The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Boxing with Chris Mannix - Keith Idec is back

Episode Date: June 17, 2022

Chris and Keith get together to break down the biggest stories in the world of boxing from the last week. Later, Chris gives you his best bets for Artur Beterbiev v Joe Smith Jr. #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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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. Keith Ideck is back. Senior Writer over at Boxing Scene.com. He was just at the Archer BetterBev Joe Smith Press Conference. That fight can be seen on Saturday.

at the theater at Mass Square Garden and on ESPN. And Keith, you will be pleased to know that I will be there for that fight. I'm getting on the Amtrak on Friday, and I am going to New York City for Better BF Smith. Wow. So what happens if it goes to seven games? That's not going to affect you in any way? No, I'm, if Celtics Warriors go seven,

I'm going to fly to San Francisco on Sunday morning. Ah, look at you. This is two live non-de-zone boxing events that I'm going to see Chris Manix at in less than a month. It is a miracle. That's right. I was at Tank Davis, Roli Romero, Archer, Better BF, Joe Smith. Who knows?

Maybe I'll show up at like a club show in South Florida at some point. Just popping in left and right, ready to go. Maybe I'll go out to California and see Chop Chop Corley back in action. I think he's like 73 in getting ready to fight at Welterweight. Devin Alexander. Devin Alexander, I think. It's like it's 2004, you know. Somebody's going to stop, chop, chop, chop, coolly from fighting.

Like, that just has to stop. I don't care if he's fighting Devin Alexander. He needs to stop fighting. All right, a lot to get into with you, Keith. And we are going to talk about Better B.F. Smith, which is a fantastic fight. You know, must see TV for as long as it lasts. But I want to look back to a couple of fights we saw this past weekend. In New York City, you had Edgar Berlanga winning a decision.

against Romer and Gulo. He won decisively on the scorecards, but it was a fourth straight opponent that went the distance with Edgar Berlanga, who has not looked like the power punching potential star that we saw for his first 16 fights when he picked up all those first round knockouts. What did you think of Berlanga's performance,

which included a Mike Tyson-esque bite of the shoulder of Roma Romero, Romer Aguolo, that could have gotten him disqualified if the referee had seen it the way it transpired. Yeah, and I think the only reason he wasn't admonished during the fight, Chris, was because Ricky Gonzalez, the referee, did not see him do it.

Where he was positioned, he was trying to separate them and he didn't see Berlanga try to bite him. Or he would have, I'm assuming, he would have taken a point away from him at that point. I mean, how could you not, really? It's such a rare occurrence. I think that's going to draw a suspension

and or a fine, probably a suspension and a fine from the New York State Athletic Commission and rightfully so. So Berlanga won't be able to fight in New York probably for about six months if I had to guess. The performance itself, I thought the fight was closer than they had it on the scorecards. Chris, they had it, I think it was 99, 91 on two scorecards and 9992 on the other. I thought it was a closer fight than that. I had it 96, 94 for Belanga at ringside. You know, sometimes at ring side you get a different look than you get on television maybe it was a little wider on TV but I didn't think that he won but I wasn't all that surprised that he didn't knock out alexus and gulo because angulo while he's been stopped once by david benavides it wasn't a clean knockout the fight

was stopped after it was a very one-sided fight that was stopped after the 10th round it wasn't a situation where he got blasted out of there by benavides or you know or knocked down several times or anything so he's a pretty durable guy so I'm not really surprised that he went the distance and he's a pretty even though he's 38 years old, he's a pretty big puncher. So I think Berlanga had to be careful with him to some extent. He worked with a new trainer for the first time in Juan Delione. I think his conditioning was better because he seemed to be more active in the later rounds and more willing to box in the later rounds.

And he was against Steve Rolls, who's a much lesser puncher. And I think a lot of the criticism from the Rolls fight is that he didn't try to get Steve rolls out of there in the later rounds. I think he had a little more, a little better conditioning in this fight. What I would say, Chris, about Berlanga is I think because he knocked out his first 16 opponents in the first round, there may be some unrealistic expectations attached to his name. And that's going to come when you when you have a lot of hype. I mean, that's kind of what happens. So while he's not as good as maybe people were trying to make him out to be when he knocked out 16 guys in the first round in a row, he's not as bad maybe as people are making it seem to be at this point either.

