Well, it's my honor to welcome back to the podcast for another appearance. It's got a big fight coming up and it's none other than the junior wealthyweight Champion out the World Lineal and WBO Tafimo Dopez Tafimo, thank you very much for doing this. Appreciate it. Thank you, Dan. It's always a pleasure man, and I appreciate the interview and taking your time out today. You bet anytime, so we'll tell the people. You have your first title
defense of the title you've won in a second way class. He'll take on a Jermaine Ortiz February eighth, live on ESPN at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, one of my personal favorite venues to see a fight at. And I'm interested in one of the things about this fight that somewhat intriguing. I had the same sort of conversation back when Shaquor Stevenson was fighting on a Thursday
night before a big event in Las Vegas. He fought for a lightweight title on the on the couple of days before the big Formula One race in Las Vegas. You are now in a similar scenario where you're on the Thursday night in Vegas at a great arena just a few days before the biggest event in this world, the Super Bowl. Give me your thoughts about being in that position. Be a lot of like casual sports fans were, casual boxing fans were there for the Super Bowl in town looking for things to do. Maybe
turn out and come and see you fight on the Thursday night. Tell me your thoughts on fighting on that date in that city, with that event. Well, Dan, I know right, tell me about it. Well, this is the super Fight I can alic. Like I said, you know, I want to thank Vegas. I want to thank Las Vegas, Nevada for giving me the opportunity. I want to thank top Rank and Bob Ariam and Todd to buff. I also want to thank, you know, ESPN
for the beautiful platform. It's all about the kids at the end of it all, and just giving the fans what they want, the best sportings platform in my eyes, you know, that's ESPN. So when it comes to it, Manly Bay, I really want to thank them for having to be hosted there at the michelob Ultra Arena, which so much history behind it.
So many great fights have happened in that arena and so many things have happened just along in the Mandela Bay alone, you know, from champions to champions, I mean upsets, people losing their lead world title, from winning their lend new world title. I mean so much history behind it. And then what better way on Super Bowl Week, you know, I mean where it's the whole world is going to be there. I mean they already just announced
it just right now. I think there's three hundred and thirty eight thousand football fans and going to be in Las Vegas. Gonna be big. It's going to be huge and I and what better way than to have the greatest SHOWMN right here? T Melope is entertainer the take over and it's great to be back. You know, I think I graduated from Heisman Night and now win the NFL league, from college to the pro. So before we get into your fight with Ortiz, because I haven't talked to you since before this fight.
You look so great when you won the title against Josh Taylor in June. It was a real outstanding performance. You won the title in the same ring at the theater in Madison Square Garden where you suffered your first and only lost when you lost the lightweight title. So I was thinking about that aspect of that fight besides just the performance. And you know, I wonder do
you. I mean, you know, you have the big, huge win against Lomachenko where you unified all the titles in the lightweight division, but it seems to me that that was your best performance and one of you and probably your second biggest win, if not biggest, because so many people doubted you going into Taylor. Do you think that that Taylor fight was your biggest win?
And if so, why and or why not? I believe every every kind of fight that I go to, it only gets bigger, you know, so absolutely, especially this fight alone where Jamine Artiz is gonna be a big fight for me. Going back to your question about Josh Taylor. Yeah, absolutely, I believe that was my best performance that I've seen myself in my whole career, you know, despite the beating Lomachenko for undisputed you know,
at that time. So you know, just for those things, you know, especially in twenty twenty when me and Loma Fai, it was so quiet. Yeah, there was no audience, you know, and me, I'm someone that and I'm sure himself. You know, it's like what would have happened if there was an audience there that night, you know, who would have started off their gears faster and or or whatnot. So that that's in the past now. But when we think about Josh Taylor, yeah,
so many people written me off. I mean, it was pretty much a unanimous decision that I was going to lose that night, and I'm just thankful for the way I planted the seeds to have it that way. You know, I pretty much I should be an actor man, because I pretended like I was going I was going off the rails again, and and that's the way I do it now, you know. I just you never know what you're going to get from me, especially on fight week. So I go
off with the media. Well, I mean, listen, I've I've dealt a lot of fighters that have used the media as a way to motivate themselves perhaps or perhaps as a chip if they were being picked against. But in the aftermath of that, you know, really outstanding victory and performance that you had that we just talked about the best of your career, you thought, and I thought, then you asked the retirement, so I know that obviously that didn't stick, and I don't think anybody believed it at all for even
two seconds. But what was what was in your mind? I saw some of your comments that said you were just sort of like pretending and trying to, you know, get some attention and fake people out and everything. It sure didn't seem that way. But can you just just run through exactly what your thoughts were about that. I know you were going through some stuff in your personal life at that time. What was it deal with the five second retirement? No, my whole thing, with the whole retirement situation. I
think there was also a loopho. I know that the Top Ring wanted me to come back in December, and you know I already have fought three times in the nick of ten months, and I didn't really get to spend time with my son, you know, I mean as part of sacrifices that we make as champions and as fighters. However, you know I missed his first steps, I miss his him crawling, I missed his a lot of moments
