The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Boxing with Chris Mannix - The long awaited George Kambosos vs. Teofimo Lopez

Episode Date: November 27, 2021

Chris sits down with Joe Markowski, the EVP at DAZN to talk about the business of boxing, how 2021 and COVID have affected DAZN, and what the future of boxing looks like for the company. Later, George Kambosos stops by to talk about his preparation for his upcoming fight with Teofimo Lopez that was supposed to happen in June, and why there is so much bad blood between the two camps. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Here's Chris Mannix. All right, welcome back to a special Thanksgiving week edition of boxing with Chris Mannix, part of the Volume Sports Podcast Network. We have a great show lined up for you. If you are into the business of boxing, this is a show you want to listen to. Joe Markovsky, he is the executive vice president over at DeZone. DeZone, of course, a major power broker in the sport of boxing. I talk to Joe about how 2021 has been for the network.

And more importantly, what is the future of DeZone in the boxing space in 2022 and beyond? Stick around for that, a great conversation. A little bit later on, George Cambosis Jr., the lightweight contender. He takes on Taifima Lopez this weekend in a long, anticipated lightweight match. When I say long anticipated, this fight was originally scheduled for June. It is now happening this Saturday at Madison Square Garden. I talked to George about his preparation for this fight and why there is so much bad blood between Team Cambosis and Team Lopez. Great talk with George Cambosis. As always, best way to support this podcast, head over to 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, Joe Markovsky is here, executive vice president over at DeZona. Joe, before we do anything else, I would like to point out, and this was not a setup, but coming into your building, your doorman, one of the first things he said to me was when are we going to get Charlo Andrade? That was not a setup. I didn't lead him into it. I didn't suggest it. I didn't suggest it. He just brought up Charlo Andrade as a mega fight that needs to be made. Well, Chris on the door definitely is a big boxing fan. I've known that since the day I moved in.

Whether or not he thinks that's the biggest fight in boxing is to be seen. I'll ask him on the way out. But no, he is incredibly excited to see any boxing people come anywhere near the building. And Sir Chris Mannix walking this morning was no exception. Hey, love the enthusiasm. That's what we need more out of boxing fans. Well, Joe is EVP at DeZone. DeZone is entering next year. It's fourth full year in the boxing space. Before that's taking a bit of a spin through the lightweight division.

You've got Teafima Lopez against George Cambosis coming up on Saturday the following week. The other belt that's available at lightweight. Devin Haney will defend his title against Jojo Diaz. DeZone cramming a lot of good fights in towards the end of the year. How do you feel about the end of year schedule? Really, really good. We are ending the year on both sides of the Atlantic in a really positive way. That's by design.

It's also reflective of the health of our business and the size and engagement of our subscription based on in both the US and the UK. Those positive financials and the positive sort of support we're getting from boxing fans allow us to invest in an increasingly high volume and high quality schedule of events. and that makes me happy and excited about the coming weeks and also as we get into 2022 planning as we are now with our promotional partners excited about what's to come. So after an 18-month run where sport has been put through the mill

with COVID and the sort of reaction to it and the recovery from it to be ending this year on the front foot in the way that we are is something that we're very proud of. In, this has been fun kind of big fight or significant fight after specific fight, but an ideal world, do you have things more spaced out? I mean, you had a summer where it was kind of once a month with some good Golden Boy shows. Now you've got a run of four, five, six in a row. Ideally for you, do you have a little bit more breathing room between events?

I think ideally, if you could wave your magic wand and design a schedule, you'd have... Never works that way in boxing. No, it doesn't. I don't think it works out of the way in most sports, but definitely not in boxing. there's a bit of nebbing and flowing in boxing right and sometimes we probably have been a bit quieter at some points this year than we'd like to have been that's not by design or lack of effort sometimes they're just are quieter months than others and there are busier months and others and we're going into one of those busy periods now i'm very keen that we continue the momentum we have going into 2022 so to a certain extent the next six weeks from a marketing and productions assuming our talent team turn up and do their jobs and our marketing works in the various places we put it, that will to a certain extent take care of itself because we have a machine that sort of does that.

