The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Boxing with Chris Mannix - Will Tank Davis - Ryan Garcia happen?

Episode Date: January 13, 2023

Chris is joined by former Champion, Sergio Mora as they react to Tank Davis' last fight, did his performance change their opinion on how a fight with Ryan Garcia might go, what was made of Andrade and Boots Ennis' performances, and what can be expected from Spence-Thurman at 154. #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.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam Jay.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. 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 podcast. The Volume.

Boxing with Chris Manix is presented by Fandul. It's NFL playoff time, and there's no better place to get into the action than Fandul. The app is safe, secure, and easy to use. Fandul has exclusive offers, boosts, and more all month long. When you win, you'll get paid fast. Fandle has a lot of ways to play, like the spread, money line, over-unders, team totals, player props,

so much more. Jump into the action at any time during the game with live betting. Combine multiple bets on the same game in a same game parlay and try out same game parlay plus. And now Fandul is live in Ohio. So people in Ohio get in on the action immediately. Use the Pro Well Code boxing. That's how they know I'll send you. And download the FanDuel app today to start making every moment more. Welcome back to another boxing with Chris Manix. As always, you can listen to the show live on the AMP app. Just follow Chris Manning. On Amp.

This is boxing with Chris Manning. Or somebody punch him in the face. Anthony Joshua is a composed and ferocious finisher. Watch this. Andrew Ruiz is the heavyweight champion. Hosted by S.I's Chris Manix. That was my moment. Now with interviews, analysis, and everything going on in the world of boxing.

When you have talent, you are given another chance. Here's Chris Mannix. So what do you think of? the new setup. The money must be rolling in with the high ratings that I'm bringing to the table because look at this. We got fancy microphones, fancy lights, we got leather chairs. We got cheap coffee.

I mean, they're paying you good, Mann, so you better be compensating me for this. I'm experimenting here. The podcast, as always, will be available on this feed, audio version, this feed, the herd with Colin Cowherd, all the usual places you listen to audio. But if you want to watch some video elements to it, we're going to start putting some stuff on YouTube. So I've got a little makeshift studio set up here in a room, and we're...

Who the hell will want to see you? Like, live. We are... Maybe me. We're on TV, you know, right? Like, we're on TV. Why are you... Don't fix your hair.

It's YouTube, right? Yeah, but I'm on cameras of people. I'm on camera, so I got a little good. Probably watch. Sergio Amora, if you missed it, is here. Former Junior Middleweight Champion, DeZone Broadcaster. Sergio, we did not call the Jervant

Tank Davis, Hector-Lois-Garcia fight last night. Well, last week. But we both watched it. Good performance by Tank Davis. As often, kind of a slow burn with Tank. He, you know, gets off to a slow start, but, you know, picks it up in the middle and late rounds. And as usual, he gets a knockout.

Dr. Luis Garcia does not come out of his corner after that eighth round. Your takeaways from Tank and Garcia. Well, Tank is a calculating dangerous puncher. You know, he's not a reckless go for the head in the first couple of rounds, even though he has that power to turn anyone, knock anyone out. But he doesn't go that way. So he's calculating. He's patient.

He's very smart. He's an intelligent killer. That's basically what I got because he took his time with Roli Romero. He took his time with Issaq Cruz, and he took his time with Garcia. and with Garcia, he was able to knock him out. And that's what's impressive about him. You know, not only does he beat unbeaten fighters, but he knocks him out in sensational fashion.

And he's a proven ticket seller. So not only that, he's putting butts in seats and he's putting opponents on their butts. Who doesn't like that? The ticket selling is undeniable at this point. It's like wherever Tank Davis goes, he sells out the venue, whether it's L.A., Brooklyn, Atlanta, now D.C., and these are real gates.

These aren't paper gates. These are $5 million gates, $4 million in Brooklyn. in his last fight. So outside of like Canelo Alvarez and Anthony Joshua over in the UK, maybe now Tyson Fury, I guess. But outside of those guys, there's nobody that sells tickets like Giovante Davis. It's incredible. Like I don't even, like he's got, he has done what Floyd Mayweather did, you know, 15, 20 years

before him. He has drawn in his audience and he has a loyal, loyal fan base. And it's a different fan. base than most. You know, it's more of the East Coast fan base. You know, whenever you, you got popular fighters, you break them off in, in West Coast, Southern fighters, and East Coast fighters. He's a popular attraction in the East Coast. He's a bona fide ticket seller. Once he can go across the country and start doing that, you know, consistently, I mean, that's when you got an international star, because then you can fight them anywhere. There's no place to sell tickets. Like, you can put him in

Chicago. He'd probably sell a ton of tickets. It's wild. Like, he is a legitimate star in all a boxing. Everyone likes power, man. Everyone loves power, man. And he goes for the knockout. Not only that, you know, the backflips off the turnbuckle. You know, he comes out with that swag, you know, usually with a rapper, you know, leading him out. I never like that, though.

