Boxing with Chris MannixBoxing with Chris Mannix - A Huge Boxing Weekend
Chris is joined by longtime boxing writer, Dan Rafael to dive into a huge weekend in the boxing world. Before the guys get into the weekends' fights, they react to a massive blunder by Tony Weeks in the Rolly Romero-Ismael Barroso fight. Later, they dive into Katie Taylor fighting at home in Dublin and what we can expect from her fight with Chantelle Cameron. Finally, they talk about Devin Haney vs Vasiliy Lomachenko and what it would mean for each fighter if they win. #Volume #Herd
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And we are back boxing with Chris Mannix, part of the Volume. Sports podcast network calling Cowhard's podcast Network. Got a big week coming up in boxing, one of those weeks where you have multiple shows on multiple networks, but because they are on multiple continents, you can watch them all at the same time. Katie Taylor makes her long away to debut in Ireland, which takes on Chantel Cameron for all the Belts at one hundred and forty pounds. That is going to be a wild scene in Dublin. That's a fight that you can watch on his own and on ESPN pay per view. Devin Haney Vasili Lomachenko for all the Belts at one hundred and thirty five pounds. So if you're a boxing fan, Clay your Saturday man. You know, because by early afternoon on you're gonna have something to do.
Well.
As you know, May is a huge month for boxing. You've got Katie Taylor's homecoming in Ireland against Chantell Cameron. You've got Devin Haney and Vasili Lomachenko for all the belts at one thirty five. Pay per view is always a great option, but I promise you there is nothing better that being in person for these title bouts.
Well.
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Absolutely, Chris, I am looking forward to both of those fights, the main events, and you know there's there's interesting undercard fights on both of these events as well. So, like you mentioned, I'm going to clear my day starting around I don't know, like whenever the Chantel Cameron and Katie Taylor event begins here on the East Coast. It'll be in the early afternoon, and I'll just go through probably till late night because the Devin Haney and the Lomachenko fight probably won't commence until around you know, eleven eleven thirty at nights, so that I've had worst days to spend a Saturday. I'd love to beat either one of the events. It didn't work out for this one, but I'll take the consolation, which is to just make sure I'm watching everything.
I'm bummed, man, that I'm not in Ireland. I understand it. My understanding was that if Amanda Serrano had been able to go through with her flight against Katie Taylor, the US dizone broadcast team, at least part of it would have been sent out to Ireland. But because it's effectively an all you know, European affair out there, they're gonna use the terrific team that they have all on that side of the pond. But man, I was looking forward to connecting with my Irish brethren, to seeing my people to Ireland.
You gotta work on your Irish accent, I.
Said to somebody over there, And somebody said to me, actually was like, that's just what the Irish want to see, the Americans wandering the countryside looking for their listen.
It is gonna be. Look, they're both really good matchups on paper, and you know, I figured there'll be a good crowd in a you know, the diehards at the at the Loma, at the Hainey Lomma fight for sure, good good matchup, good show overall. But you know, as well as I do that. That show in Dublin is gonna be bunkers.
Yeah, it's gonna be wild, and they picked Look, I would have loved to have seen and I still would love to see Crook Park, but I'd like the idea of an intimate venue for Katie Taylor indoors that's gonna be rocking. And even Haney Lomachenko smart move going to the MGM Grand and not trying to yea space it out at T Mobile because I think the MGM Grand is the perfect spot for that that our Mandelay Bay would were ideal for for that kind of fight with those types of fan base.
We're gonna talk about the I want to say one thing about that. By the way, you know, I understand when they have these big fights and they want to go to a giant stadium and you know, Tyson Fury as donor Anthony Josh would fill up Wembley Stadium or you know, the bigger fights in Vegas at T Mobile and even other big venues that we've seen stadium type fights at at and T Stadium. You know, I've covered a fight at Yankee Stadium, but not every great matchup. It requires twenty thousand or eighteen thousand seats. I mean, I go back and think to my days when I was a kid growing up, and you would see some phenomenal, you know, big time fights, Larry Holmes against Nny Norton, big heavyweight championship fight. They did it at the at the Caesars Palace pavilion in Las Vegas. You know, six thousand sold out, you know, fifty five hundred, same thing when you know Sugar Ray Leonard won his first world title against Benitez, Marvin Hagler won his first world title. There, you had Salvador Sanchez and wilfred O Gomez. All these fights took place in the Caesars Palace pavilion again held like between five and six thousand people, So you didn't need some mega facilities. So for Katie to go home, I get they could have probably sold out or on a huge crowd, I guess, but it's not necessarily needed in every single event. In this one, maybe I'm not sure why they didn't for this particular one. I don't know if it was availability, but there's something to be said, as you mentioned, to have a great crowd in where they fill up every seat and everybody's you know, kind of on top of the ring and excited about it.
Yeah, And I think if Serrano does wind up being the next opponent, that's when you go outdoors. That's when you go big, because not only do you have the backdrop of the great fight from last year, you got Jake Paul involved, You've got a lot of outside influences that will make the fight even bigger. So it could all work out for kto. So we want to talk about that fight, We're gonna talk about Hanne Lomachenko. I've got some questions for you on that. But Dan, it wouldn't be boxing if we didn't begin with some shit news. And what we saw last weekend Man was just reprehensible to set it up. Last Saturday at the Cosmopolity in Las Vegas, you had Orlando Romero and Ismail Barroso challenging for a vague one hundred and forty pound title. Now, Romero was a heavy favorite in this fight, in part because Barroso was effectively a late replacement, in part because Barroso looks like he's one hundred and seven. Like, let's be real about why so young he's listed at forty? Show me that birth certificate. I want to see that birth. I believe in. That guy is forty years old. So there are low expectations, you know, coming in for this fight. But as I'm watching it, you're seeing first round, Hey, Barroso's doing okay. Second round, Hey, Barroso's doing okay. Third round he knocks Roly Romero down with a straight left hook, and you could tell Roly was not looking to engage with this guy. That was his first fight as a pure one hundred and forty pounder. He was in against the guy that could at least crack twenty two knockouts in his twenty four wins. So Roley wasn't looking to engage. So things were going pretty well for uh, you know, for Barroso in that fight. And then the ninth round comes around, and in the ninth round, early in it, Romero lands a short left hook that had an impact, decent shot on Barroso. He follows it up by shoving Barroso to the canvas, shoving him right hand straight down. Referee Tony Weeks calls it a knockdown. Bad call, no question about it, I think, and you can correct me when we're when I'm finished here. But I think it might have been overturned too, if the Nevada can do that, if they look at the replay. But it turned out to be neither here nor there, because minutes later, while Roly was throwing wild punches, very few of them that were landing, none of them that were impactful, Tony Weeks steps in and stops the fight. He stops the fight. Dan, you and I have seen hundreds of fight, thousands of fights in boxing top of my head, and even over the last forty eight hours I've been thinking about it, I cannot think of a worst stoppage. Barroso was up on all three scorecards on that time. He was just robbed of a fake knockdown moments before, and then Tony Weeks steps in and stops the fight. What was your reaction in that moment when Tony weak stopped the fight.
