The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Boxing with Chris Mannix - Details on AJ-Ngannou in SAUDI

Episode Date: January 6, 2024

Mannix has early details on plans for the March 8th card headlined by Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

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Oh, somebody punch him in the face. Anthony Joshua is a composed and ferocious finisher. Watch this. Andrew Ruiz is the heavyweight champion. Hosted by S.I's Chris Manix. 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. Welcome into everybody listening to this bonus episode on the podcast feed. Welcome to all of you that are watching on YouTube. I'm streaming this episode early on YouTube. So if you haven't, check out my YouTube page, S-I-Kris Manix, just experimenting a little bit, putting this episode early up on YouTube. Of course, you can always get these episodes on the podcast feed. rate, review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you download podcast.

So every so often you get a newsbreak in boxing that makes it worth doing a emergency episode. And on Friday, we had just that newsbreak. Anthony Joshua, the former unified heavyweight champion, we just saw an action a week or so ago in Saudi Arabia. He is coming back in March, this time to face Francis Ngano, the former UFC champion, who we saw in a much more competitive than expected fight against Tyson Fury back in October. That fight is going to take place on March 8th, a Friday. It's going to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, part of Riyadh season. And it's going to be a big event in Saudi.

Now, I'm going to get into what I know about the undercard, give you some thoughts on some of the fights. and fighters that might be on that undercard. But first, on that matchup itself, I've got a few thoughts. One, this is a big win for Anthony Joshua. You know, a week ago, it looked like AJ had, I don't want to say fumbled the bag, but lost the bag. Because the bag was Deontay Wilder. And that fight was right there.

No matter what Deontay Wilder says, it was signed, sealed, delivered. AJ was going to fight Deonti Wilder in March. That was good to go. They were both going to make massive paydays. When Wilder lost that fight to Joseph Parker, we don't know where AJ was going to go. Maybe he was going to go and fight Filiperovich.

Good fight. Less money. Can argue equally or more risk. You know, there were a lot of options out there for them. none of them may be as appealing or as lucrative as Deonté Wilder. Now, you have the opportunity to face France and Gano. And I don't want to be disrespectful to France in Gano because what In Gano did against Tyson Fury was one of the most remarkable things I've seen in recent memory in combat sports.

Most of the crossover fights that we've seen over the last five or ten years, years, whether there have been high-profile events like Connor McGregor against Floyd Mayweather or more gimmicky ones like Jake Paul against Nate Diaz have invariably ended badly for the MMA fighter. You know, Connor McGregor, yeah, whatever. He was fine early on, but eventually got knocked out. Nate Diaz didn't win around against Jake Paul. A lot of MMA guys have tried.

All of them have failed, or most of them anyway, have failed in their quest to become high-level boxers. Frantzangano didn't fail. He lost that fight. It was a close fight. Some might call it a controversial fight. Certainly a disputed decision. But even in defeat, the fact that he was competitive, the fact that he knocked down the

heavyweight champion of the world was remarkable. I just think he's always. wrong for Anthony Joshua. I think that Inganu going up against Tyson Fury, who's not a heavy hitter, who Inganu can kind of walk in on a little bit, who he can be a little less careful against, that's a good style for him to go up against. Anthony Joshua, you've got to be a lot more careful against. Joshua is not prime Deonté Wilder in the sense.

that his one punch isn't what Wilders one punch is. But AJ's one punch is still really good. AJ's knockout percentage is still really high. Let's not forget what AJ just did to Otto Wallen. Without knocking Otto Wallen down, AJ busted him up, broke his nose, made his corner quit after the fifth round. Anthony Joshua, not going to say it. Okay, we'll say it.

is a composed and ferocious finisher, and he is a hitter. So a guy like Ngano, who again acquitted himself incredibly well, but one who doesn't have a lot of a boxing experience, I just think that this version of A.J., with Ben Davison in his corner, with Lee Wiley working with them, they're going to have a great game plan. And this version of AJ is going to set a trap that Ngano is going to walk into and he's going to walk into a big right hand,

and he's not going to have been hit by the kind of power that a boxer like Anthony Joshua possess. So this is a big win for AJ in my mind. He is able to get an incredibly lucrative fight. It is a less risky fight than what Wilder looked like before the fight with Joseph Parker, and he's able to keep his career moving. No breaks.

Fights in December. fights again in March. If he wins, he can probably fight again as early as this summer. Big win for Anthony Joshua. At the same time, huge win for France Sangano. I mean, France and Gano, you know, a lot of people, myself included, believe that Francineu in boxing was going to be a one-off. Just as been a one-off for a lot of these guys.

One-off, at least so far, for Connor McGregor. One-off for Nate Diaz. I thought Francine Gano would be one and done. but because he performed so well, he gave himself the opportunity to be in this type of fight, because you can sell it, right? Like the sell is to a degree, can Inganu knock out AJ?

He knocked down Fury. Can he knock out AJ? But it's also, can AJ do what Tyson Fury couldn't? Tyson Fury beat Inganu. Can AJ knock him out? So Inganu's performance put himself in this position, and he is going to make a person. pile of money to fight Anthony Joshua.

So in two boxing matches, Inganu is going to make way more money than he would have made fighting in UFC. So all that talk about Francis fumbling the bag and losing out on the kind of paydays he would have made in UFC, uh-uh. He hasn't even made an appearance yet in PFL. He may never make an appearance in PFL. He may never fight mixed martial arts again. I mean, he's made so much money and will make so much money in.

boxing in two fights that we may never see France Ngano back in the MMA world. But big win for Ngano too, just getting this opportunity and getting this type of payday over in Saudi Arabia. So both these guys are big winners. They're headlining what will be a big event. Now, for the undercard, I have been told that Jali Zhang is going to be on the undercard, most likely in the co-made event. Now, Zhang had a fantastic 2023. He was sports. Woods Illustrates, 2003, breakout boxer of the year, because with two wins over Joe Joyce, he revived his career. At 40 years old, he is a top five heavyweight once again.