My thinking now with Eddie and Goldenboy and the promotional partners we work with more broadly is what are we going doing Q1, 2022, how we start in the year, what's our schedule going to be on a four or five month horizon. That's where the important sort of conversation lies now. ultimately it's about delivering consistent value across the year to subscribers I think in the round we are doing that better than anyone else in the market and I think the numbers around our subscribers not to be too boring in corporate with numbers increasingly the engagement how often those people are using the

platform how loyal they are being month on month to zone is increasing in both cases and that's reflective of, I believe, subscribers and boxing fans, understanding that the zone is offering them real value and they want to stick around to consume it. So that's good and it's reflective of something we've been investing in for, as you said at the top, close to four years now. Most of the listeners of this podcast are US-based and there has been rampant speculation over the last few months about DeZone's commitment to the US from the lack of events, or at least a high number of events in the U.S. to going global and committing a lot of resources over in the UK.

Eddie's talked about, they said, look, we're all in on the U.S. market. How would you characterize where DeZone is in their investment in the U.S. market? Yeah, I'm always surprised and bemused a little bit by how interested people are and how quick people are in boxing to write off businesses that enter the space. I think boxing fans are probably the most educated of any sports fans about the business side of their sport. It's more a part of the conversation than it is in European soccer or in basketball or in cricket. Not the many of your listeners are going to be cricket fans. Not a huge cricket.

Myself and Fred only. But I am bemused by it, but it's obviously part of the conversation. People like to speculate about the health of our business and whether or not we're going to go out of business. If we wanted to get out of boxing in the US, we had a very convenient excuse in COVID. And we did the absolute opposite of get out. We doubled down. We renewed contracts. We reset some contracts. We reset ourselves for growth. This weekend in a microcosm is a very good example of us doing the complete opposite of exiting boxing. It is us going out of our way originally in February when this purse bid came to market to say, we have no obligations on this fight. We don't work with either of

these fighters, they're with different promotional partners, they're not on our network, but we want to have this fight because it's available to us, it's available to the markets, and boxing fans want to see T, Afima Lopez. In particular, fight. We went out of our way, we stuck with it over a pretty prolonged,

quite up and down process from February through to the late summer when we eventually got this locked in, I think that is a good example of our commitment to the sport. we are investing smartly. We're investing more in a more disciplined way than we probably did three or four years ago.

We've been on record saying that. We've got as good a relations with the promotional partners and their key fighters than we've ever had before. And ultimately the key thing is the financial health of our business is at the best position it's ever been in since we launched in 2018. So our board are demanding. they want to see growth, they want to see a business that is tracking towards an increasingly healthy financial position. If you weren't doing that, they wouldn't be giving us and my team

means to go and make fights like this one or to renew contracts with our promotional partners as we have done in the last year with Matcham, for example, and gone and got a new contract with Matcham in the UK. So commentators in the market and lots of people on Twitter will speculate as they do in boxing, we choose to ignore most of that and we focus on building the business that we are and as I say, it's well positioned going into 2020.

What would you say has changed the most from where DeZone was before the pandemic to where it is now and how it is approaching this business moving forward? It's a really good question. I think there's a couple of answers. I think firstly, we understand boxing fans far more than we did.

You have to remember that when we came into, the US market, our only experience of any real boxing as a sports broadcaster was with Mayweather McGregor in, I think that was a summer of 2017. And that wet our appetite, given the scale of business it did for us in, I think Germany and Japan, the two markets we had it in. Apart from that, we hadn't really done much work in boxing. So I look back at some of our initial marketing activity and how we spoke to fans and how we positioned ourselves and how we governed certain relationships with promoters and slightly sort of raised my voice and the learning we've now got, we made some mistakes. I think anyone entering boxing or entering a new market

of any description is going to make mistakes. We have really, really quite quickly established ourselves at the very heart of the sport. If you look at how we engage with fans, we do that with a breadth that I don't think many others do. We cover the full sport. We serve fans. We serve fans. with content and news and coverage and we get our talent team yourself included and Ack and Brack and the rest of the team to cover the full sport. We do that because we've learned that fans are going to be sticking around and consuming our platform and consuming our social media content and engaging with our business and our brand more regularly if we are doing that and not sort of pretending that other things are not

happening in the sport. So that's one thing. I also think not to give anything away that's confidential, we are managing our promotional. partner's better. It's very easy. I love Eddie Hearns of pieces. He's a very good friend of mine. It's easy in a sport of boxing to be sort of washed over by the soap opera of boxing and the charisma of certain protagonists in the sport who are far more boxing people than we were four years ago and allow maybe the direction of travel to be shaped more in their interest than in the interest of us or more importantly in the interest of our subscribers. So,

