The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Boxing with Chris Mannix - Gary Russell Jr. on why no one wants to fight him

Episode Date: January 22, 2022

Joining Chris today is the great writer at BoxingScene.com and broadcaster with ESPN, Corey Erdman. The guys dive into Joe Smith's win, Gary Russell Jr.'s fight, why he doesn't fight more, and finally, they give their thoughts on boxing having two big fights on the same day competing against themselves. Later in the show, Gary Russell Jr. stops by to discuss his upcoming fight, how hard it's been training while his father has been sick, and why he has only been fighting once a year. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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 Manix. Welcome back to another episode of Boxing with Chris Mannix, part of the Volume Sports Podcast Network. We've got a good show for you this week. Corey Erdman is here.

Boxing Scene.com, ESPN Broadcaster, works a little bit with us over at DeZone. He is here to run through all the news of the week with me from Joe Smith's win this past weekend to Gary Russell Jr's fight this coming weekend to what do we make of the April 30th competing big fights. Oscar Valdez Shakur Stevenson, Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano, run through all that much more with Corey Urban. A little bit later, Gary Russell Jr. himself. He joins me to talk about his two-year layoff, what it's been like to train basically without his father for this fight,

and are we ever going to see an active version of Gary Russell Jr? As always, best way to support this podcast, get over at Apple Podcast, post a comment, leave a rating. It's simple, it's easy, it's free. It's the best way to make sure that we keep doing. this podcast week after week. That's it. All right, on to the show. All right, Corey Erdman is here. One of my favorite guys in boxing. It does a great job over at boxing scene.com. Does a great work as a broadcaster for ESPN, paper views, other outlets,

invaluable resource for us over at DeZone as well. Corey, what's up, man? How's Canada this time? It's very snowy. We had like a serious blizzard, like two full feet of snow. the other day. So I'm locked in in every sense of the word, basically, both due to COVID and due to snow. Yeah, I'm in the Northeast and we have a producer over at DeZone

named Bob, who I'm sure you're familiar with, who also lives in Canada, who like sends me all these pictures of his car like buried in snow. Like I give a shit. Like sending me all these things, like six in a row, like check out my car. Check out my driveway. I'm like, Bob. Stop. Stop sending me this stuff right now. Chris, I thought for sure you were

going to be in San Juan right now for the Demetrius Andrade purse bid, which got delayed, by the way, right before we came on the air. I thought for sure you'd be there. That's great. Like, I love this. Like, I saw that too before we started recording. The Andrade, uh, Genabec, I'm only going to use his first name here because I'll butcher his last. Uh, the Andrejinnabek purse bid delayed until January 28th because of a COVID outbreak in Puerto Rico. Did these people not know about virtual purse bids like you can do that like it's like you can maintain the integrity of a purse bid without uh having it in person it's like one of the last like remnants of old boxing like you have to physically be there to hand an envelope to somebody to Paco in in Puerto Rico and

to get a purse bid done like that also does the WBO think the pandemic's going to end in a week like what do they think the situation's going to be like in seven days that I was actually, look, it was a purse bit I was interested in, as I'm sure you were as well, because I don't really know what Android's going to do as we record this. I've reached out to him a couple of times to see what the plan is. It doesn't sound like he's moving to 168 yet. It also doesn't sound like there's been any negotiations between top rank and matchroom for a deal here. So I don't know what's going to happen with Andrew.

I personally, and I've said this on this podcast before. I think Andrea should make one more run at 160. Take this fight. Give himself some flexibility if he wins. And look at Mungia, you know, Charlo seems more like the not. We're going to see him fight Canello, at least the way it's trending at the moment. Golofkin, guys like that. See if you can get one big fight at 160 before making the jump to 168.

One thing I will say, and if people probably wouldn't know about this unless they were in attendance, you can never say that Demetri Zandre isn't trying to campaign for this fight. So during Teofimo and George Cambosis, and I don't even know if you would have noticed this because you were on the call and probably otherwise focused on things. During that card, at some point, Andrew takes the microphone from DJ Dubbs, like the house DJ for Match Room. And this is like right before the main event, I want to say,

and just starts, like cutting a promo, like a WWE-style promo to the audience at MSG about why he should fight Canelo and how they should all be beating the drum for him to get this fight. And cameras didn't capture it. No one ever talked about this, but it was a thing that happened where, Demetre Zandre literally held court at Madison Square Garden begging for this fight.

I mean, he's done a lot to try and get it. He's been a title holder at 154 when Canello was down there. He's been a champion at 160 when Canello was there. Politics haven't been involved. I don't want to get into Demetri's Andrea. We'll save that conversation for another day because I'm sure we'll have something to talk about the next couple of weeks once this middleweight belt is resolved. Also saw up this week, and I don't get too deep into this, but like $75.

for Keith Thurman and Mario Barrios? Like, people listening to this, I know we're going to be like, Manix is, you know, he's a DeZone guy, you know, he's a PBC hater, Thurman, I'm not, I'm going to talk to Keith for this podcast as well. I'll be a buyer of that pay-per-view. I'll write about it, I'm sure, because I've got interest in Keith. But, like, are you fucking kidding me? Like, $75 for Thurman Barrios?

Like, this is a problem in boxing where you're going to get, like, $50,000. hardcore fans that buy this. And maybe that's enough to cover the expenses associated with Thurman Barrios. But what does that do for either guy? Like, Keith Thurman, you know, rocketed to the top in part, you know, four years ago, five years ago now, in part because he got two titles. But also he was fighting on CBS. Like he was viewed by like, I think at one point was like five million people in one of those fights,

whether it was Garcia or Sean Porter. like he was a visible guy and to put thermon barrios on pay-per-view and Corey not even it's not even like the end of the year where it's like all right budgets are gone at fox and showtime you can't spend it's the first real card of 2022 and it's going to be on pay-per-view like what are we doing well well you know the one of the five most common topics in the world right now is inflation right and it seems like it's hit boxing paper views as well you know like that number has steadily gone up over the years from 39 to 49. And now it's like we've just hit the point where if there's a marquee fighter involved

in the fight, it's $70 plus dollars no matter what. And for most people, how are they going to afford that after they order Trevor Brian, Jonathan Guidry the weekend before? Who has that kind of spending cash? I forgot about Trevor Bryant and Didry. It's also like, you know, pick them if that fight actually happens. Like that card even goes off. like, you know,

Oh, there's no guarantee that it's going. There's no guarantee that's happening. Oh, box can be so stupid. Just, again, for the record,

like, I will, you know, we're going to clobber the Jaime Mungia, Demetre's Ballard fight later. So, like, I have no problem

hitting things and the need to be hit. But $75 for Thurman Barrios is ridiculous. It's absolutely, this is like, again, this is another topic I don't want to get too deep into, but it's like all the,

you know, Jake Paul's bad for boxing now. Everybody shut up and pay six. 75 bucks for Thurman Barrios and go watch Mungia Ballard. Like, what are we doing? What are we doing here? Yeah.

