The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Boxing with Chris Mannix - Sunny and Bam Take Glendale

Episode Date: December 16, 2023

Two guests on this bonus pod! First Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn joins to talk Devin Haney’s future, the AJ-Wilder reporting, this Saturday’s flyweight unification fight with Bam Rodriguez and more (4:05). Later, Sunny Edwards on facing Bam, fighting in America, why he believes he is the world’s best smaller weight fighter and more (32:45). #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

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Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes,

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All right, as promised, special bonus podcast coming to you from Glendale, Arizona, the site of Sunny Edwards and Bam Rodriguez. Eddie Hearn is going to join me to talk about the Sunny Bam fight. He's going to weigh in on the future of Devin Haney, get into the Saudi Arabia card as well. A lot to get into with Eddie Hearn. And then later, Sunny Edwards himself, the IBF 112 pound champion. He talks about some of the strategies he's got for Saturday against Bam Rodriguez and why he thinks, he is the significantly better fighter. Stick around for all that and much more.

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On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas, 21 plus age varies by jurisdiction, void in Ontario, bonus bets expire in 168 hours after issuance, see dkng.com slash MMA for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. All right, Eddie Hearn is here. Matchroom boxing. We are here in Glendale, Arizona.

The weather is warm. The sun is shining. Sonny Edwards got his Phoenix Suns tickets. The fight is on. The fight is on. I got to tell you, Eddie, if you didn't get him those tickets, there's like at least a 25% chance he would have pulled out. Yeah, but he definitely would have done no media. Like, he would have just gone to the press conference, said nothing.

Like, this is a situation where I was in a car with him, and we were negotiating the ban fight. This is like six months ago. And he was like, yeah, I'll do it. But don't forget, when I go there, all I want is court-side tickets. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, don't worry, that's fine. Yeah, yeah, we'll work that out. I don't even remember the conversation.

And then, obviously, like, the last week, the message, you know, if we don't get these tickets, it's going to be a problem. And I'm like, we change very. venues, we were supposed to be at the arena of the Phoenix Suns. And we changed to like a rival venue. So now I've got no leverage to get the tickets. Now I'm phoning around. I'm speaking to like resale agents trying to get the best price on two tickets.

He's cost me like a few thousand dollars just to give him the tickets, you know? But there you go. That was on you though, because when we were in Orlando for the kickoff press conference, Sonny knows that I'm also an NBA guy. And he was telling me, he's like, Eddie promised me court side tickets. This was months ago, so you definitely did that. You stepped in it. I think I do that a lot, and our team always come to me and say,

did you promise X? And I'm like, I can't remember. Probably is the answer. All right, I want to talk about Sunny and Bam. You've got a massive event next weekend in Saudi Arabia, but I want to look back first on this past weekend. Devin Haney, dominant decision win over Regis program. I want to talk about the event itself.

You sold out the Chase Center, more than 16,000 fans in that building, low seven-figure gate for that building. I know you're not going to talk specifics on pay-per-view numbers, but when you look back at the event as a whole, if you had to rate it, like, scale from one to ten, one being a total catastrophe, one being a massive success, where would you put it on that scale? I mean, commercially, like, I'm pretty honest,

and someone sort of criticized me in the week where I said, I don't think the fight was as big as Haney against Loma. And that's because, with all respect to Regis, He's a very good world champion, but he doesn't have the profile of Lomachenko, who's been fighting for years and years in big fights on ESPN. Like, that's just natural. But one, you know, the commercials of the event were very similar to Haney Lomachenko. The gate was probably a little bit smaller, but a lot more people.

The pay-per-view won't be dissimilar, time we've finished. So I think commercially the event was a success. Promotionally, it was a 10 out of 10. and I think perception was a 10 out of 10. You know, there's been a sort of narrative that people spin for a long time about Devin Haney that the kid don't sell. He's not a star. You know, and people always try and clutch onto straws

when there's a really good talent that you might not want to fight, when you go to a city that hasn't had boxing for two decades and sell 16,000 tickets, you know, the haters might say, yeah, but, you know, it was $60 in the top tier. So what? Like, nowadays it seems to be like a boast that the tickets were so expensive. Like I saw Giovonso come out and go, yeah, well, my tickets were like average price of $400. Oh, great, well done.