We've learned how to operate in boxing in a far more disciplined and ultimately, what's the word, sustainable way than we were probably operating four years ago. And that all leads down to a better business to subscribers and a better offer of content and a better offer of ancillary content and original content and social media activity. But ultimately, for me and what I measured on, a better business. and that allows us to be far more medium and long term in our planning than just thinking about what's right in front of our face now and sort of scrapping to get through the next two or three months as maybe we were doing three or four years ago. So we are, yeah, we're building a more sustainable, healthier business.

And I think that's reflected in quality of output and ultimately in how engaged we are with our subscription base. You mentioned covering the whole sport. And, you know, that's, I would call that something that, that DeZone has doubled down on because on air on broadcasts we always covered the sport. We never left people out. Whereas elsewhere, you know, the most obvious example, glaring example, was how PBC often left Terrence Crawford off of lists of top welterweights. In doing the DeZone boxing show and doing other things, you're going to these events that aren't necessarily affiliated with the zone.

Anecdotally, I think it's great, but are you seeing, you know, tangible results off that off engagement, off traffic, of whatever metrics you're using to determine success. Yeah, I think, yes, we are. And we're seeing people engage with content we're producing around

fights, we are not broadcasting live that are being carried on different networks. So yes, and we're going to continue doing it because it works, and I think our subscribers appreciate it. The numbers definitely reflect that they do. So you mentioned promoters matchroom you've got to deal with

I know there's only so much you can say about the relationship with Golden Boy but there's been some reporting this week and a lot of people in boxing have been talking about that that relationship will continue moving forward what can you say about the relationship with Golden Boy and how it's evolved up until this point the relationship with Golden Boy is really good we work with we've worked with them since we entered the market they they provide us a

really regular and in relation to our subscription base and demographics of our subscription base really relevant fights and we we take value from that relationship and we like working with Golden Boy. I'm not going to comment on speculation in the media about where contractually we're at with them but what I would say is we're in planning conversations with them about the early part of 2022 as much as we are with Matrum. I'm looking forward to announcing fights with them very soon. They've got a roster of fighters,

notably Ryan Garcia, obviously for various reasons, has been quieter than he and we would have hoped. He was in 2022. He's the marquee, but Hyman Gia and Gia, Rosado, two weeks ago, they've got a great matchmaking team.

They deliver consistently high-quality shows, and we like working with a result. It's a different relationship to the one with Matrum. Our relationship with Matum is across a number of markets. It's here. We're focused with Golden Boy exclusively pretty much in the U.S. We want to expand that. We've got a global platform.

And look, we're in good shape with Golden Boy. Is it, I mean, is it improved over the last year or so? Because, I mean, everybody watched the Canello thing play out the way that it did. I mean, Oscar came out publicly and was saying, we're going to look at Triller and look at other options. There were reasons to wonder if that relationship was going to continue. In your mind, has it improved? In what ways has it improved in the last six months for a year? It's definitely improved.

The Canello period that you're referring to with the change of the contractual situation was a stress test on that relationship. In relationships like this, they're multi-layered and sometimes they have to go a bit legal. That's true of any relationship, however good it is on a personal basis or whatever. So, yes, it's improved. I don't think it was ever as dead in the water as some of your colleagues in the media suggested it was. I certainly don't feel that it was. But what's important is it's continued. It's continued to deliver shows after a pretty brief COVID break.

We only really broke for two or three months. We were back in business doing shows by the sort of mid part of last summer. So sort of June time, I think. Keep me honest there, but around that time. And it spat out content and shows throughout that period, despite the legal headwinds we went through as a group, everyone was mature everyone was adult

everyone saw the bigger picture and as a result we continue to work with them and I think fans would have seen us deliver with Golden Boy a solid schedule of content coming out of that stress period so that's really all there is

to say it's a good relationship and they're delivering us what we expect them to deliver so you mentioned Canello you have been in business with Canello since late 2018 he did his last fight on Fox or on Showtime rather on that platform. But, you know, DeZone has made no secret.