This is a great sport, man. Why are we just, we just give the most self-inflicted wounds of any sport that's out there. It's just unbelievable. Yeah, and listen, maybe, and I'm not the, the BBC accountant. Maybe that number is what they need in order to make this profitable. I don't know. But in a general sense, this is a guy who I think a lot of casual fans have kind of forgotten about, right? Like he's been out of the spotlight for two and a half years for two and a half years.

And you're right. Like Keith Thurman, I'm pretty sure was a part of the most watched boxing match in like modern history. You know, of the last 10, 15 years because it was on Fox and it was one of the premieres of PBC. So there's people that would care about him. But I think if I were doing it, and again, I don't know what the finances are. If I were doing it, I would have given him some kind of reintroduction that were very easily accessible. and then move him back to pay-per-view and perhaps in a better fight. I mean, look, he wins, and there's a chance Terrence Crawford could be out there waiting for him.

And that's a big fight. But, like, to make that fight even bigger, don't you want to be visible in a fight against Amario Barrios? I don't get it. I'm going to – I was going to say, like, I'll have to think about it further. I'm not going to think about another second. Like, I'm done thinking about that right now. It's just – it's just maddening, man. It's just maddening because that's a pretty good –

Pretty good Fox fight, pretty good showtime fight. You know, any, any PBC platform, it's just not the right one. Well, and we're mad on other people's behalf because we can write these things off on our taxes. Of course, yes. Like, I'm not going to, it's not coming out of my pocket at all. Like, the listeners out there. Like, you know, if you, Paperview has its place. Like, Fury Wilder, absolutely.

I've yet to hear one person complain about the cost of Fury Wilder. Thurman Barrios, I'm guessing there'll be a few people complaining after that. All right, let's move on. Let's look back this past weekend before we move forward. Joe Smith. He wins his first title defense beating Steve Jeffrard by knockout. No surprise there. Jeffrard, an unknown fighter. Good story. We won 18 fights in a row after losing his first two, but it was not in the league of Joe Smith and Joe eventually knocked him out. It kind of put Joe back in the discussion for the next big fight. Now, the natural fight to make is Joe Smith against Archer-Betterb, which would be for three versions.

versions of the 175 pound title. But I guess, Corey, there's an outside chance that Canelo Alvarez could look Joe Smith's way and say, you know what? If I'm going to campaign at 175 pounds, a fight against Joe Smith in New York City, that makes some sense to me. So give me your thoughts on, are you interested in seeing a matchup between Smith and Canelo? Yeah.

And I think if you're Joe Smith or anyone in that weight neighborhood, you always have to put that caveat out there. Like I would like these fights with the people in my division, but if Canello comes calling, I'm ready for that. I think it's important for fighters in and around there to make that distinction to say those things in the media because that's the most profitable fight you could possibly get. As far as whether I'm interested in it, yeah, I think that Joe Smith is one of those, I'm just throwing a number out there, maybe seven or eight guys that are realistic that I think are both acceptable opponents for Canello and ones that I would actually. least be intrigued to see, you know, like there's obviously Jamal, there's Better Beav, there's Andrade, sure, throw Joe Smith in there, any of the cruiser waits, I guess I'm fine with as well, the Triple G rematch. Like, there's a handful of guys and whoever Canello chooses,

I'm totally fine with it. And we can debate which one is the bigger fight. But a lot of that, I think is kind of pointless because I think Canello is the draw no matter who he's facing. Like he put 70,000 in the stadium against Billy Joe Saunders. Within the United States is Billy Joe Saunders like an appreciably bigger star? Sitting there ringside, Corey, that was like 99.95% Canelo fans. Then like Tyson Fury and like the guys that came with him. Right now, Joe Smith, like there's a lot of members of the local 66 union. They're all going to buy tickets.

So he's got some fans. So he brings a few more to the table. But by and large, it's about like what would be a challenging fight for Canello and what interest me and I do put Joe Smith in that category. I think that would be a lot of fun. I just, you know, I was talking to Sergio more above this recently. Like, can we go back to a day? Maybe this day never really existed. It just kind of existed in my mind where guys like earned these opportunities. Like Caleb Plant last year didn't really earn an opportunity against Canello. We had a belt and Canella wanted all four of those super middleweight titles. So Caleb Plant

protected that belt for a while and got the fight and got the payday. Good for him. Like a great business move. But the fight played out the way I thought it would because Caleb Platt never been in with anybody close to Cannell. So the guys we're looking at right now, I mean, Joe Smith, his biggest fight to date was a very lopsided decision defeat to Dmitry Bevel, landed one good punch in that fight, hurt Beaville, no question, but then got blown out basically in that fight. I'm not sure Joe Smith ever beats Dmitri Beavle, by the way. Like, it's just not a good matchup for him stylistically. And you got Jamal Charlo who has fought nobody at middleweight over the last five years. Not like last five months, five years where his best win is Sergey Darvincenko, who is a far cry,

really, from the guy that went to war with Daniel Jacobs and Gaddae Golofkin in those previous fights. You know, people on Twitter killed me for this because, yeah, Golofkin has been inactive, but he's the only guy that's earned a fight against Canelo. And he did that based on 24 razor-thin rounds that he had with Canello. Like, he's the only guy that we know. you know, we'll go in there and give Canelo a reasonably competitive fight. Now, it may not be as competitive as the first two because Golofkin's now 40.

He's only fought a couple of times in the last three years. But he's still the guy that's earned that payday. And I'm just, and Joe Smith too, like Joe beat Flasoff. Good. You get a title. Beat Jafrard. Not his fault. Callum Johnson bowed out.

I get that. But like, how about Joe Smith fights better be of than the winner fights Canello? Like, that's a big fight, and the winner of that fight will have absolutely earned the opportunity. I do think, to be clear, I do think BetterBev has earned the right as well. I mean, BetterBeb beat Vostick to claim that unified title. And then he beat Marcus Brown badly, and Marcus Brown is a pretty good fighter. So I think Better Beavs in that category as well. But everybody else, it's like, they're just like, they're almost begging for this opportunity to fight Canello and not going out there and earning it.

Yeah, and I think some of that is, some of that is the times and that fighters. just fight less frequently than they did back in, you know, the time that you're dreaming of in the past. I'm just looking at two, Corey. Like, how about two? Like, how about two times a year? Is that asking a lot? Like, a lot of these guys are fighting once.

