Beterbiev-Bivol Rematch Headlines Riyadh PPV + Undercard Fight Replacements And Lamont Roach With Dan | BFW Preview Podcast

we love the podcast audience. We launched this every time we do this Thursday, usually in the evening Thursday night into Friday, and we're glad that you're with us. And I think I think we have everything solidified. But it's not Friday yet anyway, Dan Rayfield, to have you back. We've got ill fighters. Floyd Schofield is off the card because he's ill. Daniel du was off the card that he's because he's ill. Dan Rayfield's not off the podcast, even though you're a little bit out of the weather

as well. Good to have you back. I know you're still fighting u illness yourself, but you're posting you posted here on the.

days notice, one on three days notice. And you know, we'll get into all of it, but it's it's been crazy. I'll tell you what though, even if, even if, for the worst thing could have happened, and let's say both fights actually were hanseled because they couldn't come up with a replacement, and this, of course Stephenson fight was off the show completely, and the Dui and Parker fight was off the show completely. It would still be a hell

of a pay per view. And they have managed, with a lot of elbow grease and for good fortune, et cetera, to be able to keep these two bouts on the event and still have a great show.

I can't blame him for that. I mean, if the.

is not entirely unusual. Bottom line is floyd' Scholfield would not have traveled thousands and thousands of miles away for a payday that is probably tenfold of what he's ever made, uh to fight for a world championship on a big cart and if fight that he has called for for a while and really really went to the mat to get it. Actually in a situation where the folks at Golden Boy, which are his promoter, did not want to do the fight, but he basically talked them into it.

So anybody thinks that the kid pulled out just because he was somehow afraid of the fight or something is just a fucking idiot. But besides that, so Tuesday night he falls ill. I don't know the exact situation some of sixers, and maybe it was a weight making scenario. I haven't heard that particular. The bottom line is.

reat season cards. The only exceptions have been the Uzik Fury fights, where they brought in another regulation outfit to do the main events because Zusig didn't want the Britts regulating a fight against the Brett understandable, but the British Boxing Board of Control was regulating this fight and they were like, no, you're out. That's it. They are the ones that pulled the plug on the fight. They had.

Floyd Schofield had no choice even if he wanted to continue to go through with it, so he was out now. As soon as that happened, there was a, you know, a mad dash to get a new opponent. And you have a lot of promoters involving these shows, whether it's Frank Warrens folks, there's Toppering people involve. There's obviously Mattroom Boxing, there's gold Star, there's Sella, There's all these different entities,

Golden Boy, There's a bunch of different people. So they had all their people, like you, rolling up their sleeves trying to get this work that. As it turned out, this was the opponent by all accounts, that Turkey Alshic picked to try to see if he was available to do the fight. And it's a fighter named Josh Padley. And you may remember the name Josh Padley because on a card last fall, I believe it was on the big card that took place at Wimbley Stadium when in

September when he knocked out Anthony Joshua. On that undercard, you had Mark Chamberlain, who is Turkey's favorite fighter, the lightweight up and comer contender, however you want to describe him, and he was defeated in that particular fight in an upset and Padley was the one that beat him. Padley is undefeated, he's now fifteen to zero. He looked you know, pretty good. He was an underdog against Mark Chamberlain. He won a pretty clear decision, knocked him down in the fight,

and he hasn't fought since that fight. And as it turns out, and you know, say what you want about the merit of the WBC rankings, that's a conversation for another day. But here's the fact. Before all this stuff happened, it just turned out that Josh Padley was one slot ahead of Floyd Schofield in the WBC rankings. One guy was twelfth, one guy was thirteen. So if according to the WBC who approved to prove this fight, they're actually doing a title defense for Shakhor against a contender rated

higher than the original opponents. So take that for what it's worth. You know, I think both of the fights were mismatches. That's my opinion that of all the great fights on this show, that was the one that was the widest. And but all credit to Chamberlain. He was in shape, he was you know, I guess close to wait.

amount of money. He got in the good graces of everybody involved with the show, match room certainly, and Turkey obviously, and and uh, you know again, you're fighting shirt course Steven Stalls.

But allegedly Padley is on weight right, has been in training and now he's the new opponent for Shakour.