My reaction, and I was watching it on Showtime was the same as what the commentators on Showtime now Bernstein and Abner marra Is basically at the same time, were like, what what what? Why is that being stopped? It was horrible and it's for on a lot of different levels. Chris, first of all, first and foremost as far as the stoppage itself was just ridiculous. I've made the point in the last few days since that fight occurred. If you're going to stop a boxing match for that reason, why does boxing exist? Like if you said punches, there were from the from the time that the finishing sequence started roally through. I believe it was three punches and Tony stepped in after two and like the third punch was on the way, so that one didn't land. But it didn't even matter because Tony was already making the decision. So he's basing it on two punches, neither of which landed. And as that's occurring, Burroso is throwing back landing a decent shot, you know, in the other direction. And so I just have absolutely no idea where the fight was stopped. And so a couple things about it. Number One, in watching the replay, it appeared to me though that Tony Weeks was not in the right position. He was behind Roly Romero. So if he's throwing punches, he doesn't know. He can probably tell he's throwing shots, but he has no idea if they're landing. As I've made the point, unless he's Superman, he has x ray vision and can see through his back. He doesn't know if those shots are landing, which they clearly weren't on the replay number two. Either he didn't see it or he just ignored it, but he should have been able to see because Barroso is in front of him. See Barroso throwing the punch back and landing number two. And furthermore, it made no sense to me because the other guy clearly is winning the fight. He'd had Roly down legitimately earlier in the fight. The only thing I've heard people say is, well, Barroso looked tired. I said, yeah, okay, he looked tired. When is a guy looking tired grounds for a TKO. I mean I've seen that. I've probably one hundred thousand fighters looked tired in the ninth round of a of a main event type of fight. I mean, yeah, the guys get tired, but that doesn't mean you stopped the fight.
It was.
Look, you made the point. You've been I've probably been I'm older than you, I've been watching boxing longer than you, So I think that I would agree with you that even if you go back beyond when you've been watching boxing, I go back to watching boxing in starting in like the late seventies. To me, I've made the point I've been watching boxing for over forty years of my life. I've been covering it professionally for twenty three plus years of my life. I've been a ringside for like literally thousands of fights, you know, undercards through main events I have probably watched. I actually estimated I've seen maybe twenty five thousand fights. I actually think I've dramatically underestimated the number of total bouts I have watched. You know, it's probably, frankly, it's probably over fifty thousand bows I have watched. And as I searched the inventory of my mind, I concur I cannot think of a stoppage that's worse. Now some people have brought up to me. My partner at Big Fight Weekend, TJ reesaid, what have you know? Not that he disagreed with it. He made mention of Meldrick Taylor and uh Julio Cesar Chavs. I was like, you know, there's a lot of controversy about that stoppage. Fine, but I wouldn't say it's a worse stoppage. You can disagree with the stoppage, but at least in the case of Taylor and Chavez, you have a referee in Richard Steele, who's seen Melga Taylor get knocked down and clearly in a grueling, brutal fight, who gets up and he's making an assessment, asking him a question and Meldrick's not looking at him, doesn't respond to him anyway. And whether you agree or you disagree, he made the decision to stop the fight. So we can argue that all you want, but you can't argue that that that there wasn't a reason for him to stop it, even if you don't agree with it. In the case of the Roly fight being stopped, there was no literal reason to stop it. If the guy did not get hit with a punch and didn't get knocked down, wasn't out on his feet, wasn't injured, wasn't complaining, didn't turn his back, wasn't looking for a way out. Nothing happened to stop the fight. So I mean, obviously, Chavs and Tailor is a you know, one of the most famou stoppages, if not the most famous oppage in the history of boxing in terms of controversies. But I would say that on its merit. This is a much worse stoppage. I may you know you again. You may not agree with Richard skill stoppage and Taylor Chravis, but anybody that knows boxing at least can intellectually understand why he stopped it, even if you don't like the stoppage. I can't intellectually understand and don't accept why twenty weeks stopped that fight and what makes what makes it worse? Chris, this is the worst part about it. You have Ishrael Barroso it turns in what is in essence, a career best performance against maybe the best opponent he has faced or thereabouts. He did fight Anthony Krola for a lightweight title a few years earlier. He's forty years old. The chances of him getting another opportunity and being able to replicate that performance is you know, it's I guess it's possible, but it seems unlikely, and so, for arbitrary reasons that did not exist, this man's crowning achievement in the late going of his career may have been stolen away. Because he's up on all three scorecards, there's no indication that he he's on the verge of being stopped. Yes, of course they're still you know, the rest of the ninth, tenth, eleventh, the twelfth rounds fair enough, so you never you never know what's going to happen in those last few rounds. But up to that moment, Demand seemed to be on his way to a victory against Roly Romira, which would have been by far his biggest fight, biggest win a world title. It changes the trajectory of his career, the way he's remembered, certainly his economic viability for the next fight, in terms of making what would one hundred percent be a career payday. All of that is just taken away in the blink of an eye for no reason. And what pisses me off more is that the Devata State Athletic Commission refused to do an interview on the air with Jim Gray. They they you know Tony, I guess he could have, but he took their advice, I guess, and didn't do an interview. And that just tells me you're trying to what are you trying to hide? Just you know, if this was the NBA, you know, the NBA, if there's some crazy controversial call at the end of a playoff game. They may not comment right there, but maybe there'd be a pool reporter allowed to go to Toddoro reporter.
That's exactly what happens after NBA games. There's a pool reporter allowed into the referees dressing room to ask questions about the decisions that were made. That should have been the case there. Now you mentioned hold on, let me say some melder. You mentioned Meldrick Taylor and Chavez. The argument for Taylor and Chavez is that Richard Steele should have let Meldrick Taylor take a beating for ten more seconds so could come away with a win or whatever he was two more seconds, whatever it was. That was not the case with this one. This stoppager's worse because Barroso was not taking a beating, he was not getting hit, he was not hurt at any point in time during that fight. The only argument that I can see for Tony Weeks that in his mind he's looking at Barroso's going I'm not letting this sixty year old man to wherever old he is, take another take a big shot and potentially get seriously hurt. But that's not that's not a good argument. He was licensed to fight so he should be treated as any World championship fighter should be treated.
