The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Boxing with Chris Mannix - Conor Benn's situation and what's next for him

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

Chris is joined by the great boxing journalist, Gareth A. Davies to dive into Conor Benn's situation and what his next move might be, if a Pacquiao fight makes sense, and will Fury-Usyk actually happen. Later, Tony Harrison stops by to discuss his upcoming fight with Tim Tszyu and his relationship with Alycia Baumgardner. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This is boxing with Chris Manning. Or somebody punch him in the face. Ampity Joshua is a composed. and ferocious finisher. Watch this. Hosted by S.I's Chris Mannix. That was my moment. Now with interviews, analysis,

and everything going on in the world of boxing. When you have talent, you are given another chance. Here's Chris Mannix. All right, joining me this week on the show, one of my favorite guys over in the UK. One of the great sports journalist in Great Britain, longtime writer for the Telegraph.

You can hear him on Talk Sport as well. Follow him on social media. Gareth A. Davies is back on the podcast, looking as Beatles-esque as ever. Gareth, how are you? I'm very well, Mr. Mannix. It's great to see you, and it's great to be back on with you. Thank you very much for the invite today, and it's always a privilege to shoot the shes with you, if I can call it that.

Likewise, likewise. And I especially like to talk to you when there's some, like, in the UK, boxing remains a mainstream sport. It's a big deal over there. And there's a lot of news coming out of the UK at the moment. Some of it old, some of it somewhat fresh. And I want to start by unpacking a little bit of what we learned this week or didn't learn this week about the situation with Connor Ben. Connor Ben was in studio with Pierce Morgan.

It was, I believe, the first on-camera interview Ben has done since his fight against Chris Eubank Jr. was scrapped back in September in the wake of those two positive drug tests for clomophine. which for people that don't know is a female fertility drug known to increase testosterone. It's the first interview since the WBC ruled that Ben could return to its rankings after the organization examined what was said to be 270 pages of evidence that Ben submitted. I want to play a couple of clips from this interview. First, here is Connor Ben talking about the toll the last few months have taken on him personally. I mean, it's been brutal.

You know, it does feel like a witch hunt. I've never seen anything quite like this before in any other athlete, whether they've raised their hands to it or, you know, they've just taken a small ban. You know, I was willing to fight for my innocence and prove my innocence, although there was an easy way out in the beginning in lying and saying, oh, I may have accidentally done this. I may have done this by accident and taken a small six-month ban.

Instead, I've chose to fight this because my integrity may have more to me, I would never, ever, ever rose my hands to something I ain't done. Now, this is a point that Pierce Morgan came back to again and again. If Ben has all this evidence, why is he refusing to let the British Boxing Board of Control see it? Why don't you give this dossier 270 pages of it? Why don't you give it to the British Boxing Board of Control? Because they're ultimately the ones that can sanction or not sanction your right to fight in this country. My dad tore up his British boxing license on TV in the 80s.

You know, the board of them, I ain't going to stop me from fighting. They can't stop me from fighting. They can stop me having a professional fight in this country. In this country, and that's fine, so be it. Is that final? They filed seven misconduct charges against me. One of them was they wanted, because we wanted the fight to go ahead. The second one was because we didn't tell you bank immediately.

On the Monday, they said, we're upholding all charges. I thought you lock and do one. You think I'm going to sit here and take this. But if you have, what they said is, we'll show us the evidence. But I couldn't care of this. You've got 270 pages of apparent evidence. Surely the smart thing to do, whatever your views of the border control,

they are the governing body. Surely you should just give them your evidence. Let them respond. That's down to my legal team. What would stop you? I don't understand what stops you. My pride, the way they've dealt with this. The way it won't get you through this.

But I don't have to be licensed by the board. That's my views on it. You do to fight in Britain. I don't plan on finding Britain any time soon. Just put it all on the internet. I want to, but it's on, I want to. Trust me. What's stopping you? The ongoing legal cases.

All right, a few facts on this, Gareth, before I get your take on that interview. First, it goes without saying the WBC did not clear Connor Ben. But the WBC said was that there was no evidence that Ben intentionally ingested clomophine and came to a conclusion that eggs could have caused the positive test. This conclusion is one that Ben himself does not. really accept. He isn't even embracing that theory. He continues to blame the testers, which is kind of a time-honored tradition here in the U.S. and we'll get to that a little bit later. Second, the WBC ruling is effectively a toothless one. The WBC can rank Ben. It cannot

license Ben. The British Boxing Board of Control is the governing body here. And until they say Ben can fight, no reputable board or athletic commission will license Connor Ben, including those in the U.S., I do not believe that states like California, Nevada, or New York will license a fighter without the British Boxing Board doing it first. Texas, maybe, because they're a little wild out there, but even them, I think they'd stay away from it. The Middle East is likely the only place that Connor Ben can go to get a license and fight in the immediate future.

So all that being said, Gareth, it was about a 20-minute interview or so with Pierce Morgan. You've covered this story from start and we're nowhere near the finished. Did you gain anything from the interview? Did you learn anything new in that interview? Yeah, that obviously, Connor Ben has been through a very harrowing time. We don't wish mental illness on anyone through a process like that. He did very openly talk about how his mental health had suffered. Not surprisingly, he felt like he was in the court of public opinion the whole time. But I think what we did learn, the biggest thing we learned is he's not going to take his case to the boxing border control, the British boxing border control. And I think

that's a shame because in this whole process, I've spoken on countless times to Robert Smith, secretary, general secretary of the boxing border control, who has just said we are waiting for their evidence to come forward. We want to look at it. I don't think there's a vendetta against him. I do not think there is a personal vendetta against Conner Ben, but he seems to think there is. I think it's been ill-advised not to go to the boxing border control.

Yes, they have strict liability in terms of that barter test, which the UK anti-doping body, called on and have looked into but I don't think they're looking to wreck his career they're not looking to do that so in many ways that was the one thing that we learned but we also learned and it kind of came out in his statement before he went in front of this very high profile interview everybody knows Pierce Morgan he's an extremely it's like going to doing your interview with Oprah isn't it you know I don't even say he'd say Winfrey it's like going and

doing it with Oprah and, you know, revealing all with Oprah. I think we, I think it's strange that that statement came out that he wasn't accepting the exoneration from the WBC when they'd requested his nutritional program and they'd found that maybe it was his egg intake because they've obviously given that evidence to them. he's purely and utterly saying Varda have got it wrong. They got the testing. There were mistakes in the testing process.