It would love to work with Canello again. What was your reaction to his public declaration that he wants to move up to Cruiserweight for a fight? And what do you think the future is between DeZone and Canelo Alvarez? I'll answer the first question first. I remember saying two or three months ago, casually at a boxing event, I forget which one,

to a group of people, you might have been there yourself, People who profess to be far more boxing intelligent than me saying, I wouldn't be surprised if Canelo went to cruise away. And I got scoffed at as you know, you idiot, you don't know what you're talking about, worry about the broadcast. The sort of chat I get from Eddie Hearn quite regularly. And it was dismissed as an idea. I'm not surprised that he's doing it. I mean, he's gone through the super middleweight division in the space of 11 months because he chose to do it. so he's he's gone through that he's ticked that box if i know one thing about canelo he is very

very focused on achieving his goals and leaving a legacy for mexican boxing and for himself and he knows that by going to cruiserweight and winning a title there maybe winning a few titles there would be an incredible statement from a guy who not that long ago was fighting at 160 168 175 then he goes up to cruiserweight it would be an incredible achievement and That's how his mind works, as far as I can tell. He wants to push boundaries and break records. So good luck to him. Let's see what plays out.

He's obviously taking a bit of a break after a very, very busy period. Of course we want to work with Canello. Of course he's been a material part of our business. He's helped grow our US business. It's not a one-man band that his own USA businesses, some people say. And I know that based on the numbers that I eat and drink every day. But he definitely helped grow our business. and he helps stabilize our business.

So of course, we're going to want to work with him, as will, every other broadcaster in the market. He's taken the decision to position himself on a fight-by-fight basis as a free aid, network free agent. I respect that. We respect that as a business. Um, as in when he wants to come back to the table and talk about what he wants to do next, cruise away, triple G, whatever, whatever it is, we're going to be, we're going to be there to talk to us.

What kind of business conversations you have though after that gets announced, like you must, like, swap emails or make phone call, have phone calls and people like, do we, if he goes through with this and says, I'm doing this, like, do we want to do it? Do we want to be involved in it? Like, I mean, what is that? Well, the answer is, and it's not secret, any caliphite we want to be a part of. Yeah. You know, I'm not giving away any, like, corporate secrets there at all. What I would say is, after four years in boxing, we're not sort of reacting in panic,

sort of oh this is new information so much happens in boxing it's such a soap opera the whole sport is why we love it um it's it's sort of wild west to a certain extent boxing right we react to that by saying this is not a surprising potential scenario that we've got to think about ultimately it's not 15 different conversations it's a conversation now between us and eddie Hearn and Eddie Hearn and Canelo Alvarez and his team to talk about what he wants to do. Eddie Hearn will be talking to him. Other promoters will be talking to him.

Other networks via those promoters will be talking to him. In the next few weeks, we'll know what he wants to do. We'll have that from the horse's mouth. And we will make a plan to, you know, see if we want to make offers and build him into our 2022 plans. The answer is we want to do that. And I look forward to having those conversations. You mentioned it's not a one-man ban, and you're right,

but how significant for the business is the outcome of Gennady Galofkin's fight against Ryota Marada? I would imagine, I mean, as a boxing fan and somebody in this business, that he goes out there and looks spectacular against Marada. The interest in Canello Triple G Part 3 will be as high as it's been probably since 2018. How much is that fight still in your mind and what kind of urgency would you say there is from you to try to push that fight over the finish line. Ultimately, the fights that we want to make

and the fights we would invest in to make happen are those that fans want to see. There are probably seven or eight fights Canello could have next that would be interesting on varying levels to American and Mexican boxing fans. Triple G is definitely on that list. it goes up the list to your point if he comes out in Tokyo at the end of December and looks a million dollars so let's wait and see it's definitely part of our consideration

I'd personally love to see it for a number of reasons as a as a fan as well as a someone in the sport but I think ultimately it comes down to what happens at the end of December in Japan as you said it feels like to me that when you mention Triple G. Golofkin or Triple G. Canelo, you're almost arguing with two fan bases. Like the hardcore fan base will say, oh, Galafkin's almost 40 years old. Canello would beat him up. Whereas, you know, give me David Benavides or give me Jamal Charles or somebody else, you know, that's in their prime right now. Whereas if you walk down the street here in Brooklyn or in Boston or anywhere in the U.S., and you ask 10 people who, Jamal Charlo, David Benavides,

as, oh, they are. They won't know. But if you ask them who Triple G is, they know. And they still remember those first two fights. So it almost feels like if you're able to push that fight over the finish line, that you get whacked by some of the hardcores out there. But the casual fans probably embrace it, do embrace it, more than they would any other fight that can be made for Canella right now.