Yeah, that's a good way to put it, you know, because now the tide is completely turned against him. People are saying, oh, well, you can't knock out Steve Rolls, you go the distance with Angulo. You know, maybe you're not this heavily high prospect or not as good as this heavily high prospect that was coming up the ranks. When the reality is he's winning these fights by wide decisions. You know, he beats up Steve Rolls. He does get knocked down against Cossaris, two fights earlier, but he got up to win that fight rather conventionally. So it's not like he's in danger of losing many of these fights, but maybe he's not,

maybe he's not the kind of puncher we thought he was going to be. Maybe we kind of thought he was going to be a Benavides like puncher or a better be of like puncher in his weight class. I'm not sure he's that or ever going to be that. And I guess my take on the future of Berlang is like they talk a lot about the Jesse Hart fight that's been discussed for over a year. I really like that fight for Burland. It's kind of a sink or swim type of fight.

I mean, Jesse Hart's only lost at the highest level. Zerta Ramirez, Joe Smith. He's not great by any stretch. But if Jesse Hart can make 168, I'd make that fight and see what Burlang has got. What do you think of a fight with Jesse Hart? I know that's a fight that Top Rank is very interested in making. They wanted to make it for this past Saturday night. They wanted to make it for March 19th.

I mean, they've been trying to make that fight for a while. Top rank used to be Jesse Hart's promoter, of course. Bob Aram has an affection for Jesse Hart because he's cyclone Hart's son. And they work with him for a long time. And his, you know, his loss is a respectable loss to two points losses to go to Goberto Ramirez and Joe Smith, who later became the WBO light heavyweight champion. So there's no shame in the losses on Jesse Hart's record. Jesse Hart's a back end of the top 15 type of contender probably.

And if you're Edgar Berlanga and you can't beat Jesse Hart, well, then where are you going really? So that's a reasonable test for him to take. I've been led to believe that that will not be the next fight for Edgar Belango, although it's a fight that I know top rank wants. We'll have to see how it plays out here over the next few months because he won't fight until December at the earliest because I mentioned earlier, Chris, he's probably going to be suspended by the New York State Athletic Commission for six months. He could potentially fight in Puerto Rico maybe in December,

but maybe he doesn't fight until the beginning of 2023. So you want to see him take these incremental steps up in a point. but you know at at this point edgar berlanga is i guess you know a back end of the top 15 type of contender i guess i mean he's not certainly not david benavides uh or a fighter anywhere near on that level and i think you know his his handlers realize that and they want to be careful and moving him forward um you know there's there's some push and pull i guess or or a tug of war so to speak the top rank in terms of how quickly they step him up to the level of opponents at top rank wants to see him fight. And I think that's what we'll see play out over the next few months.

I think it's time. And like you're not putting him in with David Benavita. You're putting him in with Jesse Hart. Like Jesse Hart is a good fighter, but not some super power puncher. He's awkward. I think that's the fight where we see if Burlang is ready for top level opponents. And at some point he's going to have to face a Jesse Hart, whether it's next fight, the fight after that. He's got to get in the ring with somebody either Hart or of that ilk. So whoever's against it, Berlanga,

his manager, Keith Conley, his training team. I understand. Maybe you want to get a second fight with your new trainer to continue to develop

chemistry with him, but it's time. Gregor Belanga to step up and take a legitimate fight or legitimate top 15, top 20 type of opponent. Also on Saturday, Keith, we had Jaime Mungia

beating up on the latest overmatched opponent that has been put in front of Jaime Mungia. Jimmy Kelly fought well for four rounds. I thought he kind of confused Burlanga.