If he had taken a big shot, that'd be a different story. And nobody should fool themselves that commissioners and the regular and the referees don't have a conversation in certain instances, you know, maybe put a guy in a shorter leash in certain fights and other times. I know that's happened one hundred percent. You know, when Antonio Margarito's eye was messed up going into the fight with Miguel Cooto, I know one hundred percent because I basically was there when they were having the conversation, and we're saying, you know, we're gonna you know, not that they're going to do anything on tour, but we're gonna make sure we're going to keep on a short leash, and if the I is a problem, we're stopping the fight. And ultimately that is what happened. So I can't say that there was a conversation like that related to Barosa because he's forty. But even if he was forty, there was no evidence in his past that he can't take a shot or that he's somehow at more of a risk. You mentioned about the NBA situation with the poll reporters after a ballgame. Certainly, even if a poor reporter didn't go into a dress room after a controversial call, you and I both know this happens in the NBA, it happens in the NFL, it happens in Major League Baseball, NHL whatever that at the very least, like the next day, you know, the league office would put out some kind of statement or a clarification. And in this particular instant, the Nevada Commission is that clearing house of a league office, because they're the ones that are in charge of regulating the events. So the fact that we're here taping this, you know, a few days after the fight, and there's still been to my knowledge, no comment from the Nevada Commission is pretty disgraceful in my opinion.
So the right thing to do, I think you and I would both agree, is to declare this fight a no contest. No, that's right, you don't, okay, what what do you think should be? What's the appropriate outcome to this?
Well, the reason I say not not to declare a no contest is because while I don't agree with the way it was ruled, there's nothing in the rule books that say a no contest should be declared or it's even up for the possibility of a no contest. And the reason is because it's akin to a balls and strikes call in Major League Baseball or a foul call. Let's say, in the NBA, it's a referees uh discretion. In other words, it's his point of view, and that's not you can't challenge that on replay. For example, if this was you know, a you know, did the ball go into the you know, release point of a an NBA shot before or after the final buzzer goes off, that you can adjudicate if a guy is safe at second base before he's tagged out, you know, and there's an argument you can you can look at the video and make the assessment and maybe change it on a replay. You can't do that on a judgment call. So I definitely don't agree being in no contest.
Well, I should say this Dan. In the NBA, there is a mechanism to appeal the outcome of a game. It very rarely, extremely rarely is granted. Those appeals are rarely granted, But there is a mechanism in the NBA readily. But really, you could have a game replayed, but.
It wouldn't be called. But the mechanism to do the game or redo the game or make a change wouldn't be on a foul call.
Remember if I think the Mavericks did this, Remember the Mavericks said that there was a weird inbound situation where the Golden State Warriors got a free bucket because the Mavericks were told that they had the ball on one end and nobody was down there. So it's that kind of judgment call, that type of rule interpretation or whatever happened there.
But Tony's not interpreting a rule. Tony is making his own as sing. He's making a judgment, but that's his job to decide whether the box is.
Oh so what should be the outcome?
Then?
Is it nothing?
Okay? We're in a situation where you have to whatever your options are, it's you try to pick the least worst option. There's no good option. The good option would be let the fight continue and let it go to its natural conclusion. And if there's a knockout, then the guy wins who knocks the other man out or goes to the scorecards, and you know, we see what happens that that's not happening. You can't go back in time. So now, what's the best result that could possibly be. I'm not saying I like this, but it's like, literally the worst. It's the least worst response, and that would be I guess to order a rematch. But again my problem with that is the guy already did what was supposed to do and I have no idea if Broso can get to that level the next time around. The other thing about it is it wasn't a very good fight, Let's be honest. I mean, we're talking about the controversts at the ending, but getting up to that point in the ninth round, it was a terrible fight in my opinion. So is there is there viability to do that? Does Showtime want to spend seven figures on that kind of event? Does anybody want to spend seven figures in that kind of event? Will a draw a TV audience? Is it going to sell any tickets? I mean, those are all hard questions because boxing is not like the NBA, where there's a league schedule and they're just going to play who they're gonna play. That's we know, seven months, eight months nine months ahead of time. You know, each individual boxing event is going to go on its own merits, So if the rematch is ordered, you know, it becomes a problem because now who's going to show it, where's it going to take place? Are there going to be any ticket sales?
Now?
You have other mandatory situations that are backed up. For example, when this fight was first made, when Alberto Pueyo, who was the champion of the WBA, was disqualified from being in the fight because of a positive drug test, when the WBA said, okay, Roly can fight Baroso for the title. Because Barroso was the mandatory already who had stepped aside, he was on the undercard, they moved them up to the main event. In making that ruling, they said the winner of the fight to fight the next mandatory, which had been ordered back when Roy against Pueyo and Barroso situation was squared away in the first place, they would owe O'Hara Davies the next fight. So now they're infringing on O'Hara Davies's rights if they order a rematch. You've got Kenneth Simms, who was in a phenomenal fight in the TV opener on showtime against Bettier Akmanedov. That was a sensational battle, that was an eliminator fight in that way. Class he won, that would back him up. So there's really no good answer. Now you're down to let's pick the least worst outcome, and the least worst outcome is probably of a menu of bad possibilities, would be to order a rematch.
I think that's that should go without saying. The WBA is the organization with jurisdiction there. They should order the rematch immediately. And maybe and look, you and I disagree. I do think that whether it's in their rule book or not, I think that the bades State Commission should order a no contest that was and so bad that they have to do something.
Let's say they did order or order Let's say they did for whatever their reasons are. And again I'm not sure by statute what they could point to that would be grounds to make it a no contest, unless there was like a foul drug test.
Or something that they go along in box.
The Commission does not make things up there go along. The organizations may do that occasionally. But my question, I'm being nice, here's the question for you, though, Chris, if they if they did declare it to no contest, let's just say that that were the case. So then what the titles now vacant?
You still haven't I don't care about? Then what I don't care? I care about Barroso not having an L on his resume. That's what I care about, because he didn't deserve it, because he got screwed over and robbed in that moment. That's everything else. I agree with you. It's complicated. I don't disagree with that part of it, But the very first priority should be righting the wrong, and the wrong was Barroso having that fight stopped. It was cut it clear as day. So objectively speaking, that fight should not have been stopped.
Even if they made that in no contest, which I based on my knowledge of the rules and rags of both the Commission and the WBA, I just don't think there's a method that they could actually do that. But let's say I'm wrong and they could. Now there's always the next step. So are they going to order the rematch that Barroso and Roly fight for the they can belt again?
Maybe one of them will back out, you know.
Keep in mind, also on Wednesday, of this week. I'm not sure when this is gonna post, but on Wednesday of this week, Alberto Pueyo goes before the Nevada State Apletic Commission for the hearing related to his positive drug tests that caused them to be stripped of the title.
So with the w reporters there, I hope there are reporters in that room for that because they need to be grilled that Nevada Commission.
They need to.
Somebody's got to get them outside and ask them questions what.
The WBA will do. The reason why they're they're waiting to see what the adjudication process takes place in Nevada because they're, you know, gonna go by what the commission says related to Alberto Peyo. They put him as the champion in recess. So if there's a compelling reason, let's say, and he doesn't continue with this suspension, now you're in a jackpot where you got him as a claimant, you got Rolie and Barrosot, you got the next guy o Haara Davis.
Yes, it's a mess and I don't know how to figure it out, and honestly, I don't care. All I care about is that Barroso doesn't have that. Hell, Dan, I tried to. It was like, for the last couple of years, I've been trying to write this story about the ripple effects of bad judging in boxing. I spent a lot of time talking to Mauricio Herrera, who you and I both know has been robbed more times than I can count in bad decisions. He went to Puerto Rico and got robbed against Danny Garcia, among others. And look like this is hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars these guys are losing because of incompetence with referees and with judges, and I just I don't want to see Barroso have to suffer that.