I think the hardcore fans in boxing, who are the most important, are pretty well served by boxing. I think you and I would agree. and maybe not everyone would. The sport needs to do more all the time to engage the casual fans. That's why we briefly invested in celebrity boxing because it does get more eyeballs

on the sport and a portion of those eyeballs will stick around as fans. Boxing sometimes is its own worst enemy ignoring opportunities to broaden its appeal and broaden its reach. So if your point is accurate and I tend to agree that it is and especially if that clamour for that fight

increases at the end of December, then we're going to want to serve the casual fans with that fight. I also don't think that fight, we're hypothesizing now, would be horrible for hardcore fans. It would. I don't think they'd be like, oh, this is ridiculous. Absolutely not. Given what happened in the first two fights,

there's definitely a desire amongst the hard calls. I've actually noticed pick up a little bit in the last month or so just scanning social media. So for me, I'm always going to come to it and I've got a reason to do this from a business perspective looking for ways to get more people watching boxing.

We shouldn't be, or anyone doing that, looking to do that, shouldn't be hung up as an anti-pourist or a casual. Sometimes casual was used as an insult in the sort of world of boxing. Casual fans mean more eyeballs. Ultimately means more money in the sport. That's good for the fight.

It's good for the participants, good for the managers. It's good for the sport as a whole. So don't dismiss something as wrong because it engages more casual audiences. The sport needs more of that, not less. It's not as big as Charlo-Andre, but it's- Nowhere close. Nowhere close. Last thing for you, DeZone came into this business in 2018 as the anti-paper view.

We all remember the Michael Buffer ads. Paperview is screwed. Now seems like DeZone is trending. towards doing at least some paper views in 2022. Tell me what the future of pay-per-view is with DeZone. And if we do see pay-per-view events, what does that mean? Why make the shift away from something that you were so adamantly against early on? The origin point of this is market research that we were doing,

which, by the way, we do dozens of times a week in different ways on different topics. We do it all around the world about very small little changes we might be making. to our tech or our product or our content offer all the time. There's a team of people doing that full time in our business. The paper viewpoint, especially in the UK, is something that boxing fans are very vocal about and with good reason because we have come out and spoken about it previously in a sort of tongue-in-cheek way. Ultimately, if we are to consider using it, it's because we have to get our hands on certain

fights. There are certain fights that we haven't been able to get in the last two or three years because the fighters are already established as pay-per-view boxes and they will only want to box where they benefit in the upside of a successful broadcast process. So if we want to continue serving boxing fans in the US and in the UK with an extremely high quality boxing schedule, we can't ignore that and we need to have the technical ability to make pay-per-view available on our platform. Anthony Joshua is a free agent in the UK. Whoever he fights in the UK, that's a pay-per-view event for the rest of his career, in my opinion.

It's well-established. He's been boxing on pay-per-view for five or six years at least, maybe seven or eight. We need the ability to do it. Ultimately, though, this comes back to a conversation about customer value. I am happy any day of the week and twice on a Sunday to have a conversation with any other broadcast platform, any other promoter outside our ecosystem to say who gives boxing fans the most value.

In the UK at £7.99 a month and in the US here with our price points monthly and annual here. We offer the best value. That is a principle of our business. So even if we have to venture into pay-per-view waters, we'll do that in a targeted, disciplined way, we'll do it selectively and ultimately the ultimate value of to consumer

will continue to be better than the alternatives in market. We're in a really busy run of fights, as you mentioned at the top of this interview, through to the end of the year, all under a monthly subscription offer. Look at the number of pay-per-views that have happened since the summer to the end of the year. It's criminal.

We're not going to do that. We're not going to come asking for $80, $90 for fights that should be on a sort of run-of-the-mill subscription offer. We're going to use it under the same principles on which we built our business. I know, I think as do most people now, looking at commentary on social and ultimately for me looking at the numbers, that boxing fans in the US appreciate the value offer we're giving them. They're being more loyal to us as a result. That is a very, very important. thing for our business that we've fought to have over the last three or four years.