I thought he kind of confused Mungia, tagged him a few times, but then Mungia turned on the Jets in the fifth round, knocked Jimmy Kelly down three times, and eventually the fight was waved off. I don't even want to talk about the fight itself, Keith, because it was what it was. But, you know, look,

Mungia's out there now kind of being more proactive about calling out people. He called out Jermal Charlo. We both know that was a fight that was discussed and even agreed to financially before network issues, you know, through that in the garbage can. You know, how confident are you

we're going to see Jaime Mungia in with a top level guy? Because my biggest fear, Keith, is that Mungia can't get a Charlo fight. He moves up to 168. Then we start this process all over again. If him getting adjusted to a new weight with a bunch of, you know, inferior opponents, and it's like another two years

before we even get close to a Jaime Mungia fight against the top guy at super middle weight. So how do you feel about Mungia taking on a top guy in his next fight. Well, I hope he's serious about wanting to fight a top middleweight in his next fight, Chris, but I don't have a ton of confidence in it in the sense that, you know, he had opportunities to fight for world titles multiple times. And for one reason or another, whoever you want to blame, whether you want to blame Golden Boy Promotions or Zan for Boxing or Jaime Mungia himself or anyone else who's involved in his career, because there are a lot of people chirping in his ear.

Whoever you want to blame, the bottom line is he could have fought Demetrius Andrade for the WBO title. He could have fought Dramal Charlo for the WBC title. He could have fought Janubek, Emily, and whatever his last name is. Let's just call him Janubeck. They could call Janibach. Right. He could have fought him for the vacant WBO title once Demetrius André moved up to fight Zach Parker.

He could have fought Carlos Adamas and a WBC Eliminator, which of course is a fight that could have been skipped if he just would have fought Dramal Charlo to begin with. That's a lot of opportunities to pass up. Now, he and his team can blame whoever they want for these fights falling apart. But they are the common denominator in all of these instances when he could have fought either for world titles or in world title eliminators at 160 pounds. So if he really wants the fights and really wants to make these fights happen, it's incumbent on him to make these fights happen next.

Because really, what is the point of continually fighting guys, you know, like Jimmy Kelly? And even if he would have fought Shane Mosley Jr. who's done some decent things in recent years and everything. And obviously he's Shane Mosley's son. He's a bit of a name and he has shown some improvement. Is that a big fight? Is that something that he should be aspiring to do at a catchweight between 160 and 168? I just want to see him.

Look, the thing that I don't understand, Chris, is this is a guy who four years ago was willing to fight Ganadi Golovkin. And if Bob Bennett, then the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, did not step in. and turn down that fight and not allow them to make that fight. He would have fought Golovkin four years ago. So I don't, I have a hard time believing it's him specifically that wouldn't want it. I mean, he was ready to fight Golovkin long before Golovkin turned 40 years old.

So why would he now not, I understand the Andrew, you know, we mentioned Andrade on this podcast oftentimes, Chris. I mean, he's a, he's a six one Southball. And I understand why people don't want to fight him. But you don't want to fight Charlo either. and you don't want to fight Carlos Adamas

and you don't want to fight Janubek. I mean, that's a lot of guys that you don't want to fight. Who do you want to fight? And when? Yeah. I mean, look, he says, look, forget the eliminators. He could have had the Andrade fight anytime in the last three years. Any time.

Andrea was sitting up there saying, I'll give him the shot. He was willing to take less money. Like, he was willing to do whatever it took to get Jaime Mungia in the ring with him. That opportunity to fight for a middleweight title has been there waiting for him. Quite frankly, is still there waiting for him. I don't know what Andrade's going to. do next. But technically he's still the WBO's a middleweight champion. Maybe he convinced the WBO to let him fight Mungia. And then the winner would have to fight Janubek. But like, there's opportunity

out there to fight Demetrius Andrade. He messaged me after that last fight and said, look, I'm 34 years old. How old do Oscar Delahoya and Eric Gomez need me to get before they put Mungia in with me? And I agree with them. Like, it's a fight. And by the way, again, not to go down the Android rabbit hole, but like I might favor Mungia in that fight at this point. Mungia is really good. Like, he's become a really good fighter. He's a volume puncher. He's got a good chin.

He's never going to be a great defensive fighter, but you don't really need to be when you are that good and that active offensively. So it's not like that's a fight where he would be overmatched in. I don't understand it, all that. And like, I mean, I love the idea of making a Charlo fight. You know, Mungi had the sound bite, stop hiding behind Al-Haman, though that didn't really make any sense since they made a deal financially for. for the fight.

