on the scores. Maybe. Maybe not.

I don't know. They were pretty contentious going in. And even Foster, when he came back in, he was like, oh, my bed. I mean, I mean, the 30 or five. I mean, it was a heated buildup. man. Yeah. Shows, we had, this was a legitimate grudge man.

Ray Ford after said, you know, I came up short, but it's still, still fuck that guy. So, like, Darren, I kind of like that. I like that. I hate when they say on crazy stuff to each other, like, Stern Strickland says, like, everything, religious stuff, family stuff. And afterwards, they just, like, hug in the cage. Yeah. I hated that.

So, like, I kind of respect how much of a grudge match this was. But Foster looked awesome, man. Ford looked good, too. It was a good fight. Ford had a good game. plan early on. They are both counterpunching backfoot fighter guys. So they both have kind of trouble going forward at times. Ford probably less so. But you could tell once they were battling neck and neck, like you said, really nip-tuck early on, counterpunching, you know, really jockeing

and fencing early on. And just to me, it just looked like Foster was a little bit ahead, just a little bit ahead mentally, a little sharper. And he tired Ford out. Ford couldn't think as fast. as Foster. And that's why, one, he saw him, he went right to the, I'm just going to try and walk you down now. I can't, I can't box with you at this level. So now I'm just going to try and push forward and come at you. Um, but Foster just too smart. Once he found his rhythm, found his, his, is his, his groove. The second half of the fight, Ford was tired. And listen, mental, mental stress can tire you out physically. Because Ford's always in great shape. Ford has good, strong finishes. He's known for that. Um, and at this weight, I think, I think he's certainly known for that.

but the mental, the cognitive stress that was put on him by Foster, that was the difference down the stretch. And that's why Foster won and deserved to win. I didn't think the draw scorecard was had the right. We did talk about baby sprinkling said money at all. We did. We did because just because... $1,500.

But in part because of the style of Foster who does such high-level high-brow stuff, I don't think a lot of judges know what the hell they're looking at. but man he looked he looked great I mean this is foster for in a nutshell man he he wins these very very razor thin decisions he's always doing just enough where sometimes it comes back to bite him where he has lost decisions like we can say South Fight in particular and he's always in these close fights but he's getting the edge

like good judges will see that he's the one that's getting the best of these rounds they're so close like how much i just watched it back because i wasn't home on saturday oh he's willing to to win. He's willing to win a round by a margin. He doesn't care. He's a guy, I won the round. I won the round. He's got the experience. And if you listened to our last show, like, that was the difference. That's why I picked Foster on points and use it as well. It's like because he has that intangible. You can't teach. It's that he just knows how to win. He does have the three losses. Those are way early on. He also closes really strong. He's got a great gas tank. Very strong closer. Yeah, he finished, he outlanded Ford 65 to 50 around 7 through 12. Wow. You know, say it's only 15 connects, but it was in a fight that tight. Yeah, in a fight that tight, that's a lot.

It's pulling away. The first six. Yes, he pulled away. And like you said, like Ford changed his whole game playing up. He realized he couldn't outbox this guy. You can't out box Foster. No. The jab is too good.

His movements are too good. He never stops moving. He's just in the insane shape. And he's one of the best guys and best fighters in boxing. He also stays very calm. He's very calm in the pocket, even at a high pace. He's very, very calm and relaxed, which is why he finishes strong. I think he should be in consideration for the top 10 pan for pound, like that 10 spot, which seems like it interchanges a lot.

He needs to be in the discussion for one of the best champs today because this is a, he's putting on great performances. He's not beating some big name of great forwards and named former champion. Stephen Fulton fight was a nice win. And then his run at 130 was really good before that. You know, he's had two reins now at 1.30. And he's won, I think, 15 of his last 16 fights. And he's a good, he's a good dude. Like, he's a solid guy and, you know, went to prison for a while early on.

Manx was telling the story, like, attempted robbery that eventually got, like, the charges got diminished. Or what's the word I'm looking for? Not like thrown away, but whatever. He was in jail, and he lost his first couple of fights. And that's not a recipe to have a long career. No. And then I remember hearing about. about him probably like 2019-ish.

And he came on and he beat John Fernandez, who was undefeated at the time. He was a good puncher. And I was like, and I had known John from the New York area. I was like, who is this guy? And then I started watching him.

And he just been like trucking along. Tough fight after tough fight after a tough fight. His last like 10 fights have all been top flight opposition. Like he is one of the most consistent guys fighting at a high level and performing that that's out there. And I can say self-fight, I will go down and saying that there's no way he lost that fight, that first fight. No way.