And so look, Padley got on the plane on Tuesday night, he got to Rehid in time to be at their press conference on Wednesday, and he basically said, this is what every boxer gets in the in the sport for. Is you want to you know, be in these world title fights, beyond these big cards, make good money, and you know basically say, and I'm getting to do all

three of these things at once. So when you're at whatever level you're at in boxing, you can always go in the ring and lose to nobody for no money. So not that that's his mindset that he's gonna lose, but if you're going to do it, you might as well do it against the best opponent on the biggest stage, for the biggest money, and Padley's taking advantage of the

of a situation. It's unfortunate for Scofield. Hopefully, you know, he'll get another opportunity somewhere along the line, or you know, step up and fight another contender and continue his career. He seems like he's gonna be okay in terms of his health, but not enough to be in the ring on Saturday. So Padley gets the opportunity of a lifetime.

It would be a gargantuan I mean, an upset of epic proportions if he was able to bump off h Course, Stevenson, who you know, for his perspective, is like, look, I'm fighting Schofield, I'm fighting Padley, I've been training, I'm ready to fight whoever it is in the ring. He made the analogy during the press cover ince that it's sort of like when you're in an amateur tournament and you don't even know you're going to fight just before they do the draw. So he was thinking about it from

those from that point of view. Again, Shakur was a decorated amateur who went in a million tournaments and won a silver medal in the Olympics, so that the notion that he's fighting a guy who he didn't know about until right up till them was fight time as not an alien concept for guys who are top amateurs.

like to say, but wait, there's more work. So now we rolled into Thursday and the reports began to surface Thursday morning US time, middle of the day UK time that Daniel Dubois was suddenly ill and this is the day that they're going to do the press conferences with the fighters, etc. In Riad And then it became a debate, Okay, how ill is he? Can he go on? And Frank Warren even said at a news conference, We're not sure yet that was night time, saudy time, but earlier in

the day. Now you and I are taping this in the evening on Thursday. What ended up happening is same scenario. Right the the British Boxing Board of Control saying with their doctor he's sick, he can't fight.

nefarious whatsoever. I mean, a guy's travel different weather, different food, different schedule, time zones are mixed up, you know, and it just lowers your immunes, I guess. And so you know, he got sick. It's not unusual and so he's not

going to fight now again. Like I said about what happened with Shakor and Padley, you have a lot of boxing knowledgeable people involved in this business who've made matches a million times, promotional folks and matchmakers and managers and uh, and a lot of money that can be used to grease the wheels to get a guy in the fight. So uh, they were gonna clearly keep Parker on the

show if they could come up with a suitable replacement opponent. Uh. You know, it's unfortunate for DUIs coming off such a huge victory against Joshua, this was a great opportunity to follow up on and put yet another big win in his in his uh, you know, in his uh, in his ledger. Remember he had won three in a row Jarrell Miller Argovich to win the interim title, upgraded then knocked out Joshua in the first offense spectacularly.

Zilly Zang. So he's been red hot also. We talked about that on our interview in the podcast that was on the previous episode. So they were looking for a new opponent for him. Now, there was a bunch of names that came up as the possibility that he might fight, and you know that always happens. You know guys who are volunteering, your guys who they're thinking maybe get in the fight. So there was a couple of guys they mentioned that are supposed to fight on the boxer card

on April fifth. One is Lawrence o'koley, who is new to the heavyweight division although he had a title at bridgerweight and at light heavyweight I mean, I'm sorry at cruiserweight. Cruiserweight. David Atdlier another Britt who'd been on Riat season cards in the past, who also was scheduled for a boxer card on April fifth. The other name that had come up was a fighter named marod Aliev who was a French fighter, a southba who was a twenty twenty Olympian.

In the end, you had Billy Nelson, who was the manager and trainer of the big Man Martin Bacoley, who was posted on social media. Hey, you know, we told our promoter, which is also a boxer, that talked to the folks in Saudi Arabia and Martin Bucoley is ready and willing and able to fight. So so Parker, Uh,

no problem. And you know, within a couple hours of that of that post, Marin Bacoley had accepted the fight and got the offer, and he's on his way to Saudi Arabia probably as we're or soon to be on his way to Saudi Arabia on three days. Notice, a very dangerous fight for both.