Like, not because I don't like the rapper, but like these guys are never actually singing. I don't care. It's lip-seeking, but so what? I mean, America Scott Tellin's probably lip-singing, but. No, it's not lip-syn. Okay, well, there's a lot of lip-sinking on television, and I don't care. It's a show, and he's putting on a show because he's a-old. a showman. So he's knocking them out. He's flipping and everything is, everything's going right for him.

See, I was impressed with the performance because I was one of the people that thought Hector Luis Garcia was a real opponent. You know, this was being billed as a stay busy fight for tank Davis, but Hector Luis Garcia came into this fight undefeated. I know you love undefeated fighters coming off the best two wins of his career against Chris Colbert and Roger Gutierrez. He had a phenomenal trainer in his corner in Bob Santos, who by the the way, had a good game plan for that five. I thought Hector Luis Garcia fought the right game plan for the first six, seven rounds, eventually got caught. But Tank Davis, look, I don't, I don't like it a lot. I don't love it when broadcasters or whoever talk about a fighter

downloading data. Like, that's oftentimes a way to explain slow starts. But Tank Davis really does look like he's figuring out how a guy fights, how he's going to fight him, what he's going to allow him to do and then processes it and then takes advantage of it. You saw after that fifth round, he just took over, landing big shots, lunging in, you know, and that eighth round, he was dominant, landing some huge shots so big that Hector Luis Garcia was like, no, I'm good. I'm good to go out there at the start of the ninth. So do you give credit for him being patient to Bob Santos? Are you giving the credit for following that game plan? Well, no, Luis Garcia, Hector, Garcia had Bob Santos.

I'm sorry. Yeah. Hector the way, no, Hector Garcia had a good game plan. Bob Santos gave him a good game plan. Early on, if you saw... Misunderstood you. Right. Early on, if you saw, like, it's very clear that Bob Santos and Hector Garcia...

How many fights has Bob Santos been with Garcia? Not many, right? Several. Well, at least all last year. That's for sure. So what, two? I don't know what his... What the history was?

Bob Sanders has got a bunch of those Dominican fighters and does really well with them. they obviously watched the last fight where Roli Romero over-extended himself and went for the not went for too much too soon that's how he got knocked out Bob Santos also was in the corner for Mario Barrio so he had an idea of how tank fights and kind of what his best weapons are and they were patient early they didn't over-extend themselves they threw the jab they operated yeah they just didn't get overly aggressive but tank it's got a way of figuring out when he starts walking you down you better have something big coming back to keep him from doing that and hector Garcia just didn't have

enough pop. That's always the case but what he needed was he needed resilience and he needed Bob Santos to actually wake him up saying no we we why'd you stop boxing? See I want to get to this yeah whenever you have a fighter hurt that the trainer can't be there for you you're going to have to figure it out by yourself but the coach can tell you listen man we got a minute to recover this is what you got to do you got to move you got like dundee told ali dance baby dance you know you got to find the way to get those cow webs clear you can't just go to your corner and i'm gonna say it mannick i tweeted it i'm i don't care you did i's where i knew you were going okay garcia quit all right let's talk about this though all right hector louise garcia and it's probably not the first time

he's undefeated what are you i'm telling you i'm talking it's probably not the first time because once you do it the first time it's easier the second time so you don't believe him they said he couldn't see out of that right eye or you don't care no no of course i care i just don't believe them no because i've been in boxing long enough to know when whenever there was no cuts what why can't he see a punch a punch caused him not to see i don't know i've never been punched like that so that doesn't happen the doctor didn't stop it the referee didn't stop it nobody stopped it but himself so you've never heard of the idea of it you got clipped in the side of the head anytime at the end of that round every everyone's got clipped by the side of the head no matter how how hard you get hit yes you see lights

yes you feel the little ants crawling all over your body and your neck that's part of the being hurt unless this man's never been punched that hard in the gym and everyone's gotten punched that hard when you start boxing you get hit the hardest because you don't know how to duck you don't know what that feeling is like but you got to recover you got to know how to stay patient you got to know how to how to grab your opponents the bell rang he was able he had one minute to recover he didn't even bother that you know he just said i can't see the trainers told them this and that and and they stopped the fight i i i mean i i i don't like what i I saw and I was disappointed.

Don't get me wrong. I felt he quit. I was disappointed. In a close fight. In a close fight. Well, not according to the judges. The judges said that way. I thought it was a close fight.

I thought it was a close fight too. So didn't Steve Farhood, I think, is the gold standard when it comes to unofficial and official boxing judge. I don't know what those judges had that score for. But my thing is if you really couldn't see that right eye, like going out there, he would have gotten slaughtered. Like tank was coming in. He was going for the knockout. He just would have been part of the Tank Davis highlight reel. Maybe you realize that.