That's a real great way to connect with the fans. You know, so Devin's still building, Devin's still growing, but he's in a great position. And I think for us, commercially, it couldn't have gone much better. I mean, you imagine if we would have sold six, seven thousand to people coming out the woodwork. Oh, Devin doesn't sell. Matrim, don't know how to promote. All of a sudden, you sell out a new arena. Oh, well, the tickets weren't very expensive.

So you can never win. But I think all round, you know, it was a big success and a big success for the career of Devin Haney. You've started to do paper views in the U.S. over the last couple of years, as the zone has. How do you look at them? Because, look, people still want to see the fights, but I find that piracy is as potent as ever before.

I had so many conversations after the Haney fight about people talking to me about it. Then I asked them, like, did you buy it? Like, no, I streamed it on. X or I watched it on TikTok or like how big a problem is that because you want to do pay-per-views to meet the asking price of these fighters but has piracy made it almost impossible to to make it profitable yeah for sure I mean if you think about it right you only had to look across social media and the conversations in that

digital space and particularly across like trending names and words and it was all over like it was number one like Andy Cruz would fight, number one trend in the UK, number three trend in America, right? So say that the pay-per-view did 100,000, right? Just putting a number out of the sky. Do you honestly think only 100,000 people watch that fight? I mean, and that is a problem moving forward. And it's only going to take away from the fighters.

No one wants to pay additional money to watch a fight. But as we know, the only way that you can make the big fights and the real fights in boxing is via pay-per-view. that fight, I don't mind saying it. I think it was a borderline pay-per-view. Do you know what I mean? It was one that maybe could have sat on subscription, well actually not because of the financials,

but is it pay-per-view? Is it not pay-per-view? And I think that's always a conversation we could have. The only way we could make that fight was to make it pay-per-view. And I'm glad we did. So piracy is a big problem. In the UK, actually,

it's becoming a lot more of an unlawful act. you know and actually an act that comes with imprisonment and heavy fines and stuff like that and I think sports need to act on it really and need to be careful because it's only taking the money actually out of the fighters pockets so we've got to do all we can to protect that there are people but I think by the way the price point is probably the biggest problem in America America's become very used to quite an expensive pay-per-view price point I would actually like to see that price point come down over time and I think that would help I mean it has in many fights, but I think that will really help on the piracy.

There were people in the building that night, live streaming it on their phone. I was walking past them my way around the arena, just live streaming the event. So it is trying to stop that. It's difficult to police. It's very difficult to police. It's been that way for years. I want to ask you about Devin and his options domestically and internationally. Last few days, we've seen a lot of back and forth between Devin and Tank Davis on social media.

Bill Haney and Calvin Ford hopping on. on Instagram lives, talking to each other. Is that a makeable fight between Devon Haney and tank? I think with my experience, looking at the animosity, looking at the backwards and forwards, and he said this, and you said that, and this sparring, and I mean, I don't see that fight getting made next, in all honesty.

If it does, fantastic, it's a great fight. But I just feel like there's so much like, well, you don't sell. Well, my tickets are more expensive. Well, I did this pay-per-view. You did that paper-view. I mean, I heard someone say Devin deserves 15 or 20% in the pot of that pie.

How? I mean, he was the undisputed lightweight champion, moved up, just won the WBC world title. Has he historically sold as big as tank? No, but he hasn't been around in those big fights as long as tank. Now, people keep talking about the face of boxing. You have to put Devin Haney up there in that conversation. He's 31 and 0.

He's a young man, image-wise. you know, from a role model standpoint as well, he's everything that we actually need for US boxing. So, I don't know, is it 50-50, maybe not? Is it 64? It's around those numbers, but I can't see Tank and the team giving Devin that kind of respect at the moment.

So if I'm Devin Haney, I think what you do is you stay active and you just keep ticking up the value, ticking up the meter, being in big fights, beating people, you know. I mean, the Conner Ben one is a weird, fight but when you start thinking about it that gives devon an opportunity maybe to go to the UK sell out a big arena in the UK you know there's other fights around the world for him I like

the matias fight as well I think it's a tough fight you got teafimo lopez Ryan garcia natural fight for devon hayney you know could he go over to i don't know Australia and defend against leon parro again like he has so many options devon hayne and i think if bill and devon remain smart and remain active. I think they're in a wonderful position. Bill is smart enough to know that outpricing yourself or having an inflated opinion of your value

will lead to inactivity. Because I've seen it so many times. I'm not fighting for that. You know, I'm worth this. I'm worth that. Next thing, you've been out for a year. Like Devin can fight in March, he can fight in the summer,

and he can fight in the winter. And if I was Bill and Devin, and we'll be having these conversations, I'd be mapping out my year now. I'd go, right, Ryan Garcia in March. Then we fight Giovante, or then we fight Teofima. What a year that would be.

