Turki wants to broker peace, Zayas vs. Boots fight week, Itauma vs. Hrgovic announced | Inside Boxing | June 22, 2026
Dan Canobbio and Chris Algieri discuss Turki Alalshikh's recent comments about peace in boxing, the upcoming Zayas vs. Boots fight and the announcement of phenom Moses Itauma's next opponent.
Video Transcript
Everybody welcome back.
It's another episode of Inside Boxing.
We're presented by ppv.com on Crowned and Yahoo Sports.
I'm Dan Kenobio.
He is the champ, Chris Algieri.
It is Zayas-Boots fight week, which means we are a few days away from our pre-fight party, McMahon's Public House, 5:00 PM.
it's gonna be a grand old time.
I'll be there, Chris will be there, Avril Mathey will be there, and some more special guests.
$20 to get in.
Short walk to Barclays Center.
If you've been to our past pre-fight parties, you'd know what to expect.
If you haven't been, what you can expect is a grand old time.
The best boxing community coming together, having drinks, talking, eating, shaking Chris Algieri's hand.
W- you can't beat that type of entertainment in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday.
I'm excited, Chris.
I'm excited for the party.
Yeah, I'm excited for the energy of fight week and being right there, so close to ground zero where the fight is.
that's what makes these things so special.
We always, we always suss out the areas and get, get bars and places that are very close to the venue so people who are in the area can just pop in, pop through, but also the energy and the vibe is there.
So, I'm really looking forward to that.
I haven't been to New York in a while, so that's another thing I'm excited to get down.
Bro.
It's so hot down, up, down here, dude.
I need to, I need a little bit of a break.
New Yo- talk about hot.
New York is hot right now.
It's hot up there too?
No, hot in like, not in- Oh, hot like in- in terms of temperature the vibes.
The vibes The vibes are off the charts, man.
Is it New York has experienced a, a, a revival, a renaissance, 'cause we were down sports-wise.
We were down.
COVID kicked New York's ass.
Weather, you know, for the last couple of summers it rained every weekend.
Beautiful sunny skies this past weekend.
I survived the Knicks parade- which was unreal.
That was insane.
Went to the Yankee game on Friday at legend seats, saw- Nice Kid Chocolate, Peter Quillan threw out the first pitch.
That's awesome.
I mean, come on.
That's awesome.
What's going on in this city?
jet skis.
New York is up.
New York is back.
New York is up, baby.
New York is up.
And then we have a big, World Cup is going on.
Yeah.
There's a Kenobio on pa- on Uruguay who scored.
Didn't you bet on that too?
I bet- on FanDuel- I put $10 on Augustin Kenobio to score, and I, we're just having fun.
Just for name's sake.
You're like, "You know what?"
Yes.
"This guy will score."
And you did.
Yes.
The whole, the whole Kenobio clan was at my parents' house for Father's Day.
We're laughing that there's a Kenobio, not a common name at all.
There's a lot of Kenobios in the soccer world.
There's not a lot of Kenobios in the US.
There's like maybe, I think there's like a pocket of them in like LA, not related.
And then there's a bunch in Europe, and then I knew that there was a bunch on like the Italian team, but didn't know there was any on the, the Uruguay team.
Dude- So I see there's a Kenobio- Uruguayan and Argentina are just European mutts basically down there.
Yeah.
He probably is Italian, right?
The, isn't that allowed?
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
yeah, 10 bucks on FanDuel for Kenobio to score.
Guy scores.
The whole house erupts.
What were the odds?
Plus 220.
Okay.
Okay.
So- He's a stri- this guy scored, and he's a striker.
Yeah, he's, yeah.
He's like their best Yeah, he's their best player.
He wouldn't have been on there if he wasn't, you know, a, a striker.
Yeah.
And H- Argentina's doing pretty well, huh?
Messi with the hat trick.
I mean, Lionel Messi is the, the best player who's ever lived.
He's, he's literally that guy.
When you ask other players who's the best, they're all like, "Oh, no, it's Messi."
Like, they I, I saw, I saw an interview with Mbappe from the French team, who's amazing, who is absolutely out of control good, and is probably going to surpass Messi at some point because he's so damn young.
but they asked him.
He's like, "No, Messi."
He's like, "Messi's the best player."
He's like, "Yeah."
The, the discussion is for everyone else.
He's like, "But no, it's Messi."
Isn't he like 40 or 39?
He's 38.
Oh.
He's 38.
Oh, gracious.
Doing it for the olds.
Yeah.
And he's But you know what it is?
He, he, he got the title last time in '22, and that was like the only thing he hadn't accomplished.
So now that he's got it, he's just playing like with ease.
Yeah, free.
He, he's playing free and fun, and it's just fluid, and you just s- it's just like he, he score He doesn't even celebrate.
He's like, "Eh.
I got I'm that good, I know."
With the World Cup here, there's a lot of, attention on different countries, and US is actually playing pretty well.
Mm-hmm.
I think we've already advanced out of our, our, the knockout stage, which, you know, this is not a soccer country, not a football country.
I've asked, I've asked Terence Crawford this.
Chris, if you were building your US boxing dream team- four weight classes, 135, 147, middleweight, heavyweight, who you drafting at 135?
At one Is this all time?
All time.
135, Sweet Pea.
I'm going Pernod Whitaker.
Really?
Yeah.
I don't- Over Pretty Boy Floyd?
I don't think, I don't think he any I mean, that version of Sweet Pea in his prime at 135?
Yeah, Floyd at 35.
Floyd was I think Floyd at 30.
If you had a 30, I would probably pick Floyd.
I, I'm going with the prestige weight classes.
Actually, you know what?
You know what?
No, I'm go- I'm, I'm going, oh, we're American fighters.
I was gonna say Duran, but no, we're going American fighters, so yeah, I'm, I'm going Pernell.
Okay.
147, welterweight, a lot to choose from.
Sugar Ray Leonard.
Going Leonard.
I mean, just offensive machine, has that dog in him, and if we're talking all time, we're talking 15 rounders, and Sugar was the king of 15 rounders, man.
He was.
He late, late charges.
And that, that's the only reason I would pick him over Floyd.
Floyd at 12 is almost unbeatable, especially at welterweight, but at fif- if we're talking all time, we're going, we're going 15 rounders and, and that, therefore I'm going Leonard.
Well, the argument with Floyd, 'cause I know people will come at you, 'cause I, I will clip this- Mm-hmm and I will put this on socials and people will come at you.
'cause I don't think 147 Floyd is even the best version of Floyd Mayweather.
Yeah, that's a great point too.
I mean, that's what I mean.
Like, what I was saying, at 30 when he was still knocking guys out, the guy who beat Gennaro Hernandez, the guy who beat Diego Corrales, that Floyd, oof, that's a whole different Floyd.
That's Pretty Boy.
47 he was undersized.
He was undersized.
Yeah.
You know?
That, that Money version of, of Floyd.
And, and don't get me wrong, his skills were incredible and sublime in the way he was able to disarm guys, and especially guys who are bigger than him is, is unbelievable.
But if we're taking a dream team, man, I'm going Leonard.
Middleweight.
I think I know the answer Oh, it's Hagler all day.
All day.
Mean, fights from both sides, 15-round guy.
Absolutely Hagler.
And then heavyweight.
No, no, light heavyweight, so it's five.