I listen, like I said this tony weeks and again, I don't think it was on purpose. I don't think he's corrupted or no.
I don't think he's not really bad night a really bad night.
So, but the end result is potentially you have taken away the crowning achievement and the biggest financial opportunity of this man's life at age forty, when he doesn't have a long time left in the sport. And that's really what it comes down to and it breaks my heart.
Yeah. Barosso Berg began his career back in two thousand and five. He was fighting in like Venezuelan ballrooms and barrooms and worked his way up to the Anthony Corolla level at one thirty five. This was his moment, This was his crowning achievement. It is awful that it was taken away from it, and I hope there is some kind of justice for him over the next couple of weeks.
I hope at least when he went for dinner after the fight he got a senior citizen's discount.
I hope he had a lot of drinks after that as well. All Right, in Vegas this weekend, we've got Devin Haney against Vasili Lomachenko, massive fight. Devin Haney the undisputed champion at one thirty five, Lomachenko, the former unified champion at one thirty five. These two guys have been dancing around each other for like three or four years now, ever since Haney won that secondary title at one thirty five, and the WBC, in all their brilliants, decided to create the Franchise Belt and here you go, and there became a mess situation. But now here we are Hani against Lomachenko. I've got an odd question for you're at the start. Should Hani be taking this fight? And I ask you this because Devin Haney is as big a lightweight as you're gonna see. He has been a lightweight for virtually his entire career. It is painful for him to get down to one thirty five. When we see him in Vegas this week, he is going to be gaunt. He is going to be drained, you know, not an ounce of water probably on that body. Look it. I think like Hani's a favorite in this fight for a reason. But Lomachenko is a very live dog. And if you were anything less than one hundred percent in this fight, was Lomachenko, who has no problem making one thirty five, is going to take advantage of it. So I think back to him to the end of twenty twenty one when Tea Fimo lost to George Cambos. One of the first things he said afterwards was I shouldn't have taken this fight. I wasn't physically able to make thirty five in the ways that I used to. Do you think that Hani is making a mistake or at least taking a sizeable risk in staying at this way to fight Lomachenko.
I think no matter what the weight is, I mean, fighting Lomachenko is always a risk. Number one, number two. Uh, you know, he he's made lightweight. I can't say it's been ultra comfortable for Hani, but he's done it and he's not suffered in terms of his performance, whether it was against Cambosis or against Jojo Diaz, against for Heilenaris, or you know, any of the guys that he's been fighting, his performance has not suffered. And you talk about the weight of Devin Haney, and like you said, he is a very big fighter for that weight class. I can remember all.
These guys at press conferences like they look very much like two different weight divisions.
No question. So back in twenty nineteen, that's when Mattroom Boxing signed Devin Haney. He's now with Top Rank and loud Bella after going through the Cambosas situation. But when he first signed up with Mattrum, they did a press conference to announced his signing and he was there and his dad was there, and you know it was around a big fight that was indigas. So I was at the press conference, and I can specifically remember this is like around this time twenty nineteen, so we're talking four years ago, and at that press conference there was already the discussion of how much longer you're going to be a lightweight. He hadn't yet won a world title. He would go on to become one of the title holders, got the WBC interim belt, was elevated, but even back then, those years ago, there was already the conversation about are you moving up? And here we are now, all these fights later, and you know, several years later, he's still making one thirty five. So I know that he and his dad has talked about if I win, whatever happens, I still may stay at one thirty five to defend against one of the other big names, whoever it might be. I have to believe that whatever happens in this fight with Lomachenko, he's gonna have to go up at some point, I mean going. It's one thing to go up before you've done undisputed, once you've done undisputed, and now he's going to be making his second defense. And I have to double check this, but I'm pretty sure that in the history of the four belt era, no four belt champion has made more than one defense of those titles, either there's been a stripping or a vacating. You know, Usik made one defense. Obviously, Devin made the one defense in the in the rematch against George Cambosa's but I do not believe that any of the other four belt title holders, at least in terms of men, have made multiple defenses. So if he makes this defense against Loman and then goes up, there's nothing wrong with that. And there's a lot of guys he can fight at one hundred and forty pounds, whether he's you know, in the top rank stable or he went back to match room, He's not going to lack for quality opponents. So yes, he should take this fight. It's a big deal. It's a you know, it's the great young, skillful fighter against the older veterans skillful fighter. You know, it's probably his biggest payday that could be made presently. I know he wants to defend the titles, so I think he should, but I think this should probably be the last one. All right.
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Well, I mean, if you take a look at the Jamayne Ortiz fight, you know he did not look great in that fight. Obviously, Uh were their factors other than maybe the talent level of Jamaine Ortis, who by the way, I'm insulted because I had heard of him and watched him before, but.
From Worcester, So I'm respecting my mass judts guys, But it's more hyperbolic, right, like he's nowhere game out of nowhere.
So Loma was coming off of a ten month layoff, which for him, unrelated to injuries, was a little bit longer than he would typically be out of the ring. He was coming back after a sabbatical because of everything that had been going on in Ukraine, where he had stayed behind. Remember when Cambosis ended up fighting Devin Hainey. Devin Hainey only got that fight because Lomachenko withdrew because he decided to remain back home in Ukraine when the war with Russia had started. So now it's come full circle, Haini one, and now they're fighting each other, the fight that he should have probably been in for the Bells the last time around. But be that as I may, I think there were things on his mind related to Ukraine going into the fight. He was coming off of the layoff. I think Ortiz, you know, one of the things about Lomachenko is he's always sought to fight the best guys. And even though Ortiz looked good and made a good name for himself and increased his reputation off of the loss, no one was looking at that fight thinking it was any kind of challenge for Lomachenko. He's a guy. In my mind, I've covered his entire career. I believe that Lomachenko was a type of athlete that thrives on fighting the elite competition and maybe mentally is not as geared up when you're fighting a Jermaine Ortiz compared to say a Devin Haney for the undisputed title. I think there's definitely some merit in that. So, you know, the the Lomachenko that may not look great against Ortiz, anybody that thinks that's indicative of his career going forward, you just being a fool to underestimate this guy. This guy has done incredible things in the sport of boxing, and even including the loss to Tifima Lopez. You know, he he was within a whisker of winning that fight and ended up having shoulder surgery, you know, a few days or a week after the fight, so they're clear. I mean, I'm not making excuses for him, but that thatch of the facts he underwent, you know, it had a serious art you know, a shoulder surgery after that fight, So you know, I mean, Hani, he's gonna need to be on his game. But I think that Hani, you know, this is a guy that trains is where end off. He doesn't cut corners. In my in my experience of following him and watching him and all that, this is like as high a class fight as you can make. Two master boxers. Two guys who can get in there and trade if necessary, aren't afraid to slug it out if they have to, but are also all about the skills and the speed and the angles and the defense. It's a high, high class fight. I mean, you know, it's probably one of the best fights that could have been made in the weight class. And there's a lot of good fights in the lightweight in the lightweight division that we can think about.