And by the way, if he won those fights, he's pound for pound number one. He's the biggest star in the sport by mile. So he's got time on his side, and Devin and Bill remain very, you know, some of the last remaining, dare I say sensible people in the game

and when sometimes when I say that people think oh yeah well Eddie you're just trying to get the fighters for you know the cheapest you can not really I'm trying to get the fighters for the right price for the business and the commercial business of the fight that's all but at least

Devon and Bill understand the numbers they can read a balance sheet they could like and not just pull a number from somewhere and me going how how like Chris That is the biggest conversation. And the problem is now, obviously, with the Middle East influx. Sometimes that number that they ask for, they end up getting.

Do you know what I mean? But on a normal, common sense basis, I can just show you the figures for the show and say, this is how it looks. So what do you want to do? Well, that's ridiculous. It's not ridiculous. How's it ridiculous? You know, so most big fights, someone loses money, whether it's the promoter, whether it's the broadcaster,

never the fighters yeah but that's just the way the business is it's a wild game the Connor Ben is the fight you've been talking about the most over the last few days

how realistic is that the problem with Connor I think Connor can go on and definitely become a world champion at 147 obviously with the experience he's had over the last well which won't be far off

two years coming soon like he's also young and fairly inexperienced he wants to fight Boots Ennis he wants to fight Devin Heaney He wants to fight Giovonso Davis But I also feel like

He's going to get better and better So I don't mind him Taking a few fights to bridge that gap But at the same time he He realizes the paydays that are out there The opportunities are out there I don't mind the Devin fight I'm not mad on the Boots fight

Because I think Boots is a big 147 And I think he might be pound for pound Top 3 already I think Devin might be pound a pound but he's a lightweight coming up to 140 coming up to 147 and he's not a massive puncher i think that's actually a really really fun fight um but i would also part of me would like to see connor have one or two before he's in with a devon or a boot tennis you did not and have not been able to get that ubank fight over the line that fight feels snake bitten at this point i mean weeks ago

it just seemed like the venue was the problem then you got that resolved and now chris ubank is moving on same thing some iboh title fight like what? I mean, pulls a number out of the sky and I'm just like, how? Well, it's the biggest fight. You said it's the biggest fight in the history of British boxing. Mate, I'm a promoter. What do you want me to say? It's not that

bigger fight. I mean, it is a big fight. But a lot of the times, you know, on pay-per-view upside, you have to back yourself. If you think that, then no problem. You'll actually hit your number. But we can't put guarantees in for numbers that we might not hit.

We know it's a huge pay-per-view. but you can't just have a conversation where you say well it does a million buys well does it okay well if it does a million buys congratulations you're actually going to get more than your number so surely if you back yourself to do a million we're in right oh no you've got to pay me up front for the million buys how

like I don't want to do a fight where I lose three or four million dollars what's the point of that so Connor signed Caller was all in but Chris Eubank Jr. wasn't and I it's so frustrating you know when you have I'm saying like, what are you going to do? What do you mean? I've got loads of options. No, you haven't.

Nowhere near at this kind of money. Like, he's going to end up taking a fight for a quarter of what we offered him. Against maybe the IBO champion at middleweight. I mean, Conner Benny is a welterweight. Like, it's just bizarre, but it's like ego, it's stupidity. It's a lack of common sense. But mostly is someone in your ear who is a complete clown and has no idea what they're talking. about. Welcome to the world of boxing. So next week you're in Saudi Arabia,

Day of Reckoning, you can watch that live on his own pay-per-view. The reporting this week out of ESPN is that AJ Wilder is a done deal. Can you comment on any of that? Yeah, it's incorrect. You know, I think when people talk about like done deals, a done deal is when you sign the contract. You know, there's terms agreed and that can stem across the financials. Look, we've agreed financials for this fight about six months ago. We never got to sign a contract.

And since then, there have been fresh talks and they're going very well. But there is no fight, there is no contract signed. However, if AJ beats Otto Wilde and if Deontay Wilder beats Joseph Parker, I do believe we'll get that fight.