So Kaba Yell and Jang are on the undercard. To me, again, it's boxing, but it seemed kind of interesting. Could they accommodate Jang, pay him and let Kaba Yell fight Parker because they're already there.

you know, he's not injured. He came off a great win in August, so I don't As long as he can get his rear end, you know, to the airport and get on the plane and make it to Saudi Arabia, I don't see why there is a problem. And from Joseph Parker's perspective, in listening to Joseph at the press conference, you know, wished good good health to Daniel Dubois, but

he said I'll be ready for Saturday. And his manager, Spencer Brown, who's involved with the event, and Saudi ready, He's like, look, there's gonna be a fight on Saturday, and Joe's ready, willing abele and he is a throwback fighter. Him and I talked about on the podcast about his willingness to just fight whoever. So there might be only one fighter in boxing willing to take on Martin Bucoley on three days notice, and it happens to be Joseph Parker. Not a lot of guys would be willing to do that.

So that is a this is a fight that if they had announced this when they kicked off the entire show, people would have said, oh shit, that's a good fight, Bocoli against Parker. Now, as it turns out, not that this is a reason, not that this is why it's happening. When Parker was fighting Duboi, it was for Dubai's IBF title, and it had already been predetermined in an agreement with the WBO and Parker's team. Parker, remember when he beat Jang, he won the interim WBO title. Now, the WBO is

not big into interim titles. They try to get rid of them as quickly as possible. They're usually only in a in a particular situation, mostly injury, but there their rules do not permit, and they're and they're very steadfast about this to have an interim champion fight another champion from another organization and somehow unify a full title with an interim titles, because it's just fucking stupid. So it was already known that once the bell rang, Parker's interim

title of the WBO would be vacated. But because the IBF title is not at stake and he still is, the WBO interim champion and McCauley is a bona fide legit contender. My back and forth earlier today with Gustabo Olaveri, who was the president of the WBO, because I asked them out, he says, yeah, we'll allow that fight, So this will be sanctioned instead of being an IBF heavyweight title fight, it will be in fact for Joseph Parker's interim WBO title. For whatever that's worth, but there is,

I'll tell you what it's worth. That's for sure.

And what happened, I'm just saying it just adds to it with a little bit of the just a different organization.

a big change of the style of opponent. I mean, Duboi is a smaller, shorter, quicker, uh problem, heavier puncher than Bacoli, who is a much more taller, wider, more lumbering but powerful. It's a different kind of animal South. He's still in there with a big man trying to take your head.

about it on the bet Us Boxing Show. But for now, this is all the musical chairs that we have at the moment. Is these two fights, we think as we put the pod to bed, all right, So that leads us back to the top, which is Archer better BV and Dmitri Bvol. The rematch again here from Bevol on the hod Feed a couple of episodes ago, if you missed it, talking with Dan about this rematch, and this is kind of rare that it's an immediate rematch, like

four months later. We've seen some immediate rematches, like the Usik Thury rematch was within the same year, about six months apart, but only four months later the two Russians are fighting again. Dan, what are your thoughts as we're now within the forty eight hour window of having that rematch undisputed light heavyweight title fight.

I think even if you're a supporter of the other fighter, you acknowledge that it was a super close fight. It was a majority decision. One judge did have it one fourteen to one, fourteen one with seven to five fifteen, one to thirteen. One was eight four one sixteen one twelve. Some people kind of lost their mind like not going

to be eight to far. It was really close fight. Yeah, But if there's like a bunch of four or five close rounds in the fight and he just happened to take it off to the other guy eight four in a fight like that, it doesn't doesn't is not indicative that it's a wide fight, because each of those rounds were close, like literally TJ in this fight, basically all twelve rounds were close, competitive and better beev to the view of most people, including the judges, closed much stronger,

and so whatever he needed to do, he got the benefit because over the last three rounds he basically was that was what provided him with the margin to be the winner of the fight. So Beevol wants to as he said a million times leading up to the fight, including in the interview your referenced on the pod a couple episodes ago, he needs to do more, he needs to throw more punches better. BV probably wants to get off to a little bit of a better start. But

there's not any tricks here. I mean, these guys are who they are. They're veteran contenders, they're veteran championship level fighters, and there's not a lot that you're gonna switch around in four months. Maybe a wrinkle here, a wrinkle there, But I anticipate, you know, a similarly you know, close and cagey kind of fight. To me, it's about can can better be of land the big bomb that he was not able to land the first time, because we know he's one of the more devastating punchers in boxing.

That was the first time he ever went the route in his professional career and knocked out all the opponents. He was the only reigning world title holder that had one hundred percent and has not got ratio. So it's a very fascinating fight. I do not expect it to be some kind of great action fight, but I do expect it to be a competitive, cagey, interesting, tension filled kind of fight where you really have to pay attention.

