The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Ak, Barak & Lamont Roach Jr. Talk Tank Davis Matchup, Canelo Vs. Crawford, Shakur Stevenson +More

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

The Breakfast Club Sits Down With Ak, Barak & Lamont Roach Jr. Talk Tank Davis Matchup, Canelo Vs. Crawford, Shakur Stevenson. Listen For More! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You had to grab the lamp and smashed it against the walls. And then I decided I wanted to tell my own story. Listen to Krem's on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning everybody. It's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy. We are The Breakfast Club. We got some special guests in the building. Y'all guys. We have Ak and Barack here this morning.

Good morning. Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you. We also have Lamont Roach Jr., who is fighting in our tank this week. And he'll be joining us in a second. But we wanted to fix it. Jess is rooting for Lamont Roach.

I am not. Oh. You don't say that. We know who I'm obviously rooting for, Javontae Davis. But, you know. But we wanted to speak to you guys, you brothers first, because you got some big news,

you got a new show coming out. Yes sir, yes sir. So let's break down the show, what the show's gonna be talking about and everything. It premiered a couple weeks ago with our first guest being Jake Paul. Nice. Which was an in-depth conversation,

obviously, either you love him, you hate him in the sport, I know Charlotte feels a certain way about him in the sport, but he's very impactful, and that was a great combo, but it's gonna be a weekly show on in the sport, you know. I know Charlotte feels a certain way about him in the sport, but he's very impactful. And that was a great combo, but it's gonna be a weekly show on All the Smoke. I know you guys are familiar with. Of course, absolutely. Man, those are your guys.

Absolutely. And this is a division from All the Smoke Fight. So it's called Ring Champs, Barack and Barack. It's been a long time coming. People know us for being on The Zone and hosting the The Zone boxing show. But we partnered up with All the Smoke and we have ownership of the IP and we're excited.

It's been a long time coming. So it's a great home, perfect fit for us. I respect what Jake Paul has done in the sport. I just want him to start fighting real boxers. I mean, he already fought a couple of real boxers. Tyson Shereed brothers. Even before that though, see he fought two guys that nobody even heard of you know

I mean, so that's the thing when you fight those guys. Nobody's looking for that So if you come from the YouTube world you already making 20 30 million dollars a year You ain't gonna fight Joe Schmo because you ain't making no money So he has to look for these guys in between fighting real fighters He has to look for guys that's gonna make him another 20 million You wasn't it wasn't a Canelo fight on the cards and then something happened? According to Jake, the fight was signed. I don't know if there's any truth to that, but there was conversation about it being

announced and then some of you may know, Turgi Alashika, his excellency from Saudi, has taken over the sport for the most part. So what is he doing to the sport? Because we keep hearing that. Hold on, I want to hear about the Canelo-Jake fight. So there were rumors that they were going to fight in May, and Canelo is going to fight Bud Terrance-Crawford in September.

But Turkey Alashik supposedly offered Canelo a four fight there where it was too much money to refuse. And it's, you know, but Jake had to be out of the equation, so to speak. So that's what Jake put out there, but we do know that Canelo does have a full fight with Turgiel Lashiek, and Bud will be the fight in September. Yeah, Jake must have planned to retire

after the Canelo fight. That must have been the last straw of his boxing career. There's no way. 100 million probably. Easy, 100 million. You'd have made a lot of money, sure. Now talk about the Lashiek that you've been talking about. They say he's been spending a lot of money in boxing,

and is he making it back, and why? And is it helping the sport, hurting the sport? I mean, it's 100% helping the sport. I mean, for you fight fan, anybody that's a hardcore fight fan, this past weekend, for every 22nd, it was probably the best card in history in terms of championship back-to-back entertaining fights.

Maybe not for the casuals, because first off, it started at like 12 in the morning on Saturday. But yes, he's putting a lot of money into the sport. Is he getting it back right now? I'm not sure, probably not, but he's creating the fights that everybody wants to see. So for a fight fan, I mean,

Charlotte's a hard-gold fight fan, that's what we want, because these fighters wanna get paid a certain fan. That's a fighter's fight. That's what we want, because these fighters want to get paid a certain amount. That's why the fights don't happen, because the money's not there. Money's not an issue with them. That's always been the issue, though, because we said we want to see the best fights.

Remember, we was waiting for Terrence Crawford to fight Spence for a couple of years, because the money, the money wasn't right now. So if somebody come with a whole bag of money, an endless bag of money, then you good for the sport. That's the kind of guy that could get Tank to fight Shakur Stevenson or somebody like that, you know? So I thought he was good. Why didn't he pay y'all a million dollars just to go over there and do what y'all do? Who said they didn't though?

Who said they didn't? Because I'm like the zone doing all of this in Saudi Arabia. I'm like where my guys at? Nah, you're right though. You're trust me. We are. We need that. We need to talk to a turk because we need to be a part of that. But yeah, another thing that's great for the sport is ring champs, you're right. We need that, we need that. We didn't talk to a Turk, because we need to be a part of that. But yeah, another thing that's great for the sport is ring champs, you know. Because all the smoke, right,

what they've assembled was like an all-star team. We got Andre Ward, Roy Jones, Hall of Famers, big HBO analyst for years, you know, Matt and Stack, you know what they do. Morning Combat, Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell. So, and then us, like bringing that young energy to the sport, and we're gonna be at every huge fight, Morning Combat, Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell. And then us, like bringing that young energy to the sport. And we're gonna be at every huge fight covering,

you know, with live content and our weekly show sitting down with the biggest names of the sport. And yeah, that's what the sport is. You know what I think? Even since our days on thisis50.com with 50 Cent, it's like we brought that different culture to boxing. There was nobody mainstream like us, urban, you know what I mean?