He's not accepting that clomophine got into his system. And he's going to stand by that, it looks like, because he also said, you know, I think drugs cheat should be banned for life. So he's taken his stance. You know, will that report ever be made public, for example, for us to see these got, discrepancies he's saying over the the actual vada tests that were taken that were taken to

what you assume would be a WADA lab to be tested so to be honest after the interview it was no clearer in in the whole situation that has lacked transparency because it's been behind lawyers the whole time the boxing border control have barely said anything you can have said nothing VADA are saying nothing and maybe they will, but why should they? They're just the testing process. And it was very unlikely that the WBC were not throwing Varda under the bus, but we're going to break up Varda and say, you know, they're hopeless or they're wrong, because that is a testing authority in the sport.

Go back to the cradle of all of this, which we mustn't forget. there's drug testing, performance-enhancing drugs in boxing because it's an inherently dangerous sport. People can be legally killed in the ring and therefore when the boxing border control couldn't go through a hearing maybe ahead of those July and September tests or particularly in September tests that they didn't do a hearing, they couldn't proceed with that fight with Chris Eubank Jr. And given how Chris Eubank Jr. was afterwards, taking nothing away from Liam Smith, To go into the big picture here, he looked so weight drained when he drained down to, what was it, 159 pounds or 57 pounds in that ghost weigh in. Look how he went under against Liam Smith, taking nothing away from Liam Smith.

But you look back and you instinctively think, thank God those two didn't step in the ring together, especially as clomophine had shown up in his system in two. Varda tests. So it's a complex and difficult case. And it's no clearer now than it was five months ago, frankly, Chris. I just don't, I mean, I don't, do you see it as any clearer now? No, no, I don't. And look, you've been reporting on this from day one. Pierce Morgan seemed genuinely befuddled as to why Connor Ben would share his, quote, evidence with the WBC and not the British Boxing Board of Control. Quite frankly, Gareth, I'm surprised it hasn't leaked. Like, the WBC is not the CIA. Like, I'm surprised that that report has not found its way to a media outlet at this point.

But forget all that. There was some cross talk there during the interview when they brought Nigel Ben in, but it sure sounds like Nigel Ben wants that report out there too. Like, do you understand why Connor Ben will not release the report to the British Boxing Board of Control? Do you have any theories as to why he won't give that report to the British Boxing Board of Control? Well, the WBC CARES program is not strict liability. and the VADA voluntary anti-doping association test going into the UBank fight is under strict liability because of UKAD and boxing border control going into a fight.

So that might be one of the reasons. I think he's obviously being advised by his legal team as to he's not making the decisions. His legal team, I assume, are making the decisions and advising him. you know, I just, it feels ill advised not to go in front of the boxing border control and just go through it and, you know, and just go through the hearing with them and find a resolution with the case. I mean, that's what Pearce Morgan pressed as much as possible. And the only answer that came in the end was, well, they can do one because they've got a vendetta against me. They had seven charges against me, as he mentioned, two of which he mentioned, two of the charges he mentioned. That was upheld by the boxing border control.

But as you say, as I said, they were acting under strict liability. So maybe the reason why the WBC, you say, haven't leaked it, they're probably, Maricio Suleiman is a guy we know very well. He cooperates enormously with the media. You know, he's a very shrewd businessman as well as present of the sanctioning body. They are arguably the most prevalent sanctioning body. You know, you can call him a mover and a shaker. He's very involved.

You know, he talks to all of us in big fight weeks. And I wonder whether there is strict legalese over that that they've signed an NDA or, you know, a strict policy NDA that they won't release it. But then you end up going around in circles because you do. Because I don't want to say they gave him an out, but they gave him an exoneration to get back into the ranking, saying, look, it could have been caused from Chlamophene, from eggs rather. Chlamophene could have been from the eggs. There were previous cases of cyclists, I think were mentioned, two cyclists. So, you know, but he doesn't want to take that because he doesn't want to believe that that's what it was.

because he's adamant that it was down to what he's read into those Varda tests. But those Varda tests were at different times. And my understanding is that samples are split up anyway. So nobody wins in this right now. And on the other note, yes, he might fight Manny Pekkeau. I think Heddy Hearn might well try and take that fight to America. I don't know if there is a tripartite agreement between the boxing board of control and all the ABCs, the American boxing commissions. The credible ones. I can tell you, the credible ones, he'd have to go to like Georgia or Florida or.

But what I'm saying is there's a route there to have a fight, isn't there? It doesn't. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. I just, maybe. I think more realistically, it's the Middle East or some other foreign country that you take a fight like that too. like the real commissions in California, Nevada, New York, they're not going to license him under these particular circumstances. I just don't believe that. And look, my read on it is, like, people listening to this show in the U.S. Remember the Major League Baseball scandal. And they remember all the excuses that guys that got caught using substances came up with.

I mean, I can go back 10 years to. to when Alex Rodriguez in New York City walked into Mike Francesa's radio studio, WFAN, the most powerful radio studio in New York, had a TV deal as well. And he sat there and he gave this impassioned speech about how the process was broken because then Major League Commissioner Bud Seelig

wouldn't come in to testify, which didn't make any sense whatsoever, why he would choose that hill to die on. It was all like, look over here, not over here. I got it up here now. I googled it. It's fascinating, isn't it?

Give that a watch at some point. The other example that jumped to mind, Ryan Braun, who played for the Milwaukee Brewers, this was back in 2011, Ryan Braun got busted with a banned substance. He went after the tester, the test taker, who did not follow strict protocol because he took the test on a weekend.

He couldn't ship it or allegedly couldn't ship it. He actually won his case because of that. But then two years later, Ryan Braun got caught again. And after that, subsequently, he apologized to the test taker for slandering him in the way they did. The point of all this, Gareth, we've seen this before. Like, this is a familiar song to sports fans in the U.S. because we spent a decade plus dealing with it on a regular basis in Major League Baseball. It kept happening and happening and happening.

and the excuses even to laymen like you and me never made any sense. They didn't quite add up. And that's where I feel this is going with Connor Ben. The British Boxing Board of Control is just not going to just, you know, look the other way on this one. And legitimate states in their commissions are not just going to look the other way. That's why, and here's my, it was the only other question I had for you on this because I don't really fully understand this. Like, Connor Ben, one way to get his reputation's career back on track, I think would be, look, I didn't do this. I don't know how this got in my system.