If you're scoring the fight, you got to really really pay close attention because every little thing can count and make a difference. And you know, again, when they fought the first time around, there hadn't been an undisputed light heavyweight champ in twenty five years. Since nineteen ninety nine when Roy Jones did it. There had never been an undisputed champion since there's been a four belt era and better be A was able to do it, but Bibo wasn't that much behind. It was like, no, I thought

even maybe he's a half step in one round. I mean whatever, but it's a just a it's a it's a really good matchup between two top ten caliber pound for pound fighters.

plane headed to Saudi Arabia to be ringside. Because he is as the as the bizarrely unified WBA Regular champion WBC Interim champion, he is the mandatory in two organizations because a WBC has already said you're the mandatory at light heavyweight by virtue of being the regular champion, you're automatically the editor in the WBA. And on top of that,

he's the biggest name in the division. Uh and some people would consider might bigger, maybe not the champion, but in terms of the name value, at least in this side of the world, in terms of the money he generates.

You know, David Benavides is is a significant fighter in the division, probably the biggest name that there is, frankly, and so he's right there in line potentially to fight the winner as the mandatory perhaps later this year, be it in Saudi Arabia, perhaps on a Saudi card that they may, you know, do with some more events here in the United States. But I don't care who the winner of the main event is, whether it's Bibel or

Better be It. You can't tell me you're not interested in seeing that victor take on David Benabez A fascinating, really interesting fight.

this ri odd card. We got to keep going Dan Rayfield, all right, So now we move down the card, and I really believe for me, this is the fight that I'm looking the most forward to. That is Hams of Sharaz going for the WBC middleweight title with Carlos a Damas, a Damas who is a Dominican fighter, a hard body puncher. There's there's a lot of intrigue Sharaz with the size, with the height and the reach. I'm very intrigued by this fight coming on Saturday. Give me a little more in a preview.

a legitimate contender to be fighting for now. He is the WBC's mandatory challenger, and you know he is undefeated. But his run where he started really open eyes and make people believers and take serious notice, goes back to February of twenty twenty four. Had a big year in twenty twenty four. He won three fights. He won all them by knockout. He looked really good in all three fights. The first one was back in February where he had

a first round knockout against Leam Williams. Now, Allan Williams might have been a little bit past his best days, but no one had ever done that to Liam Williams, who's been a you know, was a good contender for several years, so that was a first round destruction. Then in a fight where there was a lot of sentiment on both sides to be quite honest, he was taken on remember the five on five card that took place

in June. He was on Team Queensberry. He was matched up with the matchroom fighter, Austin m. O. Williams, the undefeated American fighter, and it was a good fight and Hams of Shiraz was bigger, longer, and obviously he's stronger, and he took Williams out in an eleventh round knockout. It was a very big win for him. And because he was the captain of the team of Team Queensberry, because he got the knock out, he got the extra point.

Then as people remember Frank Warren's team you know, steamrolled and won by shutout against Eddie Hernstein. But he got the extra point as the captain. Anyway, that was a very impressive victory. Then he returned in September. He also fought on the Wembley card when Joshua and d had their fight. He fought on that undercard. He's from England, so he's front of the home crowd and he knocked out a fellow britt Tyler Denny. He won the European

Middleway title very impressively in the second round. Like just you know, I'm not saying I thought he was going to lose that fight. I fought for sure he would win that fight, but I actually thought that that Denny would hang in there for a little while, and he just made it, you know, like a blitz and he was done for her. And so now he has this opportunity against Carlos Damas, who is taking on his mandatory,

is getting his biggest payday traveling. Look, Adamas has been a good fighter for a while but does not have the name recognition, hasn't achieved the notoriety, but he's got a couple of solid wins. You know, if you go back pre championship, you know he had defeated like for example, in a close decision, he beat Sergei debrian Chenko, who

lost to the very best fighters out there. Remember when Charlot went the distance when with Juan Messias Montielle, Well it was a Damas who blew him away in three rounds. Didn't have to go to the distance with the guy that was a you know, a domination for that fight, and then he beat the former Juor Middleway title holder Julian Williams, who had moved up and knocked him out

in the ninth round. That was on Showtime if you remember, back in twenty twenty three, and then he didn't really look good in this particular fight, but he still won pretty handily in terms of the scoring. He took on Terrell Gachet back in June. That was on the same card that was the doubleheader where he had Tank Davis against Frank Martin and benavide Is against Alexander Votek. One of the other pay per view fights that night was

a Domis dettending the Tunnle. She hasn't fought into June, and like a lot of these guys, there's good money and he's taken a show on the road to put onto this fight. Now, I'm not sure that he can compete in the sense of just the punching power that Shiraz has, the freshness that Charaz has, and also Charaz is like six foot three, which is giant from midway. Now, it's not like Adamis is short. He's five to eleven. That's pretty decent size for one hundred and sixty pounder,

not like a small guy. But I think he's gonna be outgunned just in terms of the physical attributes height, breach, power, speed. It's a it's uphill battle, it seems to me, all right.