that I that I really wanted to be there for him. So personally, I did it for my own my own my own think of being a father. Well, I'll interrupt you for a quick Secon because you could have done all that, and that's beautiful stuff because I mean, as a father myself, No, you could have just taken the time off, didn't you. I know I couldn't have. I'm at a point now in the pinnacle of my my career where I have to think strategically through my career. Whether I
retire after Ortiz, so be it. You know, it's just just like stuff that I have to do to maneuver from loopholes so that I don't have these fighters or you know, I want to say Poco would do it. However, I just can't trust nobody when it comes to business because they say it's business, not personal. So they can say I have a mandatory and I have to succeed that mandatory within these months and then I have to fight
in December. If I say no to that, then maybe they'll take my belt away, Brunal, They'll take my belt away and stuff like that, and then there goes my my reign of champions. So yeah, you mentioned how you said the top rank was talking about maybe doing a fight in December, and I guess what would have been the Heisman night back in New York against Jose Ramires was the opponent that was being discussed, who was a former champion himself, so that didn't happen. And then he was offered to you
as your opponent for this date in February. You're fighting Ortiz, but Ramirez was the guy gets the top rank. Made a handsome offer to I'm told more than two million dollars to fight to plus yep, I'll come back fight for good money if you lost to fight. He turned that down. Do you feel like that he was just sort of ducking you? I want to say, Doug, he just said that he wasn't ready in time for the
fight. You know, that's not my fault. You know, a true champion stays ready, you know, doesn't get ready on when they get the call, you know. And I actually been training since August. So I took about six weeks out after Taylor and I celebrated my win with him and everything, and then after that, I just started saying, I said, let me get back in the gym, you know. I started off slowly in August and ever since then, I mean we're in January now, mid
January, almost at the end of January. I've basically been in camp for like almost six months already, So it's been a long time and it's a long time coming. I knew that I wasn't done with the sport. I just needed some time off mentally, physically, spiritually from just the sport itself, and also to let my wife, which is boxing, you know, let her feel all these other fighters out and let her choose who she wants back. You know, if I'm always in the mids, she may not
know who she needs back in the game. And it showed, you know, And also it showed, you know, I thought of a bigger picture. You know, I love Madison Square Garden. It's always my home. You know, I fought there nine times. I've, like you said, I've won my titles, lost my titles, and won them back again. You know. So I have a lot of great history in New York. However, you know, I'm thinking about a bigger, greater scale for me,
you know, and that's Super Bowl stuff like this. This is the biggest, huge, This is like the most This is the biggest, the biggest. It's like ginormous event in sporting events in Las Vegas, and it's hosted here for Super Bowl. I mean, this is bigger than Formula One Formula one. Yeah, Formula one was more europe than it was American. This is everybody knows. Everybody knows NFL football is America's number one sport.
Yeah, no doubt about it. And I know that one of the other fights, when it was being discussed of what your schedule would be like, who you would fight in your first fight back in this year. I know that that Bob, you know, from Top Break, he had meetings with Oscar de la Hoya from Golden Boy. They were discussing the prospect of maybe you and Ryan Garcia, which is a huge fight. No offense to Jamaine Ortiz or even to Jose Rimrres, but obviously that's a much bigger fight given
the names involved. But between yourself and Garcia and then that's sort of nothing really ever team of that Was that a fight that you were interested in? I mean, you've got Ortiz now, But what happened there in your mind? I think that it was just miscommunication. I think managers, I think people like Middleman just trying to come involved in trying to get their hands in something that that they shouldn't get themselves involved in. You know, whether it
was on one side, my side or their side. I think that this is just something that needs to be handled through the promoter themselves and the fighter, not the not the managers. I think the managers need to step aside and let the fighters and promoters deal with good stuff. Well, however, however, you know, it doesn't work that way sometimes, and it happened the way it did for those reasons. You know, maybe it wasn't the
right time. And you know, whether that comes back around LA later down this year or next year, whatever it comes next, you know, then that's something that we could talk about again. But in the means times, my main focus is Jamain Ortiz. Now, Jermaine Ortiz, he had I mean, you have the win over Lomachenko, which was obviously a very big
victory and a big fight for the sport. He didn't beat Lomachenko, but he certainly gave him one of the toughest tests he's ever had, which is probably one of the main reasons why he's getting the opportunity to fight you. He didn't win a fight since then, what do you think about him? His performance against Loma and now he's moving up to fight you for your title. Well, no, you know, this is great I'm always about fighting
the best and competitive fighters and challengers. I mean, me and Jermaine Ortiz have history between each other from nine years ago in twenty fifteen and the National Golden Gloves in the finals. Everybody knows the National Golden Gloves is not something that's light. It's very hard to compete in. You're fighting five days straight, so you're fighting one time every every day, so for five days straight.