Now, whether we're in a position to announce that after the fight or whatever, I can't tell you, because right now, there's conversations they're not moving like a steam train because we're kind of just I don't really want to go to AJ at this point we've been here before especially before the Andy Ruiz fight

and it's like just to let you know here's the final draft of the contract I know you're fighting Otto Wiling in 48 hours but don't worry about that have a little route can I sit down with you and go through these terms but we've also got AJ's blessing to make the fight

and to do what's right by him so I want to kind of keep that removed from him, but also playing his career with 258. His management company, and I do believe if both fighters win, I do believe you'll see that fight in the spring. How anxious are you going into this fight against Otto Wallin? Who's a very credible guy, you know, Gabe Tyson Fury, a tough fight and has been active over the course of the last year, year and a half?

I was anxious when AJ boxed J. Jemaine Franklin, and I was anxious when AJ boxed Robert Hellenius. I mean, it's the heavyweight division. And you know that Otto's full of confidence. He's talking very well. He's an accomplished fighter. He's coming off a big win against Gassiev in Russia. It's a Southpour.

He's tricky. It's six weeks prep. I mean, it's all like, you know, you start to a butt. I'm getting fantastic feedback from the camp. You know, and if AJ does what he's been doing, and AJ believes in himself, and AJ's aggressive, he'll knock Otto Wilding out. And I think it'll be a major statement.

This event in Saudi Arabia is going to be very lucrative for Anthony Joshua, lucrative, I'm sure, for matchroom for the fighters that are involved. How do you navigate, though, fighters that want to fight in Saudi, but there aren't dates in Saudi. You want the Saudi money and don't want to settle for the money that might be somewhere else? I don't think, and this might be contrary to the vision of his excellency. I don't see there being, you know, 10, 12 shows a year there. I see it working around the weather, the tourism, the seasons, you know, the Riyadh season, etc. true and I think what I've noticed about sport in Saudi is you have to understand these guys are

huge fans you know his excellency who gets a lot of name drops because he is doing amazing things but also he's actually a hardcore fight fan all right to put it into perspective when you see people like Jayopatire on the card he watched Jayopatire's last fight and went I love it you know he's great let's bring him to Saudi there's not necessarily like and I think they're will be a more advanced plan for boxing. But right now, it just feels to me like they just want to bring their perception of the best fighters and the most entertaining fighters to the kingdom. So I don't think you're going to see super featherweight world championships and, you know,

like, I mean, you may do on the undercards, but I don't think fighters should hedge their bets to sit out for a year and hope that they're going to get a phone call. Do you what I mean? I think they're going to be in the market for the big fights. they're going to be a market for the big names and every now and again someone's going to get lucky because someone watch someone

who they think's great and entertain him so it's a pretty wild world but you know you look at the fight I mean that card you could have lost four fights off that card easy right

and probably saved yourself several million on the road but you know there's some random stuff and there's some incredible stuff and then there's huge names and it's just you know it's amazing to be a part of it really is All right, let's talk about Sonny Edwards, Bam Rodriguez on Saturday, not for the ring title as we recorded.

I actually sided with you last night when, you know, I read the transcript that Doug Fisher posted out there. I get some of the arguments, but it's very clear that this is number one versus number two in the flyweight division. I love the ring magazine belt. And what I love about the ring magazine belt, first is there's no sanction fees. But also there's no politics, right? So I get rules. but for me rules are in place with governing bodies so that other people are protected

right so it's a vacant belt number one right Julio Caesar Martinez is not fighting he's not going to fight anytime soon it's not going to fight anybody you had to have laughed a little bit when Julio Susan Martinez bowed out yet again about that I know so therefore he's not in the running to fight for the title

right there is not one person in the world who doesn't think this is 1 v2 no one you could ask any fight fan in the world that's the frustrating thing because what they're saying is yeah but who has bam beaten at flyweight and it's like well he just beat the number one in the wbo who's actually better than anybody who leo sees a martinez is beat in the last three years i don't know right but also he's beaten rungvisai he's beating quadras yeah but that was up at super feather but they're all like they're all boxed at flyweight bam's a light flyweight coming up to super flyweight and i just like Like, people have got to stop being so anal. Excuse my French. It's like, not who cares, but like, guys, and that's what's so far straight. I'm still hoping sitting here that they are going to message me and go, just to let you know, we all got on the phone and we said, you know, you're right.