I was blown away that that decision went that way. So in my eyes, that he's undefeated and has been for a while. And now Conceisa is fighting Raymond Murataya. I don't understand that fight. I don't know how he gets these chances, man. And that's up at 35. Mortaya, that's, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's like a, I don't want to say me.

I don't want to disrespect Conceisa because he is very, very good, but that's like No one's asking for that. Not no fans out there asking for that fight. It's a defense for Morataya to hang around a little longer to see if he's going to get that Shkhar fight, if he's going to move up. He's moving up. Yeah, it's definitely a defense. So. Yeah, so that was a fight that was also announced this weekend.

Yeah, but Foster really good. So then Shikor comes into the ring afterwards, which Shikor is on one on Saturday night. Obviously, Ray Forge's good friend. Chikor has a lot of good friends in boxing. They has like a little like team. it's him it's ray ford it's uh kishan um but raise his guy and foster and chakor have been going back and forth for a while now um chakur gets in the ring almost immediately only because foster went beeline to chikor like the before the uh i think it's either before or after the result was red it was almost

like foster had this set out like i'm gonna go chirp chakor because i just beat your boy and then i'm going to go chirp you as well. Chachor gets into the ring and they're just face to face. They're shouting crazy stuff at each other. I don't necessarily want to see Foster versus Chacore because Foster's like, yeah, I'll go to 140. You saw the size difference when they were shouting at each other. Yeah.

And I also want to see Foster go for Unify at 130 with Navarete or Kachache. Kachay. I think you got it at that time. That's what I want to see. Anyway, Chacore stepping in the ring. I think that was just like. adrenaline, machismo. Don't want to see that fight next.

I'm open to it. No, I'm definitely open to it. I think it's a good fight. I like that fight. Wait, though. 135. It's got to be 35, yeah. 14, no. Chorraine, I'm making 30. Definitely not 140. Foster's a 30-pounder. He's a big 30-pounder, and I think he will end up in at 135 at some point, some point soon. I like unifications. I know I like the Navite fight. I think, I think Foster should take over that whole division because he is that good. I would like to see him get those titles, get a unification, be able to unify before getting, you know, one of those big time money fights, like a Schuhrer fight. But at the same time,

I want to see that fight. I think it's a good fight. They have a bad blood. Stylistically, you know, Foster maybe could find some, some things he could do against Chikor. Because I can't think of anyone who can. I don't know anyone out there who can, who can really, who can get Chikor in any way. So it's not really a super exciting fight. Because we've seen how Foster fights, and we've seen how Shakur fights. But we're not going to really get exciting fights with Shakur. Like, T.A. Fima was, oh, he's going to come in there and he's going to blitz him, Tiefima. He's the power puncher.

It ends up being a super technical blowout. Yep. Like, you're not going to really get, like, you're just going to get a super technical fight between Foster and Shakur. Absolutely. You have to match wits with Shakur. And if you're going to match wits with Shakur, you're going to lose. Like, I don't think anyone right now can fight the way Shakur fights. No, no, no, no one can do it better than him.

Like, he's, he's, I say it time and time again, he is as close to an unafeited fighter as there is living today. Yes. He's just, he just has such a disarming style. He understands range. His range manipulation is pretty much perfect. But yeah, no, it's a technical fight. But like, like, I still like, I like seeing him, like, a T.

Like, a T. Fiummo, like, I enjoy it. I was like, he dismantled a very, very good fighter. That's, like, so impressive to me. So I like seeing those. So if I can see him do that with Foster, if he, if he was able to do that to Foster, that would be wildly impressive. I like the fight just like it's got to be at the right weight, which is 1.35, which is not even Foster's weight class,

even though he had no problems going to 35. The Fulton fight, I'm pretty sure it was at 35 because Fulton blew the weight. Not 140. I want to see Chaucor and other fights, and I want to see Foster turn its attention to Navarete for unification, which would bring together three of the belts. Navarete is, doesn't have anything. lined up right now. We had that rumor last week that

Lomachenko is eyeing him, but Lomachenko has his beat Suarez first. Like it's not next. Like Lomachenko Navarrete is not next, at least yet, I don't think. So, whenever Rete is ready, Foster would have to wait a couple months. Like, it should be

Foster Navarete next. Let Lemachenko figure out his comeback. I'd like to see Foster Lomacheco down the line, though. That's what I mean. That's a good fight. That's a big one. Yeah. I think Foster would gladly agree to that. Yeah, like he's at the point now. Get the fight a legend. Absolutely. Legend.