The WB said it was eggs, whatever. Like, I'm falling on my sword here. Like, I just, I don't know what else to tell you. I didn't take anything illegal. But do the hearing. But do the hearing. Yeah, no, like, do it. Like, fall on his sword in front of the board of control.

Like, would the punishment be that severe? I don't think so. I think you're so right. I think you're so right. and rather than just finding another area to go and fight in that will license him and then work your way back in that way, I think you're so right, and it makes absolute sense. That's why my feeling the whole time has been just do your case with the boxing board of control.

They're not going to ban you for life. You know, the boxing border control are not looking to wreck Connor Ben's career in my view. you. And also, by the way, even though I jumped ahead of you there, I know exactly where you're going with it. You're absolutely right in my view. How much appetite, listen, you know me and you are the same. I'm the biggest pacifophile out there. I'm the biggest Pac-Man supporter there's been. You know, you and I covered a vast part, probably a decade, 12 years of his career that was just extraordinary in every way, shape or form, one of the greatest crossover sports stories you will ever find, I mean, there aren't better, frankly, a modern hero in the sport. But how much

appetite is there really to see Connor Ben against Mani Pachiao even? This is a guy, a young man who was really growing in the sport and was headed towards Virgil Ortiz fights and, and, you and really on the cusp of really, really big fights. Pachia is 44, isn't he, going on 45? Why have that fight now? It has, I don't know, an air of exhibition about it, but has Eddie Hearn noticed something that we haven't, that maybe Conner Big Ben's become even bigger in the promoters' eyes,

and he's just testing the wind by putting that out with Sean Gibbons. I mean, we know Sean as well. He's been, he's a very erudite mover in the sports. Well, knows his onions. But is that going to do millions of pay-per-view buys? I'm not sure. No, but what that will do, Gareth, is get a Middle Eastern country interested to put up the kind of money where it doesn't matter how many pay-per-view buys. That's true.

That's true. There was a lot of talk about the number of pay-per-view buys Jake Paul and Tommy Fury did. Who cares? The money really came from Saudi Arabia as much as it did anywhere else. That's where I think Pachio comes into all this. This is Connor Ben's way of getting a big payday without, you know, having to worry about the potential of pay-per-view. What I'm perplexed by in this moment is why Pachio is so interested all of a sudden. Like, Pachio is 44 years old.

The last time we saw him in the ring was in this horrendous exhibition in South Korea where he weighed 160 pounds. Like, I'm sure he's in better shit. shape than most of us, you and I included on that. But I thought Paciow had the best pro boxing exit he could hope for. Because he lost legitimately to Jordanus Ugas. He lost in a world title fight, but he didn't get beat up. He didn't wind up face down on the canvas like a Roy Jones or like some of these other legends of the game have gone out.

If Paciow comes back in a legitimate fight, that's where we're hit. That's why when I see Sean Gibbons, who is the closest thing to a Pachiao spokesperson there is out there saying, just waiting for a phone call, Eddie, just waiting to make this fight. That tells me Pachiao is all in on getting back into the ring. Imagine, imagine, because we're all going to be there, June Abu Dhabi. Can you imagine how big that would be around this Conner Ben story and the comeback of many Pekyau, who, I don't know. currently where he sits, but I mean, I didn't interview with him ahead of that, your Dennis

Ugas fight on the Zoom. It was always a pleasure to speak to many. You know, you know him well as well. I mean, even intimately we know him, you know, we've been around him for so long. I wonder if he's got aspirations to run for president again, you know. You know, he's, he's had this political career running alongside his boxing career. What is it, 12, 13 years. So it's going to be fireworks if that comes off. And they're teasing it with that poster. Sean Gibbons retweeted the poster of those two in Abu Dhabi. You know, there's a lot of, there's a lot to be said for the fact he did do that

because they may be testing the waters. But it's a very confusing moment. Boxing has incredible layers of nuance and obfuscation at times. and, you know, one of the big things is picking through very often for us, what is information and misinformation. But it's a particularly challenging case, this one, particularly challenging case. I don't want to see Pacquiao back. I don't.

He's, I don't, I don't need to see him keep going until someone puts him out cold. And if Connor Ben is even close to the fighter we saw before all this happened, there's a pretty good chance. He hits Pachial with an Algeri level shot and puts him down. I don't want to see that for Manny Pachia. I just don't. And I agree. If he needs the money, I got, I hope not. I hope he doesn't need the money, man. Because he has had so many high profile fights. So many, Gareth. We always said this about Manny and people around him always said it. He may well end up needing money because there's no welfare state in the Philippines. But there is a welfare state when it comes to Manny Pachial because they used to queue in their thousands outside his place in General Santos

City. Oh yeah. You know, and he would just give people say yes, no. I remember speaking to the commercial, his commercial arm when, I can't remember her name now, who worked for Bob Aaron, the top rank. And she said there were so many, I forget her name, she was a lawyer who worked for him. And I remember the clearing up of companies that carried his name where he just said, yeah, take my name, take my name, because they were trying to create his commercial and image rights in the right way.

But there was so much out there, cans of this and dog food that. And, you know, I'm making this up. But there were. Yeah. Because that's what he did. He said, yeah, use my name, do this. You know, so, I mean, he's a brilliant fellow. But I agree with you.

You know, he's, you know, we've just had Floyd Mayweather fighting over here against Aaron Chalmers a couple of weekends ago. And, you know, there wasn't really, it wasn't overly promoted either. There weren't enough people there to see Floyd Mayweather in his first fight in the UK as an exhibition bout. I hasten to add. But it should have sold out the O2 arena with the amount of fans there are for Floyd Mayweather. But it actually didn't. Yeah. Yeah, I was reading about the low.

numbers, low turnout for that fight. You know, for Pachial, though, keep doing dumb exhibitions if you want to make a couple of bucks. You know, find foreign countries that'll pay you to fight MMA stars or pop stars or YouTubers, whatever, but do not get back in there, in my opinion, with a guy that can crack. I don't want to see that happen to Manny Pachio. A couple of things before I let you go. We are less than a month away from Anthony Joshua's return. At the moment, Anthony Joshua is hold away somewhere in Texas working with Derek James. It reminds me a little bit of when like Rocky went to work with Apollo kind of disappeared off the radar and dug in and only focused on boxing. You know, I guess the question I have is like, what is the perception about the stakes for Anthony Joshua going into this fight?