We're not going to put that at risk by, to use an English phrase, taking the piss on pay-per-view. So we're doing the research. There are no specific plans for a pay-per-view event yet. If we have to use it, it will be used sparingly and selectively, and ultimately, under the banner of delivering best in market value to boxing fans. That's not going to change. So nothing planned as of yet, especially in the U.S. market, whether you're at the U.S. market where you're right,

there's been a saturation of pay-per-views as a play. We don't sit on fights and not announce them for weeks and weeks. You can't do that in boxing because they leak anyway, because everyone speaks to everyone. So as soon as we've got a fight ready to announce, we're going to announce it, and there's nothing announced on pay-per-view yet. So the answer is no.

There's nothing yet planned. Well, Joe, I appreciate it, man. Good luck over the next couple of weeks. And if it's all right with you, I'm going to go out the backdoor of this building to just avoid, you know, any kind of long conversation about boxing. Chris, it's Thanksgiving Thursday when we're doing this. So I want to say, I am thankful for your work with design. I'm thankful for your coverage of the sport, even if you do occasionally have some pretty crazy ideas about the biggest fights in the sport.

Thank you very much. Do you have a blank check I can present to anyone? We're no longer in that business. In the Charlo's side? We're no longer in that business. All right. Well, maybe I'll just make a big fake one. I just say it's from me.

Joe, I appreciate it, man. Thanks, Chris. When we come back, my conversation with George Cambos. 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 IHard 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 I'm saying. Yep, that's me, CliverTaylor 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 Podcasts, 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 Jette. 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 that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. Thank you for 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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth.

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose

on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way. Open your free Our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. If I could be you. And you could be me for just one hour. If you could find a way to get inside. Each other's mind. Walk a mile in my shoes.

Walk a mile in my shoes. Walk my shoes. We've all felt left out. And for some, that feeling lasts more than a moment. We can change that. Learn how it belonging begins with us.org. Brought to you by the ad council. Adoption of teens from foster care is a topic not enough people know about,

and we're here to change that. I'm April Dinwiddie host of the new podcast, Navigating Adoption, presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Each episode brings you compelling real-life adoption stories told by the family, families that live them with commentary from experts. Visit adoptuskids.org slash podcast or subscribe to navigating adoption presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the Ad Council. What grows in the forest?

Trees? Sure. Know what else grows in the forest? Our imagination. Our sense of wonder. And our family bonds grow too. Because when we disconnect from this and connect with this. We reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than you think.

Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. This Cyber Monday, nobody has a better deal than Fandul. New customers get $50 in free bets when they sign up for Fandual Sportsbook with no deposit required. That's right. Sign up from November 26th to November 29th and you'll receive $50 in $6. credit free. How I would spend that money, Tea Fima Lopez by stoppage. Lopez, George Cambosus is the biggest fight this weekend. I have been watching Lopez for

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That's promo code boxing. All right, the big fight this weekend will be at Madison Square Garden in New York. Teufi Mo Lopez will defend his life. lightweight titles against George Cambosis Jr., the number one contender for his IBF belt. Expect to be a big crowd, great atmosphere. There's been a lot of buzz. Over the months and months and months, we've been waiting for this fight to actually happen. And George Cambosis is kind of enough to join me here on the show.

George, one of the great unknowns to me in this fight is how you both will respond, given so many stops and starts. Originally, this fight was scheduled for June. it's now happening in late November with several reschedules in between. How have you dealt with so many changes to the date on this fight? Look, I'm so focused. My tunnel vision is unbreakable, and I have been in the gym, nonstop, day in, day out. At the end of the day, you're fighting for the biggest prize in boxing, the pinnacle of the sport, so I was never going to take my foot off the pedal.

This means the world to me, the road that I have been on, to be where I am today, and to win all these belts has been a hard road. I've really had to earn it. A testament to the fighter I am and the warrior I am, two months ago, to the day pretty much, I had my birth of my third child, but also the passing of my grandfather. And on that night, I trained.