I think one of the issues is because of Canello moving up and down in weight, it's given so many people hope that they're kind, a lot of people have just been holding out. And Canello is the one guy that can really make you life-changing money in one night for anyone that isn't a heavyweight in boxing. And so I think that has had an effect on the choices that fighters have made. Now, you know, we're not, Joe Smith for all we know is not really in the conversation for this anyway.

So some of this is just kind of theoretical. But it is, yeah. It's, yeah, I agree. Better B.F. If you're a unified champion, if you're the lineal champion as Better B.F is, he has earned the right by, I think, any definition to get that fight. But, yeah, I think that Canello basically being an option for anyone from 54 now to cruiser weight, yeah, has probably slowed some people's process because they

want to be marketable enough in case they get that unicorn phone call that's going to give them $5 million and change the rest of their lives. And to a degree, I can't blame fighters. If they have, kind of pump the brakes a little bit in anticipation of that, I can't blame them for it. In a weird way now, and I was kind of, I've been pretty cool on the Canello cruiserweight stuff. Like it just, it doesn't interest me all that much because it would be kind of, you know, cherry picking a fifth title. I mean, he's going up and wait, but he'd be looking for just a chance to, you know, just add that belt to his resume. I'd rather Canelo now take that fight and then say to Smith and Better Beav, you two fight and say to Charlo and Benavides, you two fight. And, you know, whoever looks the best coming out of that, we'll fight in a blockbuster showdown in September.

You know, I don't expect that to happen, but, you know. I mean, I like this scenario where Conello becomes the commissioner of boxing, where he can just kind of like, what kills me, what kills all that, like, so for months, you know, I was operating at the belief that it would be Golofkin Marada in December, and I believe, it still believed Galafkin beats up Marada. And if Golofkin had two titles in December, it would have set up May pretty perfectly. Like, you know, the money would have to be worked out and have to be significant. but, you know, Golofkin, Canelo 3, still a marketable mainstream fight.

Golofkin pushing that fight back now to at least I've been told at least March, maybe even April, to fight Marada. That shelves that plan. So now, you know, it's looking more and more like it's going to be Charlo, which is fine. Charlo's undefeated. He can sell the fight. It'll do a good number on pay-per-view. But, I mean, I don't have any optimism he's going to win.

And that's large because I haven't seen him beat anybody at 160 or above that's even close to Canello's level. Yeah, I'm a little, I mean, I'm a little, I mean, I'm. I've thought for a little while that of the reasonable opponents for Canello that Jamal, just looking at his style and what he brings to the table, has one of the better chances to beat Canelo, of his reasonable opponents because of his adaptability, because of his jab, because of his ability to counterpunch with power. And people, you know, in Charlo's, people close to Charlo have told me, like, don't look at the Montiel fight, like, he fights Canello's going to get up for that.

Like, he'll really get up for that fight. But in addition to not facing. quality opponents the last five years, he has been inactive. He's only fought once a year, the last two years. So, like, that factors. Meanwhile, Canello was out there running through the super middleweight division 11 months. Like, he's sharp, and I'm not sure.

Like, if you had, if this had been like, you know, like four years ago, you know, when Charlo moved up to middleweight, when he fought Korabov, and I forget who else was there, Brandon Adams, kind of been that mix, if he had taken this fight like three years ago, I might have understood that a little bit. But now, I don't know. It depends if you believe that Charlo is going to be a better version of the the guy that we saw against Montiel, which was not a great version of Charlo. That's also what's scary about Canelo, and we don't often see this when a fighter has

reached the pinnacle of the sport in terms of it being its, it's high, its biggest draw. Usually when guys get to that point, they're kind of in the autumn of their career, because by the time you get to that point, like, it just takes that long to get to that point of marketability and notoriety that you're kind of on the down swing. What's scary about Canello is that I think you can make the argument that he's still an improving fighter every time that we've seen Canello over the last little while it seems like Canello has been a little bit better. And so this is not a situation where Canello's up there and he's getting a little bit older and there are these guys waiting to pick him off at the right time.

I don't know that that's the case. To your point, there's a possibility that Jamal maybe hasn't improved, but Canello is. And that's bad timing. That's that's a bad proposition for everyone that's in this Canello neighborhood hoping for that fight. Yeah, yeah, we'll see what happens. He's probably going to make a decision sometime the next couple of weeks. And, you know, listening to some of the interviews Eddie Hearn has done and talking to some people in Canello's orbit, it does seem to me like they're trending in that Charlo direction at this time. All right.

Let's talk about the fight coming up this weekend. Gary Russell Jr. Remember him? He is back. Back again for the first time since February of 2020 making what has been over the last six years, something of his annual in-ring appearance defending the WBC title. He has been championing. Corey since 2015.

He has defended that belt five times since then. This will be his sixth world title defense. I talked to Gary this week. I've got a soft spot for Gary Russell. Like I like Gary Russell. Me too. I just, I don't understand, like, I don't understand why he doesn't push to be more active.

Like when we talked, and I'm sure you've heard the same things, he's kind of put it on other fighters. Like he said, like Leo Santa Cruz didn't want to fight me. We were at 126. I tried to get a fight with Devin Haney last year. that didn't work out. Okay. At the same time, like, he's just hanging out.

Like, I asked him, like, what he does with all his time. He's like, I go to the gym. I'm like, all right. Well, that's like two hours a day. Like, what else? Like, I go hunting. I go hunting in my back, like, in my yard. Like, he's, so he's out there, you know, with his rifle and I don't know, I don't know

what they're hunting down in, for the mid-Atlantic area, but he's hunting. Um, but he hasn't, you know, he stayed at 126. He hasn't made really any effort to, to seek out. a lot of different opponents. There's been opportunities a popular guy. Like he had one loss to Facil Lomachenko.

He's an entertaining guy. He's got the Olympic background or the amateur background. I don't know. I guess the question is like, is it too late for Gary Russell? Like at 33 years old, has he missed his opportunity

to become the star? We kind of thought he was on his way to becoming back in 2015. So I think there's two ways to kind of attack that question. One is, because of how he's handled his career, how his career has been handled, will Gary Russell ever be as good as he could have possibly been?

And I think the answer is no, because I think during your prime athletic years, I do think it benefits fighters up to a certain point to be as active as possible. And Gary has missed out on those prime years. So I don't think that Gary will probably ever realize exactly how good he could possibly be. And then the other way to attack that question is will he accomplish as much as he could have possibly in his career? And the answer to that is also no, because he's wasted, you know, five, six, seven years of his career for the most part. And a lot of big fights have passed him up or he hasn't been able to go and get them. So I think in a general sense, no.

But I do think that there still is time for him to be, you know, the best 126 pounder in the world. Some might argue that on talent alone, he currently is. But if he gets what he wants, and we've heard this many times, if he gets what he wants and he fights three times this year or two times this year, whatever, that is still possible. So I think not everything is lost for Gary Russell if he can now pick it up. I think he could potentially take over a division, and that's a great career accomplishment.