Yeah, Hani one of the most disciplined fighters out there. Like when he gets a game plan, it's a good one, he follows it to perfection. You cannot knock him off that game plan. I guess I'm most interested Dan and seeing what Haini looks like in the second half of the fight. I've heard some people say that Lomachenko isn't as powerful at one thirty five, and that's probably true, but he was strong enough to knock out Hoolan URIs at one thirty five. He was strong enough to beat down Luke Campbell at one thirty five, so he's got enough pop at one thirty five. I have to hurt Devion Haney, and we have seen Devin Haney hurt some in the past, so I guess my readingless fight second half. If Devin Haney is as strong in the second half as he is in the first, I think he wins a decision if he's half a beat slower and a little sloppier and tries to bang with Lomachenko as a result, this is the fight he could lose, if he could even get stopped in. I think that's how dangerous I think Lomachenko is.
I don't think that Haney at any point is gonna try to trade with him.
But Dan, you've interviewed a million times, Like I love Devon, I've covered his fights a lot, but he has this feeling about his power right, like he wants to be known as a power puncher in boxing. That's not really him. So I can see him going in there and trading a couple of times.
I may be a little bit biased about this from this standpoint. I was there at ringside when he fought Antonio Moran, which was his first fight after he signed with Matro.
That was like the worst thing that ever happened to him, because he knocks up and everything's that's him.
So he I was sitting like on that side of the ring I don't know, were you there doing his own then?
No, that was pre or I wasn't there. That was at the MGM and DC right, yeah.
National Art. Yeah, So I lived, like you know, about thirty minutes from that casino, and I went over to cover the fight. I was still at ESPN at the time, and he knocked him out in the corner that was like four feet from where I was sitting. So I was as close as you could be to wear that knockout and that was as exploded. I called it the knockout of the year. That was like the biggest knockout that you could see. So Haini has the potential to do that kind of damage. Obviously, Maran is at a certain level, not at the same level of a Lomachenko, but he thinks he can do that Lomachenko though, as you mentioned, as a lightweight, he did have the knockout against Lenaris, and he did that after getting off the deck and also having that that was the first time he had the bad shoulder. He didn't knock out Jose Padraza in his next fight, but he's scored two knockdowns in a pretty one sided fight, and Padraza is known as a very durable fighter. Only got stopped once. That was by Gravanta Davis when he won his first World championship. He stopped Anthonery Corolla. He put Luke Campbell down even though he went twelve rounds. He obviously got the decision against Ti Fimo, but he's done damage that lightweight. He knocked out Kna Katani.
He was begging, he was begging Andre Razier to stop the Richard Komi fighters.
He beat up on Kombe. So the only guy uh as a lightweight that he hasn't either dropped or stopped or done damage to was the Jermaine Ortiz fight. And since that's what we most remember, since it's what have you done for me lately? And that was the last fight, I think that's the reason why there are some questions about Loma. Not to mention, Look, he's older. He's fighting a guy that's much, you know, like a decade younger. He has not been super active. He is just when you look at the two men together, you know, it does look like Devin Haney is in a different weight division because he's taller and bigger and broader. But look, I love the matchup because you have Lomachenko, who is fearless, he'll fight anybody. He's proven that time and time again. And Devin Haney wants to have another you know, big performance and have another great name on his record. Clearly, you know, no knock on the other fighters that that Devin Haney has face. But when he beat Lenaris, you know, some would say it was Lomachenko's leftovers and the leftovers a lot of guys. You know, he beat George Cambosis, that was a good win, and he went on the road and everything, but nobody's putting George Cambosa's on the pound for pound list. The Gamboa that he beat was a largely diminished Gamboa. You know. The Jojo Diaz was a guy that was, you know, just not as talented and really a guy that had made his best fights at one hundred and thirty. So for Devin, this is the biggest name, the biggest deal fight I think that he has had, and there'll be a real feather in his cap particular if he could stop Lomachenko.
Yeah, it is a gazillion dollars at stake with Devin Haney if he stays at one thirty five he's a promotional free agent. Theoretically he can go and make a Tank Davis fight with PBC for later this year, and if he goes to one forty, it'll be a bidding war for him, whether it's top rank trying to bring him back. We know Matchroom Eddie Hearn they're gonna want to bring him into the fold as they beef up their stable at one forty. So a lot on the line financially for Devin Haney as well. Overseas, we've got Katie Taylor and Chantel Cameron, and I love Katie Taylor. All the credit in the world to Katie Taylor. Amanda Serrano backs out of her fight because of an injury, like a month after was announced. Katie turns around and does something very rare for her, goes on social media and demands a fight with Shantell Cameron, who is the top dog at one forty coming off a win against Jessica McCaskill a few months earlier. This is a difficult fight for Katie Taylor, Dan, and I've heard some people argue that it's a more dangerous fight for Katie Taylor than an Amanda Serrano rematch would be, where do you stand on that.
I think that's probably accurate. I mean, you know, you know that's the very close fight that they had not was standing from last year. That was obviously that classic that sold out the garden, you know, really created such a buzz. But I think it's probably a tougher fight. I think the fact that she's on home soil for the first time that that's maybe good for her in one sense, but there's gonna be so much pressure on her in another sense. That makes whoever was going to be in the ring with her dangerous because of all the hoopla that's going to be going on. The thinking about Katie Taylor is if you ever and I know you've met her many times interviewed, I've met her a few times also, like she's literally like one of the nicest people you ever could meet. Like even when she was calling out Shantell Cameron on social media, she did it in such a nice and polite way. She I mean, so she's a very humble, like I think, down to earth, just a nice human being. And then the bell rings and she goes after you like she wants to kill you. Uh, And so if she has that mentality when she goes in the ring with Chantel Cameron. You know, it's it's a fight that I think she probably should win. I know that Cameron is also undefeated. I was looking at Chantell's resume, you know it's you know, she does have the win against Jessica mcasko. Obviously, that was a very big victory for her. That aside, there's I mean, she's been some other good opponents also, but there's nobody that truly stands out to me compared to not only the opponents that Katie has faced, but the number of them that she has faced, because it's just one after the other after the other after the other in a long as the champion at one hundred and thirty five, and a lot of people look at the fight and say, well, you know, Katie's moving up and wait, is that going to be an impact? Is that going to make a big difference. So I would simply say to the people that are suggesting that that may be a problem, is she's not a long term fighter at one hundred and forty pounds. But she did go up to Wait a couple of years ago and challenge for a title and win that title against a good opponent back a few years ago, so she has at least that one time where she did fight in that weight division and she won the fight, and it wasn't like she won the fight and it was a close fight. She won the fight, you know, in a clear kind of manner. So what was the girl's name? Was a Christina Lindartu that he won that title from. This was what twenty nineteen, and that was a good win for her, I mean, and now she's been fighting at lightweight ever since. Now she's going back to fight for the undisputed title. But you have to love the attitude of if I can't make this rematch, everybody wants to see with Serrano, who was the undisputed champ at featherweight, Who's going to come up to challenge me a featherweight at a lightweight, then you know what, we can do that rematch when she's healed up for her injury. But in the meantime, I'm gonna I'm gonna do what she was trying to do, which I'm gonna go up await the vision and I'm going to try to fight, you know, for the undisputed title at one forty. So you know, Katie's I won't say she's at the end of her career, but she's certainly closer to the end in the beginning. She's in her mid thirties. Now, she's been a lot of tough fights. She's making her legacy, and if she can get this win, she's already a first ballot Hall of Famer. This is just puts her, This puts her in the conversation, in my opinion, as maybe the greatest women's boxer of all time, you know, in a obviously it's not the same length of history and the number of people in the conversation as we were talking about men's boxing, but this is that type of legacy making kind of fight.