Light heavyweight.
Light heavyweight.
Roy Jones, baby.
Roy Jones Jr. American light heavyweight f- in, in his prime at, at light heavyweight, Roy Jones.
Yeah, there's no one that I mean, even though his best years were probably at 168, but- Yeah just to get, Roy has to be on this team somehow.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
So represent 175.
And then heavyweight?
American heavyweight.
sheesh.
Oh, wow, I thought this would be an easy one.
American heavyweight.
I mean, go- we're going all time, right?
Oh, so Ali.
I, I, I was thinking like recent for some reason.
I was like, I was like, "Mike?"
Nah, Ali.
Ali, all time.
Ali, Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Holyfield, Holmes, Sonny Liston, Jack Johnson.
Now try and now think about all these personalities on the same team.
That's- Oh, boy that's gonna be interesting.
Who's the coach?
Who's coaching this team?
Emanuel Steward?
It's gotta be Steward.
Gotta be Manny.
Gotta be Sweeds.
'Cause, 'cause Emanuel Steward was, was, was rough and mean.
You would need a coach that would be able to keep these guys in, in check because they're, you know, Hagler, Ali.
I mean- Hagler can probably coach the team and be like player-coach yeah, he'd be, he'd be the, he'd be the m- he'd be like the messy guy who everyone looked up to as the- Oh, man, that would be so cool to think of like- older, grizzled guy the Olympic, the Dream Team in basketball had like Coach K, but they also had like Popovich, who was the Spurs coach at the time, and they had like Lenny Wilkens, and they had like the stud coaching staff, like the best coaches ever.
So like a Dream Team coaching staff would be like Emanuel Steward, Freddie Roach, um- Eddie Futch Eddie Futch, and then current day, like Robert Garcia.
Wow, that's pretty damn cool to think about.
World Cup fever.
Speaking of historic stuff, I wanted to thank everyone for all the great messages we got last week for the episode with my dad, Bob Canobbio.
That was really fun.
overwhelming amount of positive messages, which is very rare in the boxing YouTube space and on social media.
Bob is a guy that doesn't really like to do a lot of interviews, is not a front-facing type of guy, but man, does that guy have stories.
You know, being at Hagler-Hearns and him-- I've heard the stories a million times as a kid, but when he was like retelling them and I was like actually thinking, imagine being at Hagler-Hearns, like I, I couldn't even imagine what the casino was like after and like the arena.
Yeah, I mean, your, your dad, yeah, he's a behind the scenes guy, but you know, he's, y- you get him going and he, and he, he, he brightens up and it's funny- You get him going now you mention how like, you know, surprisingly good feedback 'cause normally when it's, when we do anybody else besides us, the listeners are not, are not, are not as in tune.
They really aren't.
So that, that's cool that, that Bob got, got crossover appeal.
Bob's the man.
shout out Bob.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
We'll have to have him on again.
All right, let's, so let's get into the news.
kind of a little bit of a slow week, before we head into Boots and Zaya's week.
There was some interesting stuff to come out of the Turkey world.
Turky Alsheik took to social media to announce that he wants to broker a peace summit between Eddie Hearn, Dana White, and other promoters and DAZN.
This is all surrounding the Fury-AJ fight, which is yet to be formally announced.
There is no venue, there is no promoter, there is no broadcaster.
And also just like in terms of all the infighting that's happening and all the confusion that's going on with Zuffa and the old guard, the new guard, Turky is saying that, "Only I can do this."
He says he wants to make a revolution in boxing and see white smoke rise from the chimney.
He also went on to say that he hopes it happens sooner than later because he's pretty much suffering from memory loss, which I'm pretty sure he's alluding to some health concerns that he has.
There is a rumor out there, and Ryan Garcia pretty much confirmed it with his own tweet following this, Turky is suffering from a brain tumor.
And if you're in the boxing community, you've heard that for a while now, and this is the first time Turky's actually somewhat alluded to it, said he can't even remember his name some days or in a few years he won't be able to remember his name.
Lot to unpack there, Chris, so, you know, where- however you, wherever you wanna go with that, let me know.
Let me s- I'll start with the, with the health concerns first.
That, that, that's been a rumor for a couple years now, and it was always alluded to being something wrong with, with the brain, like a brain tumor or brain cancer or something, at that, at that level.
Like we didn't give it much, you know, credence because he had never acknowledged it, he never went any And again, it's just, it's just hearsay and he's the kind of guy who's come in from, you know, the outside and, and it seems to be, you know, whether des- deserve it or not, a little bit of a shadowy figure in terms of, you know, what we know about him.
So we're just like, "Ah, it's one of those things."
Like you, you, you always hear kinda crazy stuff about certain guys, like Al Haymon, like, you know, we heard the same kinda things with him.
But, but now, I mean, now that he's acknowledging he's actually bringing it out there, cat's out of the bag and obviously something is, is, is up.
And is that what has been pushing him to be so dogged and aggressive and bullish on getting some of these fights together so, you know, he can see them before he can't remember them?
also this whole discussion about brokering a summit to bring all the, the families together, you know?
The- That's what it is the boxing crime families to come together and, and, and, and make peace.
if that's the case, I mean, it's, it's a, it's a pretty cool altruistic thing to do on the way out, if that was, if that is what we're case.
But again, we're, was-- we don't really know.
We don't know what's all going on and, and, and what kind of peace can there actually be- Well, but- in, in boxing?
I don't- No.
None.
None.
None.
They'll work together, but they'll work together no matter what.
As long as there's enough money involved, people work together.
but yeah, I don't know how much peace we're really gonna gonna discover even if we do have this summit amongst these, these very ego-driven, heads of, of state.
I think Dana White already shot down the summit.
Yeah, I saw that.
I forgot the exact quote.
but he was pretty much just like, "Yeah, that's not happening."
Um- I mean, him and Eddie Hearn hate each other.
I mean- Yeah Dana White has the biggest ego of them all, I think, and this is- Dana and Oscar a room full of egos.
Dana and Oscar, Oscar and Eddie.
I mean, nobody likes- Geez, I would pay top dollar to watch this peace summit.
Top dollar.
Stream this on DAZN.
Put this in the ultimate plan.
I think, I- Oscar would be on one, man.
That would be a, he would be great to watch.
As much as I can't stand all the, like, Twitter stuff and the promoters fighting and now we're seeing, Da- another round of Shakur and Haney and Javonta Davis reactivates his social media.
Ryan Garcia's getting in the mix, and like this was all going down yesterday.
I was just, like, rolling my eyes at it, not even trying to pay attention, not even putting it in our notes, like don't care anymore.
Yeah.
Like, either fight or not.
Like, I would actually pay to watch a sit-down with these promoters because I just think it's so damn interesting because they're such big names, they're such big egos.
There's, it's a big part of what's going on in boxing, quite arguably the biggest story in, in boxing over the last two years.
Obviously, the fights, we wanna see the best fights, and there have been some great fights, but it's the shifting of the, the business.
the, the whole structure of the sport is changing.
We, whether it's the Ali Act, whether it's Turkey, whether it's the old guard versus the new guard or Zuffa.
I don't think we're gonna get this summit.
I just think it's, like, a, you know, Turkey kind of flexing his muscles, and trying to, you know, be that guy to bring everyone together.