So you know, for him to even make it to the finals that year in twenty fifteen, I know, I'm up against somebody that's definitely competitive, has the skill sets to handle himself. And then look, he faced the City Limachenko. But you know, I heard some reports and it's it's a true report that he had prior to that, has sparted with Loma for months prior to that. So I think that Jermaine already knew what kind of style Loma was going to give him when they faced each other, and he
performed the way he did, maybe with just because of confidence. But see, the thing is different now. You know I faced Lomo when he was in his prime. You know, number one pound for pound, even in your eyes, you have number one pounds of pound one of the best fighters, Untouchable over Canelo, over Crawford. So when it came to it, you know, these guys are facing somebody that I took. I took the heart out of it, you know, so I'm not really overlooking him at
all. I don't ever overlook any fighter, you know. I think a lot of people are thinking that I'm taking or tease lightly. But it's okay, I don't think that at all. I don't think that at all. No, No, I'm not saying you. I'm just saying the other ones are casuals that maybe not understand the depth of boxing like you understand the study of boxing. I mean, this is what you've done. You covered boxing for longer than my life. So about how old are twenty six? You
know, it's not that far off. I'm going into your twenty four, so it's close, okay, So imagine that though, So imagine that though you've seen a lot in those twenty four years, you know, and it's like you've seen and covered a lot of great champions, real champions. You know, this day in the era, this modern day era of boxing is a bit different, you know, it's a bit more. You know, it's a it's a slap to the boxing world. But going back to it, you know, I just great guy, great fighter. We try to
fight everybody else. We try to get everybody. When I didn't have a contract in front of me, we try to put Sabrill Matias in the mix. He said he had a hand injury, whatever the case will be. We try to give these guys opportunities to face us. You know, don't call me out if you're not ready. It's pretty much what I say. And because I'm that type of person, will step and have my team send
you a contract. And no one stepped up to the plate. But the moment that we signed our deal with Jamyn Ortiz, how many people called me out. Well, let me ask you about the the Germaine Ortiz part of it. Though you mentioned about that twenty fifteen National Golden Globes final. First of all, do you remember the I know, you know you fought him,
obviously, do you remember the actual bout? And and I've seen these types of matchups in the past where you've got fighters that have amateur experience against each other, you know, and maybe even a big spot, and you know, it's not necessarily the same thing happens in the pro meeting, but it always lends itself to a storyline going into the fight. So what do
you remember about that matchup? And do you think there's anything at all, whatsoever that can be gleaned from you or from him as you go into a professional match that has any bearing whatsoever? What will happen on February eighth. H To be honest, like, I'm not gonna say much, but all like to say is that his style hasn't changed. It's been the same since
twenty fifteen. My style has definitely changed because I look to challenge myself, challenge my skills, challenge my IQ, and challenge my h when I train. I'm gonna be honest, Dan, When I trained for these fighters, I trained on how to beat myself because I know that's their main focus. Their main focus is trying to throw overhead rights. Their main focus is trying to pressure or box try to wait for me to come in. I mean, I know their game plans. I mean there's not much that you can
do at that moment. When I think about all those things and I focus on it, I have my trainer, trainer of the Year that Eddie Fletcher Ward in twenty twenty two, if you will open Senior. So you know, we study these things, and we've been watching film. I you know, the only reason why you've seen that type of performance with Josh Sailor is
because that was the first guy I actually started watching film and studying. So I'm only gonna get better from this point oh forward, because we're watching NonStop every night after midnight, we're watching and sitting down. Sometimes I even fall asleep watching Jamina. T's just just because of the fact that I'm studying him that much, because he's not exciting, right, No, No, I'm just exciting for sure, you know, and I'm not you know, so
all those things you know, comes to play. I know this kid has a lot to gain rather than lose. But that amateur fight, that amateur fight thing you think has had nothing to do with anything going on on the eighth h It's a lot different, man. I'm a lot different, you know. When we face each other, I was seventeen. I mean I'm twenty six now starting to get my man strength, you know what I'm starting, and same as him. You know, he's just coming up to the
one forty division. He had a rough, rugged fight against Moran, but he still prevailed and came on top. So obviously he has a he has a bit of flame in his heart, and it's all about that night. Who has more about champion's heart? Now, I know obviously that this is the fight in front of you, but I've also seen your comments about Terrence Crawford, and certainly it is not out of the realm for the guy who's the junior welterweight world champion to meet the guy who is the welterweight champion.