When you watch him fight, I don't know if he's going to get in the kitchen as we like to say, and get after Shiraz, But stay tuned. I'm very intrigued by this fight. And you and I sound like we might be on opposite sides of the aisle on the bet Us show.

Junior middleweight title. What about that fight that is best down on this card? But it's still intriguing.

Two prime guys, two guys that are good punchers, two guys that can box, but also can definitely stand in there and fight. You know. Virginal Artis went the distance for the first time in his career back in the summer, coming off one of the Fight of the Year contenders when he had that incredible brawl against Sara Boachuk. He got off the deck two times, ended up winning a winning a majority decision. He ended up because of the decision, he won the interim WBC one hundred and fifty four

pounds title from Boachuk. Now, remember Boachuk and Majimov were supposed to fight each other on the Fury and Usk undercart, and then when that fight was made soon after it was Magimov also signing to fight virgial Artis, and you and I both and not just us, but basically everybody with the brain was like, very no way, He's fighting Boachuk and what everybody figures is a tough fight on December twenty first, and then going to be back in

the ring on February twenty second against Virgil Ortiz. And sure enough, whether by a design or it was legit, whatever the case, may be they pulled him. Bat claimed the had bronchitis and he couldn't go through, so he did not fight in December, and Boachuk fought and defeated another opponent, and the Ortiz fight is now happening, and Majmov is in a bigger profile fight, and Majamov is coming off not as exciting of a fight as what Virgil Ortiz had done against a good opponent. But he

also lost his world title. But he gave Terrence Crawford, arguably TJ the toughest fight that Crawford has had in his career. That was the main event when they did the read season. Folks put on the event in Los Angeles back in August. He gave Crawford all he could handle. Is a really close fight. I mean, it wasn't a great fight, but it was a very competitive and I can understand why there were supporters Imaginemub that thought maybe

he just did enough to win the fight. So he comes off the loss, but by the loss, he raised his stock because you know, he gave one of the best fighters in boxing such a really tough and good fight. And Ortiz, you know, we know what he's about, so I think this fight style wise, stakes wise, where they are in their careers, they're you know what they've brought to the table in their last couple of bouts, Like this is like a can't miss kind of fight.

Utilize their service. It's a one off purchase and you get excellent HD and even four K quality video right from the riodd season pay per view that's being done. So again, they're sponsors here of us, and we want to let everybody know use PPV dot com for the one off purchase. Dan Raypaiel what else.

they have a price point. You have to go back basically to the advent of pay perview in like the nineteen nineties to find something this cheap, especially with this quality. You know what the price in at least in the United States, and anyway, the suggested price for this event is twenty five ninety nine.

of fights. But the point is, if you are interested in boxing, if you are a fan, you can't possibly go wrong at twenty six dollars. And just again, I wish they were paying me extra to say that. But I'm just being real and leave me. If it was a shitty card and it was, we would over price.

all said and done, Benavidie's morrel will have done way more in terms of buys than.

like it for that. And use our friends at PPV dot com for the one off. You don't need any long term subscription commitment from any other service, just use them. They are proud sponsors of ours on the Big Fight weekend in the Fight for Each to night podcast feed here. We love that about them, beautiful stuff. I promise we're getting to Lamont roach and just a Rayphiel again. You're not going to be able to recap all of this, uh. I don't think any in one podeline with all that

we have. All right, So we mentioned Jang and Caba Yell, all right, So I'm intrigued with Cabby Yell against a Jang that obviously pulverized Joe Joyce and demolished Deontay Wilder. Yes, Joseph Parker beat him. Give me a little more on the intrigue here, Jang Older, Bigger, South, Paul, give me a little more on this. And it's a huge moment for Cabby Yell to take it, to take the step against a reputable fighter.