I just, I don't know how it happens. Like, I don't see DeZone and Showtime reaching a deal that allows that fight to move forward. So I have, I don't know about you, but I don't have any confidence we'll see Mungia in with Jamal Charlo. No, and that's unfortunate because it is a fight that I think people were interested in watching. It's not a, look, the bottom line is whoever, again, whoever you want to blame,

the way it was explained to me is there was a deal in place. And then, you know, Mungia's side, came back and said, hey, you know, we need to do a joint pay-per-view with DeZone. And the fight shouldn't be on pay-per-view no matter who's distributing it, whether it's Showtime, DeZone, top rank, it really makes no difference. That is not a pay-per-view fight, but the money supposedly was there to put that fight on Showtime. So, you know, put it on Showtime, put it on DeZone, whatever the case might be. Don't try to charge people. It's a good fight, and it's an interesting fight. It's not a fight that people should be asked to go in their pockets for $75 to watch.

That doesn't stop them oftentimes. But I hope it's a fight that can be made, but I don't have a lot of confidence in that, to be honest with you. So where does Mongia go? I mean, it's a great question, Chris. And it's a question that if I'm him, I want that question answered because how long are you? Now, the one thing is he is a draw. I mean, you were there in Anaheim, the other, he draws fans.

He's an entertaining fighter. And people have taken to him. And I know he does, from what I've been led to believe, and you would be more privy to this than me, that he does pretty good numbers on the zone when he fights. I mean, he's an interesting guy. There's a reason, Keith, there's a reason they're paying him $2 million. That was his purse for the last fight. Like, he does good numbers.

That's why, like, I don't know how you get it done, but I don't blame either network that is involved with Mungia and Charlo for demanding to be involved. Because both networks have invested a lot of money in those respected fighters and they want the payoff. So, you know, like my, it's an objective solution that will never happen. But like, you make it a small pay-per-view where it's like $30 or $50 or something like that just to get it over the finish line. Because nobody wants to see Charlo against Seleski. Nobody wants to see that. Nobody wants to see, you know, Mungia against 168-pound version of Jimmy Kelly. Like, you just don't want to see it.

So, you know, I think boxing fans would be willing to go into their pockets for a small amount just to get that fight over the finish line. The problem, unfortunately, Chris, and I agree with you, if there were a lower price point for pay-per-views in the United States, like, okay, when Earl Spence fights Terrence Crawford, it looks like that's going to happen, fortunately for us later this year, okay, charge $75 for that. But if you, for some reason, needs to make Jaime Mungia against Jamal Charlo a pay-per-view, we'll make it $30 or $35 or what, you know, people might be more apt to go into their pocket for that type of money as opposed to $75 or $80. I mean, it's just not worth that to the American viewer, I don't think. So like in the UK, when you said when they're obviously well aware of the price points here in the United States, but fans in the UK, you know, they're paying 20 pounds or 25 pounds for what they consider the highest. Anytime Anthony Joshua fights in the UK, obviously, it's an enormous event. But they're still only paying, you know, 20 pounds, 25 pounds.

They're not paying, you know, whatever the equivalent would be with the exchange rate for, in U.S. dollars. They're not paying anywhere close to that for even what they consider the most marquee events. So the pay-per-view price points have just gotten so out of control in the United States. There's no real turning back from it. And the way it's been explained to me by experts in pay-per-view is, you know, if you start charging $25 or $30, you're kind of diminishing the product and saying it's a lesser event because this one's only worth $30 as opposed to the next one being worth $70. I don't know. I mean, that's...

You think fans can't realize that by looking at it? Right, right. If you charge 70, they won't pay it. Or 75, they won't buy it anyway, so... Yeah, I don't know. I don't know that... I have no confidence will happen. I have a feeling we're going to see Mungia

against Shane Mosley Jr. at some point before the end of the year. Charlo reschedules with Seleski at some point. Daniel Jacobs kind of lurking out there for both. Jacobs would fight either one of them and has the flexibility to do it. But, you know, Jacobs wants, you know, a million and a half, two million dollars to get back in the ring with either one of those guys. And I'm not sure that money is out there for him. Not on regular network television, whether it's to zone or showtime.

And as it relates to Charlo and Celestia, I've been led to believe that that fight might not be rescheduled until the fall, early fall, but until the fall. So, Jarmal, Charlo. Once a year for Charlo again. Once a year. In that case, yeah, he would only fight one time this year. that wasn't his plan, obviously, but it looks like if he fights in the fall, yeah, this calendar year he'll only fight once, it would be his first fight in potentially 14 or 15 months by the time he gets into the ring with Celeski.