And you could expect a tweet from friend of the podcast, Claressa Shields for that comment.
Oh, by the way, by the way, Claressa Shields could be in that conversation also, she just hasn't had a professional career. Wait as long as Katie I think, listen, I have ampler respect for both of those women of what they have accomplished, you know, as women's boy has gone to another level in terms of public interest and just the universe of quality athletes to compete, you know, when I first started writing about boxing, you know, you had Christy Martin and Lucia Riker and you know a few other women that were very good, and Wolf is another one, for example. The problem there was you knew they were talented, and you knew they were really good. They just had nobody to fight Laila ally and and Wolf never fought. That always irritated me. That would have been a huge fight, but there was no You know, in today's game, if two of the people don't want to fight, there's at least another person you look at say okay, that'd be a good fight. You know. The difference I make from what we did back then to what goes on in women's boxing now is back then you were a writer or a fan and you were interested in a women's boxing match. It wasn't the matchup. You were like, I want to watch Laila Ali fight. I want to watch and Wolf fight. I want to watch Lucia Riker fight, I want to watch Christy Martin fight. Today it's not just driven by the particular athlete. It's I want to see Katie Taylor fight Serrano. I want to see Katie Taylor fight Chantel Cameron. I want to see you know, Claressa Shields fight against the Vanna Marshall. We're interested in matchups now, and the reason for that is because the universe of quality women athletes in boxing is dramatically greater and improved than it was, you know, fifteen or twenty years ago when I was, you know, first starting to do all this, So that universe to be able to talk about Claressa or about Katie potentially as literally the greatest of the of the women's boxers of this era, which is really the women's boxing history in many senses that this is a big deal fight for And by the way, if Chantel Cameron wins and knocks Katie Taylor off the undefeated list and retains her titles, I don't know if it puts her in that conversation, but it's certainly a career defining victory for the woman.
No question about it. In the depth of women's boxing has grown, you know, by the month. It seems like it continues to improve, and these women are out there trying to make big matchups. Katie Taylor did not have to move up to one point to fight Chantel camera. She could have fought someone from the school yard in Ireland and still sold the place out and made a boatload of money. She went up and took a really tough test. I think this is going to be as challenging, if not more, as Amanda Suruana because Chantel Cameron is younger, she is bigger, she doesn't have quite as many miles on her tires as Katie Taylor does. Because Katie has been boxing at the highest level really since like twenty twelve at the Olympics, and has fought all the best you know since she turned pro after twenty sixteen, and she's bought some tough fights. As you noted, most of her fights have been really really physical, really really tough, and we've seen Katie's legs not quite as bouncy as they used to be early in his career. What I think is going to be a difference maker Dan is the atmosphere here, Like it's going to be exciting for Katie Taylor, but I don't how Chantel Cameron's gonna handle it. Chantel Cameron fought Jessica McCaskill in Abu Dhabi in front of you know, fans that were not really there to cheer on the women's boxing match or at least we're not vocal in that crowd. This is going to be different. She is going to be public enemy number one in three Arena on Saturday afternoon. I wonder how she handles that, because she's also got to be going into this fight thinking I might have to decapitate Katie Tailor to get a decision, like I might have to do something special to get these judges to give Katie Taylor a loss in Ireland, like, I wonder how that affects Chantel camera coming into this fight.
I mean, she's gonna have to just fight her fight. You know, the professional boxer is whether you're a female boxer, a mailboxer, on the road, not on the road. I mean, it's unfortunate that we even have to have the conversation that there might be that type of home cooking, so to speak. But you know what, they know what they're in for. That you've got to put your trust and faith in the system and that it will work. It doesn't always work, but the bottom line is the public will watch the fight and we'll know who the rightful winner is whatever happens. Obviously there's a knockout that takes all the issues away unless it's a knockout like Tony Weeks calls where nothing happened. That's a different story, but I suspect that. Look, I know, yes, it's gonna be hard to get a win in Dublin for her homecoming, but Chantell Cameron has got nothing to lose. She's going as the underdog. I think she's going in. She's gonna make the career money she's ever made, and the whole world's gonna get to witness whatever happens, and we'll see, you know, she's as good as she thinks he is, and she can back it up. And even if she backs it up but doesn't get the nod, it sucks, but at least will have seen it. It's not like they're doing this without anybody being able to witness it. So, you know, that's part of the mentality you have to have as a fighter, is go on the road. I think about some of the great men's fighters of today's game. I mean, looking like Alexander Usik, the guy fought his entire career on the road. I mean he had a handful of fights in Ukraine at the beginning of his career, but every single one of his championship fights have taken place other than when he've had the rematch against Anthony Joshua that took place in in what do you call it? That was? Was it in the midd least? All I think off the top of my head, every one of his title fights has been in the other guy's territory, whether it's Germany or Latvia or in the United States. I mean, you can go on right down then look at all of his fights. He's always been the road warrior, so you know, and he's not gotten bad decisions. And Chantell Cameron can look at that and say, you know what, I'm not the only one that's going to fight on somebody else's turf.
Yeah, it's gonna be fun, that's for sure. I just can't wait to see the atmosphere on TV.
I'm sure shoud by the way, it should be a good fight because of the way these two women they're both they're both not afraid to get in there and fight it out.
No, it could go a bunch of different ways. I'm excited to see it. Last thing for you, we had Jannebeck Alfi Modela. I think I'm saying that right defend his WBO middleweight title. This past weekend knocking out Steven Butler in the second round. It is it was a defense that was forgettable, that's for sure. And the problem with Jannabek right now, Dan is that the middleweight division is as down as it's ever been before. You've got title holders who don't want to fight. You've got title holders that are largely anonymous. You've got titles that are vacant in the case of the IBF and the WBA. Well, WBA has got a title holder at the moment. But I just I look at Jannebek and I see a talented guy. I just don't know what Top Rank does with it, Like, I don't know where they go. It's kind of the same problem that the previous WBO title holder had in Demetrius Andraid, but this might be worse. Like Andreid at least was a trash talking American like and he had Eddie Hearn's money behind him. Jannebec is Kazakhstani doesn't talk a lot of trash And even though Top Rank is bank rolling him, it's not like they're gonna be able throw out a gazillion dollar offers to get somebody to fight him. Is there anything out there for him, and why does the middleweight division suck so much?