corpse after the other. So in twenty twenty two, he fought Phillip Pergovic, who was undefeated on the rise, and he lost the unanimous decision, but he did score a knockdown in that fight against Hergovic, and it was a very close fight and it was competitive. A lot of people thought that Jang may have won, so okay, fine. Now he comes back after that, and even if you thought he lost and you're sort of not so sure,

what is all about. Remember at that time, Joe Joyce was undefeated, was red hot pop contender, known for an iron chin, known for a great power, his huge size, his amateur background. And what happened. Joe Joyce knocked him out not once but twice, and did so in fairly dominating fashion. Took him out in the sixth round in the first fight, knocked him out in the third round in the second fight. That was his two fights in the calendar year twenty twenty three. So with those two victories,

now he's on top of the world. Basically, you know, very highly regarded guy, and he's got big things in front of me. He had won the WBO's interim title in the first fight against Joe Joyce, and then he took a very close majority decision loss to Parker that

cast him that intern belt. But if there was a silver lining, he scored two knockdowns against Joseph Parker, he still lost the decision, and it was that kind of fight where you could see Joe Parker getting off the floor two times but still doing enough in the other rounds to win the decision. And then he came back off that loss and as you mentioned, pulverized in his spectacular knockout and basically finished off Deontay Wilder spectacularly. That was last June in the fifth round, and so this

will be his first fight since. Now Cabiel is undefeated, your boy from Germany twenty five and oh was seventeen knockouts, and he's a guy that has really made a career in Riad thanks to read season cards, because his last two fights have been the so called big fights he's had. Before that, he was kind of doing his thing on the smaller cards in Germany and winning, but not against

big names. And when he got the opportunity in Riat in December of twenty twenty three, that was the day of reck card, he knocked out then highly regarded favored Arslan Beck Machmandov. Now Mackmandov has proven that he's not that much since, but no one had ever done it to him, and it was Agi Cabiol that took him out in four rounds, very impressively, knocked him down three times, took away his undefeated record, and that made people open

their eyes. Now he came back in May of twenty twenty four in his second fight in Riad against another undefeated fighter. But this guy a more legitimate than macmdou at least in my opinion, A very good technical boxer who could also punch big man Frank Sanchez, Cuban that had also been winning his fights and sometimes frustrating his opponents because he wasn't maybe the most exciting, but a very very skillful boxer, but also with good power and agi.

Cabill never waivered, took the fight with no problem, knocked him down twice in the seventh round, and stopped him in the seventh round. That was a very big win for Cabrio and now he goes in this fight with the Zilly Zang would be his biggest win so far. Whatever you think about Macmadu Vin Sanchez, I still think a win even at this point. Again, Jang is a bigger deal than those two fights. But that's a very

intriguing fight. You got Jang, a big guy, six foot six, south pop, big bang with the big left hand and uh and you know, and Cabiell is a much smaller guy. He's not six foot six, he's like three four inches shorter. He'll probably be outweighed, you know, by a good thirty pounds maybe more. You know, Jang was like two eighty ish, Cabiel goes around two forty five. Good matchup. And like I said, I don't know why it's the case. For whatever it's worth, they are fighting for the interim WBC title.

It's not necessary the champion Azusik, he just fought in December. But that's the WBC doing their thing. But put that aside. This fight and the winner is going to be in a great position within this weight class.

But in terms of the light heavyweights and the fact that better BV and b BOL is now you know, the full law and undisputed main event this has some intrigue at the light heavyweight level obviously.

even a shadow of a doubt. And unless they change the order at the moment, this is the opening title fight of these seven title fights on the cart. There's a couple of prospect fights beforehand, but in terms of the main twelve rounders.

in September. Before that, he had a great brawl that he won against his good friend Dan Aziz that was, you know, a big deal in the UK. Was for the British and the Commonwealth title, and you know, and he's also defeated guys like Krek Richards, who has been a you know, a good contender for a long time. And now he's taken on Callen Smith, who I still would say his best opponent so far. Callum is a reputable guy. I mean, the guy's thirty and two. He's

got two losses. One was a decision to Canelo Alvarez in a super middleweight for two belts at super middleweight, and the other loss was when he got knocked out by Arthur Better BF back end January of twenty twenty four. But other than beevil, who doesn't get knocked out? When they faced Arthur Better VIV he had moved up from super middleweight, he had won a couple of fights. He

was Arthur's mandatory. They did that fight, Arthur traveled to Quebec City or rather coun Smith traveled to Quebec City, which is you know, in the province of Quebec, which is where better BM is now based and has lived and trained his entire pro career. So he was the big favorite. But cown Smith was fearless in that fight, you know, despite getting knocked out in losing, It's not like he fought a bad fight, like he was hanging