But no, I think there will always be a little bit of what-if with Gary Russell. So how good could he have been and how much could he have accomplished? I think that he's left a lot of that behind over the last couple of years. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. I do think the window, though, is still open. And it's open this year only. Because I see some opportunity there for Gary Russell. Like, he's got this fight coming up against Mark McSayo.

Gary's going through a lot right now with his father dealing with health issues. He's talking about having some kind of nagging injury. into this fight. I'm not sure how serious that is. So we'll see what happens this Saturday. But if he gets through this fight, like, it's kind of, like Leo Santa Cruz is going to be there. Like Leo is going to fight at 130 in a couple of weeks. He says he's going to drop back down to 126 to reclaim his belt. Maybe he has to defend it against the winner of this upcoming fight between Lee Wood and Michael Conlon. Maybe he doesn't. But, you know, it's a pretty easy PBC fight to make with or without that title to see Russell go up against Santa Cruz.

And if I'm Russell, that's the fight I want. Like, Leo is still a pretty big name. And if he gets a good win coming up this weekend, that'll help erase some of the, you know, the stench from what happened against Jervante Davis. Like, that's a big win. And then, like, get creative out there. Like, I would love to see Gary Russell

before the end of the year face the winner of this pending fight between Kiko Martinez and Josh Warrington. Like, how great would it be to see Gary Russell go to the UK to face Josh Warrington? in his backyard. Like Russell, he showed me, Corey, early in his career, when he took that fight against Lomachenko, that he wasn't going to shy away from challenges.

That was, I think it was a purse-big kind of situation anyway, right? Because that's why Top Rank and PBC got together. Yeah. But a mandatory situation. So he's shown he's willing to kind of do what he has to do to make fights. But that would be like a great year. Like, he fights on Saturday. He beats Santa Cruz in the summer.

and he fights Josh Warrington in the UK, like that's an awesome year for Gary Russell. That would give him huge momentum going into 2023 when he could move up to 130 and take on any of a number of those guys. Well, and think about the other guys, the really exciting guys at 122 that could potentially come up. And yeah, as you mentioned, other names at 130, like on either side of 26 or a lot of intriguing fights for Gary Russell. And I want to make this point, too. I mean, number one, I want to make the distinction between what's happened with Gary Russell

in the past as far as his inactivity and what he's going through right now because this is, you know, everything that's going on in his personal life. I think we set that. That's a different thing from whatever has caused him to be inactive in the past. That's number one. But number two, the reason we're still talking about Gary Russell is because he's a special talent. Like there there are certain fighters when you watch them, you can see that they have something different. And Gary Russell, when you watch him, you're like, oh, this guy is 50% faster than most people I've seen before. And so he, you know, we're giving him this leeway and we care about seeing him again because I still believe him to be a special talent. Like I want to see Gary Russell more and more.

This isn't, this isn't a situation where some guys just holding a belt hostage. Like, I think that both me and you and fans out there, they want to see Gary Russell because when we have seen him in the past, when he was on that run coming up on Showtime, he looked like something that we don't often see. And I hope that whatever percentage of that Gary Russell is left in him, we get to see him a little bit more often. I agree. I agree. All right, let's talk about George Cambosis. I'm getting a little Cambosis weary, for lack of a better phrase. Like, I'm not even sure where these negotiations are between Cambosis and other contenders out there. But, you know, every time I scroll through the site that you write for, boxing scene,

it's like, Cambosis says this. Haney says this. Aram says. Aram says. Aram says. says this. Lomachenko wants this. I'm like, just everybody shut up and figure it out. Let's make a deal. It seems like it's down to Lomachenko or Devin Haney. You know, Lomachenko, from what I'm told, from Cambosa's side, would be the easier fight to make. Because Lomachenko is not going to price himself out. He's not going to push back on a lot of the demands that Cambossa's side has. Meanwhile, though, Haney, it seems like that's the fight they want. with Haney going down under to face Cambosis sometime in May. So as we sit here, Corey, with what we know,

what is the right move for George Cambosis? I think the right move is the one that makes him the most money. And so I'm just going to get, like I'm guessing here. I think that Lomachenko and Top Rank and ESPN need this fight less than DeZone does. I think DeZone wants that undisputed title on its network. And I think that they're probably willing, maybe, and I'm guessing here, I would think that they're willing to pay a little bit more, put a little bit more out there to make it happen than ESPN did.

Because Lomachenko is kind, he's an attraction all on his own. They can put him against anyone on ESPN and he has a cachet all on his own. He doesn't need that Cambosis win or the belts to come with it, I think, as desperately as Devin Haney does. I also think, and I'm not saying that this is necessarily the case, but I probably in Cambosus's mind, and probably if you were to poll most people in boxing, if you were, if you were to say, okay, rank these lightweights, Lomachenko, Jervante Davis, and Devin Haney, I think a lot of people would rank Devin Haney third. And so if you're Cambosis, you might think, okay, well, this is the fight that gives me potentially the most money. Devin has said that I'll agree to the demands.

I'll go to Australia. I can make this stadium fight. And maybe this is the easiest fight for me. And again, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with that. It seems to me like Devin checks most of the boxes for Cambosis. That's my read on the situation. I don't know what you think. Yeah, I see something similar.

I would add to that, like, if you're Cambosis and you're thinking long term, there are two things you have to remember. One is that DeZone is trying to crack the Australian market as we speak. And whether you win or lose, they would like it if you, they would probably like to use you in some capacity beyond, you know, these fights with Devnaity. And if you're affiliated with that, quote, side of the street, Ryan Garcia is out there too. And at some point, Ryan Garcia might be looking for a marketable opponent.

And whether as the undisputed champion or the former undisputed champion, Cambosa would have some real marketability. Whereas with Lomachenko, you would have probably two great fights. If you get the rematch clause, you would probably have two really good fights that make you a lot of money. But then I don't think that Top Rank would be invested in you or they'd want to have anything to do with you. Whereas, you know, with the hainy stuff, you'd probably be able to preserve a more longer term future. Yeah. Well, I hadn't really thought about it that way, too.

Just the future prospects, yeah, if he goes to ESPN, they don't need. need Cambosis. Like is top rank going to sign a co-promotional deal with Lou to, you know, hook him up for the future? Probably not. You know, they want that fight and they want his belts. Is Showtime going to give Cambosis a long-term deal? Probably not. But DeZone could, and they've shown already.