And since that day, I have not stopped. I never stopped because I'm so embedded in this fight. And I want this more than anything. And I'm very excited. I'm happy it's here. You know, there really has been no distractions. And bring it on on Saturday night. Is that, I mean,

training during those difficult circumstances, both in a positive way because of the birth of your child, the negative way because of the death of your grandfather. I mean, how different is that for you? For any other fight, might you have taken some time off? You know, I don't think I would have, to be honest, that's the kind of fight I am. I think I still would have been in the gym. And that's how my whole career has been. My life is, you know, very strict. I got that, you know, military mindset. And that's how I am. You know, this was not, you know, this is my destiny, but this did not happen in A1 night. This is not because of luck.

I've really had to earn it. And you say, would I have trained if the fight was not on at that time, if this situation is happening in my life? I think I would have. That's the kind of person I am. So another variable at all this is that there's so much bad blood between you and Teofima Lopez. I guess a simple question. Where does all that bad blood come from?

Look, it's not personal for me. I don't know why he's getting so personal. It's a fight. He's got what I want. Obviously, I'm coming to take it. He was the hunter against Lomchenko. Now he's being hunted. So he's got to understand how it feels because Lomanchenko was obviously dealing with it.

And he was chasing him. Now I'm chasing him. He has these delusional things in his head. And the people around him are not the right people. They're telling him things. One of the things is something about his mother. He thinks that I've had to go with his mother, which is not the case.

I don't even know what his mom. looks like. I mean so at the end of the day, whatever he believes, whatever lies they are telling him and they continue lying to this kid. And that's on him. If he's the angriest kid in the world, bring it on Saturday. I'm focused. I'm cool, come collected. And you saw yesterday at the press conference, how focused I am. The kid's jumping up and down. His dad's jumping up and down. And for an undisputed champion, for your champion to be acting like that, that's not a real champion. Your real champion is here ready to take the throne on Saturday night. You've talked about that hunger a couple of times, including at the press conference.

You believe you're more hungry than Teofi-Mal-Lopez in this fight. Why do you believe that? Look, I'm extremely hungry, but he's right. He's starving because he's struggling to make the weight. He's starving big time. He's not hungry. He doesn't have that design, that willpower. He did have it.

He had it for Lomachenko, but he lost that because, like I said at the press conference, them belts have been his curse. I know a lot. I know a lot about his life. And that's the kind of fight I am. I learn everything about them. And he has lost a lot. A lot of people have left him.

You know, it's pretty much him and his father. And like I said, them belts are your curves. At the end of the day, I'm happy to take them on. You know, I don't know how many people were picking up on that, but you were tweaking him a little bit about, you know, being alone like that. I mean, how much of that is trying to get under his skin a little bit? before this fight. I don't need to get under his skin because I've been under his skin for a very long time. I've been in his head for a very long time. I've been living in that brain of his rent free

for many months. I mean, so at the end of the day, I have been here every single day. June 19th, I was there. And every other day that was put out there, I was there until it got to a point where it became, come on, this is a joke. You know, we need to fight. We're sick and tired of this. And at the end of the day, you know, as much as I want to kill, destroy this kid and take him out, You know what I mean? You know, we are fighters. We are preparing for a certain date. So, you know, we're happy that time match and we're excited for it and bring it on. A lot of people in the U.S. have witnessed the rise of Teafimo Lopez over the last five years, fighting on televised top rank cards, knocking out Richard Comey at MSG and then beating Basilio Lomachenko.

What gives you the confidence that you can beat a fighter that even at a young age has accomplished some pretty significant things? I think my willpower at the moment and what I bring to the table and what I believe in and my skill set, my speed, my explosive power, the way I move my defensive capabilities. I feel like I do everything better. And it's going to be shown on Saturday night. Many don't believe, but the most important thing is I believe. And when I believe, you know, I will win this fight. The power specifically, I mean, I watched your last fight against Lee Selby. It was a quality win for you, it got you in.

this position, but do you believe you have the power to change a fight against Teufima Lopez? Let me tell you that it only takes three and a half pounds of the right pressure on the right spot to put him out, to put him to sleep. We have seen many times him put to sleep in his sparring sessions. So I'm very confident in my abilities. I'm very confident with my speed and my explosive power to land the right shot. But I'm ready for 12 rounds. Like I said yesterday, victory by any means. That win against Lee Selby was an absolute master class. Sobey is known for his boxing. abilities. I box his head off, picked him apart every single round in his own hometown. So, you know, we're ready. We're ready for whatever he brings and we're ready to win.