But they can't do that now because it's like, oh, Eddie Hearns warn you down and you've made a decision against the committee. Martinez exit gives them a little bit of... But that's why I went back. That's why I went back because I've been turned down twice. I went back last week for another go and they turned me down again, right? And this was my excuse to go, guys, and I like to get it into the forums and I like to see the support. And the support was massive. Like if you read the hundreds of comments, it was like there wasn't one going.

There's a few saying, I get the rules, but come on. So as we sit here at 1151 a.m. on weighing day, I'm waiting for Doug Fisher to go, great news, Eddie. You got it. We hope. So this fight, do you ever read on it at all? I mean, Sonny is such an excellent boxer. Bam is such an excellent boxer puncher. I can see Sonny winning 11 to 1.

I can see Bam getting a stoppage in the sixth round. There's so many variations I can see. How do you see it? Yeah, exactly the same. I mean, you know, we were just talking before we started about, like, the mind games that Sonny plays and the confidence that he breeds. Like, that can have an effect on you. Now, will it have an effect on BAM?

Maybe not. But the problem in this kind of fight is, is if you start, Salkin's the wrong word, if you come into this fight frustrated and angry, and you get six rounds in, and you're punching out, and you can't cut this guy off,

and you're losing rounds, the head can go down very quickly, right? And before you know it, you're in round 10 and 11. I mean, it's a bit like with Regis last week, You kind of felt like that period between like 7 and 11 was like you've got to do something. You're losing every round. But it was like momentum, head goes down.

Every time you try and make a move or try and faint you're getting three or four and it's like, oh. And I can see that. But I can also see Bam being good enough to cut the ring off, to work the body, to slow him down. So the only thing I don't see is the Sonny Edwards victory. stoppage. Yeah. And listen, I do think he punches harder than people think, but if I'm bamming this fire, I'm starting this fight at red hot pace.

You cannot afford to be four-five. You get to five, six rounds against Sonny Edwards and you're four-five down. Mate, it's a long, long road back. And for some reason, Sunny tends to slow down in those middle late rounds. Look at the Felix Alvarez out of fight. I thought he was going to win 12 Zip after the sixth round of that fight. kind of got caught in those middle rounds, pressed against the ropes.

That's the kind of thing, Bam's got to take advantage. But also, if you're Sonny, like he talks a lot about the judges and stuff like that. The reality is he's talked a lot about the judges. But his style, right, he's not going to be everybody's cup of tea.

And it's impossible to select judges or to say, oh, this judge likes this. Like, you've got to look at fights. I mean, I know it's a lower profile fight, but even like Mayerlene Revas against Erica Cruz, right? Mayerleen Revis won that fight. but Cruz pushed the action every single

and as the rounds went on Revas was doing so little Cruz weren't even landing but she was throwing shoulders armed like hitting around the bottom and you've got to be really careful if you're not active enough with sunny style don't be surprised

and don't moan when it's a close fight and someone says this guy forced the fight this guy was the pressure fight this guy threw a time you know And it's like people talk about punches landed. There's also a lot to be said about punch he's thrown, right? Doesn't have to always land clean. But in the eye of a judge, someone that's active, someone that's throwing, someone that's

trying to win the fight, it's dangerous when you're fighting that other style. Last thing for you, you've been talking about Katie Taylor's next fight. You've been kind of focused on making the third fight against Chantelle Cameron. I was talking to Jake Paul this week prior to his fight on Friday. And I asked him, I said, look, it sure sounds to me. like the rematch between Amanda and Katie is if not dead on life support Jake's response was it's Eddie Hearn's fault basically

like you know basically give us an offer give us a date, we'll sign and we'll do it I mean that's the most this is completely absurd like give us an offer we'll sign of course they won't you know they want an amount of money for that fight again it's the same thing that we talked about earlier we've got our opinion of what that purse is worth

they've got their opinion and if we can reach a middle ground we'll make the fight you know people talk about 12 3s the fight is for the undisputed lightweight world championship the wbc have their rules

it's 10 2s right i don't care if it's 10 2s 12 3s 15 3s it doesn't really matter but the rules to make this fight undisputed is 10 2s and that's what it'll be

so if she's not prepared to fight 10-2s, which she's already said she's not, because she's vacated her own title, we can't make the fight. I'm not making this fight and not having it undisputed. We'll lose our belt if we don't put the WBC title on the line. So that, firstly, that's that. So if you tell us you're never fighting 10-2s again, no problem, you won't be fighting Katie Taylor for the undisputed lightweight world championship. If we can overcome that, then we talk money. Amanda Serrano is a fantastic fighter. She's a legend of women's box. And it's a fantastic opponent for Katie Taylor's next fire outdoors in Ireland.