And first off too, like, you know, if he, he True, I don't know the extent of his sickness, but we don't wish any ill will on anyone.
You know, we've let our voices be known on what we thought, think about, everything in s- in the sport, whether it's Zuffa, Saudi, and all that, but I for sure want him to get the best help he can get and, and stick around because he's done more, good than bad in terms of, making the best fights possible.
But, like, this is all around the Fury-AJ fight, which I find hilarious because this isn't, once again, like I said last week, this isn't a Fury versus, Usyk.
No.
You know, this isn't a Floyd versus Pacquiao a la 2010 or 2015.
This is a spectacle type of fight, and they still can't figure out where they want it to be.
They still can't figure out who's promoting it.
Chris, there was a report last week from The Athletic that there's a very good chance that AJ and Fury ends up in the United States.
That's a slap in the face to British fans.
Yeah.
that fight needs to be in Wembley.
but if it does happen in the States, I mean, it'd be easier for us to get to it- which is, which would be cool if we're gonna be maybe, uh- Like, yeah, I'll be there stealthish But like, maybe not.
But, but like, yeah, but that's, come on.
That's a Wembley fight.
Well, it, it, did you see that other weird statement by, by Turkey where he was saying, like, "I haven't decided yet where it's gonna be.
you know, people are saying what it is, but, you know, they're wrong.
If you haven't heard from me, it's, it's, it's not real"?
I don't know.
What, what, what's, what's, what, what would be the issue with why I feel like it's- The only thing I can think of is- it's a no-brainer is that they, they aren't gonna do it till December, right?
'Cause they're doing these ridiculous tune-ups.
Don't understand why it can't be September.
Yeah.
So December, weather issues, and, you know, they've done fights outside.
Like Fury fought Chisora in December, and it was pretty cold, so that could be it.
That's one aspect.
I really think the Netflix part- Yeah, that's probably it and there's just rumors that Netflix is the, is the broadcaster, but it's pretty strong rumors.
So if Netflix the broadcaster, they could be pushing for a US, you know, 8:00 PM prime time start.
But also if Netflix is involved, that means Eddie and Frank Warren, Queensberry and Matchroom are out because they have a- They're out they have a, they have an exclusive with DAZN, so.
And that's right from Frank Warren's mouth.
Yeah, right from, heard from Frank, and Frank, Frank don't mince words.
yeah, that's probably it right there.
so it comes down to a b- a business thing, promoter thing.
Again, thing, this, things that fans don't really care about, but deals are deals, and promoters, this is how they make their money.
interesting.
I don't know.
But like, I don't know.
They could do it- Where, where, where would you do it in the States?
Vegas.
Like in the sphere?
Vegas.
Like h- h- how do you- I don't know.
I think T-Mobile's fine.
Like if it's, at that point it's just like- Is that big enough though?
I mean..
It's not, it's big enough because it's not a big fight here.
Yeah, that's a good point.
It's a big fight, in the UK this is 90,000 easy.
In the US with the amount of things- You're leaving so much money that are going on here.
You're leaving so much money on the table with the gate over there.
That's crazy.
Well, that's another thing too.
It's like the people are trying to compare, like, 90,000 with, like, a smaller ticket, like, less- L- lesser, cheaper ticket price cheaper ticket prices for the 90,000 compared to 20,000 jacked up prices.
But there's not as much of a demand.
But that's the issue with boxing.
That's the issue with boxing in general though.
It's too expensive to be a fan.
I, I'd rather m- a bigger arena with less pricey seats.
Well, there's a lot of things to here too.
It's like I put out a video on Friday when I f- heard of this report.
It's just, like, flabbergasted but kinda not because- it's a power move.
I feel like Turkey and Dana are just saying, "Look what we can do."
Like, this doesn't make sense.
This fight belongs in Wembley.
Yeah.
But we can put it in Vegas, and we can just flip the bird to you, Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren.
The fight that, has, 100% belongs at a UK, most notably Wembley.
But on the flip side of things, I have people in my mentions saying, "Well, Eddie and Frank had 10 years to make this fight, and they failed.
So now it's in the hands of someone that is going to make it happen, theref- and therefore they can choose wherever, what day, where it's gonna be."
But I don't think Turkey and them would, would spite the British fans and spite Eddie and them- The sport just to make a point.
It would, it'd spite to the sport as well It's just a slap in the face to everyone involved.
It's like, you know, and, and Fury and Joshua, like put your foot down here.
Yeah.
Like you guys, I understand you're, you're, you're making the most money here and, and, and, and you don't wanna ruffle any feathers with Turkey, a guy that's He's lining you guys' pockets.
But they have the power to be like, "No, no, no, no, no.
Guys, what are we doing here?"
Fighters care where they fight.
It's a, it's a big part of, of the negotiating process.
It's a big part of where your fights end up landing.
all my big fights were basically in New York.
Now I went to Pacquiao obviously in Mc- in Macau, and then Ben over in, in the UK, and that was great.
But being able to fight in my home turf, fight in the Power- in the, in the, at the Barclays Center and fighting in the Garden.
I fought in the Garden four times.
I was undefeated in the Garden.
I fought in the Barclays Center, the main event four times there.
Like it matters, where you fight.
And fighters, especially guys like Tyson and, and AJ, have a lot of power to decide on these kind of things.
So I think you're right.
I think they should, they should actually step up and be like, "We gotta do this-" I'm sure they want it there.
Of course.
Of course.
ah, they But, but, but, m- but I don't know, 'cause AJ had such a good time in Miami.
You know, people loved him here, and people has always l- people has always loved Tyson here.
we saw him at the, at the White House, UFC card over the weekend, and he was like really pumping up being around and enjoying it.
So may- maybe not.
Maybe, maybe they both see a, a, a reason to b- be in the States.
It may-- Or maybe they don't really have a tr- a say in it, and it was like, "Oh, it's gonna be in America."
You know, Tyson's gonna do his, his thing to, to sell it over there.
But I agree with you.
It's just not gonna sell the same here at all.
No, there's not as much, clamoring for it here.
It would, it would do well, and I do think people will travel over, like from the UK.
But like asking people to tr- asking UK fans to travel over to Vegas in December for a fight that belongs in their backyard, it's just wrong.
Yeah.
And, and the Netflix part of it- I mean, they'll, they'll do it.
They'll do it 'cause they're great fans.
Yeah.
They will do it.
They will.
But also, like I will be packing my bag being like, "These son of a bitches."
Like, why?
Right?
Right before the holidays too.
Yeah.
And like if you wanna blame Or not blame, but if you wanna like pin this on Netflix, does Netflix Like there's another b- bunch of comments that I got too is like if it's gonna be on at 8 or 11:00 PM Eastern, like, here in the States, right, which Netflix wants, us- And they, Netflix has won Friday night type of fights too.
the MMA card was on Saturday, but for the most part, they want Friday, and they want primetime 11-ish PM Eastern, which would be like 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning- Oof UK time.
And that's another thing too.
It's like you're asking The, the majority of the fan- people watching should be from the UK, and you're asking them to get up, you know, crack of dawn, 4:00, 5:00 in the morning, middle of the night to watch this fight.
Whereas if it was in UK and it was streaming on Netflix, you're looking at a 5:00 PM start, lo- u- E- Eastern Time, which would be primetime in the UK.
So it comes down to the- So all bad, all bad for the UK fans.