So you think he shouldn't get out there and. taking a beating like that? Is that the job? Look, man, I know what I would have done. And everyone else would have... You would have faked a knee injury. Every other champion would tell you exactly what they would have done. I got knocked down five times.

I got up every single time. Don't tell me I faked it. You did. It's actually my ringtone. You're getting knocked down five times. Yeah, man. You got to figure out... You got to find out a way to win.

Your hand is hurt. Okay, you got another hand. One eye, you got Vaseline in it. You got a cut, bloodstreaming in it. Okay, you got another eye. You got a fine. find a way, man. This is just the way old school fighters are. And now there's a new school

way of just being able to find a way to get out by saying the right things. Okay, so this was viewed as a tune-up fight, a stay-busy fight before the big one, Ryan Garcia, which is right now scheduled to take place in April. We'll get to that a little bit later on in the show. What you saw out of tank,

does that change your opinion in any way about how a fight against Ryan Garcia would go. You know, I've used this comparison before. I think that would be our generation of a war. You know, the war with Hagler and Hearns. It just lasted three rounds, and both of them got hurt. You know, and ultimately, Hearns was the one that got knocked out.

I see that similar because Hagler was a Southpaw. Gerontad Davis is an aggressive, come forward power punching Southball. Garcia is a tall, lanky, skinny, puncher, knockout artists as well. And they just have so much, resentment and anger towards each other. Why not anger, but they really want to fight.

And I just see it, you know, starting off fast and both of them getting hurt. And I don't go, I don't see it going past four rounds. So yes, I do think that something changes because I've seen in the last couple of performances by tank that he starts late, whether he's downloading information like you said, or he's studying his opponent, or he's walking him down, or he's taking his time, whatever it is, it takes about five rounds. Well, if Ryan Garcia can start off fast, surprise him with that speed, surprise him with that check left hook, let a tank get over aggressive trying to get back a counter.

Maybe he can clip him, maybe he could drop them, maybe, maybe he could start off fast, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. I just see it differently because of tank's slow start. I think Ryan's start is the key. We've seen Ryan pick up a number of first round knockouts, whether it's Romero, Duno, Francisco Fonseca, and he was able to pick those. goes up because those fighters made big mistakes in the early round. You saw Duno just walk into a big right hand.

Fonseca walked into, I mean, like dropped his hand for a split second and then walked into a big left hook. That's what Gervante is going to have to be careful about. But I also think, I think Ryan can still win even the later rounds. Like I saw Javonte, you don't think? I saw Javonte kind of open up. When he opens up, he leaves himself open to. Here's the thing.

I don't think Ryan wins a decision. I don't think he wins a decision either. Actually, I don't know who wins decision. Tank's not a volume punch. I really don't think Ryan Garcia will be able to withstand that pressure. We haven't seen Garcia fight on the inside. We haven't seen him get mauled up by anybody. Tank would do that in the second half of the fight.

And the first half could be respect by both speed and power. So if that fight ends early, then Garcia has a chance. But if it goes in the second half, you've seen how Tank was coming on. He's just nonstop. And he's going to hit you anywhere you can hit you. I can see him aiming that left hand to the chest, digging down to the body, making Garcia drop them elbows, get it a little bit lower. And that's when Tank could come up with the uppercuts, Leo Santa Cruz style. That dude's a monster, man.

But Garcia, if he has any chance, it's with speed and those lightning hands in the early rounds. You think, Tank, you know, one of the shots that Southpaws have started to direct at Ryan Garcia is that sweeping hook that Luke Campbell dropped him with. You saw Campbell have success with it. I saw Javier Fortuna tried to do it a couple of times too. He just wasn't anywhere near it, strong or capable of doing something like that. Ryan Garcia gets a hit like that with a punch by Tank Davis. It's game over. I'm glad you brought that up.

We haven't seen Tank Hurd. We haven't seen him get dropped. We haven't seen him face adversity. We've seen Ryan Garcia get dropped, face adversity, come back and knock out the guy who dropped them. That right there is points for Ryan Garcia. That right there kind of validates the point that I'm trying to make for him. because that's one thing we never know out of champions. No matter how hard they punch,

you know, no matter how much of the killers they look, wait till they're hurt. We're going to see how much of a killer instinct they got when they're really buzzed and hurt. We haven't seen Tank go through that. I do think there are questions about both guys coming in, which is what makes this such an unbelievable fight

because we have not seen Tank go through the kind of adversity that you're talking about. We have not seen Tank face a puncher on the level of Ryan Garcia. Similarly, Garcia has not faced anyone on tank's level. He's faced some pretty good guys, beginning with Luke Campbell, but nobody with the kind of power of Gervante Davis. Let me ask one more thing about that fight. If you're Ryan Garcia, how would you fight tank? Would you be aggressive in those early rounds? Trying to stop him early? Absolutely. If I was Ryan Garcia, I'll start off fast,