I mean, you know. I think they will. I mean, they rolled out the carpet for him in Vegas for that Haney fight. And they had him in every possible broadcast role imaginable. Like, they've shown him that if Cambosis went to the zone and said, all right, I'll do this, but I want a three-fight deal, he'd probably get it. And so he does have to think, and he's probably not going to think this way, but I think his management, Peter Kahn has to think down the road. What if he doesn't win, what happens to George then for his next two fights? And I think that DeZone probably provides the best

options for him, then certainly better, I would think, than ESPN and Showtime do right now. Yeah, I would agree with that. All right, keeping it with DeZone, they have a fight coming up in February with Jaime Mungia returning against Demetrius Ballard. You know, Corey, I've tried to be patient with Jaime Mungi, and I've actually defended him at multiple times when he moved up to 160 because Jaime was a title holder at 154, but he was always kind of a raw guy at 154. He won the title by just like,

it was like Cosmo Kramer against the smaller guys against Saddam Ali. Like he was just so much bigger than Saddam Ali. Like he just ran him over in that fight. against some decent guys, but, like, looked bad in some of those defenses. Like Dennis Hogan was a very close fight. So when he moved up to 160, I didn't blame him for not running into a fight with Demetrius Andrei. Like he was the WBO, you know, 154, he could have made himself mandatory at 160.

Andrew was clamoring to fight him. I didn't blame for holding off. But we are now four fights into his middle rate-weight run, and he's going to step in against a Demetrius Ballard who has really not done anything to, earn this type of opportunity. Ballard fought on the undercard of Mungia's last fight against Gabe Rosado and looked average against Paul Valenzuela, who in his next fight out, was just absolutely slaughtered by Ali Akamadoff. So take that for what it's worth on Valenzuela. So are we at the point where we should be criticizing Mungia for, you know, his choice of

opponents as we headed into 2022, his what, third year now, as a middleweight? Yeah, this is where you and I actually sometimes disagree. I think that I have a longer leash for fighters as far as when I will blame them for their opposition or their choices than maybe you do. And with Mugia, I can see it both ways. Like, remember when he was 20 years old or whatever, he wanted to step in and face Triple G on short notice when he was a kid. And that, you know, I always have that in the back of my mind because he showed me then, like, this guy is willing to fight whoever. I don't think he's afraid of anyone. And to this. day he's still trying to get a fight with Triple G as far-fetched as that may or may not be. He's still

talking about it. So if he wants to fight Triple G, I think he's probably willing to fight other guys. At the same time, you know, you and I have spent time with Jaime in the past, and we've talked to him. And one thing that I've always noticed about him is that, yes, he trains really hard, he takes the sport seriously. He kills himself to make weight. But he's never struck me as a guy that really loves boxing. He's told me, like, he doesn't watch boxing outside. Like, I don't, I don't know that there's a lot of desperation in Jaime Mungia. I think that there's still that 25-year-old in him who's just like, you know, fight whoever you tell me to fight. And I also do think, too, that we have to understand that, you know, he's a 25-year-old who's in a position with

Golden Boy, where, you know, they're probably promising him, hey, get through this fight and we'll get you the next one. And I think that the attitude that I've seen with Jaime just as a person is to be accepting of that. And maybe that's work to his detriment at this point. Maybe it's getting to the point where he's going to have to change that and say, all right, enough of this. Enough with the Demetrius Ballards. I need someone bigger than this. But that doesn't seem like his attitude in the past, you know? You got the wrong Demetrius in this fight. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. I look, I've talked to this in the podcast before. And I had Eric Gomez on from Golden Boy. And like Gomez said they're open to the idea of fighting Andrade.

I think they should have done it now. Like, Andre's out there looking for a major fight. And, you know, like, from what I've seen for Mungia, like, that's a 50-50, 60-40 type of fight maybe if you want to favor Andrade there. Like, Mungia's gotten really good. Like, he's a good fighter. Like, you know, he wasn't able to put down and out Gabe Rizado, but he just overwhelms you with punches.

Like to beat Jaime Mungia, you have to match that punch output. That's never really been Demetrius Andrei. bag. Like he's not a super high volume puncher. He's accurate. He's slick. He's tough to hit at times. But Mungia just hits you with waves. And he's got a chin. Like he can take some shots. Like he's taken some pretty good punches over his last few fights. So like, you know, I know they're chasing Golovkin. But like, does that ever really work? Like, you know, whatever some, like how many times we've seen Fighter X chasing Fighter Y and it never really worked out? Like it's the same thing we talk about earlier about earning opportunities. Like Mungia, you go out there. You go out there. You

beat Demetrius Andrade, Goloffin's going to come to you. Like, you're going to have another piece of that title and Gailofkin's going to want it and he's going to come to you looking for that opportunity. So, you know, I'm a little disappointed that we're not getting Mungia against Andrade this year, especially when Andrade's out there, as we talked about, kind of, wondering what's next for him if he has to go into another mandatory situation. Yeah, and it's disappointing too because I feel like, I feel like Mugia has found his sweet spot stylistically, too. Remember the Dennis Hogan fight and he was he was working with a different coach and they were they were trying to force this sort of defensive jabber mentality on him. Morales. Morales

has been the right guy for him. Just, you know, just throw that defense out the window. Let's just go all offense all the time. And that's what worked when he was 20 something years old. He was a force of nature. You know, he was just this, this kid. It was a youthful exuberance and the same motor that we see now. He's got the best motor in the 160 pound division, you know? And that's, and to go it back to the, to bring it back to the first topic. We saw Joe Smith make that adaptation as well. Around the Dimitri Bivol fight, he was averaging way under the light heavyweight limit or the light heavyweight average, excuse me, in terms of punchout.

He's in like the 40 punches per round territory. Over those last couple of fights, he's in like 80 punches per round territory. And it's good when you see fighters who are established and at a high level, still able to make changes to their game. And we've seen that with both Mungia and Joe Smith, where if they had stayed acting in the ring the way that they were before, we might not be talking about them at all right now, but they made changes to their

game, and I like when that's the case, because often we think of fighters, once we see them at a high level, like they're a finished product, you know, and that works in other sports, like you can look at analytics and baseball and you can say, okay, reasonably this guy's going to get roughly this number of hits,

that's what they are. In boxing, you do have the opportunity to change your game, and both Mungia and Smith have done that, and they put themselves in, in good opportunities to do it. But in Mungia's case, I think, yeah, he needs different fights to get where he wants to go. He's a good fighter.

I just want to have a chance to show it. And an Android fight would be very easy to make. And hopefully that, if a Glockton fight doesn't happen, I hope the Android fight happens in the first quarter, first half of 2022. All right, let's finish looking at the April 30th, let's call it the situation evolving on April 30th,

where you've got Shakur Stevenson, Oscar Valdez, excellent, 130-pound, identification fight, two of the top guys in that weight class. That is tentatively scheduled to be out in Las Vegas. On the same night, you have what is being billed as the biggest fight in women's boxing history between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. Now, normally, I think promoters are very prone to hyperbole, but I can kind of buy into that, Corey, that's the biggest fight in women's boxing history.