So it's like, it just made sense for us to transition to all the smoke that already has that finger on the pulse in that culture, you know what I mean? So we bringing that to boxing. And also Showtime, you know, Brian Daly was an exec at Showtime for years and he was a mind behind a lot of the great content that Showtime put out.

So it's just a perfect home for us. I wonder if not having that cable network like an HBR or Showtime doing boxing, I wonder if that's hurting it because casuals aren't necessarily tuning in. Can you be successful without the casuals? Yeah, you know what, first of all, No, to answer your question. No, you can't, absolutely cannot. But think about this, people steal cable nowadays anyway. Most people stealing cable. So in reality, I think the zone is taking over boxing,

you know, the network that we started with, but people don't even know they watching the zone when you stealing cable. When you watching these pay per views, you don't know what channel, it's on your box, you watching these pay per views, you don't know what's happening. It's on your box, it's on your TV, but you don't really know sometimes what network it is because you stealing it.

You pirating it, you know what I mean? So to answer your question, no, we can't live without them, but I think it could still thrive. But that's what's hurting the sport, pirating. Like not wanting to pay for the pay per view. Like get a couple of friends together and chip in for the pay-per-view. You stealing from the fighters.

You stealing from us. It's terrible. But it's so easy now. You always hear about people in their fire sticks. You always hear about online. You can go to stream, whatever. Yeah, yeah, punch your links. Who got the illegal fire stick in here?

Raise your hand. The illegal one? Yeah. See? See what I'm saying? There's one out of every five. Twenty-five, twenty percent. Jess, are you paying for fights? I'm, I'm, no. illegal one yeah Yes, are you paying for fights?

He's done amazing things for the sports her key so we're excited about this year not a fight the fight this weekend, right? At the Barclays, before we get to the fight, do you think fights happen better when they're in New York or is it better when they're in Vegas, better in different areas? I just feel like you don't get the feeling of Vegas. I mean, Vegas benefits from it, from all the people that are in town, gambling, spending money, partying.

But as far as the fight fan experience in the arena, it doesn't really matter where you are. If the two fighters that you wanna see fight are fighting each other, the energy is, I mean you've been in a lot of fights, it's like it don't matter where you are. If the fight's good, it's a good fight. Does it sell more in Vegas than it does?

Of course. Of course. I mean it depends where you, it gotta be. I'm hearing that there's take fights. I don't know what to compare it to. It depends with you. It gotta be. I'm hearing that this tank party. You could be in Texas with different crowds. Yo, when Brooklyn come out, especially for Javante Davis, it's a special crowd.

I never see these people. That's why I like Vegas. I'm telling you. Vegas is a little more, is better security. In the Barclays, everybody know everybody. You getting it? You know what I mean? Everybody's getting it.

Last time, what happened? When Tech fought Rowley, was that Rowley? I think so. At the Barclays, there was a. You getting it? Everybody's getting it. What happened? When Tank fought Rowley, was that Rowley? I think so. At the Barclays, there was a melee. I mean, it got crazy. I'm not blaming that on Tank, though. I'm not blaming it on Barclays. But I'm just saying, somebody had a gun out.

It was a stampede. Dude was just running, jumping, falling down stairs, whatever. Let's not throw Tank under the bus like that. We've been to his fights in Atlanta. No, I'm saying, it got nothing to do fights in Atlanta and it was fine. There was no One night it was the Brona Vargas fight. Yeah I was like in 2018. See something like that. Yes. I seen somebody run wasn't that they're like the supposed it um, six nine

Let's break down this fight. Or do you want to bring him in now? No, I want to ask them two more questions about another fight. Do y'all think Bacolet threw the fight against Parker? No. Threw the fight? That's what a lot of people say.

What? First off, you're coming off the couch, right? Turkey, El Ashika's Excellency is offering you a bag of money. You need to save this card. Du Bois is sick. We cannot cancel the Joseph Parker fight. So you know he got offered a bag of money. He's not training, he's not expecting to fight really.

So in this sport, even if you're a heavyweight, you need to have some sort of training camp to be competitive. Joseph Parker was training for eight weeks for this fight. So there's no way in hell that guy's gonna throw a fight. He just got knocked out. It sounded crazy to me, but I could kinda see them saying that

because I saw a video of- What's crazy? Throwing a fight. But Bacoli going to him and hugging him, Joseph Parker afterwards saying, you my brother. So it kinda looked friendly, but I still think he got enough integrity not to throw the fight.

Cause I guess everybody was saying the punch that landed that knocked him out, it just looked like it grazed him. People never got hit in the temple before. By somebody that's 270 pounds. People never got hit up here. Your brain starts shaking, you lose your equilibrium. You might not feel pain, you're not gonna feel pain,

but you're gonna lose it. Yeah. And that's all it was. Especially if you're 300 plus pounds, like you said, just getting off the couch, you didn't have no training. That's what I thought, it looked like a hammer punched to the top of the head, and maybe his corner overreacted a little bit and was just like doing it

Let's throw in the towel. He was dancing. I mean he was done. I mean you get hit on the top of the head that hard It's dangerous. Yeah, I don't think an African can act that good Even though I agree I wouldn't have said that But okay another one. Do we think Tank is Duck and Chico Stevenson? Me, personally, no. I don't think Tank is necessarily scared to fight anybody.

He's a true fighter. But Tank has become this person that, I guess, is influenced from Floyd, where he doesn't have to do anything. He doesn't want to do. he doesn't want to do. He doesn't care about like pleasing a fan, so to speak, is about money, his legacy. And I respect that, you know, because when it's all said and done, the fans, they're not going to take care of you. Right. So he's worried about securing the biggest bags. But right now, because Turkey Alashik is involved in Shakur Stevenson's career,

that big bag of money will be offered to Tank to fight Shakur. So I think after, like this year, there won't be any more excuses on why he's not fighting Shakur because the money will be outrageous. Beautiful, because the word duck is a loaded word. It implies fear.