So I'm sure we will at some point speak to Nekisa and try and see if there's some middle ground to make that fight. All right. Eddie, good luck on Saturday. Cheers, mate. And when we come back, my conversation with Sunny Edwards. 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 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,

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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 Jett. 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 on day but just so y'all know I mean at this point Mark this is the second episode where we've discussed crack so I'm starting to see there's a through line

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

it's one of the most important years for black people in American history Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast All right, Sunny Edwards is here.

112 pound champion fresh off the press conference. You can still hear the noise from the press conference out there. That something triggered you during that press conference. Something BAM said something was going because that, it has been largely a respectful-ish promotion. It's more stuff he's been saying outside, yeah. I'm reactive and I deal with people in front of me. He was being very cool.

Every time I see him, I make a B-line for him. and I shake his hand, shake his hand, shake his hand, shake his hand, shake his hand. And then yesterday was different. They walked past, I tried letting onto them, like I weren't there, like I was a ghost. They all like, uh-uh-uh, walked past. And it was on the way to a wake up. Pardon me. But I'm also hearing that he's telling people in interview form, I don't think Sonny's sure of himself.

He's, you know, one minute he's saying stuff. One minute he's, okay, me just having a little buzz on Twitter to get people excited and say, hey, someone told him I'm going to beat his ass and that his trainer looks like the fat kid from up, but like, that's just me having like a little bit of banter. Like, that's lighthearted, I think. That's more for the fans. That's not nothing personal, yeah. But then when he wants to say, oh, you know, he says a lot online, but not say nothing

person, are you crazy? I will come up in your face, get up in your groan. We can have it right now because where I'm from, that's how we deal with it. He's clearly not that way, maybe because he's from an open carry state. and you know what I mean they hold their mouth a little bit more but what I'm from yeah we get we get cracking at any given moment's notice I'm not scared an old man no man on this earth puts fear into me let alone someone that's five foot free and weighs the same as me you understand so that was already triggering and then you know what they lie they lie about

things like Robert Garcia's not come here only because he doesn't want to hear what I have to say he didn't come last time to build the things so they're trying to keep everything very subdued they're trying to keep everything very quiet they're trying to make sure this event no one's ever heard of it where like that's disrespectful you got me all the way over here and you're not even trying to like promote the fight it's been totally onto me to do any sort of

promotion and like I said they had a public meet and greet and either one of two things happened that O'Reilly's auto parts last week either bam turned up and no one else turned up because they weren't not one picture they weren't not one post they weren't not one nothing not on the stories of them

not on the stories of anyone or he turned up and no one turned up or he refused to do another media. So it was one and the two. He said he was there, so I guess no one turned up there. You've been waiting a long time for this particular opportunity to get a unification fight, to get a big fight, to headline a major fight even here in the U.S. What's kind of your energy like right now? Because you've been active on Twitter, you know, since you really got to the U.S., you're attacking snack, his conditioning program. We know about that. We know what that means.

Like, John DeVey said yesterday, let's get this shit out of boxing, man, because it's bad for people getting away of all sorts, man. Trying to get away of legalized murder. But the difference of me is I don't fight with my body. I fight with my mind. And that's the problem. They can prepare their body all they want, yeah. But when he's got a weak, feeble, fragile mind,

like he's clearly got, okay, he's the quietest man. I wanted to do it say one or two things, and I had him. I had him. He was there 15 minutes still looking at me. Like, that's my domain. You were sitting over there away from your family a minute ago, bro. Now I'm dragging you out. I'm dragging you out.

See, if I wanted to do that, I can have done it at any given time, but me, I don't agree when people are saying, oh, Sonny's good at mind games, because it's not mind games. I'm just me. Like, this is me. I'm confident.

I'll go off in front of anyone if they give me a reason to. Like, this is how we are. You only had to look at what was getting off in the background and our team was involved. Like, we're not scared of no one. We're not bullies. We're not, but we stand our ground and we firm it against anyone, anyone on this earth.

You said just moments ago when you were up on stage that, you know, You're going to win nine, ten rounds clean. Why are you so confident that you're going to be able to do that against the guy like this? Because when I stand in front of them, control the range, as they come forward to do anything, edge back and then counting the adjustment, boring for the fans. Very easy to score and very easy for me to do.