He's in his early 30s at this moment. He's coming off back-to-back losses. If you look at the totality of it, it's what, three in the last. four that have been losses for Anthony Joshua. Like, what's at stake here in a fight like this? And does Joshua have to do more, in your opinion, than just win against Jermaine Franklin? Well, the trouble is, if he goes 12 rounds and he looks decent and he wins behind his jab, he'll be damned.

And if he knocks him out in four rounds, he'll be damned because he should have knocked him out or he shouldn't have gone 12 rounds. I just hope we see a confident Anthony Joshua who looks to exact a strong game plan, start strong and lets his hands go when the opportunities come. You do feel that he'll be more aggressive under Derek James. Everybody who works with him talks so highly of him. He's done so little wrong. He's been a totemic figure.

And Eddie Hearn is right when he says, a lot of us wouldn't be where we are doing what we are in big stadium fights were it not for Anthony Joshua and latterly Tyson Fury as well by the way which people pick me up for mentioning Tyson Fury there as a Fury fanboy but they have both really drawn and as you say boxing's huge over here when we have stadium fights they are enormous you've been to them yourself they are enormous. The only thing that matches that in the States at the moment is Canello and his big events, you know, in Arlington and places like that. But I think the optics have got to be good for him in this fight. A spectacular knockout would change a lot of views that his confidence is back.

Look, he's a very wealthy man who's done extraordinarily well for someone that took up boxing at the age of 18. Olympic super heavyweight gold in his home city, 11 years of. He's a very wealthy man who's done extraordinarily well. ago now, three of the world title belts, a two-time world heavyweight champion. Did he earn close to 80 million pounds for those two fights with USIC? You know, one as a champion, probably the highest paid challenger in history, I think, something like that. I think that is out there. You know, maybe 45 million for that second USIC fight. And he was better, by the way, in that fight. And for me, up till the ninth round. That was a close, good fight. I think, as I say, if he looks good, I think things look up for him. They're not flocking to the O2 Arena yet. It's a smaller

profile fight. It's his first fight on de zone de zone proper. That's going to be a testing market. The Sky Sports, Sky News, Sky Box Office machine was enormous for him. for 10 years obviously they managed to pit that fight with usick last year in saudi arabia business was going back and forth and they managed to get it he's a big draw but he hasn't sold out the o2 arena yet so maybe people and i think it will be full by the time we get there but this is an under the radar fight he's under the radar over there in in Dallas, Texas. We saw him a few weeks back.

He's in fine fettle in my view. But maybe he needs a different PR strategy at the moment. Maybe he's always been less is more and doesn't do loads of appearances. But maybe he needs to do that a little bit more. But if he doesn't want to, that's up to him. I think he's got four or five fights left, maybe maximum four or five fights. He is doing, I think, everything right in 2023.

I think joining with Derek James was right. I think going to that gym where Errol Spence has become a superstar, where Jermel Charlo has become a superstar was right. I think leaving the UK and getting outside of his comfort zone, outside of a place where he is a superstar, and going to a place where quite, quite frankly, frankly, no one knows who he is. He could probably walk around downtown Dallas and no one would recognize, or at least very few.

But Deonté Wilder could do that as well. True. No, no, true. But like for Anthony Joshua, he needs it more than Deonté Wilde. Oh, totally. No, I'm making a point about. Yeah. I think that was smart. I think the path that Eddie Hearn is putting him on is smart. Look, Jermaine Franklin, good for him for how he fought against Dillian White. I'm not buying the idea that Jermaine is Andy Ruiz 2.0. Andy Ruiz had hand speed that was unrivaled in the heavyweight division. Like Andy Ruiz was a different animal altogether. I think Jermaine Franklin is the perfect comeback opponent because he's credible for what he did

against Dillian White, but he's not that dangerous, if we're being honest. And then I think a white fight, if it comes to fruition, is also the right way to go. Because Dillian White, I love what he's done in his career. I think he got royally screwed over a couple of times. but the Dillian White I've seen in his last few fights, he's looked pretty close to washed, Daryth, to be honest with you. The Dillian White from a few years ago would have stomped Jermaine Franklin, would have stopped him.

And he had trouble with him, you know, couldn't land those big shots, at least not until the latter stage of the fight. I think he goes down to Anthony Joshua. And then if Joshua gets through them, I think the physical could once again match the mental. We could once again have a fighter that is physically imposing and mentally sharp. The fighter we saw going into the Vladimir Clitchco fight in 2017.

I think this is the right way to get Joshua back to that fighter if he can succeed at each step. Yeah, I mean, listen, I'll pick up a couple of things on what you said there. I completely agree with you about Franklin and then Dillian White. Two powerful victories, get him back mentally. And then he's set up for Tyson Fury, Joe Joy, Deontay Wilder, whoever you want. I mean, I'd love to see him in with all three of those.

They're massive fights. I mean, I'm biased. I really want to see him fight Tyson Fury. I mean, you were speaking like a promoter, then I am now. If I was his promoter last year, yeah, but we know how the game works. If I'd been his promoter last year, I wouldn't have put him in with Tyson Fury in December

because it was too much of an end-game fight. They probably thought about it. but this is the beginning he's got a six-fight deal I understand or maybe it's a ten-fight deal with DeZone I don't think he'll see that entire deal out I think it's ten fights isn't it over five years

two fights a year it's very lucrative for him they will try and favour him there is an elongation in careers there's a different type of building of boxers in the modern age people want it now don't they

and boxing works to a certain algorithm. People who like both sports are boxing in MMA, the fans, anyone saying, no, we want the fight now, I want the fight now, because that's what they do in MMA. But it doesn't work the same. And rebuilding Joshua is very important. You fall and you rise. It's snakes and ladders, isn't it? You slide down the snake and you climb the ladder again. I completely agree, and that's how I've seen this year for him. He hasn't fought three times in a year since 2015, I think it is, but I'd Also, Vladimir Klitschko was six years ago, you know, three losses in four fights since then. You could see he wants to be a better boxer, but George Foreman has said it.

Other people have said it in the boxing game. Just decide what you want to be, Anthony, and just go out and be it. Be the finisher and destroyer you are. He's as good a finisher as anyone when he's got someone hurt. And I think that's the Joshua you want to see. He's a pleasure to deal with. I wish we saw more of him around us. And I only wish him well this year,

and I wish him well against Jermaine Franklin on April 1st. Because when he's healthy and when he's going well, it's good for British boxing and world boxing. Ditto, and I know you're going to reach this in a minute, reach to this in a minute. Ditto, when Tyson Fury is firing on all cylinders as well. Because what the hell is happening with Tyson Fury and Alexander Ustack at the moment?