You know, when we use it in the boxing world, it's like, yo, you scared. So definitely Tank ain't scared of nobody. He puts people to sleep, you know what I mean? But there has to be a reason why. We do know that he's in charge of his career, so if he's not fighting, there's not nobody else's reason. But yes.

And that's one of the best matchups in all of boxing. I mean, Shakur looked phenomenal. I don't care what people saying that it took him nine rounds to knock this guy out of there. They were complaining that Shakur never stops anybody. He stopped somebody. What else do you want from this kid? Now you gotta stop him earlier. Now you gotta that Shakur never stops anybody. He stopped somebody. What else do you want from this kid? Now you gotta stop him earlier.

Now you gotta stop him in the first round. Yeah, like, it's crazy. But that's the best fighting boxer. Who's the face of boxing now? There is a face. Nah, stop frontin'. Canelo Alvarez is the face of boxing. Stop it.

Yes, Canelo, but Tank is very popular. Tank is one of the faces. All right, but who's the face of basketball right, who's the face of basketball right now? LeBron James. But there's many faces. Right. But the face is LeBron. But he named one person.

That's it. So it's Canelo Alvarez, who is a star everywhere around the world. Tank is very, very popular, but Canelo's the star. Yeah, and don't forget about Bud, even though he's low-key. The casual fans, after the suspense fight, they know who he is. He's one of the faces of boxing as well. Do you think, you know, a lot of people have been questioning

Tank's resume. They was like, you're talking about quitting, but you don't have no Hall of Famers on your resume. Like, your resume is weak. What do you think about that? He doesn't care about that, obviously. I mean, even though Tank hasn't fought those elite fights that we want him to see him in, we still got him on the pound for pound list. He's still one of the best fighters in the sport. I mean, even though Tank hasn't fought those elite fights that we want him to see him in,

we still got him on the pound for pound list. He's still one of the best fighters in the sport. So I think nobody's questioning his skill level, but when it's all said and done, I think there'll be some question marks there, like if he doesn't fight the Shakurs or the Tiafimos of the world, there might be, but I don't think he cares.

Yeah, but at the end of the day, like, even if you have losses, but you fought the best, then your legacy is stamped forever. So Muhammad Ali got multiple losses, Pacquiao got multiple losses, and they're still one of the best of all time. So it's not even about beating everybody, making money. It's about fighting the best.

Who wins this record, Tank Fight? That's a 50-50 fight if you ask me. I think it could go either way. I think Tank got the power to put everybody to sleep, but if you look at it, Shakur has the best boxing, probably, rather defense of all times. You know what I'm saying? He's not, he's not, I mean, he's not, he don't get hit.

Yeah, his distance is special. It might not be as pretty as Purnell Whitaker, because that's my favorite, you know what I mean? But Floyd. Floyd is phenomenal defense fighter. But his defense is crazy. But it is because he takes a little less risk. Floyd took more risk in that ring,

especially when he was younger in his career. But I love that fight. I wanna make a prediction. I wanna say that Shakur can outbox Tank. You know what I'm saying? And I guess- I think he can out box Tank, but boy would Tank get to him.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. You know what? I'll say it right now on record. If that fight ever happens, I think Tank doesn't get to him. And that fight after 12 rounds, Shakur wins more rounds.

That could easily happen. I can't say easily, but that could happen. Because Shakur is very brilliant in there. Scary fight. But Tank is not a brawler. Tank sets you up. I mean that fight- It's just the, but that could happen because Shakur is very brilliant in there. Scary fight. But Tank is not a brawler. Tank sets you up. I mean that fight. It's just the best fight that could happen.

Skill wise, that's the best fight that could happen. But he losing so many rounds setting you up though. If he wants to. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not necessarily if he wants to. So he did that with Leo Santa Cruz because he couldn't hurt him. He ain't do that with Rowley.

He ain't let Rowley hit him. He ain't lose rounds with Rowley. But he might feel that Shakur can't hurt him either, but that doesn't mean he won't lose that with Rowley. He ain't let Rowley hit him. He ain't lose rounds with Rowley. But he might feel that Shacoa can't hurt him either, but that doesn't mean he won't lose a bunch of rounds. And then next thing you know, it's the 12th round and it's too late. So we don't, I mean, that fight is the best and Canelo and Bud, two best matchups in boxing.

Who is Canelo? Auburn. What if Tank does fight all these people y'all wanna see him fight and he loses? Does that affect his legacy? No, it depends on how he loses. No, at 100%, you know why? Because if they're already complaining

that he didn't fight the best, and then you take a loss when you fight the best, then they're gonna say you never had it. Even though I think he does, they're gonna say that you never really had it, and that's the sad part. Yeah. That's true. Who wins Canelo Bud?

168. Bud been to my house. Canelo, like I've been to Canelo's house, bro. Like, it's hard. It's hard, yeah. All right, this is over. I gotta go. All right.

No, and honestly, love both those guys. Probably closer to Bud. You know, he's more of a personal friend. I just think that people are keeping too much emphasis in the weight. Bud is just as big as Canelo. His arms are longer. He's strong as an ox.

The dude put me in a chokehold. He's so strong. This fight is not gonna go the way most people. You're not strong though, so that didn't make him sound strong. That didn't make him sound strong. So I think that it is a very... You put me in a chokehold.

It's me. You never put me in a chokehold. But did me! You never put me in a choco. But did I tap Bud out? Yeah, you did. I'm a beef. So y'all just be wrestling or just aggressive? No, Bud is a beast. Bud is a monster. So, I don't know, I can't tell you but

it's going to be a good fight. Now we have Lamont Rhodes Jr. coming in. What's good? What's up brother? Come on. coming in. Was good. What's up, brother? Come on. That is a good fight. It's hard to bet against Bud, man. Yeah. But we see what Canelo can do.