So when I want to do that, I can do it over and over again. I usually count seven, eight, nine rounds where I've done that. And then I disguised the action and closeness and that they had a bit of success in making them work on my arms, making them... I was standing in the corner for a whole round against the biggest puncher in the division. Highest knockout ratio ever, I fly away. And I was standing there and let him throw. Because I'm... I actually like to have a fight.

If you come down and watch me spa every single fight, every single sparring camp, you will not recognize me as a fighter. I promise you, like, you wouldn't. But when I get here, I know it's more about entertaining. But at the same time, what affects my life is winning or losing. And that makes winning very easy for me. So what happens in those moments? Because I've watched probably your last half dozen fights in the last couple of days. When you're on the move and you're sticking and moving, you're almost impossible.

Like, to your point, you're impossible to hit in these rounds are cleanly scored for you. But I can't do 12 of those. I can. But if I do 12 of those, it gets boring. So I'll do... Is that what you're worried about coming in this fight? No, okay. And this is one of those fights.

It's like my Maruti fight that I wasn't worried about that. And then obviously that was our masterclass and I've done this. And trust me, no matter what anyone says, yeah, Maruti is the hardest ring I've ever been in ever. Not just competing as professional. I'm talking any sort of sparring. I'm sort of like anything, yeah? Marritty was a fantastic fight over a very good engine

and very good of his feet at closing down. He was like the best onward front foot pressure, not giving you a time to react or recover. But that was my first 12 round world title fight. I did that and that gave me such a boost, yeah? So when people want to try and discredit that win against a legitimate, the world number one, 13 years unbeaten, top, top, top, most avoided fight, and no one wanted to unify against him, fighter.

Like, for me it's laughable because I know what ring I was in that night and I haven't been in one since, and I hadn't been in one before. Do you know what I mean? And I've seen the bam going forward, and he is not a memory. He hasn't got that same grinding, don't put a step wrong, constantly cut him. off the ring at a good, slow, rhythmic pace where you don't have a time to rest because as soon as you're out, he's already on the encroach, and he's already on the approach and he gets there in a way where he's always ready to throw and it's hard to hit him even in

between. And I've done it against him when I was a boy, I was 25. I'm 27, turned on 28 now, and now I've got more confidence, more belief, more strength, more maturity, and I'm an animal now. People don't realize if I'm getting told suddenly going to knock him out, I can do that as well. Do you think this is going to be an easy fight? I don't think it's going to be an easy fight because it's a good fight? like and he's got the most prolific cheaters behind him giving him his nutrition advice

so it should be a fucking treacherous fight it should be but I'm that good and I'm that clever and I'm that astute and I got that quick enough reactions and I make the right decision every time in that instinctive moment like

yeah it won't be easy no fight's easy I can have 12 rounds against a bomb and it's still not easy it's hard on the body you know what I mean mean but it's a fight that I'm very very comfortable with a fact that I'm very confident in a fight that I wanted a made happen and he's tried to say I wanted this I know he did none of those things because the man in between us knows you're lying do you know

I mean the man in between us knows that I'd agreed for months and we was on and on and on and and we sat there in a VR know the same day that he promised me those basketball tickets they had to cough up out for yeah all I'm saying is he was telling me what their side was saying and he was looking at super fly away they did with you want to fight you, they're going to have to offer more money, they're trying to make him, they're putting this is the only option because it's what the zone wanted and yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada. I remember when I saw you in Orlando, one of the things you said to me was like, I need

my basketball tickets, and then you did. See? And he'd already agreed. But what happened was, hopefully he's not listening in it. What happened was, yeah, they was meant to do the fighting this show at that arena. So then when they didn't, yeah, it become a much harder conversation to have saying, Oh, can we get a couple of free tickets, yeah? So they weren't free.

They were either a stipulation or very expensive. Well, you were at an event that is now being talked about when Draymond Green punched. Yeah, I was there. And I don't know, was he rejected in the second or third quarter? Okay, yeah. So just before they announced me to the arena. You know what I mean?

So it was a big experience. All my friends were there. Me and Janade sat right at the front. And yeah, it was a fantastic experience. Even getting recognised and asked for pictures and I got home, people were messaging me like, yo, I'm at the game champion. Can we come and get a picture?

Didn't see them. But, yeah, it was big. It was like, it was what it needed to be. And, like I said, I didn't want more money to fight in America. I didn't care. It was, Eddie, that's on you. But if we're fighting in America, I want the local team game, whichever one's there.