You've got the Undisputed Championship on the line, two top three pound for pound women, both who are very visible going at it. It's going to be fought probably in the big room at Madsacquare Garden. Let's start here. If you look at these two events, what's the bigger one? It's Taylor Serrano. It's Taylor Serrano. I mean, both because of its historical precedent,

I mean, not only are these, you know, two of the three top pound-for-pound women in the sport right now, but by the time they retire, this is probably a match-up of two of the greatest women's boxers ever. You know, nothing that Shakur involved is, can do can match up to that kind of mystique and the historical precedents on the side of Taylor and Serrano and just generally like those fights don't happen that often and we have to take that into consideration and also stylistically I think it would be a tremendous fight and I think

people and even if you want to look at it from a marketing perspective I think people consistently undersell Katie Taylor in terms of how popular she had this is not too many boxers can say that they are a national hero. And Katie Taylor is one of them. And I think that sometimes even her own promoters kind of undersell that. She's always in the co-feature slot, and it's like Connor Ben above her. But Katie Taylor is a legitimate draw. And if you put that in Madison Square Garden, it's going to be a massive event.

And we know that Jake Paul is going to be attached to it in some fashion. And particularly, if he fights on the undercard, that's just, that's a bigger event than Shakur and Valdez. in every metric, I would say, even if you want to see Shakur involved as fight more than you want to see Katie and Amanda Serrano fight, I think you have to concede that Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano is the bigger fight. Yeah, it's just a landmark event for women's boxing.

And women's boxing is in a pretty good place right now. Like, I just did my pound for pound list over at side.com. And like, in addition to, like, ranking the top. pound for pound women. Like most of these women have kind of big fights ahead of them. And we talked about Taylor Serrano. At some point this year, we're going to get Cloresa Shields against Savannah Marshall, which has the built-in storyline of Savannah Marshall being the last woman boxer to beat

Clarissa Shield. She did back in the amateur ranks in 2012. Savannah Marshall also, I mean, I don't know like how powerful she is, but she's got like nine knockouts and 11 fights. So like that's not nothing. Like that's real. that she's that kind of power that she's showcasing out there. You go to even the smaller weights, like Senisa Estrada is knocking women out at 105.

She's got maybe a fight, rematch with Marlon Esparsa. That would do, you know, headlining type of business in Southern California. Like we're, this could be the year, Corey, where like we have a lot more women's boxing main events on networks, whether it's showtime, Fox, the zone, whatever it may be. You know, before it sometimes was like the aberrational. I remember when Cloressa headlined, and it was like women's boxing headlining a showtime card. It's a big deal. It's less of a big deal now because these are good fights. Like these are all, I just named three of them.

You could probably name two more that are, you know, high-level fights worthy of med, of headlining big-time events. Yeah. And, of course, we have that kind of informal tournament that was going on at 140 as well. Yeah, yeah. With Jessica McCaskill lurking out there. Yeah, of course. And I got to say, too, there are no better on the,

line fuse than in women's boxing right now. Michaela Mayor and Alicia Baumgartner, Clarissa and Savannah Marshall. Michael Mayor is just throwing like, Michael Mayor is just taking the shotgun out to aim and everywhere. She had to Katie Taylor the other day. Oh, yeah. He's like, uh, didn't really adapt to the pro style. Love her, but didn't adapt to the pro style.

McCaskill and Rick Ramos are calling out everybody all day. Like, they, in terms of building fights through just trash talk, women's boxing is blowing men's boxing out of the water. And they're making their intent is very clear. everyone's agreeing with. No one's like, oh, fight someone else and then come up. You know, like the people who should be fighting one another are calling one another out. It's entertaining. And then those fights are actually happening. And like women's boxing is what boxing should be just on a broader sense.

What we're seeing right now is the way that we would like the sport to function. And it's great to watch. You know what? Let me ask you this. Are you a proponent of three minute rounds in women's boxing? Yes. I am because I feel like people who are opposing it are generally doing it as a way to keep women's boxing purses down. The people who are saying, no, no, no, no, it should be two minutes. Sometimes they'll argue, oh, well, if it's three minutes, they won't get paid more.

Well, you're the one that's paying them. It's always this built-in thing that is holding women. It's always the excuse. well, they don't get paid more because they only fight two minute rounds. And the junk science that the WBC has floated out there about why women can get. I'm glad you said that. It's totally junk science. They're just,

they're basically Googling stuff. Yeah, exactly. So I think that, listen, even if you find two minute rounds entertaining, women should have the choice to fight three minute rounds if they want because it is the main tactic right now that is being utilized to pay women less. And that needs to be eliminated, straight up. I agree.

and look, one of the, in addition to keeping the pay down, one of the things I think that's keeping women's boxing from being more entertaining and having more knockouts is not having that extra minute. Like, we've probably both seen several fights where one woman had another woman hurt and the bell ranked end of two minutes. Like if she had an extra 30 seconds, I go back to, I always bring this up, but Amanda Serrano, Heather Hardy, MSG, first round. Amanda Serrano had Heather Hardy,

badly hurt. And the bell ranked in that first round at two minutes. If she had an extra 30 seconds, Heather Hardy was done in that fight. And that's the kind of thing that gives you a spring. Like you get that highlight real knockout. You get on social media, on TV. You're all over the place with that type of performance. Instead of usually get these decisions, which, you know, while productive,

don't have the same effect. So more money, more knockouts. That's the thing that's going to take women's box to the next level. in my mind. Yeah, I agree. You know, I mean, I hate like getting on the air and saying, like, I'll tell you what I want. I want women to get knocked out more often. But I mean, the reality is, someone will say that to you. Like, Cloressa's done a, I don't know where she stands to this now. Cloressa's gone back and forth and this a couple of times in my conversation. I know Sanisa Estrada is a big fan of it, but she talked about that on his own a few times. I think her next

fight's actually going to be with three-minute rounds, unification fight at 105. Barland Asparza, she's been for it in the past as well. So there's a movement for it amongst, uh, some women. I just think you need to have all the women get on board because I guess, and I'm just sort of, they can just decide, right? Like if two women agree to have three minute rounds, like there's nothing stopping them from it at this point. Yeah, unless I believe, and the WBC just will not sanction it. So if you're a WBC title holder, I just think they won't allow it. But it will they do it for the franchise title. What if the franchise title? Yeah, maybe, maybe they changed the rules. But commissions don't care. Commissions will make,

No. They'll make it three minutes. They don't care. And, and yeah, to your point, I mean, like, these, the social media highlight reels for the majority of fans are what they watch more than actual fights. And the more that we can give them that said, hey, look at this spectacular woman. You want to, you want to see her fight. That helps. You know, like, it's, I'm not saying, again, I'm not going to be like, I would like to see people get knocked out more often because I care about fighter safety. But the reality. 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're 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 in sports and entertainment. And the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

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Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence.