baby, fast and I won't jab. I won't give a, I won't give tank anything to counter. It's going to be just check, check hooks. And once he's inside, right hand check hooks, it's going to be twos and threes two's and three is no jabs because as a taller fighter you become vulnerable with a lazy jab or if you go out there and double jabbing that's when you get hit with over the top so no jab's gonna be just slinging power punches from the get go so i'm starting to get a little worried about this fight there's some kind of tea leaf reading out there that makes me wonder if this fight's actually going to happen in mid-april as everyone seems to be suggesting for starters i i people might be listening to this on friday i don't know

what the status of it that day is, but the contracts have not been to Golden Boy yet over the first part of the week. That's significant. Like you need to get that contract. What are you talking about? The contract for Ryan against Tank. It's not gone to Golden Boy yet.

They have not received a copy of that contract as we record this right now. Once they get that, there's going to be a process that they have to go through there. The other part of it is, you know, Tank Davis is facing a hit-and-run trial on February 16th. That is when that trial is scheduled to begin. if that ends with some form of home confinement,

if it ends with a slight jail term, that's going to push that fight back as well. Also, Sergio, you've got Errol Spence, who's going to fight Keith Thurman, supposedly he's going to fight him in April. You don't do back-to-back paper views. That never happens in boxing, especially not when it comes to the same promoter.

I'm starting to get worried that this fight happens in April, and if it doesn't happen in April, you're talking about more time off for Ryan Garcia. This is where the argument that he should have taken a tune-up fight makes more sense. Because, as I said weeks ago, if you told me that Ryan Garcia was going to get the fight against Tank Davis in April, I'd be fine with that. But there were all these red flags popping up. Benevides' plan, that's probably going to be sometime in March. That's a pay-per-view too.

You get a whole bunch of paper views suddenly clustered in that March-April range. And I'm not so sure that Ryan Garcia is going to get the date that he wants. I've learned, I've done enough of these podcasts to tell you. that you don't know what you're talking about. Because you last year... I'm the only one of us following the process. Last year, you were so adamant and your half was half full

and the black cloud over your head was gone. You actually believed. You believed that Crawford was going to fight Spence in November. And I'm the one that told you slap yourself. There's no way. They don't have enough time to promote it. There's no way they're going to bring it together in six or seven weeks.

That fight is not going to happen. A lot of people saying that Spence is going to age out Crawford. These guys are in their mid-30s. already they're going to be come on man it's not happening and you you think that i'm not going to listen to you i am not going to listen to you because you don't know so whatever you say i'm going the opposite direction okay but do you not see my point that there are some warning signs about this fight of which is errol spence announcing a major fight in april like no i'm not going to listen to your warning signs i'm an optimist manix since when i'm an optimist and listen man i i i i'm an optimist and listen man i i

that's another disappointment when it comes to Spence fighting Thurman. That would have been a fight that everyone would have been excited three years ago, four years ago, you know, one time. Come on now. Errol Spence. And now... I don't hold to put a pin in that for a second because I still want to stick back to the card we saw this past weekend because we saw two notable names fighting on that card.

I want to start with Demetri's 128 pounder now, four-two-division world champion. He defeats Demon. Nicholson by unanimous decision. I watched that fight, Sergio. Classic Boo Boo, right? Like, he starts fast. He picks up a knockdown.

He gets aggressive early. And then it's cruise control for the remainder of the fight. Did you see anything that gives you an opinion on what to expect of Demetri's Andrade now that he's at 168? No, because Boo Boo Boo Andrew

has made a fantastic career being who he is, a winner. He doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't, he doesn't give you anything to hit. He's a tall South Paul with a great jab, strong enough to put you on your butt, but disciplined enough to last the distance. He's, he made the U.S. Olympic team with that style. He's picked up two titles and two divisions. He's making a lot of money.

He's tall, dark, and handsome like he likes to remind everybody. He's not going to change for you, me, or any critic, man. He is who he is. So unless. Well, not even that. I'm just, I'm more asking you that he's 34 years, old. He's fighting in a new division.

Do you think he can be as dominant at 160? You do. Look, no disrespect to DeMond Nicholson, but he is kind of a gatekeeper type of guy, someone you face in your first fight at 160. Andrade filled out that weight nicely. First of all, he's six foot one. He has these big white shoulders. He was a huge junior middleweight.

He was a pretty big middleweight out bigger than me, bigger than I ever was. Right, but I didn't think he's a huge super middleweight. I didn't look at him saying he's massive in there. He's not a huge middleweight, but he filled out. out nicely. He's six foot one, so he has white shoulders. He fills it on after the way in. And like I said, he has everything. He has all the gifts, man. The only thing he doesn't have is that killer instinct. And that's what people, you know, knock him for. The fact that he can have someone hurt and he won't go for the stoppage. People don't like that. That's something that

innate. He doesn't have it. And do you want to compliments on saying innate? Is that what you're waiting for right there? No, that's actually not. You kind of gave me this look. Like, do you like that word? You like that word? No, no, no, no. I used an eight before. I thought he would look. Instinctively. I thought he looked fine.