I just don't want to personally say I think Bud will lose. Right. Because I said that for years with Earl's face. And he showed you. I definitely showed him. Bud no time to win. Next time he came up here. Like, move me out the chair.

I saw that. He sat over here. So you're picking Bud in that fight? I definitely showed him this. But no time to win. The next time he came up here, he moved me out the chair. I saw that. I saw that. He sat over here. So you're picking Bud in that fight? No, I'm not picking nobody. I'm just going to watch him in this fight. I'm just going to enjoy it for what it is.

Well, we have Lamont Rhodes Jr. here. He's fighting this weekend. Welcome, brother. How you feeling, man? Appreciate it, man. I feel good, man. How's your training been so far? It's been perfect.

It's been excellent, honestly. Grew up in Maryland? Yeah, I grew up in D.C. in Maryland. D.C. in Maryland, and you know... Oh, so this is Baltimore, D.C. That's what I'm saying. I'm from Washington, D.C. Like, that's my hometown. That's where I grew up.

And, you know, I grew up in Prince George County, Maryland, too, but I'm from D.C. You're fighting for the whole city, then. Yeah, for sure. You got to try to beat Tank. For sure. Is it like a real Baltimore, D.C. thing? Yeah, it's like, yeah, we don't... 100%? I'm from Baltimore, you know, you to beat Tank. For sure. Is it like a real Baltimore DC thing? Yeah, it's like, yeah, we don't, you know, I'm from Baltimore, you know, you're from DC, but I like-

Oh, so you don't rock with them? No, no, I- I say chicas about it. I love DC, they buy my chicas all the time, but the whole trajectory of the Baltimore versus DC thing, that's always gonna be a thing. Yeah, always. No matter what. Like, it's not just sports.

Did you always wanna fight, Tank? Uh, yeah. I mean, just competition-wise, um, we grew up in the same, you know what I'm saying, the same amateur boxing realm. Um, we technically, to the whole world, we down the street from each other. And in boxing, we close. So, like, Baltimore fight in the DC Golden Gloves, Baltimore fight in the, uh, you know, the regionals that have the silver gloves and stuff like that, so we always competing with each other. Their accent is uglier than ours, ain't it? No way.

Yeah, it is. It's not the same. Say some truth. No, say two. Say two. See, it's way different. Look how they say, I'm going back and all that. It's so different.

It's so different in country, yo. Tank said something about it. You ain't from Maryland. Why was that a shock? Because I'm not from Maryland. I'm from DC. Yeah, DC is not in Maryland. No, I get that, but you said you're from DC and Maryland, though.

And you said you spent time in Maryland? Yeah, I lived in both. You grew up in Crown Heights, right? What the hell you talking about? I grew up in Crown Heights. What's up, Brooklyn? Oh, I thought they said Crown Heights, Maryland. I don't know.

Hell nah, I'm from Ligia, Maryland. That's what they put on the paper. If- What is this? What's your mind moving, Crown Heights? What is that? What's that problem? Oh, I thought they said Crown Heights, Maryland. I don't know. Hell nah, I'm from Legeoy Park. That's what they put on the paper. Somebody know that. I'm from DC.

I'm from Legeoy Park. I'm from uptown. I'm from Legeoy Park. So that's like the Shaw-Howard area for people who don't know. But my parents, my mother and father moved to Prince George's County. If people don't know, the line is right here. DC, Prince George's County. DC, Prince George's County. So it's right there.

I don't know how close the boroughs are, but it be some people that be on the line. Yeah, that's true. You can literally walk across the street and be in Maryland. East New York and Queens. Or some people be like, I'm from New York, but they be from Jersey. Right, right. We all sound like that. You know what I'm saying?

Like this guy right here. So this thing far enough away from me, right, because DC and Baltimore can drive to this fight. Yeah. Nah, I prefer Vegas, where niggas got a flat. Anybody can get in the car and drive to this. You talking about the drama that can occur. Oh yeah, that's why the fight not happening in DC.

Of course. Yeah, but that ain't a far drive. It's only three hours. Yeah, it ain't a far drive. It's only three hours. Yeah, it ain't a far drive. But I'm saying from just from our respective cities for sure. Does it really matter though if you're having a fight in DC?

I mean Maryland and Baltimore right there. Everybody can come from Baltimore. I think so too. But I think more so is probably strategic because he didn't want, I mean Tango's superstar. So you know, every time he going into a fight, the crowd is gonna be pro him. If the fight is in DC, the crowd gonna be damn near pro me or 50-50.

Oh, I see what you're saying. So since you grew up in the same amateur time period, were you ever friends? Yeah, I mean, I've known him since I was like 10. So we always seen each other. Like he always made it to the nationals, I always made it to the nationals, so we was always like in those tournaments,

we'd see each other all the time. Have you ever fought before? We fought twice. Who won? And we sparred a lot. Who won when y'all sparred? When y'all fought? He won both times.

First time we fought in Baltimore, that was BS, he shouldn't have won that. How old were you? First time you fought him? 15. 15. 15. What kind of win was it? It was a split decision win in Baltimore, BS, he shouldn't have won that. How old were you? 15. 15. 15. What kind of win was it?