It has happened a million times in boxing, and obviously thank you. Well, I mean, it's it's not like you're calling out the guy that's the light heavyweight champion or you know, a guy that's the featherweight champion. It's one division different. To make it, they try to make it seem that way, well, let me say they got the straight You were lightweight champion, he was lightweight champion. You are the junior welterweight champion. He was
the junior Wealth weeight champion, and now he's the welterweight champion. So it's it seems to make sense to me. But I wonder what put that germ in your mind? Do you think it's possible. I mean, I saw you know that back and forty guy. I'll be honest, Dan is the only guy that gets me going yeah yeah, like not not why he they have their own agenda with him. It's not Ryan Garcia, it's not Devin Haney. It's Terrace Crawford. Because that's the macdaddy of all these other fighters,
you know, it's that that's the mac daddy. You know if these guys chaquor, all these guys look up to him like that's their macdaddy. And I always like that, you know. I always like facing the guy that everybody looks up to the most. And that's just who I've always been. You know, you think he's the best. Okay, great, I know I'm the best. He thinks he's the best. You know. But Bob called me yesterday, tell me, just, you know, focus on
this fight we'll get with Jamino Tiz. There's no point in expressing more about Crawt until this fight, you know. And and I totally understand, and I take his advice. And I told Bob, you know, hey, I'm only coming back just so that so that you can have you can have a bit of say so coming back into this, you know, with with with just his fighting to So we're going to get to see more of you this year then, I mean, you got this fight coming up, I
mean the Crawford fight. Who knows, there's other champions in the weight class. If you decided you want to pursue a unifier you mentioned about Garcia. Are we going to get to see you more than just a one time this year? You think? Oh yeah, most definitely. I mean, listen, you gotta think about it. I mean, I thought three times in
ten months I needed some time to relax and rest my body. At the same time, now that I have all this recovery, recovery and all this time to within myself, to know myself and thyself, I've come to realization, you know, three to four times is only going to make me better, you know, So I look forward at least minimums three times. You'll
see me four times. If if I even even if I got to do a one off outside of top ring, just to do like an exhibition or something, I'll take that chance, you know, and give top rank percentage from that. You know. I'm just I'm at that point now where I'm in a great position. All I can say, I really am Dan. It takes a lot of It took a lot of time. However, with all these other stable mats of Top Rank losing and looking the way they do, it only makes me greater. And what I do on February eighth is
only gonna make it best. So you got I'm going to wrap up with this te female. You have the fight on the Super Bowl week? Did you sound very excited and am th up for that? Look the people are gonna hear the video or hear the audio, but I see you smiling and
flexing those muscles of yours. I saw the recent video the Top Rank did that they did with you, and they put on their social media about you know, I'm a boxer and I do this, and I'm a boxer I do It was absolutely hilarious and I would encourage our listeners to go and search that out. But it was really well done. But the point I'm making yours. You were very up beat. You came across incredibly well in that video. You seem like you're very happy and in a good place right now.
I know you've had other stuff going on in your personal life and everything. Are you in a happy place right now. To be honest, I am. You know, that's what I needed. I think spending time, quality time with my son. I mean it's my first kid, you know,
he owes my name Dan to femal Lope is the fifth. And for me, it was more about, like, I want to reconnect with my childhood and that was my son and having that moment just those six months, whether it was yeah, it was six months of just spending time with him, getting to see him grow every day. He brought light into my heart and that's really what made me happy. And that piece, you know, outside of all the darkness that comes around and in our sports and stuff that
doesn't even matter, you know. So when it came to it, yeah, you know, I'm in the very happiest. I'm at my happiest place now because of that. You know, I'm at my happiest because I know my son is okay, he's happy. We've seeing his dad. He he loves me. He sees me as a as his hero. And all I could do is and another thing, you know, he knocked me out. You know, my son is he just turned too. He knocked me out for the belt. So I got to defend his championship belts. You know,
come February eighth. You know, if not I got to go talk to the champ over there, he's gonna have to talk to Daddy again. So I hear that. Well, I can just say that a happy tia Fimo Lopez, who's active in bringing big fights and excitement is a good thing for the sport, and I guess good for you also, So I wish
you good luck against Ortiz and I appreciate the time. Likewise, Dan, thank you and to everyone listening, yes, you guys did not want to miss his fight stout February eighth at the migalo Ot Arena and Mandela Bay. You'll be live on ESPN and you've also seen on ESPN Plus AT and Sky Sports for everyone in the UK. You got you got the promotion down pad,
So good luck. And I don't even have to say because you just let everybody know take on promotions, Yes, sir, thank you very much to Fimo, you got it then,