There's a, another word. It was vintage Demetrius Andrade. You just didn't see him step on the gas in the later rounds. And this is my, look, there's no bigger Boo Boo Boo Andrews fan over the last three years than me. I have been his fiercest advocate as anyone that listens to this podcast or watches his own nose fully. Even on Twitter, I'm just pushing for him all the time. But. But there's a butt.

There is a butt because Demetrius Andrade in interviews in the last. few days in the last week has said, what more do I have to do? What do I have to do? Why do I have to do this? Why do I have to do that? Well, the reality, Sergio, is that if Demetrius Andrade wanted the bigger fights, there are things he could have done. He could have stepped on the gas in the first round against Machek-Sulesky and knocked him out in the second. He could have, after knocking Walter Kautendakwa down four times, gone for it and knocked him out on the fifth time. He could have not waited nine rounds to knock Luke Keeler out. Let me tell you this.

If Demetrius Andrade had fought all his previous fights like he did Jason quickly, where he's like, you know what? This guy's not in my league. I'm going after him and I'm going to put him down. If he fought that way in his previous fights, he would have had a Jamal Charlo fight. He might have even had a Canelo Alvarez fight. His problem is that he has not, up to this point, been able to make that big statement. He's getting wins, but he's not making a statement.

know this. That's how you get the marquee fights. Hey, look, I'll give you that. I'll give you that. And he's had, Andre, Andrew, Andrew has had a unique great career because he hasn't fought champions. Never. A current or former world champion. Never. It's one of the wildest statistics I've ever seen. I never seen that either. And he's made millions of dollars just beating number one contenders or, or a lot of money. You're right. Yeah, a lot of money with what people call a boring style, with not knocking out people and going all the way the distance. He's had a fantastic career. So who are you or me or anyone to tell him any different? He's already passed. He's already won. He's 34 years old. He can retire tomorrow. He's going to be just fine. He doesn't want to. He wants that marquee event.

And he's he's asking the question, what more do I have to do? That's the answer. What more do you have to do is go for it. Yeah, you got to go for it. But you were there in Providence, Sergio. And you know what? I think he will start going for it because he's 34 years old. And let me tell you something about, look, the thing about boxing. The thing about boxing. When they start aging, they don't have the legs to go the distance anymore, so they start fighting. I mean, the greatest saltpaw boxer of all time, Pernel Whitaker, he was the perfect essence of a sweet scientist, a softball. But once he got older, he started digging down. He didn't move as much.

He started going to the body, ripping air, you know, and sometimes hurting opponents. But he wasn't a puncher, but he had that in him. I think Andrade, in a second chapter of his career, he's going to have to force himself to stay in the pocket, dig down. and start taking some punches, not punishment, punches, and then learn how to extend your career that way. I just remember being in Providence when he thought Suleski, and I know going into that fight that Team Canello was watching him. Like they were watching that fight and seeing how it went

and seeing if it would provide any kind of oomph to make a fight between Andrade and Canello happened. And it looked like in that first round surgery he was going to do it. He knocked Selesky down. A good crowd, 7,000 plus in Providence that night, was going nuts for him. And then the second round comes. And then what happened after that. And a little bit slower and a little bit slower.

And all of a sudden, we're in a 12 round decision. And that does nothing for him. It defends his title. It makes him a bunch of money. But it does not propel him into those bigger fights. And that's where Canelo looked at him and said, get the fuck out of here, man. Who you fight, man? You fight nobody, man.

You fight nobody. And that's when he realized, I'm not going to give this guy a chance. He's just, you know, he's not a ticket seller. He's damn good. Did a decent job selling tickets in Providence. In Providence, his hometown. Other than that. But I like that, though.

You should sell tickets in your hometown. Karen Scraffert sells tickets in his hometown. Guys, I like when guys can sell tickets in their hometown. It's not always the case. You're always defending your own Boston boys. Look at you. Providence, a little bit different. Massachusetts.

All right. Also on that card, Geron Enitz, consider one of the best young fighters in all of boxing. He goes not only past the seventh round for the first time in his career. He goes, the distance, 12 rounds for the first time in his career. Defeating, I'm going to butcher this last name. Karin Shukazian, hope I got that close to right.

Karin, that's his first name. Shukotian was not there to win. He was there to go the distance. He was there to survive. Started to exchange a little bit in that 12th round, but that was, you know, too little too late for me. What did you think of the way Boots fought in that fight? Boots was Boots, man, just like Andrade.