It was a split decision win in Baltimore, 3-2. But it's like some BS happened. My dad sent the tape to USA Boxing, and they was like, nah, that shouldn't have happened. So you felt like you won that fight? Yeah, for sure. I mean, USA Boxing sent me an at-large bid to the Nationals. So it's like we fought in the Regionals,

and he was the Regional champ. But when they seen the video, they was like, all right, we'll send you an at-large bid. And they put us on two sides of the bracket. He made it to the Championship, I made it to the Championship. And he won a close fight in the Championship, one and two in the Nationals. Since you fought him and sparred him,

is he the hardest puncher you shared the ring with? Nah. No. No, I mean, that's one. Y'all was kids then, though. But we was kids. Is he the hardest puncher you shared the ring with? No. No. No. I mean that's what- Y'all was kids then now. But we was kids. Yeah, but did you spar a little older?

Or sparring with just during that time? Sparring was like before we even fought. The last time we was in the ring together is when we fought. Okay. I was 15. He became the reaper. Yeah. But back then I was considered a bigger puncher than him. Like, you know what I'm saying, he was the amateurs. What about now? Do you feel like you're a bigger puncher than him like you know same as the

amateurs. What about now? How do you feel like you're a bigger puncher than him now? I feel like I'm a bigger puncher than Mike Tyson. That's right. But um. Alcom Barack what do you think of this? No, no, no.

That's an analogy. That's an analogy. That's not true. I mean like take that. Not Mike Tyson. No, you should be back on the chair. Like he said he's a big puncher. What you supposed to say?

Like nah, I'm really punched down. He asked the question. I ain't mad at him. I ain't be on Brooklyn. You should be in that conference. Like he said, he got a... What he supposed to say? Like, nah, I don't really punch down. He asked a question. I ain't mad at him. He asked him to come and he asked me a question. There's only one way to figure it out. Just hit Charlamagne one good time.

I'm hitting the floor. I'm hitting the floor. I do know he don't get the credit he deserves being a puncher. Oh yeah. But look, obviously you're the underdog because you got a loss already. You lost to Jermell Herring who got beat by Shakur. How are you a better fighter than that time period? I'm a thousand times better fighter than that time period.

If anybody know, and the people you guys know, that fight took it out of him. That fight took it out of Jermail for sure. I mean, no disrespect to him, and no disrespect to Chacol's win over him either, but ever since then, it's just been a different Jermail, like downhill, he was just over the hump, he was over the hill after that fight. That was in 2019, right?

Yeah, that was in 2019. Right now, I took from that fight was they're not going to give you nothing. I started a little late on that fight. If I would have started earlier, I probably would have knocked him out. We planned on doing. We never planned on winning on the scorecards in that entire camp. That entire camp, it was stacked against us. Top rank card, he was the champ.

It was Veterans Day weekend. They had a story on him and his tragedies and stuff like that. It was built for the champ to- Who served the country. How can you not root for that guy? I feel you. You know what I'm saying? We knew we wasn't going to get nothing on paper, but I just started a little late.

What about this fight? Tank is being said, they was asking who's the face of boxing, and Tank is one of those faces. He's one of them, yeah. Are you going in this with the game plan that I gotta knock him out in order to get the victory? Nah, not necessarily, but I'm trying to. I'm trying to.

I mean, I be trying to knock anybody out. I'm trying, forever, I'm trying to get shit cracking. No, Envy mentioned about there's a stigma with Tank about him not fighting elite fighters, right? Do you agree with that? Do you feel Tank is overrated or does he get the credit he deserves? And that's insulting, right?

For you. It would be, damn sure, that's what I was gonna start with. That'd be insulting. But, nah, I don't agree. So you think his resume is good, solid? I think his resume is solid, yeah for sure. I think people don't understand that the business get in the way of a lot of stuff. And nine times out of ten, because some people do use the business I expect to duck fights,

I ain't gonna lie. But nine times out of ten, it do be stuff that just don't line up. It be a whole lot of stuff that don't line up. And I wouldn't necessarily say he ducking a fight. I mean, like, you know what I'm saying? We men. Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't see Tank ducking anybody,

but to your point, the financial always gets in the way. It do, it get in the way. Some people feel, I mean, you can't argue a guy with what you feel like he deserves, or especially if he earned it or you know I'm saying like it just oh if you want to fight on his terms and that's just how this shit work. So what do you do let's say you win the fight come Saturday night what do you do do you stay because you it's a different weight

class you already a champion at 130 you coming up to 135 fighting a champion there do you stay in that weight class or you go back down? I'm going to do both. I'm going to try to do both. I talked to the WBA already and hopefully- But you can eat Twinkies now. You good. You're 135. I ain't going to lie.

If he wins, he's fighting Tank again. Obviously there's a rematch clause in the contract. There's a rematch clause. Yeah, no, definitely. I have no choice but to stay at 35, but I did ask them to, you know, if I can, let me do my obligations to keep my belt at 30 just in case the business don't line up at 35. People might be busy.

All the champs might be busy, they might be fighting somebody. Let's pray they don't. But if they do, I can go unify at 30. Let me ask you a question. When the Tank opportunity came up, right? Monetarily, right? When you got the offer, did you negotiate, did your team negotiate,

now we want a little more for Tank? Or did you say yes right away to the opportunity? I said yes to the opportunity, but our negotiation was mostly what we had on our plate. We had our paper on the plate. Like, you know what I'm saying? But it's just like, the upside is greater than the fight that I would have took for

about the same amount of money or a little more. You know what I'm saying? Like, so. Oh, so this is not your biggest payday? No, this is gonna be my biggest payday for sure. But I'm saying, what we had on the table was- Oh, but not fighting somebody else outside of Tank. Fighting somebody else.

Who was that person? My mandatory. Okay. Who was your mandatory? A guy from, damn, what's his name? You don't even know his name. So you got him fighting to keep the belt. Let me go mentalist though.

He got him fighting. You usually get the same amount of money fighting Tank as your mandatory? A lot of you not. So you getting a piece of the pay-per-view numbers. Who said that? So it don't matter. All you mean is the opportunity. The opportunity.