And, you know, that's unfortunate for a guy who's still in the prime of his career. Last five years, I think he's only fought once a year or something along those lines. I know the pandemic played a lot. They had a lot to do with that. But last year, one time, this year, one time. kind of wasting away some of these prime years of his of his career all right let's look ahead to the fight this weekend archer better be of joe smith light heavyweight unification fight three belts on the line in this fight demetre bebel of course has the fourth piece of that light heavy

weight crown uh better b is a huge favorite keith i don't know what the exact line is as we record this but he's a massive favorite in this fight it kind of i know better bf's great and he's got the better resume than Joe Smith, topped by the win over Vostick. But I think Joe Smith's got more than just a puncher's chance in a fight like this. I mean, what do you think of the odds of this fight and what do you think Joe Smith's chances of winning are? I think the odds are kind of ridiculous, to be honest with you, Chris. I mean, I... And by the way, sorry, sorry, just interrupt you real quick. We had this exact same conversation before Joe Smith beat Jesse Hart. Remember Joe Smith was like a four-to-one underdog against Jesse Hart. I remember talking to you about this

being like, are we missing something? Like, is Joe Smith that bad that he can't beat Jesse Hart? I don't know that he can beat better BF, but like, 10 to 1 or 8 to 1, whatever it is at this point? Like, he's got a better chance than that. Yeah, you know, I remember speaking to you and others about that fight during fight week, Chris, back, I think it was January of 2020. I was like, if anyone should be a four to one favorite in this fight, it should be Joe Smith. But he was coming off kind of a lopside and lost to, um, to Dmitri Bivall, who obviously has, you know, proven himself to be an elite level fighter.

So maybe that had a little something to do with that. But I really thought he should have been a four to one favorite, not Jesse Hart. Now, to be clear, Artur Betabriev ain't Jesse Hart. So I understand him being a favorite in the fight. But at one point earlier this week, Chris, and it depends on which sports book you're looking at. You're right. He was a, I think the Caesar sports book had him as a nine to one favorite,

better be of and I think Fandu might have had him as an 11 to one favorite. So you're getting into wacky territory for a guy who is. It's almost it's almost malpractice not to bet on it. Like put some money on Joe. Like the guy's got a great chin and huge hands. I can punch

like guys like that you don't bet. Don't put those kind of odds on. He really does have a great chin and when I was talking to Joe DeGuardia his promoter the other day he said well obviously I can't bet on it because I'm involved in the event and I'll you know, I would go to jail or whatever the case might be. I can't bet on it.

He said, but I would bet set six figures on Joe Smith at nine to one. You know, he said it's absurd that he's a nine to one underdog. But, you know, however you phrase it, he's a nine to one favorite. I think Joe Smith is like plus 600 in that case or something like that. But point being, the odds seem out of whack. Now, I understand why Better Beavis favored in the fight. I mean, he's 17 and O. He's knocked out every opponent that he's fought.

but he is 37 years old. He has shown, right? And Chris, he has shown some vulnerability in these fights, right? I mean, you guys, you did the fight. The zone did the fight, right? When he fought Callum Johnson, he got knocked down. Yeah. So you saw that from ringside.

I mean, he got knocked down. Now, he got up and knocked out Callum Johnson, who's a huge puncher. But he has shown some vulnerability. He's prone to cuts, not the best defensive fighter in the world, not the fastest fighter in the world. So he should be a favorite in the fight. And he's a dangerous, dangerous guy himself. But would I be surprised at all,

or would you be surprised at all if Joe Smith won Saturday night? I wouldn't, you know? No, not even a little. Like, look, Joe, Joe's ability to box in the later rounds is the one unknown in this fight. You know, look, better be of, he's been outboxed early. Like, you go back to the Marcus Brown fight,

Marcus Brown was having success in those first four or five rounds till Better Beeveh, like literally tasted blood and then just turned on the jets and went after him. You know, he's beatable. Like he looks beatable. Vostik, who's an excellent fighter, was an excellent fighter, was having success until Better Beav wore him down. Joe Smith will have the best chin of anyone

that Better Beav has faced up until this point. I mean, Joe Smith literally fought a fight with a broken jaw against Sullivan's career. Two fights for the broken jobs. Two fights. Sorry, you're right. Like, he's tough, and I don't think he's going to get, you know, stopped by BetterBea. But the question is going to be, like, is Joe a good enough boxer to win a decision?