And just because he'd gone the distance and he wasn't able to knock out a guy that people expected him to knock out, all of a sudden there's critics saying that, oh, he was exposed. No, he wasn't exposed. He dominated the fight. He pretty much pitched a shutout. He did pitch a shutout. You know how hard is it to win every single round against another professional fighter? He didn't take a roundoff.

You know, he just wasn't able to knock out a guy that, one, never been stopped. And two, he was tricky. Three didn't engage. So no, I'm not like the rest of them haters that are going to, have flipped. Boots is still a beast. He's still one of the top fighters I won 47 and he showed me a lot of things. If he would have if he would have actually just stayed in one gear, then I would have said that yeah, man, he needs to work on other stuff. But by the fourth fifth round, he realized that the body was going to be the ticket a little bit more. You know, start picking up the pace, start pressuring him,

start getting a little bit more physical. These are things that he learned on the spot right there and listening to his corner. I wasn't disappointed and it was the best thing that could have happened. I know you hear that a lot, but to know in your gut, because you've done it, that you've done 12 rounds, now you're comfortable going into the championship rounds. So it was a blessing in disguise, because he is going to need the 10th, 11th, 12th round against the best at 147. I didn't see a lot of legitimate people criticizing him for that. I mean, I don't think he definitely didn't get exposed, that's for sure. Like, he has a lot to learn, and I think we saw exactly that on Saturday night, specifically when it comes to cutting the ring off.

Like, you know, as a fighter, that's not an easy thing to master. You know, Ghanady Golofkin, in my mind, is one of the best in boxing, or has been one of the best in boxing at cutting the ring off. Canelo Alvarez. But that's where you've got to start giving Chukazian some credit because... He was in great shape. He was in great shape. He moved all 12.

And you could tell that he had international amateur experience, the way that he maneuvered around the ring, the way he stayed off the ropes, the way that he was able to tie up Boots, anytime Boots wanted to get something started in the inside, that's experience for you. Anytime you got a gritty, experienced guy that's not afraid. That's another thing. He had poker face, Chukazian. Who was the, like, give me some context here.

Like, who in your career, who was really good at cutting the ring up? Because you were kind of a mover. You were a mover for, for most of your career. Like, who was really good at doing that? Who could, you know, who were you trying to move away from? But he just kept finding a way to cut you off. Hey, Brian Vera. But then again, we fought in a 16-foot ring in Texas.

But no, I'll tell you who. Are you allowed in Texas anymore? You kind of napalmed them on the way out. I love Texas. I just hate the politics. I'll tell you who was an expert of cutting off the ring that was in the ring with. It wasn't a fight, but sparring. And it was numerous years, hundreds of rounds.

Antonio Margarito, probably the king of cutting off the ring. And Perro Angulo. You know, I did hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of rounds with those two guys. and they can limit my movement with their expertise of cutting off the ring. Because if the ring is a square, they made you feel like you were fighting in two triangles or on a triangle.

They knew how to make it cut it in half. And you were literally not in a squared circle. You're fighting a triangle whenever you're fighting guys that know how to cut off the ring like that. So what is the secret to it? Because, you know, Canelo early in his career, the Eraslani Lara fight, I think is a good example. I didn't think Canello did enough to cut the ring off.

against Lara. I thought he won the fight, but didn't think he did enough to cut the ring off. And Lara is a highly skilled guy. Like, it's among the most skilled guys at that point. 2014, Laura was legit.

You're talking about Eddie's Lundy Lerre. I'm just saying, like, what is, Cuban sniper? But what would you say to Boots Ennis? Like, what can you do to get better when you go up against somebody like that? Because maybe the next opponent

won't be in as great a condition as Chukazian was, but there's going to be guys to try to move on him now because they don't think he can get off his combinations that way. Well, whenever you're dealing with a mover like that, like I said, you want to turn, you want to make that ring as small as possible.

And if they're moving to the left, you want to throw shots to the left to get them from stop moving there. Not really to land that punch, just to land on the shoulder. That way you can really land the hard punch on the other side of the body or the bicep of the head or whatever it is. That's one way. Two, you just got to get aggressive with the upper body movement and not give him a target to hit. So if you don't give them a target, make yourself really like Mike Tyson, for instance, he would have that upper body movement just to get on the inside and explode. You know, he wasn't an expert, but he was really good at cutting off the ring with taller guys,

especially with jazz, because of that aggression. The upper body movement was great with ice. So upper body, upper body movement and just making that side to side, bam. And starting at the body. It wasn't head hunting. Mike Tyson always had that right hook to the body, and then he followed it up with the upper cut and the left hooks. and he would turn South Paul, just like Boots.