in the fight, even though he didn't win rounds. But it wasn't like a completely one sided devastation until the very end, obviously. So I still think that he's a pretty good fighter. I don't know how much he's got left, but Biwatzi's never fought anybody like him. He has won one fight since then, scored a knockout on an undercard, you know, against just a like a kind of get

well type opponent. But this is an intriguing matchup. I feel like this is a this is definitely a fight that most people are overlooking because you know, look, Glatzi and Smith, Neither one of them are these huge personalities, neither one of them has like a scintillating style. They're

just really good pros. They do their thing. They can compete at the championship level, and it's the opener of these seven world title fights, but in some ways it's one of the most meaningful fights because of the fact that the winner is in position to challenge the main event winner at some point.

pay per view. Here we go again with the pay per views here from Lamont Roach right now, including about the regional rivalry with Davis and this big opportunity has hear from him right now?

first at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, New York. And welcome you to the show. And I'm good to talk to you. What I'd like to know I from your first Lamon is you know this fight's sort of been There was a lot of rumors maybe what happened, maybe it wouldn't. You were a name that was always sort of like at the top of the Tank list of what might be coming up for him. So could you just recount to me what your initial thoughts were when

you actually got offered the fighting. Knew this was a possibility, so.

I believe you were the mandatory challenger at that time for his title, and you know you gave a good fight, but you know, it came up a little bit short, loss the decision, and I just wondered, you know, it took you a little while to get back to the position to fight for another world title. What do you feel like you learned from that first loss? You know, despite it being competitive, uh, the fact that they.

they don't get anything. Like you said, nothing handed to Lamont. Roach, took your time, prospect you know, into main event fights eventually, you know, really worked your way to get that opportunity. Nearly ten years as a professional, from the time you started. Tell WinGen you won the title. What did it feel like to finally get it and know that all that hard work, all that you know, that decade of preparing for that moment, what did that mean to you?

Knocked out in the eighth round, pretty dominating victory. And I wonder, you know, I hear from people they talk about making the dream come true. I talked recently with Keishawn Davis about him and his brothers wanting to have a homecoming fight and that was a dream for them. They finally got to accomplish that, And I asked him this question. I'm curious your response to it as well. How did the reality of having the title fight at home compared to the dream for all those years you had.

was gonna be in Houston, a lot of conversations. Ultimately it did not happen, rescheduled, and now it's taking place on March first, As I mentioned, was there any kind of frustration of only having the one fight last year and kind of having to put this off and waiting and waiting and waiting to get it all locked in?

What happened and how do you remember those times?

Some say it does, some say it doesn't. Do you think there's any bearing at all because you have at least a cursory knowledge of having been in the ring with him. Yes you've evolved, Yes it's a while ago, but you know you've been face to face with them inside the boxing ring. That doesn't mean anything is to go into the professional fight.

absolutely going crazy Baltimore for this fight. So nothing against Brooklyn, York. Wonderful venue, great fight city obviously, Barclay Center, first class all the way, covered many many fights there. How in the world is this fight not in the DMV Washington d C.

you're still a top press prime guy World champ. Uh. I feel like looking at that record that Lamar Roach junr. Is probably the best pure boxer he'll ever have faced so far in his professional career. What is your what is your take on that that maybe you've got the skills to really cause him some trouble with the boxing ability that you possess.

He's you know, they're upset about the fight. I'm like, why this is a really good boxer against a really good puncher. They got that rivalry from the home you know, from the home region, And so when they don't mention your name and they kind of overlook you and I'm not just kissing your rand because we're doing the interview,

I kind of think it's unfair. But why do you think that that is that they look at those other names but they don't include Alamont Roach Junior in that conversation of like a worthy opponent for Tank Davis.

don't know, so that might be a factor. And like I said, he's a megas, he's a megastar as a superstar, and he has been knocking everybody out, so you know what I'm saying, Like, so you know what I'm saying, Like there's pieces that go together that would make people say what they say about the fight or whatever the case may be. I'm not a worthy opponent, but for real, real, I got a lot of profanity for them.

hatred there from Lamont and Broach in Tank Davis. That's me saying that go ahead.