I don't know. He's so awkward and he throws wildly. Yeah, he did outpoint Jesse Hart, and that was a great win for him, but I don't know. I don't know if he could outbox Archer Better Beard. But I also don't know how Better Be able to be in like rounds nine through 12 because he's never there. So like this to me has, it's not a coin flip fight. And I agree with you, Better Beav should be a favorite. But if I was placing odds, it would be like two to one, three to one max, max for Better

BF because that's how competitive I think this fight can potentially be. Yeah, I agree with you on that, Chris. It's interesting because more recently Better Biev has gone deeper into fights than he had previously in his career. And he has gotten some stoppages late. I think two stoppages in the 12th round over the last three or four years and one in the 10, I think the Adam Dynes fight was stopped in the 10th round, I believe. And a lot of people were surprised that Dynas made it as far as he did.

You're right, too, Vostick was 10th round, Dynes was 10th round, Marcus Brown was 9th round. And even when he went to the 12th round, right? Yeah, but he, you know, it's interesting what you said earlier, Chris, and that he can be out box because while the Vostick win is to me the best win of his career so far, he was losing that fight on two scorecards going into the 10th round when he knocked down volsick three times and stopped him. He was behind pretty significantly, I think, on two of the cards. So he can be outboxed a little bit. And, you know, I favor Joe Smith early in the fight in the earlier rounds of the fight.

If it's going to be something that ends within six rounds, I would favor Joe Smith. I think the deeper it goes into the fight, it maybe favors better be of. you know, so I don't see it going the distance, but then, you know, just when you think you have it all figured out, Chris, that's what happens, right? Then it'll go 12 rounds and there'll be some, you know, wacky scorecard submitted or whatever. And, you know, the judges, by the way, are Frank Lombardi, Steve Weisfeld and, well, I'm drawing a blank. I was told at the press conference earlier who the judges were. Lombardi, unfortunately, is the one who submitted that 118, 110 scorecard in Jackson, Maryland. Aaron, yes, Roley-Ramero

fight. So let's keep an eye, keep an eye on that a little bit. But, um, keep an eye on Frank. But I don't think it's going to, I don't think it's going to be left to the judges. I think one of them will stop the other. And I think it's going to be a pretty good action fight. I think they'll have to be a little careful of each other and mindful of the other's power, uh, particularly early in the fight. But as Bob Aaron was joking, uh, after the press conference earlier, he said that'll probably last one

or two rounds and then it's bomb, you know, bombs away, basically. Yeah, I think, you know, Joe, the way Joe fights, like, he's just going to be throwing wild shots. And if he connects, he can hurt. He could hurt Betterbyev. Betterbyev might hit him with something down the middle that just puts him out of there. And he is just relentless. Like, Vostick wasn't necessarily knocked out by one punch. He was worn down during that fight.

That's what happens with guys that fight Archer Betterbiov. They're just worn down by pressure and power punching. It's so tough to stay with him for, 12 rounds. Nobody's done it, of course, at this point. But Joe Smith might be the guy. And I think odds makers are missing this and just keep missing Joe Smith stuff. Like they keep betting against him. It's like, you know, it's funny you say that, Chris, because when he, you know, before Joe Smith had fought anyone that was a ranked contender or anything, he was a, you know, an unknown guy from Long Island. And the first crack that he got was against Andrew Fonfara, if you remember, back in June

2016. And there were people going crazy on Al, you know, complaining and criticizing. Al Heyman for even making that fight. And Fon Fara opened as a 24 to one favorite against Joe Smith. And Joe Smith knocked him out in the first round. And then obviously in his next fight knocked out Bernard Hopkins and his career completely changed after that. But I mean, he was a 24 to one favorite Fon Fara was and got knocked out in the first round. So Joe Smith has been down this road before where people didn't believe in him and obviously