Well, I mean, there really isn't anything that jumps to mind, and that's not Jenebec's fault obviously. I mean, he can only fight the guys that are there. You know, it depresses me that you know, you mentioned Andre, well, Andre decided to leave the way class rather than defend the mandatory against him. I'll fight that top rank was interested to do, maybe not necessarily at the exactly.
Blame him though, like he had done so many of those crappy defenses before, like and he was roused out of his body as well.
You know, Okay, but this was the first time there was actually top rank had an interest in putting on the fight now, and maybe not at the exact level of the money that he wanted. But it was not like Bars, I know, wasn't like crazy, you know, it wasn't like way way, way off right thing. But okay, even if you take that into account and say, okay, it was time from the go the weight he was coming off an injury, Okay, fine. The thing that always irritated me about what happened with Jennebeck once he became you know, he was elevated from interim, he scored you know, had become an interim champion by the destruction of Danny dignam And then of course we saw what happened with the fight against Andre and it did not happen, So he was elevated to the full WBO title holder. So now the next mandatory comes, right, and who was in that position that could have had that title fight anytime? That was Haimi Mungia. That would have been a great fight. Now, that would have been a fight that I think easily was. Yes, they were on separate broadcasters. Honey obviously on his own because he's with Golden Boy Jannebeck being on ESPN platforms because he is with top Rank, But that was a fight where I think that top rank, you know, with the right offer or the right circumstances, would have had no problem. I agree, because Mongia is like, not the champion, but certainly the a side, the bigger name, a bigger fan base. Kind of like when when they when they made a deal for Jose Ramirez, who was you know, more on even terms, I guess.
We load of money to fight Hooker.
Yeah, but they could have made a deal. But but Mongia didn't want that, so he ended up fighting you know, Denzel Bentley, who you know, hung in there and lost even and made made made Janabeck look bad that that first defense, Uh, the fight that he did the other night against Stephen Butler, they had to go through the wo ratings, pick a guy that would come for the budget, that that was willing to get in the ring for Janebeck, and he got blown out. And you know, we talked about the bad job that Tony Weeks did in the stoppage. You know, I have always had respect for Tony and I have a lot of respect for Jack Reese, who was the referee that night. But Jack Reese had had a bad night the opficeer reason. He waited way, way, way, way too long to stop that fight between Jannebec and Butler. What do they do with the next though? You know, I wish you would have fought Mangia. I don't know if there's a way to ever make that come back. Mongie does have the fight coming up in the super middleweight division against devren Chenko coming up this summer.
I don't think that I think he's I think he's done in middle waight too. I don't think Monky is coming back down.
You're probably right, Chris, so say what what's out there? I mean, the division is terrible. Triple G is giving up two belts, he's in semi retirement. Who knows what we've seen the last of them. When the biggest name middleweight title fight that's out there is Arislandi Lara, who has been elevated once Triple G retired, and he's fought absolute terrible opponents in terms of middleweight. The way he got his belt and the way he defend it's just been ridiculous. He's fighting Danny Garcia, who's obviously a good fighter and has been for a long time, but he's fighting a former junior welterrate and welterweight title theer they're gonna do the fight at a catchwaight, I don't think it's been one hundred percent determined. I'm told it'll be like either one fifty five or one to fifty six in the middleweight defense. And that's like your biggest fight in the weight class. And they're not even real middleweights. I mean, Lara's a really a junior middleweight, Danny's really a welterweight. Lara's hold on that belt is kind of preposterous in my opinion. And then you have Falco, who's going to Germany to fight a guy that most people never heard of, whose name I can't even think of off the top of my head, after a purse bid that was relatively low money. I mean, those are your champions, So janeback.
Marvin Hagler is rolling over in his grave right now.
Dan, I mean, I think it's very clear that if Triple G's actually done, what.
Do you think about that? What's your gut feeling on that? Is Triple G done?
I mean, never say never. But at the moment, he doesn't have a title, he doesn't have a backer in terms of television, and he has high expectations of what his money should be because he got used to the big money he was making for the de Zone fights, and then once he got to even the bigger level when he fought on pay per view against Canelo, which was still back in his HBO days, and then even when he fought the lesser de Zone fights, he was making crazy money for his zero big money, and he was making big money for you know, going overseas when he fought in Japan against the Marata. So I think there's people out there The Zone included ESPN, included maybe even Showtime, Slash PBC. I think they would pony up seven figures to have him fight in the right kind of fight. But what could he make, Like, I don't know, three your four million dollars, I guess that's possible, but I don't think he can get ten like, so he's got to decide what am I willing to fight for? Uh And he's made so much money that generations of Triple G's, Quadruple G's and when Pupple G should be set for you know, the next many many decades. So to the best of my knowledge, he he's not sure what he wants to do. He's been enjoying himself in Florida, taking his son to his hockey practices and doing his thing. And you know, if we've seen the end of Triple G, he's had a great career, go with it all the fame. I just disappointed that it would have ended so meekly with that very forgettable third fight against Canelo.
Yeah, and it's a little bit surprising because right after the Caneli fight, Triple G was like, I'm not retired. I've got two belts. I'm still active, and you know, anyone could have seen what happened coming right, like the mandatories and all the stuff that he would have to do, and.
He knew that.
Yeah, the people around him should have known that the money wasn't gonna be there, Like nobody's putting up you know, eight million dollars or whatever he might be looking for for him to fight Aris lending not in a guarantee any way. You can go on pay per view, but roll the dice and see who's gonna buy it.
I mean, I think a Laura fight against Trible g for what's available in the middleweight division would have actually been a pretty solid fight right now.
I would actually Showtime Championship boxing kind of fight, you know. But he's only gonna make like a million and a half two million bucks for that. I don't think it's a pay per view noice.
It's not a pay per view, But can you can you make the fight and do it for a price point that both guys would come for. It's hard to say because even Laura fighting, you know, the very lower level type of guys that he fought in those you know, Spike O. Sullivan and and and uh you know, uh, Thomas Lamana and those types of opponents. He was making like seven figures for those fights. Now I'm gonna fight Trible g He's gonna run like.
Lamana fight was a Fox headliner. I remember watching that.
Yeah, lord, I was at that, but it was over about twelve seconds. I mean, so those are the illegitimate title Yeah, I think it out.
He's done, Dan, I think he's done. He just turned forty one years old. If he wasn't going to take the Mongia fight this time around, Golden Boy tried. They made an effort to make that fight happen. If he didn't want to take that fight, I don't know why he'd want to take it. You know, three months from now, four months from now, and as I look at one fifty four, he had your mel Charlo's there, and maybe if he collects some belts quickly, that that might be an appealing fight to him. But that's like a year and a half away before we.