And it just happened to be the Suns versus Golden State, which weren't a bad game to watch. Got to see Steph Curry in the flesh. You know what I mean? But, you know what I mean? It came for Steph and stayed for Booker. You know what I mean? As Edgenade said, I don't want to make out I coined that one.

Yeah, man, it was good, man. It was a real good experience. Something I felt like I deserve. I'll be wrong. Last question for you. What are you concerned about in a fight like this? When you look at Bam Rodriguez and you study him, is there anything that... The judge is being fair?

I mean, that's a legit... Like, I... It sucks to even say that, but it is... The judge is being fair. It is legit. But at the same time... I don't know. It depends who starts pulling the strings or allegedly if it happens.

I don't know. I think I'm better for boxing. I think I'm better for the profile of the fights. I think this fight's only been made at anything what it is because of me. I think if this was Rodriguez against someone else, it would just be the same as what has always been. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Rodriguez is a good fighter, but no one really cares.

I think we've doubled up the attendance of his last home fight. And I guarantee if we had this fight in the UK, we'd have been bigger. We would have sold out Sheffield Arena. I know for a fact we would have. I did four, five thousand on my own with no promoter, with no promotion, with an opponent that no one had ever heard of,

yeah, with an undercar that didn't have big ticket sellers on it, the three fighters I managed that sold about 200 tickets between them. So, I know this fight

were doing bigger, so they've probably done a misjustice, really, to the event putting the way they put it. But, like I said, I didn't care.

I don't care. I'll fight in him. I'm not coming to Arizona or fighting him in America. I'm fighting in a boxing ring. I'm fighting in a 20-foot ring, just like I've always been, and I don't care.

I've always wanted boxing to take me around the world because of you know how the sort of amateur setup was done and it was their favourites and that they're still training today etc etc etc that I'm on the card now because of all of that I didn't get my my dream of traveling to the Olympics and winning gold and that and etc there but now I use my world title to take me around I thought in Dubai I here I fought in Spain and I'll keep continuing to go wherever the event is deemed biggest I'm not a promoter I'm a boxer I'm one of the best boxes in the world at that so I'll be here for

very, very long time to come. I'll be boxing until my body gives way. And after that, I'll be using my position I'm already earning as a manager with fighters. I've got champions. I've got prospects signed up to this very company in my stable. And then I'll be training fighters and developing fighters and commentating the shows next to you and punditentiary in the show. So I'm going to be here for a very, very, very, very long time.

So maybe that will pay some tests and pay some benefit when it comes to the judges, if that is how it goes. but look I don't care my identity will never be made or broken by one fight or the decision of three old men scoring a fight like I'm not like believe it or not I'm not mentally that fragile I know I'm a great fighter I know I've taken 18 years

of hard work and dedication to get here and I know this is all I want regardless I don't have to just be the champ and just be the man and be undefeated to be happy and exist in boxing like I want to be a part of events that people care about and I want to be able to when I want to get back in camp oh when we're fighting again when we're going to go earn money and when we're going to go do this okay then boom and we're going and we're going and we're going and i'm 27 about turn 28 i've got

years left in this game unlike bam whose brother retired at 27 and and bam who will probably retire after i beat him like they don't love this game they don't love what it look where are they now that home making weight already like i said i don't know why you're staying on the stage for too long like you've got some weight to shit fat boy going back into the gym or your sweatsuit on so I'm here like I always have been enjoying myself smiling engaging with a fan speaking to people being human I don't think I'm no superstar

I don't think I'm nothing special just because I can fight a lot lot lot lot lot lot better than the average human being you know what I mean it's I just love it I've experienced so much gratitude in my day to day that I'm 27 I've got two beautiful kids that I can provide for in it in a great way and make them proud of me and I'm doing it all doing something that I've loved doing since I was a kid

I've never done anything else. I never had a job. I went to university. I got all my qualifications and that. But I'm blessed that. All I have to do, train in the gym for one or two hours a day, go home, sit around and chill, wait for fighting out to come up, get in the ring, put on a show, and then go and enjoy myself again. My life is so great. You couldn't take this away from me.

You understand? Well, good luck on Saturday, Sonny. Looking forward to it. Thank you, Chris. That's it for this week's episode. My thanks to Eddie Hearn and Sonny Edwards. for joining the show. As always, subscribe, rate, review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you download podcasts, and I'll see you next week.

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