Well, that's what I wanted to ask you about to finish here. Two months ago, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that in the spring, we would get Fury against Usik. And then talks with the Middle East kind of fell apart. Now we're back to doing it in the UK. You've heard Ucic's camp say, we want 50-50. Tyson Fury's camp has pushed back pretty hard. And we are less than two months away, Gareth, from the targeted date for Fury against

Alex and Usik, which was at least talked about as being April 29th. What do you know about where we stand with all this? Do you still believe that Fury Usik will be next for both guys? I don't know is the honest answer. I've spoken to both of the promoters for Tyson Fury, both to top rank and Queensbury. And they are literally saying we should have more news in a few days. and I've done that probably five, six times in the last two or three weeks.

I think they are really getting towards the cutoff point by the end of this week to the point where the promoters are saying, we can't force these guys to step in there. This is the pot available. This is what they can get. But when a fighter, like Yusick even, has earned a certain amount of money for a fight

in the Middle East with Anthony Joshua, the step down in money is not something that not so only the boxer, but the entire team who are all taking a cut of that are not happy to take. So therefore they're trying to make up their margins by going for a bigger percentage.

Does, of the purse in the UK, does Tyson Fury deserve more in the UK? I think if it's announced as being at Wembley Stadium, the majority of people are coming to see Tyson Fury. Oh yeah. I still don't think they'd have a problem

getting 90,000 people in there if they announced it in two weeks time because again December the 3rd freezing cold hats scarves and gloves Derek Chisora you know 70,000 people 65,000 people at Tottenham

Hotspur Stadium in North London they're not going to have a problem with that I think it does big numbers on pay-per-view buys because there'll be a lot of interest first undisputed title fight in the four-belt era undisputed title for the first time in a long time. But it's just disappointing.

And, you know, far be it from us sake, just take whatever money is available. But it's just a shame if we can't get this fights happen. And fights don't happen in boxing sometimes. And Garrett, think about, think about, think about, think about, think about, think about, what we could get this year if things play out right. Like if AJ goes out, knocks out Jermaine Franklin. knocks out Dillion White, he gets his swagger back. If Tyson Fury beats Usik and then goes out this summer

and let's say fights Francis Nagano and becomes the guy that, you know, demythologizes Francis Nagano because he would just smash him. But that's a high profile event that would do big numbers in the UK, US, wherever. Like you would have both these guys going into a potential showdown in like December with close to, if not all of the momentum. they would have had a couple of years ago. They would have gotten it back at that point. And then that fight would again be for the undisputed championship.

Only this time Fury would be won with all the belts. Like that's kind of what I'm crossing my fingers on here, Garrett. And it will be the Middle East. And it will be the Middle East. It would be the Middle East that's going to happen. Pot of money there. Yeah. That's where that happens in my view.

Don't forget Joe Joyce, who is a player here as well. Well, look, Fury against Joshua is that I know Joe Joyce's stock has risen enormously in the last year. And some people believe, I'm probably amongst them, that he could potentially give Fury a harder fight than Yusik, physically harder fight than Yusik. Because Fury's going to have to jab, jab, move, jab, move, wear him down. whereas against Yusik, he may well try and wear Yusik down and go after him a little bit more. I think he would. Much smaller man doesn't punch. Our dangerous fight still, don't get me wrong.

But he doesn't want, I don't want to call Yusik a wasp, but that kind of zipping in and out and winning, you know, targeting the belly and scoring like that, body and head, body and head, being an elusive south. poor target, great mover as he is, a trickier fight, more of a chess match, more of a boxing match. But they're all an incredible prospect. But like you say, it feels like there's no bigger fight than Fury as undisputed champion and Anthony Joshua with a couple of wins under his belt. Wouldn't surprise me if he looks really good against Jermaine Franklin and Fury does beat U-Six, if and when that happens, if it's pushed later now,

that there isn't a Dillian White fight in the summer for Anthony Joshua, and you just see those two meet in the Saudi Arabia. Because that's the fight. That's the fight of this era. I hate to say, that is it. Yeah. I don't know if it was two years. I do.

I do. It was two years ago, and it still is now. That's a massive event that would make both guys a lot of money. And until they meet in the ring, you're just not going to know. And, you know, I think going into it would think Fury would be the favorite. But if Anthony Josh can get right, if Derek James is the right trainer, he could easily get back to his winning ways once again. Nobody better on the British boxing scene than my man, Gareth A Davies. Follow him on social media. Check him out at the telegraph. Check him out

on talk sport, among others. I appreciate your time, my friend. It's always a pleasure for me, Mr. Medics. Thank you very much, my friend. And when we come back, my conversation with Tony Harrison. not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. Okay, wait y'all saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments

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To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day But just so y'all know I mean at this point Mark this is the second episode where we've discussed crack So I'm starting to see There's a through line

We also have AIDS on the table right now So Thank you finishing that sentence I don't think there's a more important year for black people Really? Yeah For me it's one of the most important years

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who takes on Tim Zhu in Australia. That's a fight that you can see in the U.S. on Showtime, and Tony joins me here on the show. Tony, we were just kind of reminiscing just a moment ago about how you and I met about a decade ago back when you were running through Europe with Emmanuel Stewart on Vladimir Clitchco's undercards. A little different now,

but does any of this kind of feel familiar, getting out on the road again? Um, I would say, No, man. I would say no. I think not only was I younger when I was on those Cliskos cars, but I was opening up when nobody was in the crowd. You know what I mean? And now I'm, now, now I get the flip side of it where I am the Cliskill in these cars now. So I think, like, yeah, like you get media days and all that stuff that I know he was going through. And I'm like, shit I hate that you know what I mean like something he used to do now I hate like I'm like wow

like now I'm at the point of this now I I'm like man I just want to fight like just give me to the fight I do remember because I was one of the few people that would be sitting kind of ringside when empty like 80,000 seat venue and here comes you running out with mannie behind you when it's clits go red and you fight out there real quick and it'd be out the door exactly man but like I said like I think the flip side of it is now, yeah, yeah, like the media part of it, you know, it's just more of a, it's just more of a, you're the man now, you're the guy, you know, you're the guy, everybody coming to see, you know, you get all the media questions, you get all the fight week is, fight week is really busy, man, it's really busy back