I got you. Yeah, the upside is the upside. Tremendous. No doubt. Big opportunity. What did you learn from your loss against Jamal Herring that you would take into this fight? Like how did the loss make you a better fighter?

It just made me realize that obviously I wasn't doing everything I needed to do to be a complete champion. I just turned 24. I'm looking at myself already as a world champ on top of the world, being ready to be this big money guy or whatever the case may be. But it made me buckle down, it humbled me, and made me sit down and really do my work and really be a student of the game, adapt everything. And again, that they ain't gonna get nothing to you. You gotta go take it. And that's what I adapted.

That's when I changed my, that's when I made my name, my nickname, The Reaper, officially, and I took on that moniker as I can't take no for an answer no more. You know, I thought about that too, because I saw Javontae's trainer say that Tank's biggest fear is losing. And I wonder if it's too much pressure

to keep up an undefeated record, and where did that mentality come from? Was it Floyd? Yes, definitely Yes, 100%. 100%. 100%. Yeah. Now when you train, right?

Is it a part of your process to study the other fighter? Yeah. Okay, so what would you say is Tank's biggest weakness? Ooh, we gon' see. We gon' see. Oh, you can't say. He ain't gon' tell you. I can't tell you right now, cause he might see this.

But, we can't say. I can't tell you right now, cause he might see this. But, but we got a few. We got a few, and the things that he does well is important too. Well, you know what you could do, you could tell us offline, and then when you win, we'll say, oh yeah, he told us. And he told us that. Well, let's make it official.

Let's ask Akan Barak. I mean, what do you think Tank's weakness is, and what do you think Roach's What do you think roaches weaknesses? As far as take I mean I would say Charlotte pointed to earlier where he starts late, right? He loses rounds early in a fight because he's relying on that one hitter quitter, which Deontay did as well a lot.

So I think that Tank has a skill to start earlier. I mean, I would say that was one of the things that I feel like that he should change. I'm gonna tell all the Tank fans now, he better not start late with me. It's gonna be a long night. It's gonna be a real long night. I don't really think Tank has weaknesses.

I seen him get frustrated back in 2017, and that's a weakness, but I haven't seen that. Fonteca? I think so. Fonteca, it was. But see that? Yeah. But since then, I haven't seen that. But all fighters get frustrated at some point in a fight.

And I can tell you he had weaknesses when I seen him fight Jermell Herring, but I don't see that now. You get what I'm saying? So I seen them both. So what weaknesses? Is you saying what weaknesses he had? They both did the same thing about starting late. They both did the same thing about starting late and that he wasn't being first. So you playing the same tool.

I'm telling him. I'm telling him. I'm not a chump. You know what I'm saying? I'm not calling him a chump. I'm just saying that. Yo, y'all sure going to be so obtained. You ain't never seen that guy. I'm not a chump. I'm not calling him a chump. They've been working together for a long time. This is amazing. You wasn't trying to be first.

I was trying to be first. I was trying to be first. I was trying to be first. I was trying to be first. I'm not calling him a chump. I ain't been working together for a long time. This is amazing. You wasn't trying to be first when you should have been first. That's all I'm trying to say. That's all. Don't wait the counter or whatever you think you slicking to him and all of that. You wasn't trying to be first, but I see you different now. You want to work his corner?

Something in the fight? I'm trying to get a little check. How much you getting paid? But I also do notice that, you know, and I'm a casual boxer, right? So I like boxing. Casual boxing is fan. He boxes casual. Exactly.

I box casual. I box casual. I sparred a tank back in the day, you know what I'm saying? Did you come and become a more of a fight fan now? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But so I see with this fight, you guys haven't got too disrespectful with each other. Right. Usually I see disrespect out the window as F your mother, your kids, all that. I haven't seen that with this one. Why is that?

He cool. See, Javante played too damn much though. He had trolled though. And I trolled back. That's the thing. See, I trolled back. I never fought anyone that's obviously of his stature and stardom, but we follow each other. We see each other's shit. I already know he a troll, so I know what to expect. Some people know that I am a troll and I can be funny on the socials for sure,

and I'm gonna have a comeback for whatever you got. So that's the thing, it's a little different because we fighting each other now. So imagine me, I see everything that he do to troll everybody else. And the other thing is, they be having, he definitely be having personal vendettas with other people, or people be having personal vendettas with other people, or people be having

personal vendettas with him. Like they really be having like issues. Yeah, I saw Bud say he don't like him. Bud was like, I don't like him as a person. He said, he has said disrespectful things about Bud. Oh, he did, I forgot. Oh shit, no he's right. But his woman in everything, right?

He a wild card, man, what you expect? I mean, that's just, that's who he is, he a wild card. Like, and obviously if he don't fuck with you, you I mean, that's just, that's who he is. He a wild card, like, and if, obviously, if he don't fuck with you, you don't fuck with him. Disrespectful as Baltimore first. What's the most disrespectful? Disrespectful men and women, don't they? Nah, nah, nah, he be disrespectful.

Don't be disrespectful. No, no, it's true, but if Tank gets super disrespectful on Twitter, he be going in, but yeah, you're right, Envy, there hasn't been too much disrespect. I mean, what's the most disrespectful thing a fighter's ever said to you? Well, if I know. They be, they, cause they don't be, I hasn't been too much disrespect. I mean, what's the most disrespectful thing a fighter's ever said to you? Well, if I know. Because they don't be, I don't get that,

and they don't get that to me. They better not. I don't really play like that for real. So Tank scared of your troll-ness? If you control better? No, I just think it's just like a level of mutual respect. Like, for real, for real, if you want to keep it a buck, outside of this, if we ain't fight, he the homie.