So good options for Oshacki. He comes out looking good. It's a good story because you can lose fights early on your career. You can have some adversity. As long as you stay the course, you can have, get screwed over by judges. But also keep getting better. He is consistently getting better. He's an improving ascending fighter.

And he's basing it on ring IQ and experience. Because he's, again, the guys he's been fighting are all top flight. very, very dangerous guys. So his learning curve has been excellent. Over in El Paso, or I was sold out El Paso County Center, 8,000 fans going absolutely berserk. One of the loudest crowds, this is a different type. You get 8,000, and that's a good number.

You get 8,000 passionate screaming El Pasoans. Texans. Texans for a local legend. Stephanie Hahn, who is a police officer, beauty pageant queen, world champion. Her sister was a world champ. The fighting Han family, they have like three gyms in the town. All right. You know, it's a small town.

There's not a lot going on there. So when ESPN comes around, Jake Paul is in town, MVP's in town, ESPN, it's a big deal. So it was pretty cool to see that all week long. It felt like a movie. It felt like an easy, like a movie where it's like local girl, local legend gets her ESPN fight. like Jake Paul's there and she's fighting the legend in Holly Home. Now did she win the fight? I don't think so. I thought Holly Home

won. It was a close fight. I thought Holm did enough. Home outlanded her by like 40 punches. But Home got a slow start and then Han stepped on it late. Home stepped on it late. Han started slow. It was a close fight. Neither of them

could really be upset because they didn't like take it. But I thought Holly won. She edged it in my opinion. Yeah, I actually didn't. didn't get a chance to watch this fight. But I did see the aftermath and what Holmes, home saying that, yeah, I won this fight, like, flat out, which. But she did in a respectful way. She did.

Because she's hyper respectful. They, you know, they both are. But glad to hear that there was a good turnout, though. 8,000? That's amazing. Women's boxing, dude. The pop for Hahn and the pop for her sister. They did something really cool.

They brought Jessica Hahn in the ring and they brought Cindy Serrano in the ring. Oh, nice. So obviously, Jessica Hahn won her title before her sister, Stephanie, and Cindy won her titles before Amanda. So they kind of like have a same story where like they won first and then their little sisters came along and kind of, I wouldn't say stole the spotlight, but ran with it. So it was pretty damn cool to see that. But when they brought out Han's sister, it was sounded like a DWF like when Stone Cold came out. like the glass breaks. It was so loud when they announced her.

But it was loud the whole night, and it was a really good card. They want Han. Caroline Dubois was there all week. I was doing some content with her. And, you know, she wants Alicia Baumgartner number one. But that fight doesn't seem like it's going to happen

anytime soon for a number of reasons. So Dubois has two of the belts at 135. Han has the other. And Elif Turhan has the fourth, who's a hard-punching, fighter signed with Matrum. So the winner of Han Holm is most lucky

going to fight Caroline Duplah. But Holly, Home, was talking about, if I win, I want to fight Katie Taylor on Netflix or whatever in Ireland. Like, she was really, like, Holly doesn't say much. Yeah. But she was like, I want Katie Taylor. Like, that's my

retirement fight. That's Katie's retirement fight. That would have, got a win. That would have been cool. But I still think she can get the Taylor fight. Like, she didn't look bad, Holly. Um, you know what? I do too, actually. And, and because, like you said, because there was some controversy in terms of, you know, the decision and she did look good. But it's like you get two names like that, Holly Holme and. That's what it's about at this point. Yeah, absolutely. Names. Names. And especially on the, on your exit, you know, your exiting fight. I think, uh, I think it makes a lot of sense. Hopefully, um, Holly does get that. I'm rooting for her because I think Han will fight Du Bois. Um, Du Bois is interesting.

I like that fight. Dude, she's got a real edge to her. I like Du Bois. Yeah, she's mean. She is mean. I love it. She's mean like about business. She's a sweetheart.

Right. You know, she's mean fighter. Mean fighter. And she's awesome out of the ring. Got to hang out with her during the week on fight night. Michaela Mayer could potentially be fighting Shantel Cameron. They're going through. Yeah, 154.

That's a battle of top five. That's a good fight. that's a good fight. Yeah, that's a good one. But they're kind of haggling over the minutes, the rounds, three minutes, because mayor has the WBC-154 belt, and the WBC has put their foot down. They will not sanction three-minute fights.

That's the reason why Serrano gave up her title. And she's like, I need that. I need the WBC belt to be on the line because that's my leverage. That's how I get more money. That's what I was talking about the beginning of the show. Yep. So they got to figure that out. But Amanda Serrano won, too.