prove them wrong. Now, this might be besides Bivol because I believe Bivol also opened as a 25 to 1 favorite. But, you know, it's right up there on par with the Bivol fight in that Better Beav as an elite level light heavyweight as well. Yeah, yeah, it's going to be a great fight. I'm looking forward to seeing it. And then we'll see what happens after that. I mean, I would say this. After saying that Joe Smith is consistently disrespected by odds makers, I would make the odds in a Joe Smith Bevel rematch like a million to one in favor of Bebel. I don't think Joe Smith can ever beat Demetri Beable. Like I know he clipped him in the 10th round,

but that's a horrible matchup for Joe Smith. Like just does not mesh style-wise. Bebole's too good a boxer and just stays away from jabbing outside, good chin. That's a terrible matchup. Better BF, I'd favor Beowl as well, but I think it's a better fight stylistically

because better BF could wear him down. But who knows we'll see that fight before the end of the year. I'm skeptical of that as well. All right, a couple things I want to finish up with. Do you have any thoughts on Anthony Joshua signing with The Zone? It feels like I'm more of a UK kind of story because DeZone obviously trying to get its footprint into the UK. Anthony Joshua, huge in the UK.

It'll be now beyond his own pay-per-view, most likely over there. I guess the one thing I thought is it pertains to a U.S. audience, Keith, is, you know, now there's some synergy between the networks. Maybe it means we'll get Anthony Joshua back in the U.S. sooner rather than later. Maybe you do some fights with him that are in the afternoon in the U.S. I don't know. That's the only thing I think of because I'm still waiting for A.J. to make his return to the U.S. as he's not been fighting here.

He's only fought here once, and that was a disastrous results against Andy Ruiz. What did you think of the news that AJ signed a deal with the zone? Well, I viewed it as a victory for DeZone because there was a lot of speculation that Sky Sports was going to, you know, continue working with Joshua in the UK. So it's a victory of sorts for DeZone in that way. Now, the thing is if he loses to Alexander Usick convincingly again,

well, then you have a diminished product and you've committed a lot of resources to, to that diminished product. He's still a star because he's, you know, he's still, what is he, 32 years old. He's still relatively young, particularly for a heavyweight. So he's a valuable commodity still. But if he loses to Usik and then Usik is going to go fight Fury or whatever, then he doesn't really have an opportunity to have a piece of the heavyweight title. So then who does he fight? You know, I guess you could make a rematch with Dillian White. I guess that would be a fight that they could promote well in the UK. But, you know, a move, a respectable move for

DeZone, certainly, to be able to get in business with Anthony Joshua in the U.K. as well as in the U.S. So that's kind of the way that I looked at it. But obviously, this fight upcoming with Usoc is extremely important, not just to Joshua's but to the zone business model because they will have invested a lot of money in Anthony Joshua. Yeah, if he gets washed by Uc, you're right. Diminished product is the right way to frame it. I mean, he'd have to rebuild.

I don't even think he'd fight a Dillion White in his next fight out. He'd probably take two fights to get his confidence back. And then maybe you go into a Dillion white fight in the middle of next year. But it would be there would be some rebuilding of Anthony Joshua if you got beat the same way against Alexander Ousick. Last thing was Crawford Spence, you kind of touched on it. Looks like we're going to get it. It's been relatively radio silent.

Crawford's sniping now at Jamal Charlo on social media. He's expressed some optimism that a deal will get done. But we're into June now. I know there's no rush. but if we're talking October, November for a timetable, when should we be worried or should we be worried at some point that there could be trouble making Spence and Crawford before the end of the year? Well, I don't think we're at any point where we need to be worried right now, Chris,

because I've been told that the fight is probably going to be happened in November. So that's still quite a ways away. It's still five months, you know, depending on which part of November it is. That's still four or five months away. So you have plenty of time to wrap this deal up. And they're progressing in the talks. there's a lot to deal with here from the, you know, Crawford's never fought in the PBC event before. You know, so there's a lot to deal with, obviously.

And it's a, it's a huge fight for both guys, you know, from a boxing, from the perspective of the boxing business, you know, the biggest fight you could make in the United States outside of the heavyweight division for sure. And, you know, there's a lot of eyes to dot and tease to cross. So it's going to take a little while to get it to the finish line. But they're getting there and both guys really do want the fight. They don't want to, you know, certainly Errol Spence doesn't want to waste any more time, fighting other, you know, making mandatory defenses or anything. He has three of the titles. Now he wants to have his chance to add the fourth one.