Yes. 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 for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it 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 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 Blow Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. That's what people tune in to see. That's what the sport is. And women deserve the agency to take the same risks that men do. And then as a result of that, get paid equally. By the way, to bring it full circle, there's an easy fix to this Top Rag show, Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Show. You have Matchroom say to Top Rag.

Like, we will walk our main event no later than 11 o'clock. and you have TopRank, say, just doing their fight out in Vegas, say, we will walk our main event no earlier than midnight. And I would think that'd be fine with TopRank, because Top Rank, Todd Dubov's got this weird thing. I've had this conversation with him where he just kind of believes that there's really no, and I've heard him say something to this effect. Like there's, it's never too late to start an event, basically.

Like if you start, like, they don't mind starting like 1230, some of their main events. Like they just believe the numbers back them up on that one. So that should be fine. So Taylor Serrano, Start 11. Chagora Valdez starts at 12, everybody wins. Big winners.

Exactly. Yeah. Hey, listen, we had Canello sit on a couch for a little. No, we don't talk about that anymore. We're done with that. We're done. Let's, let's, we'll put a pin in that right now. Corey, good stuff, man.

Always good to catch up with you. Thanks for joining me. Thanks, man. When we come back, my conversation with Gary Russell. Millions of Americans are getting back to work. Career Builder calls it the great rehire. And we want to help you get the best jobs before everyone else.

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as two hours. To place your first bet risk-free, just sign up with the promo code boxing and make every fight night mean more with the Fandual Sportsbook app. All right, Gary Russell Jr. is the WBC featherweight champion. On January 22nd, you will defend his title when it takes on Mark Buxio. That's a fight you can see exclusively on Showtime. Gary joins me here on the show. Gary, before we get into boxing, I was sorry to hear about the health problems of your father. First and foremost, How is he doing and how is your family doing with those issues? My father, he's doing the best of the game.

As far as the family, we're as good as we can possibly be at this point. You know, no surrender, no retreat, full progression by any means necessary. Things hasn't been good with my pops, man. He has the diabetes. He got the foot amputated, you know, and every. It's been a little hassle. It's been challenging, you know, but we're one of those type of families that always kind of got it from the mud. Nothing never came easy to us. We always had to work for everything that we got, you know, and, you know, we're grateful for. Yeah, for people that don't know everything about your father, I mean, he's the boxing patriarch in addition to being the patriarch in your family. Like, I mean, you know, training you, your brothers. What, what? What has he meant to you as a boxer over the years?

Man, he's been a lot. He's been a lot to me as has been a fighter over the years. You know, he's been my only coach. A lot of these guys that's in a sport of boxing that's competing right now. They already had a product. You know, they had multiple coaches. They already had somewhere of a foundation started. Even with the guy Mark Misciho that I'm about to compete again,

he had a foundation, you know, already somewhat developed. And then he linked up with Freddie Roach, you know. Freddie Roach is trying to make the best of what he can do with Mark. As far as my dad goes, he was the one that created this product. He's the one that created this monster. You know, it's very few people to create two Olympians and now the longest reigning world champion than a sport of boxing today. You know, we've never been touched by any other than my father.

I think that speaks volumes on his skill set and his hitting him training, you know, as a coach. You know, that matters. In the grand scheme of things, it's not important. Your father's health is first and foremost. But training for a big fight, a world title defense. Do you feel as prepared as you possibly can be given what you've had to kind of, to navigate over the last couple of months? Not 100%, but I've never been 100% in any of my fights, to be honest, but you know,

there's always been something. A tweaked hand or shoulder or ankles or something. There's always been something. You know, I've never truly been 100% in any of my fights that I've competed in. But once again, no whining, no complaining. We're going to make the best of whatever the situation is. I believe that my skill set is second to none. My speed, my ring generalship, my boxing IQ,

I think it plays a big big factor, you know, as well as the experience that I have accumulated over the years. You know, my level of competition that I've been competing against has been much higher than these guys that's supposed to, to be in the upper ancelot in the sport. You know, you are a really interesting guy, Gary, because you're right. Your skill set is high.

Your speed is incredible. You're a popular guy in terms of being in the ring. But since 2015, when you won that title, you've had five world title defenses. So I know it's kind of a broad question and probably has multiple answers. But why have you been as inactive as you've been? Because motherfuckers don't want to fight me.

It's just that simple. It ain't got nothing to do with me. I'm one of them guys that's been willing to fight whenever, whoever, wherever. You know, it's been difficult to find a dance partner. Why is it that I've been a champion this long, but I have a have a unification match. That matters. You know, you have multiple guys that's been in the division that I've been competing against or competing in. And none of these guys, when Leo Santa Cruz has been in the same.

division with me for multiple years. You know, it didn't happen. You have a Carl Frampton. You have Lee Salesby. You know, you had all these guys that's supposed to have been doing something at the time when I was competing, and none of these guys wouldn't have stepped in the ring against it's a reason for that. You know, you're obviously training all the time to stay in the kind of shape you need to be in to be world champion. But like before COVID, Gary, like I wanted to come down to your neck of the woods and just see what Gary Russell does like all the time. Like you get your one fight in a year. Like, what do you do?

I'm still in the gym. I don't train as if I'm getting ready for an actual fight, but I'm still in the gym. I think it's a lifestyle for me. Boxing is something that I love, but it's definitely more so of a lifestyle. You know, I want for my friends, my family, you know, and et cetera. I would want for them to stay in a certain level of conditioning in general.

I ask people all the time, what if you had to run three miles to save your life? Would you be able to do so? Would you be able to do so? I'm one of the type of people that wants to always be physically fit enough to be able to do that. And because I have multiple children, I want to be able to do it with baggage and luggage. You know, that matters to me, you know, and it's one thing to say is another thing to live by example to actually show it. you know and that's that's where I am. If I get irritated, if I'm getting, if things aren't going right in my day

or things not going right in my life, I balance the bullshit that goes on in my world with substance. You know, I'm going to go to the gym. The gym is my wussar. That's my wussar. That's my same place. You know, so I think that plays a big factor. Even when the conclusion of my career is open, done with, I'm one of the type of guys that still be in the gym working out.