Yes. She got to stop it. She tied the record for her. Tied the record. Tied the record for most female knockouts of any champion. 32. That's crazy. Our boy, Jose, did you see the tattoo?

Yeah, I did. Okay. That guy's, he's amazing. We are hanging out all week. Oh, that's your boy. Jose's great. Yeah, Jose Guzman, trainer. Top Flight trainer.

Former opponent of Chris. fought early in my career. He was a very good amateur, actually. He had a lot of big wins over a guy. I think he could be Broner. He'd be being Emmanuel Taylor. Maybe he didn't bat. He'd definitely be Emmanuel Taylor,

but he's got some good wins in the amateurs. He's so New York. Yeah. He's so New York. He's New York. Did you ever see the MTV series? I'm a New Year Rican. It was on, it was on Jose.

Yes. Literally. No way. Literally. It was him. It was following him as a young pro fighter. And he's like, I'm a new.

I forgot what it was, but it's like, I'm a New Yorkan. And it was, it was a segment on one of those shows. And it was, it was on Jose. He came back to the lobby. He got a haircut in El Paso. I was like, bro, that is risky. Like. That is risky for a Puerto Rican.

I was like you trusted that barber to get you. There was like a skin fade too, a zero. Zero skin fade. Like, that could go south real fast. Especially a Puerto Rican in Texas getting a haircut. That's, I mean, listen. There's some. There's some very good barbers in Texas, though I will say that.

Yeah, it looked amazing. So shout out to that barber. Not only did he get a haircut, he also got a tattoo before the fight of a Cheyenne Pepper because he was fighting. The girl they were fighting was Cheyenne Hansen, who was a, she still is, a girl fighter from Germany who was so out of her league, bless her heart, because she was so excited to be there. She talked a lot of trash.

She got a lot of attitude. A lot of attitude on Amanda's face, dude. Yeah. So earlier in the week, she told me, she's like, I'm going to retire. Like, she's like, Amanda Serrano's talking about retirement. Well, I'm going to retire her. So it doesn't have to even think about it. So then the press conference comes around. I'm like, right, they got to ask about this. And it didn't come up. And I was like, damn it, that could have been a good moment. So I'm like, what is this girl going to do with the way in to kind of, you know, bring some buzz around this fight? Because she had nothing to lose. Surrano was a minus 5,000 favorite. No one was picking Cheyenne Henson to win this fight.

She thought she's chomping on the gum. I see her. She walks up there, blows a bubble in Amanda's face. And Amanda was like, Amanda's one of the nicest fighters I've ever been around. Like she is so respectful. But if you cross her, she will make you pay. She, Amanda's like, look like a mother talking down to

a daughter. Like, don't you dare. Like, I brought you to this world. I could take you out. Like, she was like straight up sunning that girl in there at the way. A fight didn't take long. Two rounds. She hammered to the body and gets her 30 second stoppage. This is what it is.

this point in her career for Amanda. Like, I don't think she's going to fight the bigger names. I think she only has one or two left. I think she gets the record next. She gets the record next and then she's done. I agree. That seems like it's writing on the wall. So she now that she, if she had gotten just a decision here, I don't think she would have,

she would have, you know, maybe, maybe I'm not going to get. That would have been bad. That would have been bad. But now she got to stop. And she's going to, I think she's going to fight until she gets that, gets that. And she should. I think she should. It's a cool record.

It's a really cool thing. She deserves to have that record. Absolutely. And you have to go out and earn it. This isn't like Michael Strahan when he got the sack record where Brett Farve laid down. Like you have to get in there and earn it. You know, Hanson was the WBO mandatory. So it wasn't like they just handpicked her.

This girl was a mandatory. And Serrano's keeping all of her belts besides the WPC one, which is for the three-minute stuff. But people want to see Alishabunger called out Serrano afterwards. Like I just don't see it. I just don't think there's enough money in the pot. Um, it swanel has done so much. I don't think there's anything left for her to prove. No.

Yeah, I would like to see her fight, Bum, Garner, but I don't think she's even, I don't, I don't need, I don't need to see it. I've seen, she deserves to have her swan song situation, go get her, her title and, and, and go off into the sunset because she's, she's done so much for this sport. Yeah, exactly. And the fight is Bumgrarner and Dubois.

Yes, that is the fight that needs to happen. Yeah. That's the best fight women's, boxing and I think MVP people are starting to know it. I think they're just going to, it's just going to be the buildup for that is going to be ridiculous too. On regular ESPN, that's a big one because you can't go, DuBois can't go anywhere without being asked about Bumgarner.