All bad in every way.
Well, perfect for them.
It's just having it there.
Yeah.
Primetime there, Wembley there, and having us in the US figure it out- Watch it early like we always do.
Yeah.
We're not the main- Tell it- drivers of this, of, you know?
It's up to Netflix because the Fury fight- I personally love the Saturday afternoon, afternoon UK shows, so I'm cool with that.
Yeah.
I, I love I actually prefer those.
But, you know, the Fury, Makhmudov fight didn't do that well on Netflix comparative to some of the other Netflix fights, but it was also Makhmudov.
No, I mean- Yeah it wasn't a huge fight.
I don't know.
We'll see how Like one thing about Turkey is he does listen to fans.
You know, they had all those crazy concerts at the beginning, and they kinda phased those out.
Mm-hmm.
And, you know, the cards was too long, and he's kinda fa- Like, he does listen to the feedback, and, and- Yes I think there's an overwhelming feedback is that this fight belongs somewhere in the UK.
He could do two fights.
Do the second one in Vegas, 'cause that's another thing I got too.
"Oh, let's do, you know, first fight Vegas, second fight Wembley."
Like we're- It's been 10 years to get one fight.
There's no doubt we get the second one, and it should be first fight Wembley, second fight wherever at that point, you know?
that's possible.
It's, it's, it's, it's a, it's a, a, a thought, but also they're both British, so like it's not like it's like, "Oh, we're gonna fight in your backyard, and then we're gonna fight in my backyard."
It's like, "Oh, well, the UK, then we'll do Ba-" No, they, they're both British.
Yes, they're, they're, they're huge, and they're, they're, they're, you know, they're globally known, but I think all of them I think they should If they fight, they should fight in Wembley both times.
Thir- three times.
If they fight three times, they should all be there.
Like you're, you, you're missing out on that gate, and you're missing out on that, that fan base.
shoot, like I would ra- I would rather g- take the trip to go to We- and see that fight in Wembley than- Oh, for sure than have the, the, the ease of being able to go to Vegas and watch it because I think that's part of the, that's part of the experience.
It's part of the allure of that fight.
And like you said, this is not guys who are fighting for the world title.
This is not guys fighting for a number one spot.
These are guys who are fighting each other because we as fans want them to fight and always have.
And it's, it's a bit of a nostalgia fight, even though they're both still relatively young compared to, you know, what you would think of for nostalgias.
and Wembley's part of that.
I, I, I, I truly believe that.
Yeah.
That's the part that makes this so boxing.
Yeah.
Is that a fight that we, which should've happened 10 years ago, a fight that now, like people want it, but it's not like a top any of your wish lists, is now b- It's almost like a pawn now, this fight.
It's now being taken into the hands of Turkey, Dana, Eddie White, Frank Warren, what network it's gonna be on.
I wanna promote this.
No, I'm gonna promote it.
Look what we can do.
All for a fight that like we don't, we don't necessarily have to see.
That's what makes this really like a sour taste in your mouth.
And now, you know, it's just, it's just not great, but- But also though, and you said this is like so boxing, it so is because the powers that be don't care about the people.
They don't care about the sport.
They don't care about Like they, they care about personal stuff, ego stuff to try and, to try and push an agenda or a narrative rather than actually doing something that'll actually help the sport, and be important for the fans themselves.
'Cause we as boxing fans, man, we're, we're like, we're like the abused girlfriend.
We, we just keep coming back.
We make excuses.
It's crazy.
You know, like we don't care.
We just get, we get beat up, and we keep coming back for more.
it's, it's, it's, it's sad, but- That's the life, life of being a boxing fan 'Cause now I wanna actually s- like I wanna see it more now.
Now that it's like it's kinda being dangled, sadly like I, I'm like, "All right, fi- figure it out."
Now like if it has to be in Vegas, obviously we're all gonna watch, but I, I need that 100,000 at Wembley.
Yeah.
I need, I need that crowd roaring.
I need that, that scene over there.
That's where this fight belongs, man.
fight that will happen and we know where it's happening, Brooklyn, New York.
It is Zayas-Boots fight week.
a big one.
Unified, 154 pounds.
And I don't necessarily wanna make this the predominant theme here, but I feel like this fight got an-- when it got announced, what'd it get announced in like early April, like mid-April?
This was any-- the only fight people wanted to talk about.
Might even before that.
Yeah.
You think it was before that?
I thought, I don't know.
It's, it's been a while.
It feels like it's been forever.
I think it was definitely April.
Definitely April.
Some, it was beginning of April, mid-April, whatever, April the fight gets announced.
It's all anyone wanted to talk about.
It, it was, it was the lead on our show for a while.
The storylines, is Boots really, living up to the hype?
Is Zayas that guy?
And then it kind of went away.
Then summer came around and then, you know, World Cup is here, and then some other big fights, and then some no real fights at all on the schedule.
And like I feel like the, the fever pitch isn't exactly there just yet.
So I think DAZN's gonna have to ramp it up this week.
The fatigue set in, is one, 'cause it's just, it was, it was a long drawn-out process and it was like, it was one of those things where it, it hits you in the face right away 'cause it's like, whoa, Zayas is taking a huge risk and it came out kind of out of nowhere.
It wasn't like we've been talking about this matchup.
You know, we've been talking about Virgil more than, than, than Zy- but Zayas swoops in, takes that win.
Everyone's like, "Oh wow."
G- you know, props on Zayas.
He's taking a, a crazy tough fight, and risking his two titles.
this kid, this kid's going for it.
And Boots is always, always gonna be a talk of the town type guy 'cause that's just, that's just Boots.
That's just who he is.
The, the narrative around Boots, i- is that, that he is that guy.
He is he.
And but then the, I think the odds started getting so wide that a little bit of the, little bit of the excitement s- kind of was falling off.
People, people- 'Cause people, people hear odds.
I think boxing fans especially are, are more inclined to know odds than I think a lot of other sports 'cause we're just, it's part of the culture.
Mm-hmm.
I think you start seeing those odds get wider and wider, and you start hearing about Boots doing what Boots do- Ooh Boots does in the gyms and you're like, "Eh, maybe this fight isn't as good," or, or just losing a little bit of luster.
But I, I think it'll ramp back up this week.
Yeah, I hope so.
I'm excited for it.
I mean, the New Yorkers are excited for it.
If you get through the, the World Cup crowds.
minus 480.
Oh.
Ennis favorite.
It's wider.
It was 430 last week.
Wider every week.
Yeah, it was four- Every week.
That's on FanDuel.
That's my point.
That's my point.
It's- yeah.
Ennis to stop What was method of victory?
Ennis to stop, mi- plus 250.
No, sorry, excuse me, minus 135.
So they think it's gonna go to de- decision.
Ennis points is plus, is plus 250 right now on FanDuel.
but yeah, I agree with you.
March 30th is when the fight got announced and there was a bit of an element of surprise because we just didn't simply think a fight like this could get made.
We didn't think Zayas would take this fight.
The Virgil Ortiz news, we weren't 100% certain on where that was going.
And according to Oscar De La Hoya did an interview with Mannix on that Collazo card this past weekend, which was probably one of the worst cards I've ever seen put on DAZN.
But, besides that, Oscar did say that he thinks that they're gonna be able to come to a resolution, Virgil, and to get him back into the ring.