So he put himself into this position, and now here he is set to appear on this card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Now, who is he going to face? Well, Zhang wants all the smoke. He wants to fight anybody and everybody. But the guy, Zhang and his team really want to fight. is Deante Wilder. And I've been told that the people in Saudi Arabia,

the deal makers over there, they want that fight too. My initial reaction to hearing about a Zhang Wilder fight, what is that line from Rocky 2, what they say to Apollo Creed, his trainer? He's all wrong for us, baby. That's what I feel Malik Scott should say to Deonté Wilder, if this is brought up to him.

in a serious way. Because Jaley-Jong is all wrong for Deonté Wilder. Jailie J-Li-Long is a big, sturdy, granite-chinned, hard-hitting Southpaw with a ton of confidence. The hiccups that Jaili-Long has had in his career have come when he's had some weird medical experiences in Florida before the Jerry Forrest fight, and then he had that razor-close loss to Philip Hercovich. when Philip Hergevich was the boogeyman of the heavyweight division. So since then, he has been fantastic. Those knockouts of Joe Joyce were really impressive. So if I'm Deonté Wilder, I think twice about getting in the ring with Jailie Jean. As a fan, I'd love to see it.

That's a fun fight, especially if Wilder is a different fighter, sits down his punches more, gets into a firefight, test the chin of Zhang. But Zhang is relentless and he can crack. That left hand of Zhang is the punch that closed and busted up the eye of Joe Joyce. The right hand of Zhang is what dropped and knocked out Joyce in the rematch. So that's questionable. It's also possible that Zhang fights somebody else on that card and that Wilder fights somebody else on that card.

an interesting potential matchup. And I haven't heard this specifically, but it makes some sense. Wilder Philip Hergevich. Now, I'll explain why. In the next couple of days, maybe as you're listening to this podcast, the IBF rankings are going to come out. And when the IBF rankings come out, Philip Hergevich and Anthony Joshua are going to be one-two in those heavyweight rankings.

that is going to entitle them to fight for a vacant title if and when the winner of Tyson Fury Alex and Usoc vacates that belt after their fight in February. That's the most likely outcome if Fury and Ucic decide to fight for a second time, which is what the plan is, at least for the moment. So here's why Hergovich Wilder makes sense. Joshua's going to fight in Ghanu. So that's squared away. If you're Hergovich and you get a big offer to fight Deonté Wilder,

you got to want to jump on it, right? Like, you're getting Wilder seemingly at the exact right time, the very end of his career where he still has a name, but he doesn't have the same level of skill that he once had. And you're putting yourself on the same card once again as Anthony Joshua. So you've got Joshua fighting in Ganu in a non-title fight, and you could do Hergovich Wilder in another non-title fight. And if Wilder and Hergevich win, well, you could do a fight between the two of them in the summer for the vacant IBF belt.

Now, you'd have to talk to the IBF, but given the fact that Hergovich has had to wait for so long for his IBF title shot, I would think the IBF would be amenable to allowing these two guys to fight non-title fights outside of that situation and then agree to fight each other later on in the year. On the flip side, if Wilder, for some reason, beats Hergevich, all of a sudden, Wilder Joshua was back in play. Because Wilder just beat the number one contender for the IBF's heavyweight title, the undefeated Philip Hergevich. Now you get to the summertime, and look, maybe a heavyweight title isn't on the line. But look, a heavyweight title was never going to be on the line for AJ against Wilder. So it's a risk for Hergevich, of course, but he's going to make a pile of money to do it. And ultimately, that's kind of what it's all about.

So look for that to at least be discussed. That's just to be guessing at this point. But look for that to at least be discussed. I think there's going to be some other names that are bandied about over the next couple of days. Eddie Hearn tweeted out. It's going to be a press conference on January 15th. I'm sure we'll see some of the fights revealed on that date. But, you know, once again, it's becoming clear that some of the biggest events in boxing,

many of the biggest events in boxing, are going to do. take place in Saudi Arabia because the Saudis are clearly invested in boxing. They want to do big time boxing. They want to make big events. And here we are, fresh off the day of reckoning. In February, you've got the undisputed heavyweight championship. In March, you've got this event headline by Joshua and Ganu. At some point, I think we're going to get Archer BetterBev against Dmitri Bevel if

Better Beav beats Callum Smith. That's a huge fight for the undisputed last. heavyweight championship. So, you know, the Saudi interest is real. These fights taking place there are real. And it sure seems like at least for the immediate future, that's where these big events are going to take place. So we'll see what happens. As these fights come together, I'm sure we'll have a lot more to talk about when we get back on this podcast next week. And of course, we'll talk more about Virgil Ortiz. By the way, before I go, Virgil Ortiz is fighting at 150s. I don't want to do this.

right now. Fighting at 156, I don't even know what to make of that at the moment. All week, I thought he was fighting at 154. This was his junior middleweight debut. It's his middleweight debut. Look, I get it. It's not a title fight. He can fight as a catch weight. He's been off for a long time, but I kind of figured in your first fight at your new weight class, a weight class that you're playing to campaign at, you know, for the foreseeable future, I would imagine. You might want to try to make that weight the first time? I don't know. That was strange to me to see the catch-win. Apparently he was in the contract all along,

but Virgil Ortiz against Frederick Lawson, Saturday Live on his own, will be at 156 pounds. So we'll talk about that next week as well. Until then, enjoy the fights. 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 headwriter, Street or 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 I-Heart 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 growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard 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 taun tons 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.