Bumgarner can't go anywhere without being asked about Dubois. And to me, that's always been a good telltale sign that the public wants that fight. So bring that on. It was a good time in El Paso. What did I do out there? We, not much. We got a lot of food, a lot of Tex-Mex, barbecue. It's a cool little town.

Not much, you ever been? No, I have not, no. It kind of grew on me. Like, right away, I'm like, all right, there's not much going on here. But then, like, as the days went on, it's got a lot of charm. You know, it's more of a, there's Juarez is the, in Mexico. You can literally walk to Mexico. And that's what the action is.

Those borders towns are awesome. I love Texas. I love Texas. So two of our friends at MVP. went over across the border and there were suddenly some pictures and it looked like a different world and it's crazy because it's literally like a couple blocks.

Speaking of Texas, I'm going to be in Arlington this weekend. I've been there. Small towns. I like Arlington. I think it's a cute little town. Are you going to be near? It's like pretty much Dallas. Yeah. Yeah, we're flying to Dallas, Dallas, Fort Worth. Like a small town just

outside of Dallas. At least it's a direct flight. I did not have a direct flight. Yeah. I think flights suck. talk. I try to avoid them at all costs. God, the fact that it's just a mind F, because you're on a plane, you're flying, you go through the whole process, which sucks. Everyone knows how shitty flying is these days. And then you're up in the air and you're okay, when I land, I'm home. But you're not.

Nope. You got to, you're in an airport again. You're in an airport and you have to get on a, usually a train and take it to a different part of the airport. I got lucky, though. When I landed in Dallas from El Paso, it was literally the next gate over. Oh, that's nice. That's really lucky. And there's about a 45-minute difference, which could be very hairy because you missed that connecting fight. Yeah, I missed that connected fight last week when I was in San Jose.

I got stuck in Phoenix for a night. We should do, yeah, we need to do a little traveling. And then on the, I don't know if I told you on this on here, but on the way home, I did a first class because it was, it was, there was no layover. I was like, I'm not doing that again. I'm not getting caught somewhere else. I'm like, forget it. Dipped into the funds.

Yeah. How nice is first class these days? I always walked past it and I've actually done it. It's honestly, would you lay down? Yeah, that was another reason I did it because it was a red eye. So I was able to sleep all night, which was great. So I came home. I woke up and I landed in Miami and I was like, oh, I'm fresh.

And then I had to go. I had to go work anyway. But yeah, but it was. So you got like a bed? What else do you get? It's not really a bed, but it's a chair that reclines really well. So you got, yeah, you get a blanket. You get a pillow.

You get food. You get, yeah, it's first classes. First class is nice. That's nice. Must be nice. I don't have that status. You'll get there. I'm still working on that.

You'll get there, but. Flying Southwest to El Paso connecting. Southwest has gotten a lot better, though. Southwest has, I had my reservations about it. I've never flown it before. No, it's gotten way better. Way better.

It's fine. So very, I had no problems with them. They're good people in Southwest. But I always thought it was bags fly free. That was like Southwest's thing, right? I don't know. I changed their thing because they originally were like, you couldn't pick a seat now.

You actually can pick a seat because not picking a seat is ridiculous. That's un-American. So stupid. Whenever an airline does, I'm like, this is bedlam. What the hell are you doing? Take a seat. No, what they do now, at least Delta does, if you have to, like, the most basic ticket on a flight, you don't get to pick your seat. They choose it for you.

You have to, like, pay more to choose a seat or you have to buy your seat, which I usually do. I always do. I always do. I always get the better seat. Yes, just things you should splurge on. I think travel is one of them. Totally. All right, everyone.

That's our episode for this week once we're, that was our travel segment. We will have a lot more of those because we're, we travel. I'm happy to be home though for a while. There's nothing on the schedule for me. I'm now my attention and everything is for boots versus, uh, Zias end of the month. Yes, yes. We'll have some, uh, news there trying to put together a party. I have to flag down a bar because it's not a lot of bar.

because there's not a lot of bars around Barclays. Anyone who's listening who knows, knows anybody that would like to host us. Sports. I'm going to do some research because around MSG, we have our spot, Jack Doyles. We've done them before they accommodate us. They're great.

Barclays different. That arena is legitimately in the middle of a neighborhood that didn't really want the arena to be there. So there isn't a lot of bars. There isn't a lot of stuff that can house us. Brooklyn is a different animal. And we roll deep inside boxing crew. We had 250.

people at our last party. So we will have more details for that party and a lot more we'll have an episode later in the week. That's it. Protect yourself at all times. Keep your hands up at all times. Chris is going to walk a block over

and we're going to shake hands. That's right. See you guys.