But all that led to like, "Oh, right, yeah, yeah, this fight is hot."
And then like, I would say in like mid or late Feb- April, we just kind of stopped talking about it.
But it's here, so hey, let the promoters do what they do.
Let DAZN do what they do and promote the hell.
We're gonna promote it, our fight party and all that.
But I think the main thing here, some like quick storylines.
Next episode we'll have like much deeper, analysis and picks and all that.
I just think a star is gonna be born Saturday night, one way or another.
Either Boots is gonna become unified champ at 154 in, in his best win, or Zayas is like, "I'm really that guy.
I'm 23 years old.
I just beat the boogeyman of boxing.
I'm a Puerto Rican star with a great smile, and I'm about to take over this sport."
That to me is probably the biggest storyline here.
Yeah, I agree.
I think, and I, I, I said that when this fir- fight first got announced.
If, if Zayas wins this, boom, right, right into star status 'cause he, he's got all, all the things.
And now if you, you're beating boogeymen, like also, oof, you really are that, you are that guy.
and listen, boxing always needs a Puerto Rican star, always, and especially doing it in New York.
This is a very calculated gamble.
You know, these guys, are extremely confident.
They think they, they, they got the juice.
They, they think they know how to beat all these guys.
I've been around Xander.
I've been in fighter meetings with him.
He wants Fundora.
He wants Boo- he wants everybody.
He wants all the baddest guys, so I gotta tip my hat to the kid for that 'cause he, they do believe in their skills and they go for it.
And then with Boots, Boots gets this win, he gets those two belts.
He just lives up to all the talk.
Everybody talks about Boots.
Every-- He is that boogeyman.
He is that guy.
Then he's got the hardware to go with it and he's in that deep division with so many guys for him to fight.
Ah, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm getting excited just talking about it.
Either direction, this is, this is gonna be a, a, a big deal on Sunday morning.
Yeah, for sure.
You say boxing needs a Puerto Rican star.
I think boxing needs a black star too.
Yeah, that too.
I mean, those are- A Northeast guy two of the- 100%.
Yeah, like a, like a Philly, Northeast guy that could potentially fill up the Barclays Center time and time again and take it obviously on the road to Vegas for the bigger fights, but have that home base.
and you, we put out a video last week, a little clip, and you were talking about Boots busting up faces and, and it got a lot of traction on social.
Um- Having those great sparring moments and, that's the thing with Boots is, e- it's hilarious to see because we had the accusations of being pro-Zayas and being negative towards Boots.
We put out that clip about- Anti-Boots yeah, anti-Boots.
We put out that clip of you talking about how Boots is roughing up people in sparring, and the comments were like, "Oh yeah, but against who?"
Like sparring partners are supposed to get beat up.
These guys are so, are so pro-Boots and Zayas.
I'm like, "Oh my God, this is absolutely hilarious."
It's out of control.
Like- You cannot win as a boxing pundit.
It doesn't matter.
Your, your, your, whatever, whatever, whatever way the wind blows is the way that these people have gone.
It's unreal at this point.
Like we're ne- we're right in the middle, okay guys?
Like e- either whoever wins, we're gonna have a pretty much a pound for pound, discussion, a face of boxing discussion, or we're gonna have unification discussions.
That's why we love this fight.
That's why this fight means so much.
And I'm looking online and I saw a pretty interesting, theory thrown out there or, or a point where is Like when it comes to Boots' resume, like not the most star-studded resume and we know why.
Like guys avoided him, you know, had a lot of start, start and stops to his career with managers and networks, all the bad parts of boxing.
But would you say Barrera, Zayas beating Barrera is better than any win that Boots has?
Stannionas was a good win, especially the way he did it.
but Stannionas has struggled before as well.
He's been in some, you know, tough close fights.
He hasn't done anything since, so that, that, that hurts his standing as well.
Barrera's tough.
Also didn't have much going on before that Stannionas.
Did get a very long layoff.
Exactly.
And it was also- Heading into that fight it was also at welterweight.
So the, you know, Zayas' best win is in the weight class that they are competing in now.
and it was a title fight.
Yeah, you know, so, yeah.
It, it's, it's-- I'm trying to think who else on, yeah, Boots' record.
He had the, you know, he had the Lipinets win, but like when L- before Lipinets- Yeah.
Lipinets was- like started the downhill turn.
Mm-hmm.
Um- Yeah, no.
Lipinets, former world champion, 140 pounder, had some good wins at welterweight, but, you know, had some bad losses too.
then, you know, the Judkatse fight, which is looking even worse in the rear view.
He just got stopped.
You know, um- He did.
I didn't even keep up with that.
Yeah.
Another thing too with the Karen and, you know, Boots has never faced someone that could move as much as Zayas.
That's- Yes discussion.
Yeah.
'Cause Zayas is a mover.
He's got world-class, stamina, his legs, that's just part of his game, Zayas, is I, I honestly think the first four or five rounds are gonna be really interesting and really tough for Boots 'cause I think Zayas is going to be moving like crazy in there.
But I brought up the punch stats against Karen.
Okay.
I know punch stats aren't the end all be all, but they do tell a story.
177 punches landed on Karen in the first fight.
200, no, excuse me, 211 punches landed in the first fight, 177 landed in the second fight.
That's a, that's a pretty good amount of punches landed against a quote unquote "mover" in Karen.
would you say who, who-- Karen moves a lot.
Uh- Well, he did in, he did in that one fight probably more than Zayas.
Yeah, he did, he did move a lot in that fight.
and that, that's good.
It-- So even a mo- a moving target Boots is able to find.
but you, you question a little bit about the power though because- Good power but also different weight class because, you know, if, if those-- They went 24 rounds together.
You know, Judkatse got hit a lot.
That's what those are, those are a lot of landed blows to get hit with a guy that, you know, everyone talks about is this vicious puncher.
so you, you, you go into question there, okay?
Now we're in a new weight class.
Does the weight class help Boots?
Does he hit harder?
From what I hear, that's what I hear, but you know, we gotta see it on fight night.
Hear a lot of things about Boots.
Hear lots, lots of banter about Boots out there.
That's what I mean.
Like one-- Either way I'm gonna be pretty satisfied as a fan.
Probably be like, "Great, Boots is that guy."
If he can stop Zander.
Yeah.
And a lot of people are, are picking stop, late stoppage for Boots.
Like well, okay.
Like things we have heard are true.
Like this guy, you put anyone in front of him, he's gonna beat them pretty, either, you know, unanimous decision or stop them.
And with Zayas, if he comes out on top, this is an unbelievable win.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's one of the best wins in the last couple years.
Barrera would be a very good p- not practice, but like- Litness test dealing, dealing with the pressure of a guy like Barrera who's gonna come forward constantly and, and you gotta, you gotta weather the storm and get to the end.
There's gonna be, there's gonna be parts of that I think we're gonna see in this fight where it's gonna-- you're gonna have to weather a storm and you're gonna have to get through some hellacious shots.
'Cause that's the thing about Boots, man, he's a momentum guy.
He starts finding momentum and getting off on you- That downhill ooh, it's downhill from there.
Downhill.
Yeah.
Very, very, very downhill.
So you gotta get through those moments.
Absolutely.
He beat Lipinets in 2021, Delorme, Castillo, Clayton, Karen once, Roman Villa, a Venician, Karen again, Stannionas.