I'm one of those guys that are still trying to get a little bit of sparring in here and there if I can. And giving out some of these jewels that I've gotten from the sport and trying to pass it on to that next generation. What are your other interests, though? Like, I had heard once that, I mean, do you run, like, buildings? Do you own buildings down in your area? Like, what kind of, what besides being in the gym, what occupies your time, where you put your money, your other interests? Well, I prefer not to elaborate on where I put my money. All right.

The other things you do with your time, you know what I mean? Man, my babies. My babies. And I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. COVID, when COVID hit, it showed me just how prepared I was for things like that. Why? I'm one of the time.

Because I like to be self-sufficient, you know. I'm one of type of people, and I want my babies to be self-sufficient. I don't want them to have to depend on society. You know, I want them to be able to use their wit, you know, their smarts and the information that's been given to them, you know. So it was so crazy that when it hit and everything happened, they couldn't get to the grocery stores and stuff like that. We had already started our own garden.

You know, I had my babies. They had that, they got their own garden and everything. They had watermelon, strawberries, mustard greens, collard greens, kale, you know, what else they have? Cucumbers, you know, so they, they was growing their own garden. I'm a hunter. I like the hunt. So even on Thanksgiving and stuff like that, you know, instead of going to the grocery store to buy turkey, you know, I have turkey on my land, you know. So, you know, I hunt.

And last Thanksgiving or two, the turkeys that we ate was turkeys that I actually harvest myself. Cirgues that I caught, or I was. Of course. Really? That I didn't kill myself. Hell yeah. You know, I've never been self-sufficient, you know. And it showed me just how prepared we were for a situation like that.

I'm definitely a hunter. You know, as deer is real indigenous to where we are. they're all on my land and everything else. So, you know, I'll hunt deer. I got a couple toys. Yeah, I got a couple toys, but I like to hunt. I like to spend time my family. I prefer to give my babies the information that they need

that I feel is those a necessity for life. You know, that's the stuff that I honestly would like to do. You know, when I'm on my free time, you can catch me in the woods, you can catch me in the field. you can catch me hunting. You probably catch me doing some paintballing. We'll go paintballing. You know, we'll go paintball and we go get them the go cars.

We'll go go go cotton. Or in the ATVs, we'll definitely play around with the ATVs. I'm a man's man. You know, I'd never do stuff like that. What would you say to other boxers, and we heard this from Devin Haney, among others, that just don't believe you want to fight, that believe you want to get your one fight in per year, collect a paycheck, and be done with it?

I don't pay with anyone else says any mind, you know, tell them to get in the ring and fight them. Tell them, them, them, them, them fighters. And that's so funny that you made that statement because right when the pandemic hit, I was the one that was making a call reaching out to Bill Haney, telling him, let's make a fight happen. There's a whole pandemic going on. it'd be crazy if I move up. Ain't nobody, apparently at the time,

Devin Haney wasn't getting any fights. No one was really willing to step in the ring and unify the division or anything like that with me. So shit, why not? Let's make a fight happen. We could possibly make X amount of dollars. I was the one that was reaching out to them trying to make a fight. It wasn't the other way around.

You know, but it never materialized into anything. Before I let you go, I mean, as we sit here talking right before your upcoming fight against Megzio, how likely is it that we're doing the same thing next year? I mean, do you believe that this is the year you get multiple fights in, you get a unification fight, maybe move up? I don't know, whatever it is, do you believe this is a year that you're going to fight multiple times? I hope so. I hope so. I genuinely hope so.

I think that we got good chances at that. You know, the fact that we're competing in the first month of the year, you know, God willing, we don't have, you know, we get out of injury free. You know, we never overlook anyone or underestimate anyone, but God willing, we get through it injury free. I believe that we should be able to circle back around come to, come the middle of the year and get a match in. and we should be able to finish the year.

I was strong as well, as well, too. You know, so hopefully we can get three in this year. I've been, I've been willing to compete. It hasn't been because of me. You know, it's just been difficult to get someone else in the ring to compete against me. He's supposed to Fort Ray Vulgus about a year ago, the WBC mandated him to be one of the challengers, and guess what happened?

Nothing. He ended up fighting on Canelo's undercard. You know, so I'm not. I don't know. And then one of the stories behind that was because he broke it. He had a broken leg. That's why he was all for X amount of time. And word around town was he just really wasn't feeling too confident and is getting back in the ring after a two-year layoff fighting Mr. Gary Russell Jr.

It could have been really true, you know, so I don't know. I don't cry ever spilled milk. I wish we can compete more often or more frequent. But, you know, hopefully we can make it happen in 20. 2022. 2021 was a wild year for us, you know. So hopefully we can make up for it in 2022. I hope so as well, Gary.

You're a lot of fun to watch in the ring. Thanks for joining me, man. And my best of your family, got to meet some of them at the 2016 Olympics when your brother fought down there and down in Rio. So I hope everything works out for your dad, man. Man, thank you, man. I appreciate it, man. Some things in life, man, is inevitable.

Oh, man. So we don't cry with spilled milk. Just like I tell everybody. Life is like boxing. You got to keep your chin down and your hands up. And find when you got to open it. Life is going to throw punches out just from all ways, shapes, and form. You got it, Gary.

Appreciate your time, man. All right, you too, man. When we come back, this week's picks, courtesy of Fanduel. Okay, time now for this week's picks, brought to you by our friends over at Fandul. And this week, I am focused on Saturday's fight between Gary Russell, Jr. and Mark Megsayo, 126-pound world title fight taking place down in Atlantic City. Now, normally, I wouldn't have any hesitation in picking Gary Russell, but this is not a normal

situation for Russell. For starters, he has not fought since February of 2020. It's almost two years Russell has been out of the ring. And even though he's often been limited to one fight per year, that's a pretty long layoff for anyone, especially a boxer who's now 33 years old. During that same time, Meg Sayo has fought three times. So he is going to be the sharper fighter when he gets into the ring. Russell has also had some outside the ring issues.

His father, Gary Russell Sr., who's also trainer, he has been dealing with some health issues to the point where Russell says he has basically been training himself for this fight. And on top of that, Russell has been kind of cryptic about an injury that he's been dealing with in the buildup to this fight. I am going to pick the upset in this one. I'm taking Mark Megsayo to win. Right now, Megsai was plus 300.

He has never faced anyone on Russell's level, but he is pretty good. He's trained by Freddie Roach, and I think he comes away with the upset. Now, how does he do it? Right now, the best odds are for Megsayo by decision. They are plus 750 over at Fandul. And even though he's got some pop, I think Megsio ultimately outboxes Gary Russell and wins this fight by decision. Meg Cyro to win and to do it by decision. Those are my picks of the week, courtesy of fandom.

That's it for this week's episode. My thanks to Corey Erdman and Gary Russell for joining the show. As always, subscribe, rate, review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you download podcast. And I'll see you next week. 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 me. make you funnier. This week, my guest,

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