Boots would turn South Pole. He switches from left to the right, and he's one of the best to do it. Tyson would do that. He's an orthodox fighter, but once he got on the inside, he would bang you away. And little by little, he was a South Paul fighting with right uppercuts and left up, I mean right hooks, left uppercuts, and fighters weren't expecting that. So it's a little bit, a little bit that boots can learn off. Looking to get more of the NBA this season, well, now is the perfect time to download

Fandul, America's number one sports book, because, new customers get a no sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's free bets back if your first bet doesn't win. Just download the Fandual Sportsbook app. It's safe, secure, and super easy to use. You can do player props, player points, rebounds, assists, all of it, and so many more exclusive bets like the two by three, two three pointers scored in the first three minutes. Plus, Fandul even lets you combine your bets for a chance at a bigger payout with the same game parlay.

FanDuel is also now live in Ohio. So Cavaliers fans, you can get in the action right away. Make sure you get in on it with great offers just for you now and throughout January. So don't miss the chance to get your no-swet first bet up to $1,000 in free bets when you join FanDuel with promo code boxing. Make every moment more with FanDuel an official sports betting partner of the NBA. Last thing for you, it was announced this week. an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way,

this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the same.

scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network. on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong

Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. It was revealed, I guess I should say, this week that Keith Thurman and Errol Spence, Jr. will happen reportedly in April.

We knew that fight was coming, right? Like that was the talked about fight, two longtime rivals who have been circling each other, top welter weights. We knew that part of it. What we didn't know was what ESPN reported, which was this fight will happen at 154 pounds. So when you heard that news, Sergio, what was your reaction? one I thought we're not going to get what we want with Crawford and now another disappointment another you know what the hell are we doing here

these are the two best fighters in the world this should have been like Hagler I mean I'm sorry it should have been like Thomas Hurons versus Sugar Ray Leonard two of the best 147 pound fighters fighting at their absolute peak we're not going to get that anymore man I said I told you this last year when you were so positive that it was going to happen in November and this and this and that I told you it's not going to have happen. I'm still telling you it's not going to happen.

But I think the reason he's moving up to 154 is to not outage or age, Crawford. It's outsize him. He's going to outsize him because now he's going to force Crawford to come up. Anytime you have a fighter that's going to make weight comfortably in a high-to-weight division, it gets good to him. His body responds to him, especially the older you get. To drop back down, it's going to be very debilitating for his body, even if it's just for one fight. You know, once you fill out nicely with muscle, it's hard to get back down like that. So I just think, you know, they don't want to fight each other, man. And for whatever reason, that fight didn't happen. A lot of people, Blaine Crawford, but whatever, he went across the street

and it went on another network, got $10 million. Now he came back and he's willing to make the deal. I don't know who to point the finger to. All I know is it's not happening. I'm going to tell you again, it's not happening. Ever? You think ever it's not happening. When it does happen, we're not going to care about it. I agree with that. And when it does happen, they're not going to be in the prime anymore. A man's physical prime, a fighter's physical prime is at 25, maybe 27, maybe 28. These guys are in their mid-30s, man. Mid-30s. Crawford's going to be 36 this year. A spence is what? 32, 33 this year? They're not in their prime anymore. And Crawford's certainly not going to, they're at top of their game. They're still pound for pound material, but their body is not at their peak as a fighter.

I don't believe for a second that Errol Spence is coming back to Welterweight after this fight. You just don't do that with guys at this stage of their career. If you do, you take something out of you. And I give, look, I give Spence a ton of credit for staying at Walter Waite as long as you did. This was a guy that the Olympics back in, what was it, 2012? Yeah, 2012, who was weighing 152 at that time. He came down post-Olympics to 147. That doesn't happen all the time with these guys.

usually stay at that weight or go up. He came down, has been virtually a career-long welterweight. So he's been at that division a long time. Guys move up all the time, Sergio. I start at 147, move to 54, 60, 68, whatever it may be. Like, I give him credit for that. I don't think it diminishes the Thurman fight. I think that's still a good fight no matter what.

No matter what, wait. But I think this does eliminate the idea that we're going to get Spence Crawford, undisputed welterweight championship i think that ship has now officially sailed man and whenever whenever uh canello haters starts to say well you know how you know why don't you give other credits other credit to other fighters like crawford and spence one well one they never became undisputed at 147 or or or any other weight they never cleaned out the division they never moved up in weight like you're talking about spence has been a career uh welterweight except for one fight, I believe. That was right before. Since

the Kelbrook fight, he's been a welterweight. That's what it takes to be a legend. I mean, they're great fighters. They're great champions. They're probably going to be Hall of Famers. But they're not going to be legendary. In order to be a legend, you have to fight another legend. You have to be a legend killer, man. You have, that's what the 80s had. They had legends fighting legends.

You know, you had Benitez, you got Leonard, you got Duran, you got Hagler, and so many others that were good fighters, they would fight them. I mean, that's what it takes, and these guys aren't doing it. So they both have good resumes. They beat really talented champions, but they didn't face the absolute best, which is each other. Like I said, I don't mind Spence Thurman at 154. The fight itself is fine.