Man, it's not a murderer's row and it's not because of him or- Yeah.
I mean, you gotta put a little blame on the fighter, but like if you've been following along, bad management.
chasing, what's his name?
Chasing Crawford.
Yeah.
That situation.
Spent a lot of time-- losing a lot of time doing that.
Still only 28.
28 years old.
Prime.
His prime.
Physical, physical prime.
'Cause he got a really early start.
Still only 28.
It's a 28-year-old versus a 23-year-old.
You never see that in this sport.
Never see that.
Love that.
Oh, man.
He's getting- For titles too.
And it's for titles.
It's for two titles.
For a title.
There's just so much on the line and like it has everything.
Like the prime versus prime, ti- unification, and then potential huge fights after.
Where on Sunday's episode we're like, "Okay, like what's the list now?"
You know, are we looking at Boots versus Fundora?
Are we looking at Zayas versus Fundora?
Virgil back in the mix?
Josh Kelly Who are some of the other names at 154?
I mean, it's s- it's crazy the amount of fighters at that weight class.
Or, you know, if Zayas wins, there's discussion about him going to 160.
And then you spoke about last week how Ennis is, you know, his, his, peak is probably 168.
That's self-reporting.
That's what he said himself.
Could be even more.
What do you mean?
Higher than 168?
Yeah.
What?
I think both of those guys could be.
We could s- Jerome Ennis light heavyweight?
I think we could definitely see, Xander as a light heavyweight.
He's got the frame for it.
Wild.
He's tall, he's huge.
Wide shoulder.
Guys, come out to our fight party, McMahon's Public House.
Buy tickets, hang out with us.
The undercard's really good, too.
Ben Whittaker- Mm-hmm making his stateside debut against Richie "Popeye the Sailor Man" Rivera, who beat Hot Rod.
The Star Boxing guy.
He's a Star Boxing guy.
Yeah, he beat Hot Rod a few years ago.
gave some other fighters fits at 175.
Having a great camp and everything I see.
Yeah, he had a, he had a tough fight with, Badou Jack.
Didn't he have a draw with Badou Jack or something like that?
Or w- Bro, he's legit.
Nah, he's- This is a very good piece of m- matchmaking here.
Yeah, that's, that's, that's no, that's no American p- cupcake over here for, Ben Whittaker.
It wasn't, like, on the list of fighters that we were Like, I think we put together a list of guys that we would like to see Whittaker in there, and obviously, Richie Rivera fell through the cracks a little bit.
But that's no-- Not because we don't think much of him, but he's 27 and 2 with 20 knockouts.
He has lost, he had a loss to Tahada in 2024, which is not great.
he lost to Badou Jack, but it, it was, uh- Right.
Very, very close.
Yeah.
Where's the Hot Rod?
He beat Hot Rod a few years ago.
Isn't that his big win?
Did he really?
No.
No, I thought he had that big win.
what's the fight he got absolutely He didn't beat Hot Rod.
He had a fight where he got absolutely hosed in, in Saudi.
Was it the Badou Jack one?
That was Badou Jack, yeah.
Badou Jack, 100%.
But that was at cruiser?
yes.
All right, so he's coming down in weight.
This, this is at 175, I think.
I mean, Whittaker has fought at 182, makes up his own weights.
Um- Yeah, but that wasn't his fault.
That was 'cause they, it was a last-minute replacement of his, his opponent.
True.
Milliano Vargas, Bryce Mills.
I'm excited to see Milliano.
Hey, that's, that's not a bad fight.
Bryce Mills has been Actually, he's gotten a lot better.
I've called a lot of his fights for, Top Rank undercards.
He's a super popular guy up north.
Um- Yeah, I called his last fight in Turning Stone.
Yeah.
Yeah, he fights up in Turning Stone all the time.
Bro, it was packed in there.
It was like- Yeah, no, he, he, he sells tickets, man.
He moves them.
I don't know.
Yeah, I, I They'll, they'll be there.
There'll be a big contingent of Bryce Mills fans, and I, I love the fact that he called out Vargas afterwards.
And I remember, I was calling the fight with Justin, Goosen, and we kind of were like, "Really?"
Like, "You're not gonna, you're never gonna get Milliano Vargas."
And he, he got him.
He got him.
So I think this is good for Vargas to be on a card of this big, 'cause, like, we have to start showcasing these younger talent because, th- there's a big gap between the stars now and, like, what's coming up the pipeline.
Vargas is one of them.
Dylan Mason is fighting on 4th of July.
He's another guy.
Yeah, but Dylan Mason's a world champion, though.
That's a big difference.
Dylan's on.
Yeah, he's, he's- Yeah, he's way ahead of where Milliano is.
I know, but, like, stage.
Milliano's in- Stage in, in I think he's right on time where he's fighting You, you gotta have that other prospect versus prospect battle.
Every, we all have that fight in our career.
Like, I had my Jose Peralta fight on NBC.
Like, there was- Mm-hmm like, two guys that, like, really, like, whoever wins is gonna go for And the other, and the other one is either gonna fall off the map completely or have to completely start over.
this is one of those fights where, you know, you, you assume Vargas is gonna win this fight, but Bryce Mills understands that this is, this is his shot.
He called for the kid, so he obviously knows.
But this is, this is that classic prospect versus prospect crossroads fight.
Yep, so that's the Will be going down on Saturday.
Thursday's, Thursday's episode we will have full breakdowns, picks, predictions, Chris' categories, all that and above.
But see, this fight got announced over the weekend.
Moses Itauma is stepping it up- Ooh against Filip Hrgovic August 28th.
Big fight.
That's a- This is a major, major step up for Itauma.
Big step up.
You're jumping, you're jumping a few stages if you're, if you're Moses Itauma going into a, a Filip Hrgovic fight, who has one loss, people.
One loss.
The guy can punch.
He's big.
He's mean.
yeah, this is a, this is a massive step up.
I, I do still favor Itauma 'cause I just, I think he's that good, and I think he's ready for, for everything, but, this is one of those fights where if you're on Team Itauma, I think you're, you're kinda being like, "Ah, this is gonna be an interesting night."
Yeah, the odds are not out yet on FanDuel.
I would expect Itauma to open up as a favorite, two to one maybe, because of his ar- all world talent.
Hrgovic has the one loss to Dubois.
Best win was Zhang.
Mm-hmm.
Was more of a, I wouldn't say, like, a boogeyman, but, like, he just looks the part when he was coming up.
He fancied himself a boogeyman.
Yes.
I don't think, I think, I don't think he was really- That's how they marketed him.
Yeah, I don't think he was really thought of one.
They marketed him.
He looks scary, and he was knocking dudes out coming up the ranks.
And people were like, "Oh, no one wants to fight Hrgovic," or his management put out that, narrative.
He beat Zhang, which was a good win.
And then the Dubois one- I called that fight.
I called that fight live.
It's a good fight.
He beats- It was a great fight Grant.
It's a good win.
It's a quality win for Hrgovic, and at that point, still Hrgo was looked at as a top contender, and he still kinda is in heavyweight world where one b- I mean, he beats Itauma, ho- he's more than back on the scene.
Yeah.
But then the Dubois loss was a little eye-opening because, you know, Dubois was coming off of several losses and kinda refiguring, out things and the whole bullying.