One thing I'm sure you're ready for is a very aggressive Teofima Lopez early on. He's not hiding the fact that he wants to stop you in the first round. How do you counter an attack like that? Look, I'll meet him head on. If he wants to go to war, let's go to war. But more anger, the better for me. Why is that? Well, we all know it. Anger and you make a lot of mistakes. You leave yourself open. So, you know, if he wants that anger, bring it on. But we are ready for whatever he brings. He wants to box if he wants to run. But I'm looking forward to meeting him head on as well. Is a firefight your kind of fight? Whatever way it goes. I'm ready for a firefight. I'm ready for a boxing master class. I'm ready for whatever. Whatever he wants to do, I'm ready to match it and be better than him. you know this would be the most significant one of your career obviously easily but so what what would

it mean to you to become depending on who you asked the undisputed or unified 135 pound champion look obviously there's that big you know thing about undisputed unified i don't get too involved in that you know i'm just focused on on being this kid and you know it'll mean in the world because all the hard years earning it the hard way you know going to the backyards of champions starting at the local club show, no big promoter behind me, no massive money behind me, having to sell tickets, sell tables to get some commissions to be able to, you know, get over to the US and do the hard training camps. All of the side of my doors open, get to go with the legendary money pack year. And that's where it really took off. And obviously I showed my, who I am in my last two fights

and ready for this. So all them hard years, a butt sweat and tears, and away from my family, away from my kids. It's one big, big ball of, you know, of everything, you know, about my legacy. You know, I'm all in. I'm all in. I'm coming to win this fight. I'm in the world. And I'm looking forward to it. Been a long time coming. All the experiences that you've gone through, besides, you know, working with your coach in the gym individually, what's one that shaped you the most? What's the most impactful experience? Whether it's working with one fighter and sparring or working with some trainer, what's the most impactful thing you've had? Look, everything, everything from the trainers to the sparring to the fights. And before I even hit the States, I had very solid fights in Australia, guys that were, you know, I was big underdogs.

I should have not won them fights. And I destroyed them, put a beating on them. So every bit, you know, of every day, you know, I'm getting better and better and has impacted, you know, my career. I can't pinpoint, you know, the Manny Pagia Spine, unbelievable. The last two fights I had, experienced there, unbelievable. You know, the spying with the guys like Jose Ramirez, Ray Bulltron, Sergey, Syngo Lippinitz. You know, all these guys has put me to a level where I am today,

but everything, from the gym to the trainers, to the sparring, to the fights, to everything. It's made me the man I am today. He has said he doesn't want to shake hands after this fight is over. You buying that? It doesn't really bother me. Shake hands, no shake hands. I'm coming with a belt, so, you know, it doesn't bother me.

A lot of excitement. I know it probably, it definitely has to suck for you to have to wait this long, but I honestly feel there's more excitement around this fight, given how long you've had to wait. It's almost become part of the story, George, that you've had to wait this long, and finally, this fight's actually happening. Look, everything happens for a reason, you know, man, and you never want to question anything.

The way it's meant to be is the way it's happened. And look where we are. We're on design, we're on match room. The promotion has been unbelievable. You've got the people that know boxing are part of this. And what a, what a venue, you know, to win all the belts. That's unbelievable, and I'm very excited and very grateful to be in the position I am. And after Saturday night, the world will be shocked.

But I won't be shocked because I've seen this for a very long time. I've dreamt about it. And I will make it a reality. Well, do everybody a favor, George. Stay off the subway for the next 24 hours. Don't eat any weird food. We don't need any more postponing of this fight. We want to see you and Teofimo finally get in the ring.

Good luck, man. It's great to talk to you. Great to meet you. I'm looking forward to a great fight. I appreciate it. look, I think if I had no arms, I'll still be rocking up. That's the kind of fight I am. That's how much it's amazing, man.

I'll still be there, you know, winning in the fight. So I'll be ready. I'll be there like I always have been. And it's absolute pleasure. And looking forward to Saturday night. Thank you. That's it for this week's episode. My thanks to Joe Markovsky and George Cambosis for joining the show.

As always, subscribe, rate, review this podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you can download podcast. And I will see you with Sergio Amora next. week. Manix, I'm a man on the run, and I'm not doing your fucking podcast. We're not doing it, bro. I'm a man on the run. On the run.

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? 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. 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 I'm saying. Yep, that's me, 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 Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to be.

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. 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. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.