back then. It was just like, I got to train and do what I needed to do. And it was fight time. It was fight time. Now it's like, it's every other thing. So, yeah, man, it's, I'm just, I'm happy to be in this position, though. So tell me how this fight came together, because when Jermel Charler got injured and I found out Tim Zhu was going to be fighting in Australia, kind of assumed he'd be taking on a pretty

soft touch as he got ready for a fight against Jermel whenever Jermel was healthy. How did it happen that you are here in Australia getting ready to fight Tim Zoo? And to be honest, man, I don't know, man, because like I said, I don't know if I might have spoken to existence or what because, you know, I talked to Tim's manager yesterday. He, like, the moment Jamil got his hand in her, I ended up tweeting, like, till Tim, I feel in. Like, you know what I mean? And I don't know if I spoke it to existence because he said he had that, he took my tweet and he saved that tweet. And it was he said it came down between me and somebody else. I think they were leaning towards the other guy

because I think the other guy, they had the other guy. But, you know, something had occurred and the other guy had fell out of it and, hey, here we go. Then they got this bad man right here on the phone. So, you know, I immediately answered. I didn't even get it back.

And I'm like, yes, I would do it, yes. Yes, I would. You said something at the very first press conference that stuck with me. You said, Tim accepting this fight, woke you up from the dead. What did you mean? by that. It's a situation for me, when I was speaking on that situation,

boxing has been slow for everybody. You know what I mean? Like boxing has been, you know, it's your favorite fighter hasn't been fighting. Whoever your favorite fighter is, he ain't been busy, he ain't been active. So boxing has been slow for all of us. So it's been dead. Like, it's been really like dead for everybody. You know what I mean? But for me, you know, when I joined boxing, man, it was only, I was only my best friend. I was active. I mean, so for him to be the ultimate competitor that he is like I am, to take a fight like this at a time like this, it's like, damn, well, you woke me up from the dead because boxing was dead.

Like, boxing was slow, boxing was, you know what I mean? And then it's like, it's hard to make these fights happen now for some reason. You know what I mean? I think the times when Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Herring's in them guys, like, all right, let's go. Like, let's fight. It was easier back then. It was just guys that knew what fighting, why they started fighting was fighting.

You know what I mean? So Tim carries that love for the sport in his heart. You know what I mean? So he's like, man, like, I want that challenge. I want the best challenges. I want to test myself. I want to push myself. But that's what it's all about.

Like, that's what the sport is all about. But for him to get me off of the college, like, what was the last time I fought? Like a year ago? Almost a year ago. April, yeah. Yeah, almost a year ago, but then I fought almost a year ago before that, and then I fought almost a year.

So I fought one time, one time for like for the last four years, and I don't understand how they expect me to be as sharp as reactive as I am, and the older I get, and I'm only fighting once a year, like I'm Floyd Mayweather. So for me, I'm just like, wait for me about the dead. Like, this is the fight I needed for the fight I really want it. You know what I mean? I get to fight this guy to fight Jamil, which is the fight I really, you know, and the fight I really wanted anyway.

And I get to take the fast pass like he took to fight him to skip the line. And I get to skip through everything else I had to go through to fight that one guy that the same guy he would love to fight. And I get to skip the line to fight him. You know, it all made sense for me in the end. Yeah, to your point about activity, your best year was one of your most active years. 2018, you fought three times that year, ended it with that win. over Jermel Charlo.

And as you said, last three years, it's kind of been once a year. I mean, what do you chalk that up to? I mean, the pandemic obviously caused a lot of problems early on, but why is it that you're not being able to get those fights, given your status as a former title holder and, you know, kind of your recognizability in boxing? Man, I think boxing is just more of a, it's corporate now.

It has nothing to do with fighters no more. It's corporate. It has everything to do with who brings the sales in. has everything to do with the matching up of how we can get the most ratings out of a fight. It has nothing to do with just the ear will and the gladiator part of just two people that love to compete, compete. You know what I mean? So I think that's just the hardness of it. I think it's just it's hard for guys at my level to fight guys that's at my level when everything is more of a business now.

It's just like how much money is you giving me? Like how much, how much, how much, how much, how much of that cash? How much of that cash flow you dropping for me to fight this guy? You know what I mean? So, which makes sense now because there ain't nobody fighting for pennies no more. But yeah, man, like if I could do it, like, I just wanted to stay active. You know what I mean? Like for me, I'm just the best when I'm active.

And I, and I fight anybody. It's nobody that I would not fight. You know what I mean? But they just want me to fight these guys now. It just got to make sense to me because. They want me to fight these guys I'm fighting once a year for the last four years. You know what I mean? Now, they kept me active.

Oh, shh. Call me. Call me tomorrow. Now, I would have fought this guy next week. You know what I mean? Like, you just had to keep me active. So, but now it's just more, it's just more, it's just more, it's more business-minded, not only for promoters and managers, it's almost business-mind fighters now.

You know what I mean? Now they're starting to be like, well, this may be the best choice right now. this may not be the best opportunity right now. We're just going to go otherwise. You know what I mean? Going otherwise for me, like I said, I'm not the easiest guy to fight. And for nobody in the division,

I'm not the easiest guy. You know what I mean? The long jab, the quickness, the loosiveness, the power, the sharpness, and the Detroit style, man, that I got, man. It's not an easy style for nobody to fight. So, like, guys are not lying enough to just fight me.

You know what I mean? Like, they're not lying enough to just run up and just fight a guy like me. So it just got to be strategic. But, you know, if we want to bring the sport back, man, you got to get guys like me to fight Tim, Caleb to fight Benavides, Davis to fight Ryan.

You know what I mean? Like, like then when guys start putting their records on the line and guys start bringing competitive fights back, then it's like, okay, well, now we can do it. Earl and Terrence and, you know, now we can do it. Let's do it. You know what I mean? It's not about like, let's just get people,

good boxing back for some reason. At that first press conference, you were very complimentary of Tim's toughness. He's a tough guy. No question about it. But you pushed back on the idea that he earned his place atop the junior middleweight division. And you kind of did it again just a moment ago, talking about the elevator that he took to get there. It sounds like you're sort of saying like Tim's a tough guy, but there are levels to this, skills pay the bills, however you want to kind of.

to frame it. Is that fair to say? Yeah, yeah. I think skills pay the bills, but like I said, it's a lot of guys in boxing that win fights and that's made it to the top. That's not skilled at all. You know what I mean? So I think it's like you can carry some of those attributes to toughness and activity with hands and throw a thousand points. It's a lot of ways that you could become and get to the top. But I'm just like the resume has to speak that way too, though. Like, you know what I mean? Like, whatever attributes you got that's carrying you to the top,

the resume has to speak that way. And I'm like, Tim hasn't fought anybody in the top 10, not one person in the top 10. And y'all mean to tell me this guy's next up to fight for all the belts, all of them. Like, it's not fair to guys like me. It's not fair to guys like Lubin, Fondora, you know, guys that really take fights in and out and fight guys top 10, top 5, and it's not fair. Like, how?