He tried to bully Dubois, ends up getting bullied in the ring, bad cuts and, and, and all, and all that.
But Hrgovic is- Rough, rough night.
Very rough night rough night at the office for sure.
This is a huge one.
This is a big one.
And this is part of, like I think we put out, like, three fights, three fighters that I wanted to see Itauma in there next with.
It was Hrgovic, it was Zhang, or it was Bukole Yeah And we do this list all the time, and we, we make lists and we have our grand, what we think how the sports should go.
And very rarely does it actually happen.
Like is, is part of you a little shocked that Atama is taking on a challenge like Hrgovic right now?
Yes.
Yes.
This is, this is a questionable pick.
This is one of those, like, is this a bridge too far?
it's, it's a very, very tough fight.
Hrgovic is, is still fresh enough.
He's only 34, which at heavyweight is, is not old.
and he's a dangerous guy.
He's a puncher.
He's a puncher, and he's big.
It's a very dangerous fight.
Again, I think Atama is, is good and ready for this kind of opportunity, but I think we still have a lot of questions about Atama 'cause we haven't seen him really pushed.
We haven't seen him come through adversity.
We haven't seen him have to overcome resistance because even Franklin, who we thought was gonna offer something, offered- Oh, jeez very little.
Yeah.
Came in very overweight and just got beat up and dropped and stopped, which was a big deal, a good feather in the cap for Atama 'cause no one's ever stopped him.
but how many answers w- did we really get that night?
Yeah, he's the goods offensively, absolutely.
He looked great, you know, from that southpaw stance, super athletic, big, and the power's real.
But he wasn't pushed.
I, I thought we were gonna get a see that.
I thought we were gonna see, have to see him overcome, the, the hand speed, the, the combination punching of Franklin, but we didn't.
So is this the right guy to deci- to figure out if the resistance is, is there?
I don't know.
It's a dangerous fight.
I wanna see some resistance.
Yeah.
Me too.
I want to, that's what I wanna see.
I wanna see resistance.
I wanna see some adversity.
And the other flip side of things, if Atama just runs right through Hrgovic, and that's a good thing too.
That's a good thing too.
Then we're really pump- then we're really hyping this guy, and now we're like, "Okay, bring on Usyk.
Bring on the Wardley, Dubois winner if they're gonna fight again."
Like, bring on, like sky's the limit if he, if he goes through Hrgovic like a hot knife through butter.
Yeah- Then he's- 'cause then he's, he's wo- he is world-class already.
That's the thing.
Right.
If you, if you do that to Hrgovic- But- 'Cause Hrgovic is world-class.
If you do that to Wo- or Hrgovic, yeah, you're ready.
But for the longevity of the sport, 'cause that's what we root for here on Inside Boxing, the health of the sport, I want Atama for the next 10 years to be that guy.
Yeah.
So we can talk about him over and over.
I wanna see some adversity.
I wanna see some, all right, he's down like three rounds to one in the fourth, or like midway through he's got a little bit of a cut, got roughed up a little bit, had to hold on, had to hold Hrgovic, then Cruz maybe get a late stoppage.
That'd be like perfect.
Dan stays right in the script.
Dan's right in the script for the heavyweight.
I'm s- I'm gonna send that over to Frank Warren.
Another thing too, Frank Warren, we speak very highly of him here on this show, knows what he's doing here.
Yeah.
He is not going to put his pri- this is like you have the golden ticket in your hand with Ma- Moses Atama.
You have 10 years of stadium fights ahead of you, at least 10 years.
He knows.
He knows.
He, he thinks that Atama can handle Hrgovic.
No, absolutely.
I think, and that's what I meant by the team of Hrgovic looking around him.
They obviously understand what they have in front of them, because this is a dangerous step, but they believe in their guy.
And to your point, Frank Warren knows what the hell he's doing.
He's been doing this a very long time, and he's very good at it.
and he's not risking, he's not risking this Atama train, man.
This, this thing is gonna be going for a long time, just like you said.
I, I, I truly believe we're gonna be dealing, we're This is gonna be the guy that we're gonna be dealing with for the next 10 years.
Wow.
And it's August 28th.
It's going up again.
I'm gonna actually be in UK at that time.
I'm- Oh, nice there's a MVP fight.
That's the same night as Chantelle Cameron versus Mikaela Mayer.
Ooh, good fight.
Good fight.
Caroline Dubois also fighting on that card.
Nice.
So I don't know, like f- Fra- friend- f- Friend, friend of the show, Mikaela Mayer, she came to our last, fight party for the record.
Yeah.
Anyway.
I was hanging out with her in Orlando last week.
We did a whole pr- promotional shoot.
She o- she had her, She's been traveling like crazy.
MVP has, sending her all over the place.
and she's got her big, giant, brief- well, suitcase, and she comes into the photo shoot, and she opens up a suitcase, and there's a WBC belt, and there's the WBO belt, mixed in with all her clothes, and I was like, "That is just-" " such a boxer thing.
That's so cool."
That's such a female boxer champion thing.
Yeah.
And I just put that belt on immediately 'cause I was like, damn, that green belt is, that thing is sturdy.
Sweet.
It's, it's- I mean, they all are.
They're, they're, they're all heavy.
They're Got a whole bunch of them.
You got it over there?
I got, I got- Flex- flexing on us?
No, these are the, these are the little ones.
I got the, I got the minis.
I had the replica WWE one.
That one was sick.
Yeah.
This is the, the mini.
Oh, wow, look at that one.
The mini WBC.
I remember this.
Speaking of that one, it was Mayweather-Pacquiao pre-fight party.
I, I s- I get in, and Vern Troyer, AKA Mini-Me- Oh.
has one of those around his neck.
He's on his motorized cart.
That's the first thing I saw.
I walked in the door of the party.
I'm like, all right, Pacquiao-Mayweather party.
I've been dreaming of this party for 10, 10 years.
Door opens, first thing I see is Mini-Me, WBC belt wrapped around his neck in a, motorized cart.
Did you think someone's, like, put acid in your drink?
Like that, that would be flip out.
Like, what is this world?
Then I look to my right, and Denzel Washington.
If you go back and look up Denzel Mayweather-Pacquiao, he was wearing, like, this full UNC tracksuit, Yankee hat, and he's sitting on a couch, but he's the way he's- I should remember that the way he's laying on the couch, it was almost like he was in his living room.
Like, he was super horizontal.
And I was like, "What the fuck?"
I was like, "What is going on?"
And no one, I was by myself, so I couldn't even, like, tell anyone, like, "Dude, this is crazy."
I remember, like, posting it all on Snapchat and stuff, but I don't know where I was going with that.
Yeah.
August 28th, I'll be in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Birmingham.
Birmingham.
Birmingham.
Birm- Birmingham.
And I'm thinking of sticking around and- Birmingham going to London for a week after.
To London Town.
Why not?
London's cool.
I wonder if they're gonna keep the 28th MVP.
I do work with MVP.
I, I'm, I'm not in those discussions.
Atama's a pretty big deal.
And, did they say where it's gonna be?
I know they have a press conference this week.
I saw Keith Connolly is on his way to London to announce the Atama fight because he represents, Filip Hrgovic.
Yes.
Hardest working boxing manager in the game.
is there a Do we have a location yet?
No.
No.
No location.
And, and I don't know- Oh, wait.