I like I like Roach's confidence. I like the fact that he talked about how he's never been really badly hurt or knocked down or or or or you know it rocked in any particular way. As a pro, He's fought some good fighters. I know a lot of people dumped on the fight when it was made. I've never been one to think this was like a bad fight. You know, if you said to me, is it the number one fight that you wanted to see travant to Davis take part in? I would be less than honest

if I said yes. But you know, I can't make him fight certain guys. But if you're going for Lamont roach a regional arrival, a world champion in his own right, who's got the balls to do the fight against you, and he's not afraid to do so, and and he's a good boxer, you know, he's the best probably pure boxer that Tank Davis will have face if you take a look at Tank's resume, Like, I think it's an interesting matchup. Uh, And I hope it's a good fight.

you do the official Ticke account? One thirty two to forty seven, one hundred and thirty two thousand, two hundred and forty seven people as Texas Stadium, Mexico City, people on top of people, on top of people, and Chavez beat the crap out of Greg Hagins. You did a whole whole lot of crap talking, a whole lot of baiting and boasting about what he was going to do, and Chavez brutally beat him up.

what sixty sixty five thousand putting seats. I can't fathom fifty thousand more people in that super Dome, That's what well I can put it like, that's ridiculous.

prime fight of his entire career against Greg Hougan. This is still three fights before he fights Whitaker, when it was number one versus number two for pound for pound supremacy, but he had been This is like about ten or so fights removed from his amazing victory against Meldrek Taylor. He is in his fucking prime. Ye the great Chavez at his greatest, and he absolutely destroyed and pummeled Greg Hougan, who you know, played the villain role absolutely beautifully in

this fight. Made even even if you're you know, even he didn't like Chobbs, you probably wanted to see and beat the shed out of Greg Hougan by the time

this fight actually took place. And he did that in five rounds and he just absolutely you know, he was up on all three score cards by a shutout, forty thirty five on two cards, forty thirty three on another one of the cards, and he had been knocked down in the fifth round, and when he got up, Chobb has just landed a barrage of shots and the referee finally stopped the fight. I mean, he gave him just

a vicious down home. What's the old saying from the great line in HBO's Legendary Knights series when they were doing the episode about Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis, it was about it was Tommy Brooks, who was a trainer had worked with Tyson saying that was such a that was such a beating. You know, even Grandma's lifestyle couldn't clean him up. I mean, that's the kind of beating that he gave to Greg Hougan that night.

the loss the following year to Frankie Randall. This is after the controversial draw with Pernell Whitaker as well, But on that night, in that setting, it's tough to argue about him being the greatest Mexican champion ever. And for now, for the I mean, I know the Canelo fans want to talk about Canelo in the present day, but good lord, one hundred and thirty two thousand people and the man delivered and put the brutal beat down on the.

Randall in January. He fought in nineteen ninety three. He fought what one, two, three, four, five, one two, three, four, Six times he fought in January. And this is Chavez as such some prospect. He was like pound for pound number one, fighting six times and in the in in among those six fights, Hogan, Terrence Sali, Peonel Whittaker, Andy Holligan all like legit fights. Holligan was undefeated. Obviously, Parnel Whittaker was a mega fight, and Terrence Ali was a

good contender. So it's it's just a different it's a different world from thirty years ago. Say, also, you know when we talk about the big Don King pay per views and a lot of there's been a lot of discussion those because what's going on with the Riot card, how stacked the loaded it is back in its day when when Chavez was with King and he was putting on these big fights with Chavez and also with Mike Tyson. This was one of those cards that at the time

was like a big card. They called it the Grand Slam of Boxing because besides a huge fight between Chavez and Hagan in the one hundred and thirty some thousand you know in attendance, they also had Terry Norris defending the WBC one hundred and fifty four pound title against Maurice Blocker, who had been a welterweight champion that was on this undercard. The Great a Zuma Nelson was fighting Gabriel Rouillis, which is another big deal fight in a

one hundred and thirty pound world title fight. And they also had Michael Nunn, who at the time was a super middleweight champion who was looked at as a potential heir apparent on the pound for PALMSS. He was on this card in the title defense, so that was considered a big, big pay per view back in those days. And King Giddo was on a regular basis, and obviously Chavez was the event.

is all you need. Get it through PPV dot com to watch the better B b BL rematch and all of the other title fights that are in and around it for Saturday. With that, my friend, let's regroup for tomorrow and if there are any changes, well any more changes, we'll be talking about it on the bet Us Show at one Easter time. Other than that, Dan Rayfield, I think we're good, my friend, have a good weekend and look forward to all of this.