So, I mean, it's not like we ain't ever talk about fighting before, we talked about fighting before. Really? Did y'all have a chill though, like go out? Yes, that's what I'm saying. I've seen him, as we been professional, I've seen him more times outside than I've seen him in a boxing environment.

Okay. You know what I'm saying? So y'all cool. He cool. I saw him label you, than I seen him in a boxing environment. Okay. You know what I'm saying? So, yeah, cool. Like, he cool. I saw him label you, he said that you and Bud would be actual challenges. He said like, Haney, I think he said Stevenson. Oh yeah, I seen that too.

And Davis would be light work, but he actually said you and Bud would be challenges. What'd you think of that when you heard? He telling the truth. When it come to me. He telling the truth. Oh, but not when it come to Bud? Uh-huh.

Not when it come to Bud? Oh man, shit, yeah, I think he telling the truth too. I mean, obviously, he telling the truth. Oh, not when it come to Bud? Uh-huh. Not when it come to Bud? Man, shit, yeah. I think he telling the truth too. I mean, obviously, he's big and he's one of the best fighters in the world. Right. But yeah, specifically when it come to me, yeah, like, and I think people trying to say, oh, he lying to sell a fight or whatever the case may be. Nah, like this is the real deal over here. So what do you say to Tank fans like Jess,

like that don't believe in you, that don't think you gonna win, that think you might get knocked out? That think you got an accent. That you shouldn't lie. So what do you say to those type of fans like Jess? Like look at Jess right now. Nah, see, cause I would get a little,

cause people get behind them keyboards, they get a little disrespectful because people get behind them keyboards they get a little disrespectful We don't even say sports that rots you. We don't even talk like that. She said something about Raid. Uh-oh. See? But no, that's the thing. I said I didn't know you. I didn't know who you was until you and uh...

Tank. Yeah, until Tank. You know what I mean? That's all I said. And I said yeah, he gonna beat you. Just cause that's my man. That's disrespectful. That's the only way I go though.. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect.

That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect.

That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect.

That ain't disrespect. That ain't disrespect. That ain't, yo, I don't. It's all right. All right. You know what this is. That ain't true. I haven't seen your breakdowns when the fight be on. It's a long day. You'll be after your chagy BT. You'll be breaking down whole rounds.

Yeah. But listen, what you've been... All right, so do you ever feel, what this man says since we on it, when people... The underdog conversation, does that affect you? Does that really piss you off? Because you've stepped right up to fight him. I mean it wasn't like he had to troll you to get him to fight. Yeah, nah, for sure.

But that's what I'm in it for. I'm here to fight the best. I wanna be the best. That's what really drives my whole career. Like I got in this to be the best. So if he's a pound for pound talent, what they gonna think about me when I win? You know what I'm saying?

So if you do beat Tank and then fight a rematch and beat him again, obviously you wanna fight the other champs at 135. Let's say that scenario happens and Shakur should be on your, you know, one of your targets, right? Oh, he's on my radar. Who do you think is a harder fight,

Tank or Shakur for yourself stylistically? Eh. That's, ooh. Told y'all 50-50 fight, see? That's a good question. Shakur a bad boy, man. I mean, I've been in the ring with him more than recently. Shakur a bad boy.

He don't get the credit he deserves, you ask me. I mean, everybody. I mean, it's just the outside looking in and then they comparing him to a knockout artist. That's not fair. You know what I'm saying? It's just not fair. Good point.

I don't know. Shakur, it seems like you're leading towards Shakur being in a more difficult fight. Maybe. Damn. I wanna ask you about that, right? When you dealing with a knockout artist like Tank, and Tank said he was.

Maybe not. Oh. Maybe not. Okay. I don't know about that, right? When you dealing with a knockout artist like Tank, and Tank said he was- Maybe not. Oh. Maybe not. Okay. I don't know. He gotta settle the fight. Yeah, no, no. No, it's not that I don't gotta settle the fight,

it's just being realistic. Like, you know, you gotta do, you gotta compare the tangibles. Tank is a dangerous opponent. Yes, you gotta compare the tangibles. Obviously, you got a 90-something percent knockout ratio. A lot of people- So you gotta be alert at all times

about that entire thing. A lot of people don't give him this credit of him being a skillful fighter. He's really got a bag with him. And y'all gonna see it March 1st, because he ain't gonna have no choice but to use it. Nah, I think Tank is just, he's just a skills at, you know, like the credit he gets for a knockout, he's just that skilled like skill wise. He's just that skilled.

People don't know that. People don't know that. When you got a knockout artist coming at you and he say he wanna knock you out between six and eight rounds. He's silly as shit. I'll tell you that right now. I'll tell you what's- Is there any level of fear to that at all?

No, what'd I just say? Silly, bam. But listen, as far as betting, right? Yesterday, we were looking at odds, and in order for you to win 100 bucks, you gotta bet 400, the tech knocks you out. So I never see odds like that, like you gotta bet

so much to win so little. So essentially, essentially it's saying you are definitely getting knocked out. That's what the odd makers are saying, it's crazy. So if you bet 41 a month. Did y'all see the odds for the Hectified? No, oh no, it was bigger though. It was bigger than that, yeah. It was bigger than that.

So obviously we cleaned up that night. Right. I'm just going to be a repeat. I'm telling you right now. People going to make some money? Oh my god. You bet on yourself? Yes.

Of course. Is that illegal? I don't know. No. He's just joking if that's illegal. I'm not going to lie. You do have a level of confidence that make me feel like, let me put a couple dollars. No, no, no.

He's a two-color cup. He got a yellow something, he got a cup. I'm like, dang it. 100%. I told him in the green room, I've seen Summer Tank's opponents, even though they talk smack, be a little shaky.