Like, how? Like, you know what I mean? That's been my question this whole time. Like, how does a guy that hasn't fought? Not one person in the top 10 gets to fight for all of the bills. I don't know if that's the last name basis. It has nothing to do with skill at that moment. Like, it has everything to do with how?

Like, not you boxing, but just how. How are you next? How are you the one that's next? How? You know, we've seen Tim Zhu in some fights that he's shown some power in some of those fights. Your three losses have all come by stoppage. How much do you trust your chin at this point in your career? Well, every fight I got stopped in was in the ninth later parts of the rounds.

So, you know what I mean? That I had nothing to do with, you know, you know, for, for, you know, people that understand the body and people to understand, you know, what a, what a, what a week 10 looks like or, or what a weak chin, like, you know, for Jamil to be one of the hardest punches in the division, we went 11 rounds. And trust me, he hit me a ton of time from round one to round 11. You know what I mean? I remember I was there in Ontario for that fight.

That was a tough fight. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, like, like, like, for me, like, yeah, that's, that's not a guy that. shows me he has a week 10. You know, I went, I went nine with her. And I'm like, that's like, let me show me a guy that has a week 10.

What it shows me, what it told me was, and like, like for me, man, after round, like, seven, I was fighting our pure heart. You know what I mean? Like, I had nothing left in the body to really give and staying strong on, you know what mean like none of the none of the the the the the

minerals and vitamins probably I needed in my body to stand strong at those moments you know what I mean so now when I got hit I'm like then it's over you know what I mean like

but yeah like Chris it had nothing to do on my chin I think it had everything to do with the way I lost the weight the way I didn't eat at all

like the week of I didn't eat not one thing the week of my second charler fight not one time you know what i mean so i just think i just did everything wrong you know what i mean just to make the weight but i did it wrong when i when it was when it was when it was calculated ways for me to do it and still be strong and do it you know what i mean but i just did it wrong but um yeah i think i think it had everything to do with the way i did it and um yeah yeah yeah being like i said man for for everybody that keeps saying you go you don't have a chance like you don't see guys knocking me out in rounds too

You don't see guys knocking me out in round three, four. You know what I mean? Like round five. Round, it'd be the times where my body just has nothing left. You know what I mean? It has nothing to do with the chin, but my body has nothing left to stand strong on.

You know what I mean? And I'm fighting on pure heart and pure will and pure grit from Detroit. You know what I mean? So even after all those knockdowns, man, you've never seen me sit on the ground. You've never seen me sit on the ground. You've never seen me get knocked down. and the referee stopped the fight while I'm on the ground.

I stand up every single time. You know what I mean? So it just shows that no matter what my body had left, I'm going to get up. You know what I mean? That guy right there, he's going to stand up. He's going to stand up. So the referee had to save me every each and every time I because I was going to die in that thing. You know what I mean?

Because I'm going to stand up each and if you can knock me down 10 times because I'm going to stand back up every single time before the count of 10. I'm going to stand up. So no matter if I had nothing left for me or not. But I just think it's the ways I did it. You know what I lost the way. I think that was the main thing, the way I lost the weight. So going into this fight, do you feel differently?

Was this a different level of preparation compared to, say, the Charlo fight or any other fight where you didn't feel like he did it the right way? Do you think you did it the right way in this way? Yeah, yeah, I think for sure, though, Chris, because most of the time when they call me for a fight, I don't even be doing nothing. I don't do shit until they call me. You know what I mean?

Until they call me, say, I got a fight. You know what I mean? So, but this time around, I was training like three weeks before they even called me. Like I just had started running and, you know, me, me training Alicia. When she ran, I ran. You know what I mean? When I had to get her up in the morning and go run, I was just run with her.

You know what I mean? So it just, it was just the extra boost of motivation for me to do it myself and get up out of the bed myself and just say, even though you're going to fight coming, I'll go wrong with her. You know what I mean? And I had already started like three weeks before and in the mind. And when I started training with her, my mind automatically put me in put the, the fucking drinking down. I stopped drinking

three weeks when I started training work. I stopped smoking hookah three weeks when I started training work. So I really put my mind in the state of get your body in shape. At the moment, while you train work, just get your body in shape. You don't got to be training for no bite, just get your body in shape. Now that you now that you, you know, sometimes

we just need the extra push. And that was my extra motivation to get off the couch and just to train with her. You know what I mean? I got the extra motivation and then I'm like, yeah, yeah, I got off the couch and like, I didn't focus myself this cap for me wasn't about me using this cap to lose weight.

Like a lot of times I'm taking cap to lose weight, like not even focusing on skill, not focusing on the task at helping me become the better athlete in the ring, but I'm focused on breaking my body down from 180, getting it back down to 154, getting it from 175, getting it back to 154. But when they called me, I was 164 already. You know what I'm saying?

So I was already 10 pounds. Over the way, so I was right there, you know what I mean? So the preparation, I had already prepared myself mentally, had already took me to a point where I didn't have to train where I'm losing weight. Like I wasn't training losing weight. I was training and I was sharpening the tools up. You know what I mean? So I think that was just the biggest difference from me.

I do love the bond that you and Alicia formed, you know, during your time together, both in terms of chemistry with, in terms of boxing and trainer, but, you know, her going to the WBC convention and standing. up and say, no, no, no, don't look over Tony Harrison. He's ready to fight. He's ready to go. I mean, what's it been like for you? What's it been like for you over the last year or so as you've been maintaining your boxing career? But to be the chief second for a unified championship fight with Alicia Michaela Mayer. And then to be a mass square garden when Alicia won the undisputed championship had to be the person in her corner. To be honest, man, if it wasn't for her,

I probably wouldn't, I probably couldn't have had accepted this fight at the moment. You know what I mean? Like I probably would say like, no, I just, I ain't ready. I'm not ready. You know what I mean? Because it would have took so much, it would have took me so much longer to, to prepare my body, prepare my mind to get ready for a fight like this. But because not only me, but boxing, like I said, boxing has been slow for me in,

in general, you know what I mean? So they would, like, do you expect me to go in the gym, spar, hit the bag when I don't even have a destination to why I'm hitting the bag. You know what I mean? Do you expect me to get off the couch and not have fun with my boys, don't go to the club, don't go party?