It's going to be an excellent fight. These two have been rivals for five, six years now. I do, however, take issue with these sanctioning bodies who are just allowing Spence to move up and wait. You don't say. And saying, you know what, if you decide in like six months to come back down and fight at 147 will be here for you. Like, this is my,

this is why I hate sanctioning bodies. Because the IBF just sanctioned Boots Ennis versus Karin Shukazian for the interim belt at 147. The WBA says they're going to grant a special exception for Aero Spence. You know why? Because these sanctioning bodies don't want to miss the boat if Spence does come back down and fights Tarns Croft. Of course, and a lot of monies to be made.

I mean, anytime you see a champion carrying that belt, that's a piece. Yeah, but how much would that piss you off as a fighter? If you were, like, if you were Virgil Ortiz or Imana Stanionis, like if you were one of those two guys, why are we fighting for a secondary title? Errol Spence ain't coming back down. And even if he was, like, how about the WBA do what they love to do?

Champion in recess. We love the champion in recess, the WBA and the WBC. No, no, no. They're not going to do that. If you're a star, you can bend, break, or do anything you want, these fucking rules, and it drives me crazy. Champion in recess, champion emeritus. Emeritus, yes, championed

diamond belt, gold belt, silver belts. Ranchized belts. Hup caps. They're all hubcaps, Mannix. There's only one champion. There should be only one champion. Yes, but this is what I'm talking about. Boots Ennis should be the IBF 147 pound champion.

The winner of Stanionis Ortiz, probably going to take place in April. That fighter should be the 147 pound champion for the WBA. Whatever's happened to the WBC, They haven't got a specific mandatory. And I think Keith Thurman is number one in the WBC's rankings there. But they should do number two versus number three, three versus number four for that belt. And if Spence wants to come back down and fight for him, he gets the right to do whatever he wants then.

But we both know it's unlikely we see Spence at 147 again. And these sanctioning bodies are just screwing over these other fighters. Yeah, a lot of people are to blame. The sanctioning bodies, the politics, the networks. There's so many fingers to point. Sanctioning bodies, I say this all the time, sanctioning bodies should be good for boxing. You should be trying to elevate other fighters,

not just clinging to the biggest fee. No, but here's the thing. They, their opinions, the sanctioning bodies' opinions, they could be swayed with money, with dates, with, okay. Of course they can. So everyone gets swayed. It's business as usual, and that's not what the charter should be for them. That's not what they should be about.

No, it's not, but that's what it is. Wouldn't you be pissed off your boots, I would be absolutely pissed? Like, why is Boots? fighting for an interim belt when the guy that holds the belt. Who was the fighter that for a long time, he had a number one mandatory. He sued and won. It's Charles.

He sued and won. Who was it? I don't know who that was. But Charlo's mandatory with the IBF. I don't think of Charles. No, but this guy is. He's been taking step aside money for like three years now. Okay, but you can actually sue and win these lawsuits because that's what fighters need

to start doing. That's what fighters that are in number one position that aren't getting their shots, they should actually take the sanctioning bodies to court and they will win because the proof is there. the contracts are there, and if you're extending it and extending it, and you're not taking step aside money, that's it. Pay me my money, and that's how you're going to get respect. Just get out of the way.

Like, operate in an ethical way. This is not operating an ethical way by allowing spends to keep all these titles. Like, if you wants to fight a 147 and keep the titles, by all means, do it. But if you're going to go to 154, all these other guys should get the opportunity. This, by the way, is why Golden Boy paid so much money to get the Ortiz Stanionis, because they know that whoever wins that secondary title, pretty good chance. That guy winds up as the full champion at 147. And then you can do a whole bunch of different things.

You can push for a boot tennis fight. You can look for other opportunities at 147. Secondary titles have ruined the meaning of champion. All these belts have watered down the word champion. And there used to be respectable belts, you know, the green belt. That was like the one everyone wanted, the one of the old... It's one you had. Yeah.

And now they're, you know, walking a fine line as well. It's just, you know, they got to play ball with the other guys. They got to keep up financially. They got to keep, you know, what do you call that, moving the goalpost? Keep moving, moving the goalpost, yeah. That's what they got to keep doing in order to stay in business. But they really don't. They can stay in business.

They don't need these massive fees. They just want to be part of these big fights. And that's fine, but do it in an ethical way. That's my big problem right there. This is not operating ethically. my opinion. Well, we're in boxing manic, where nothing's ethical. You certainly are not ethical. No, I am not.

That's why I am a professional fighter and former world champion, baby. Where's your belt? It's at home. I should have brought it. You know, next, you know, from now on, every time I'm on your podcast, I'm going to wear the belt to remind you not to call me a titleist. It says world champion in gold. I need one. That's it for this

episode. As always, subscribe, rate, review this podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you download podcasts, and I'll see you next week. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app.

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver 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, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Cliver Show.

show on the I Heart 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.