They be a little shaky. Not him. He real calm. Yeah. Comfortable. Uh-oh, B-Maw, what? No, I'm just saying he's real calm. Yo, that's what's up. Comfortable. Uh oh, B-More, what? No, I'm just saying he's real calm. You know what I'm supposed to say?

You got me wanting to put a couple dollars up. Do you try to, I mean, of course you're going to engage, but do you rely on your defense more and try to outbox Tank? Or do you go in there and mix it up? It's going to be mixed up for sure. It's going to be mixed up. We're going to apply pressure.

We're going to be smart. We're going to be defensive. We're going to do everything. We're gonna apply pressure. We're gonna be smart. We're gonna be defensive. We're gonna do everything. We're gonna do everything. We're gonna make him perform at his best. We're gonna make him perform at his best. We're gonna make him think. We're gonna make him feel pressure.

We're gonna make him feel like, all right, I gotta get out the way of this shit. Cause I ain't gonna lie. When I tell you I really be trying to knock everybody out, it's not just like me going crazy, but if I can, I'm gonna try. Yeah, you be trying to set it up. I like to hear that too, because I ain't gonna lie,

thank my man, but I got tired of paying money for the fights and it's over too fast. I mean, one year I paid for the fight and by the time I got in there, it was the one in Atlanta, by the time I got in there it was over, so I Atlanta, by the time I got in there it was over so I was pissed. So you better make them work for it. Okay.

It's gonna be real work for your money. One of the criticisms is that, you know, you're a champ at a lower weight class. So they say, oh, Tank picking on somebody smaller, but Fight Night, do you think you're gonna be the bigger man in the ring? I mean, yeah I am. I mean, if people know him and people see me,

or even if people know me and people know him, they know that he a little guy. Like, he fight at the weight class because he's comfortable and he doesn't have to struggle to make weight. You be killing yourself to make it? No, I don't be killing myself to make it. But you just naturally get bigger guys? But it's definitely like,

it requires more discipline for me, especially to make 130. Right, right, right. What do y'all think Tank's most difficult fight has been so far? Crews, right? Definitely, right? I would say so.

I would say that's on second fight. It has to be crew. On second? I don't know what a fun second fight is. I mean- He was so frustrated and- Yeah, but he wasn't on top of his game early. He wasn't on top of his game.

Who say you're on top of his game right now? No, no, I just mean in that fight, I think he was just playing around too much and just trying to get a spectacle and not really thinking like he was. Pippa was the toughest fight, but he did have a hand injury and after certain... It was played pretty late in the fight though. It was like the 10th round. It was the 10th round. People say earlier, but it was the 10th round. So it was just a tough fight because it was a tough fight. Pippa was a tough opponent. When you're studying Lamont, which fights do you watch?

Do you watch the ones that were tough for him or do you just watch them all? Both. I watch the ones that are tough. I mean, I watch the ones that you see that he, obviously because then he knocked down damn near everybody, but you take away certain stuff from a lot of things, like from the Frank Martin fight,

even though I think that fight was fairly easy. It's just little stuff, like tendencies that you have. It's like stuff you pick up on, like, oh, he always does this when he does this. And you can't rely on it because it's what he used to do. But you can read it. But you can read certain stuff, especially like little second nature things,

like little twitches, like how he reacts to a certain punch or how he moves after he does a combination or whatever, just naturally, like how many times he does it and stuff like that. Now he's spilling the beans. I hear you talk about his weaknesses. A little bit, so that's you studying these tapes or is that your coach?

Me and the mastermind back there. Oh, so both of y'all be studying it. Okay. I got it. So this is the biggest fight of your life. For sure. How do you think it defined your career? Win or lose?

I always say that this is the, because I'm a win, but this is the start of my legacy run. You know how fighters who you know are going to be in the Hall of Fame have that distinctive start of their run. This gonna be it. This gonna be it. This gonna be, especially, cause you know, he talking about retiring and all that. I don't, I think it's gonna be hard for him to get back in the ring if he lose, honestly. Cause he already talking about retirement. So if we do have two fights, that's damn sure gonna be my legacy, man,

because we have two fights where you got this knockout artist that's a pound for pound talent that people are saying is one of the, and not saying who is one of the biggest spectacles in boxing right now. If I beat him twice, then go on to unify, no matter what, win or lose, I'm still fighting the best fights. And always, I'm always gonna put out, I'm always, it's always gonna be, it's always gonna be a dance, like especially if I got a good dance partner in there with me. It's always gonna be a good fight. So this fight is defining the start of my legacy run

and that's where I wanna go off to my Hall of Fame. I wanna go up to 14 and fight too. If anybody saw, I called out Ryo before we got the tank, before we got the tank offer. Ryo's the guy that beat Pitbull. Pitbull's the guy that gave him pretty big stabs. So Hall of Fame, that's your goal. As a fighter, when it's all said and done,

you wanna be a Hall of Famer. And you need this fight to get you here. I'm settin' out to be one of the best that ever lays up some gloves. 29 years old, good luck this Saturday. I think if you do win, I think you should come up Monday and sit and just Know it's on Amazon Amazon Amazon

All right, well rock we appreciate you about a bout. Yeah, go buy the pay-per-view. I'm going to tell y'all right now. Don't steal it. Buy the pay-per-view. Buy the pay-per-view. Oh, she's stealing it. She's stealing it. Nah, you too.

Buy the pay-per-view. I'm telling you. We ain't buy the pay-per-view. All right, well, then. And Akbarok, where they can watch y'all show at? Definitely on all the Smoke Fight YouTube page. And we're going to be doing a live broadcast for the Tank and Roach way in at the Barclays Center

this Friday, so tap in on all the Smoke Fight. All right, well Lamont Rose Jr., Aka Barack, we appreciate you, brothers. Thank you, man, thank y'all for having me. Good luck, it's The Breakfast Club, good morning. Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club.

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