Oh, yes.
O2.
O2 Arena.
Wait, 29th?
Wait a second, 29th.
So you're, are you telling me that the MVP fight is on a Friday?
This is all happening, folks.
Yes.
I'm gonna go to both.
I'm gonna go to the Atama fight.
Nice.
That's perfect.
Freak yeah.
Back-to-back nights, 28 and 29th.
Oh, man, 'cause Friday night is the fight for MVP, and then we have nothing to do.
We're done after or no more duties.
Hop on a train to London.
Dude, I just got so excited.
That's awesome.
So that'll be, that'll be early here, and then after that we have Lester Martinez over in, in LA.
Saturday night?
Saturday night.
So- Gonna watch that on my phone.
There you go, and that's a, that's a, that, that card- Probably, probably a little drunk that card is sick.
We have Nagy Lopez on the card, Ramon Cardenas, um- Oh, shit yeah, we're, this is, this is we're rolling out the new $5-a-month- The $5 plan $5-a-month subscription.
The fights are like, the cards are like pay-per-views.
It's, it's, it's wild.
Let's go.
Yeah, it's gonna be- This is what I wanna hear.
Yeah.
The cards are like pay-per-views.
You know, we got Lester at the top.
We got, Nagy Lopez as the co-feature, or the d- d- direct, co-main, and then Ramon Cardenas is on there, a couple other guys too.
It's, it's, it's sick card.
That's awesome, and it's $5, for the, for the, for the month or just for that card?
For the month.
So it's $5 a month is the subscription- Oh, come on for ProBox.
I know.
It's a cup of coffee, guys.
Like it's, it's- That's, that's less than co- I my coffees- Yeah cost more than that here in, in New York.
Oh, you're, you're, you're New York City.
My, my, my bulk attacks I, I still get my coffees for like 4.67, so I'm like- That's nice yeah.
Under five is good.
That's great though.
Look at the health of boxing.
We have a major heavyweight fight.
We have a women's card in the UK, and then we have, I wouldn't even say club level.
Like- No, we've, we've, we've grown now.
We're, we're at- That's like Showbox, Showbox level.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's, that's a good way to put it.
Showbox.
Mm-hmm.
Or like a Boxing After Dark.
Good fights.
Like a, like a HBO bad level.
Those were the best.
Yeah, they were.
Gotti Ward was a bad, B-A-D. Yep.
They had such cool merch too.
Remember my da- when they first, when Boxing After Dark first got created, it was created by Lou DiBella, good friend of my dad's, and they send over the merch for it, and it was bad, badass.
B-A-D. B-A-D. B-A-D. And it was like leather jackets, black hats, like the moon- HBO merch was always the best there's some in my basement in like in a bag.
they had the, the moon with the two fighters in the middle, and it said Boxing After Dark.
Yeah, that's right, the moon.
Yep.
Oh, fuck.
Yep.
Yep.
That is just '90s right there, '90s branding.
The duffle bags that I have, those, those HBO duffle bags, calendars with, with my fights on it.
It was pretty cool.
That's badass.
Right?
Yeah.
The calendar with your fight 'Cause we got the calendars every year for HBO would send them to the house, and like it would be like- Yeah.
They would, and they would, they s- They have a cal- they sent gifts for Christmas.
Like they were such a cool company.
Oh, they were Yeah.
They were, they were the best.
The, the, the budgets for HBO were absurd.
Like the pre-fight dinners were nuts.
I remember running into like Shaq and like Wahlberg and The Sopranos cast.
I'll never forget meeting Paulie Walnuts, in AC, Tony Sirico.
Oh, where else did you meet him?
Who's legitimately the same guy.
What'd you say?
Yeah, where else did you meet him?
Right.
That's gotta, gotta be the same.
It was the most authentic celebrity meetup I've ever had, and I've had a f- I've been lucky enough to have a, a bunch of them.
He was the same exact person.
Like Tony Sirico is Paulie Walnuts and vice versa.
Most actors I've met aren't acting.
They're just being that guy.
They're the same day off.
Yeah, but he was never really an actor.
He was a guy that was, did a time, like- Yeah could've been in the mafia I feel like if he really put his heart to it when he was younger.
So the dinner's happening, and these dinners are all paid for.
The dinner ends, and he takes out a wad of cash, and he's trying to pay for the meal.
And the waitresses and like the HBO people are like, "No, Mr. Sirico, it's, it's paid for."
And he's got a wad.
He's like, "No, no, no, no, no."
He's like dishing out hundreds.
He's grabbing my brother by the cheek, and he's doing the old ah.
Mm-hmm.
And we got a picture with him, and it's Man, God, God bless.
God rest his soul.
That's awesome.
Tony Sirico, HBO days.
All right.
Yeah, I'm excited, man.
I'll be, I am really.
I just thought it was gonna be the same night.
So Friday night, MVP in Birmingham.
Saturday night, Atama-Hrgovic.
Who do I gotta hit up to get tickets?
This, this is a- In O2.
Connolly.
Frank Warren.
I mean, also send them every nice thing we've said about him on this show.
Yeah.
We, we, we do say a lot of- Like the only promoter we like.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, and Bob.
I don't think we've ev- we never said anything bad about Bob.
No, I like Bob.
No, Bob's great.
I like all the promoters.
Come on.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know.
I like them all.
I like them all.
But Frank, he's just, he, he, he operates different.
He's, he's different.
He moves different, Frank does.
I wanna shake that man's hand.
Yeah.
I wanna freaking interview him.
I wanna ask him like a quick hitters type of thing.
All right, everyone.
That's, that's exciting news.
we'll be back on Thursday with our official preview for Boots versus Zayas.
It's Zayas-Boots.
I keep saying Boots-Zayas.
It's Zayas-Boots.
Yeah, Zayas is the champion.
He is the defending champ.
Let's, let's show some respect here, for how long remains to be seen.
I'm excited about that.
We're gonna get more information.
I'm gonna call the McMahon owner and, get everything locked down.
Everything is locked down, but just, you know, reiterate.
Saturday, McMahon's Public House.
Join us.
Tickets right now gets you a beer.
$20 to hang out with your boxing friends and a beer, the perfect beginning to what should be a legendary night.
Yeah.
Well, it's a, it's a, it's a boxing social event, community style.
Are we going into the fight?
Very possibly not.
Very possibly not.
I, we have not put out any e- I haven't emailed anyone to get a credential.
I think we, that's gonna be the next thing right- Yeah after we say goodbye here, I'm going to get a credential so we have the option.
So we have the option.
But they don't like when you don't show up.
I did that a few times with Top Rank, and I got some nasty emails.
Yeah.
"You know what, Dan?
You said you were coming, and you didn't show up, and that could've been a spot for someone else."
I said, "You're right.
That is selfish."
Wow.
"I'm sorry."
You know what?
That, that, that right there- I got yelled at.
I got yelled at.
Yeah.
And it's right because- They're right that's premium- 100% they're right that's premium real estate- Yeah around ringside, you know?
And they give you your name and your little what your, with your stuff and So we gotta figure that out.
We'll figure that out offline.
Anything else, Chris?
No.
No.
All good.
All good.
All right, everyone.
Keep your hands up at all times.
Protect yourself at all times.
Stay out of those DMs.
Buy tickets to our f- event.
See you in Brooklyn.