So I think both guys are very committed to getting the fight. Crawford, I believe Crawford's going to be 35 years old in September. So he doesn't want to continue waiting. He knows that it's now or never for him to get this fight done. So he will be coming on whenever they do fight, whether it's October or November, or even if it takes longer than that for some reason. He's going to be coming off a pretty long layoff, Crawford. By the time he fights, it'll be maybe almost a year since he would have beaten Sean Porter.

But, you know, he's fighting once a year, twice a year anyway. So I guess it's not going to affect him all that much. And he's going to make a lot of money, obviously, for this fight. Yeah, I can't see either one of them fighting anybody else at Walter Waite. That's for sure. I mean, like, Spence is not going to fight boot tennis at Welterweight. or weight. You know, Crawford's not going to fight Virgil Ortiz at Walter Waite. I feel like that's, if that fight doesn't happen, one or both of those guys will move up and, and look for

different challenges at this point. But I hope you're right. I hope we're still on track to get that fight because it is a massive event. It still does huge numbers on pay-per-view. It'll settle, they're still both very much in their prime, so it'll settle the question of who the best Welterweight is. Simple as that. It's a legacy fight for both guys. Keith, look forward to to sitting side by side with you for the second big fight in a row. This once again in New York City from Barclays Center to MSG. If you want to walk down the street to my apartment, we can raise a glass afterwards, you know, let's make it all happen, baby.

Hopefully there won't be any gunfire or anything like that. And we'll all be good to go, you know? That was, I actually forgot about that briefly. But yeah, I never want that experience ever again like it wasn't Barclays Center for sure. Keep, we'll see on Saturday, man. Sounds good, Chris. I'll see you then. When we come back, this week's picks brought to you by Fandul. 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 Act. 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, Clifford 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, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford

and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap 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 it 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 is big to me not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know. At this point, Mark, 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, 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 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. Fight fans, take your best shot with $200 in free bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. It doesn't matter if your fighter gets knocked out or tapped out.

New customers get an instant $200 in free bets on your first bet of $5. Just sign up with the promo code boxing to bet on all the biggest boxing matches and UFC fights. choose from the money line to the method of victory and so much more. To get your $200 in free bets, guaranteed, just sign up with the promo code boxing on the Fanduals Sportsbook app. All right, time now for this week's picks brought to you by Fandul, and this week I'm looking at that light heavyweight unification fight

between Archer Betterbeyev and Joe Smith. And as you just heard in my conversation with Keith Ideck, the odds for this fight are incredibly bizarre. Archer BetterBev right now is at minus 1,100. Joe Smith is at plus 600. They are treating Joe Smith over at Fandul and many other places like a walkover opponent for Archer BetterBef. And I think that is crazy.

I think Joe Smith cannot only win this fight, but he can win it in a decisive manner. I really believe that. BetterBef is 37 years old, has been outboxed before, has probably never faced an opponent with the kind of power that Joe Smith has and it's probably never faced an opponent with the kind of chin that Joe Smith has. So I am taking the upset in this one. I'm taking Joe Smith Jr.

At plus 600, take Joe Smith to win this fight. Now, method of victory, this is a tricky one here. Joe Smith by points or decision is plus 1,400, which again is an insane number because Joe Smith has won decisions against top. level opponents before he won his title by decision. Before that he beat Jesse Hart by decision. I think both these guys, even with the power that they have, I think this fight's going to go to the scorecards. I really do. I think it's rockem sock him robot for a while. They both get tired.

I think it eventually goes to the scorecard. So I am taking the upset here. Joe Smith plus 600. Joe Smith by decision plus 1400. Even if you don't believe me, these odds are so insane that you have to at least take a flyer on him. You have to. Joe Smith, the last time he was an underdog like this was against Jesse Hart in New Jersey, and Joe Smith dominated that fight. So take him once again. Joe Smith, by decision. Those are my picks brought to you by Fandul. That's it for this week's episode. My thanks to Keith Ideck for joining the show. As always, subscribe, rate, review this podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you download podcast. And next week, we'll be recording in San Antonio, Bam Rodriguez,

Srisa Katzor Rung Visai. That fight will take place next Saturday. I will be with Sergio Mora, who will do this podcast. 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 growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. 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. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

Like Mark Lamont Hill on the... 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.