And I'm young for what? For nothing to not look towards nothing. So boxing for me was slow, but boxing for her was busy. You know what I mean? So for me to just work with her, it just was like, man, this is my time to get myself back and shit.

You know what I mean? And if it wasn't for her, I probably would have just been chilling. You know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? So it was just like it worked hand to hand, man. And yeah, and not only that, man, it just gives me a different perspective on how I look at how my brother speaks to me when I speak to her because I'm like, okay, when I speak to her and I tell her stuff. And I'm like, hmm, that's why my brother told me that or that's why I get it. Now I'm on the flip side of it.

And I'm watching myself and I'm watching myself in the moment. moment sometime when I'm watching her, I watch myself, and I'm like, damn, okay, I get it now. I get, you know what I get why he told me that, okay? Because I'm telling her this, maybe in a different manner, but, you know, I'll revert back to it. And I'm like, damn, okay, that's why my brother said that. You know what I mean? That's what he see.

You know what I mean? That's why he saw that. That's why he told me to throw that because he see it and I maybe don't see it at the moment because sometimes he don't see it at the moment. But also, like, and I don't know. me and my brother, like me and my dad used to argue a lot. And I don't know if that came from, you know, just father, son relationships, but, like, this can't for me. I didn't argue with my brother not one time. I didn't, like, no, like, I didn't, you know, I didn't, I didn't disagree

with not one thing he said because I was a coach, because I became a coach, you know what I mean? And I'm like, okay, I get it. You see it, you see stuff different than I see it at the moment. You know what I mean? I get it. You know what I get it. You know what I get. and I see it and there's no argument for me. It's no, you need me to go climb this tree. All right, which one? You know what I'm saying? They used to be like, why am I climbing this tree?

Like, you know what I'm saying? I don't see the top of it yet. You know, but why am I, you know what I mean? So it just gives me a whole different perspective, man. And training, for me, it just evaluated my mind different as a fighter. You know what I mean? So I'm able to understand that everything I may not, see at the moment as a fighter that if he gives it to me he sees that as a train and I got to trust that

well Tony uh good luck to you on saturday down in australia man i had somebody in boxing call me uh this week and say like who you got in the harrison zoo fight i'm like i got tony harrison and this guy's like you've been picking tony harrison every fight for like 10 years now man i'm like i love tony harrison that's my guy i'm always picking and always pulling for tony harrison and chris but the thing is the thing the thing is chris though it's not even like we just boy like you my guy like i tell everybody like i told a p like that's my god like chris is my god so it's not even that it's like um like chris ain't dumb like you know what i'm saying like like every fight that i've lost i was winning every single one of them i was winning like it ain't like like this guy's a bummer

like her fight winning nelson fight winning charler fight i thought i was winning you know what i'm So every fight that I'm in, even though the outcome didn't come my way, I was landsliding these motherfuckers, dog. I was landslide. You know what I'm saying? Like, it takes talent to do that, man. You know what I'm saying? Like, people got to understand, like, that guy is talented.

And like, that guy, that guy right there is talented. You know what I'm saying? Whether you like me, whether you hate me or the way I talk shit, that guy talented, man. You know what I'm saying? And it takes a certain kind of different kind of talent to beat me. You know what I'm saying? So not, Chris, not only my boy, but Chris Mark. Chris understand that that guy comes from Detroit, from a culture in a rich state of boxing,

where if you're going to beat that man, you've got to be better than that man. And I just don't think Tim is that guy. It's simple. Hey, there was nobody in boxing I respected more than Emmanuel Stewart. And he would all, on those trips, he would always tell me, like, watch Tony, watch Tony. He's got it. He's the good. He's the real deal.

So if Emmanuel Stewart says it, I'm going to believe it forever. It's, yeah, that's an easy belief, man. Like, just to me, he was the only genie in boxing. He was the only genie. He was the only wizard, man. He was the only wizard that told me, told us Tyson Fury would be champion before Tyson Fury was champion. He was the only wizard that said Dianteiroado would be champion before Diageoado

was champion. And that's, you know, he was the only wizard that said Andy Lee would be champion. He was the only wizard that said Adon and Stevenson would be champion. Like, he grabbed these guys, man. When he grabbed him and he touched him, they became exactly what he said. it would be. You know what I mean? So he didn't put his hands on everything, but when he put, he put his hands on it, it was golden, man. And he was the wizard, man, and I missed my boy. Me too, me too, man. Good luck on Saturday, Tony. All the best. And we'll talk to you after.

Thank you, bro. My dog. And when we come back, this week's picks brought to you by Fandul. All right, time now for this week's picks brought to you by our friends over at Fanduel. And I hope you bet with me last week, because last week I had another double win. I told you. to take Brandon Figueroa to win, that wouldn't have won you much. I told you to take Brandon Figueroa to win by decision that would have won you more. I bet on it, I made some money, hope you did too.

This week, over in Australia, the junior middleweight division, Tony Harrison, Tim Zhu, interim title at 154 pounds. And I am once again going with an underdog. I am going with Tony Harrison to win this fight. Right now, Tony Harrison is at plus 172 over, at Fandul. That's an underdog bet to be sure.

And Harrison by decision, which is how I think this is going to end, plus 350. So right now, get on the Fandul app, bet Tony Harrison by decision plus 350. If you want to go a little bit more conservative, take Tony Harrison to win. Either way, you're going to win money. Either way, you're going to win. Because I think Tony Harrison is a level above Tim Zoo. And as long as his conditioning is right, his chin holds. up. I think he outboxes Tim Zoo

to a decision. Those are my picks. Get on them. Brought to you by Fandall. That's it for this week's episode. My thanks to Gareth A. Davies and Tony Harrison for joining the show. As always, subscribe, rate review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you

download podcast. Next week, we will be in Los Angeles, where I will track down Sergio Mora. Manix, I'm a man on the run and I'm not doing your fucking podcast. We're not doing it. We're not doing it, bro. I'm a man on the run. On the run! The volume.

Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle. grace. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of Tontons and Wampas on the Ice Planet Hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Bo Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.