As we're talking about the middleweights, we never even brought up the other Charlotte who's had He had the WBC title for a while, and literally in a few weeks it will be two years since his last fight now. I know he's had a back problem, he's had some outside the ring issues, but people mentioned Charlo, but it's one thing. A guy takes a year off. I mean, that's like unfortunately standard operating procedure with some of your bigger names in boxing when you get to two years, like, I don't even think you can put him in the conversation in like in a legitimate rankings. If you're not scheduled for two years and you have nothing scheduled, you know, who knows?
Now?
I keep hearing the rumors that he's going to come back and fight in June. They were going to try maybe again to do he was had had the last two years or before he went on the sabbatical, the year of his last fight, and the previous year he had fought on the June teenth weekend in Houston. But I don't think that's happening now because the June schedule for a showtime is done.
Yeah, I don't know.
So who knows when we're gonna see him back in the ring.
He's I mean, like Eddie Hearn said recently that Charlo called him about fighting Canelo and he wanted that fight, and he's calling Eddie Hearn. He's mentioned to meet your Sandreid's name, which you know gets me excited, But I don't think that's going to happen at this point. Like the WBS not to go down this rabbit hole. But the WBC's position on this is ridiculous. Like I have tremendous sympathy for what Charlo's going through, and if you want to make him like Champion in recess, which is something that WBC does regularly, that's perfectly fine. Give him an opportunity to get his belt back if he wants it. But two years of holding a title like this hostage is wild. It's wild, and you can be supportive and still be a business at the same time giving other fighters opportunities. WBC is not doing that.
They did fill the vacant interim title with Carlos Adonis, well they did. In that ruling was they basically said when Charlotte comes back, whenever that will be. I don't know if they gave him a stern deadline, but he can have an optional. They gave it domas the ability to have an optional and then declared after those options are done, they shall fight next in the mandatory. So a Damas is coming back in mid late June on Showtime against Julian Jay Rock Williams, the former unified champion at one fifty four who's now fighting as a middleweight. But even if that fight happens June twenty fourth and the Damas wins, there's still, at least at this moment, no sign of when Charlotte would come back, So a Damas would have to then wait for Charlotte return and then fight him in the next fight, which means probably at the earliest end of the year.
It's you're elevated.
I should be elevated. I mean, and I never want to see a guy get his title taken away, but it gets to a certain point where what's the old thing? The rubber hits the road, and like you mentioned, if they if they utilize a champion in resets, which I don't love, but this would be the time to actually utilize it. Say listen, deal with your problems, take care of your family situation, take care of your personal problems, take care of your injury, whatever is going on. When you come back, you can have the first shot if you're healthy, and just move on. I mean it, and believe me, there are bigger names and more significant fighters than Charlote that have had that situation happen.
I also don't think Dany's gonna fight at one sixty Like he's talking about fighting Canelo that's one sixty eight. He's talking about fighting Andred that's at one sixty eight. He's a big guy, like, I don't know that he's gonna be, you know, defending that title whenever he comes back, So we could be at two and a half years before that belt actually gets defended. It should be a damas. A Damas has one fights, he's earned that opportunity. He should be the full title holder right now.
How do we get on thet I can't. I can't really disagree with that. I mean, you know, I've had many philosophical conversations through the years, and that's sort of about these sorts of things with Mauricio Suliman, who is the president of the WBC, and I'm I'm you know, and I'm not knocking him forward. I just I don't And I haven't asked him specifically recently about this. I'd never had like it articulated to me what the purpose for this specific pick one is to just not make a move with the belt and.
I want Mauricio on this podcast. I have my producer, Adam Grascia, gets a list of prospective guests for me about once a week, and Maricio's name is right at the top of that list. I want having him to appear.
This is he declining to do it or you just haven't gotten to time.
I think he hasn't really connected yet. Look, Briso, I think as a person as you, I think you believe this as well as a very good guy, he's a very good person. I just think the way he runs his business is wild, and I think it's often often quite frankly, touching on corrupt. It's it's, it's, it's hanging around that line Dan with.
I'll say this, I don't I don't necessarily believe that. What I will say, though, is, and I'm not making excuses. Believe me because and anybody that's known me for any length of time or read my material or listened to me, I've had extremely pointed, in harsh things to say on all the sanctioning bodies at one time or another. Maricio, I'll defend him here for a quick minute. He has a hard job, he's he's he's a great politician, and you got to service all the guides of the party, so to speak. And it's not easy, especially you know this in boxing. You've been around a long time also to get a lot of different people that have a lot of different points of view on the same page. So he tries hard. He's a much better politician in my opinion than his father was. And his father obviously was the president of the WBC four decades before he passed, you know, several years ago. So I've said, and I've told this Mariso in person. You know, he knows that I think this. I think generally speaking, he's done a very good job with the WBC. There are a few points of contention that I do have. Nothing will ever be perfect. And I've told him this. We've had this conversation over nice dinners in Vegas and that sort of stuff. That the whole thing with the franchise title and a few other things here and now.
That's what I'm talking about, Like, that's like greedy, that simple greed. Creating the franchise belt is a way to keep your big stars fighting for WBC titles and collecting those fat sanctioning fees as a result, that's greed. The Charlotte thing should not be that difficult. Like I agree, it's complicated because you do have a lot of politics involved in all this. But some of these things are pretty cut and dry. Dan like the franchise championship was one of the worst ideas in the history of sanctioning bodies.
I agree with.
And the Trolo situation is getting more bizarre by the day. Why he's refusing to make Charlo champion in recess and allow Carlos Dames to be elevated that top spot. There are just some basic fundamental questions that I don't know what the answers are.
I can't argue with that. Those are two definite things that are sore spots, I grant you. But my point as if you take a step back and just look at the overall picture in terms of the way that he has operated, is I think has been overall you know pretty good? I can't. I gotta be honest, and I would believe me if I thought it was not. And Maurcio knows this, I would tell it to him. I would tell them privately, and I would say it on a podcast or in a story or a column. You know, nothing is perfect. It is a work in progress, but by and large they've done a lot of good things, with a couple of exceptions that irk both you and me and many others.
I'm just gonna chase Mauricio down in Vegas with a microphone.
It's gonna by the way, I know in Mauricio, how I know him. I think that he would be perfectly willing to do your podcast.
I'd love to do it. I love to do it in person, though. I'd love to sit down with him face to face and have that conversation because I have been pretty pointed in my criticism and I think all the criticism has been fair frankly, but like I would love to have that conversation with him.
I'm gonna say this also, I'll give Mauricio credit for this too. He's not want to take the criticism personally because he understood.
I see him at fights, he shakes my hand. He knows I criticize him all the time, like I do, think he's a very good guy. I just take issue with the things we just talked about.
Those things, but the thing in boxing is there are certain people where if if you said or wrote the kinds of things in your criticism, fair or unfair about somebody else in the business. They'd give you the cold shoulder, they would try to make your life difficult. They wouldn't return your call. They would be a real pain in the ass. Mauricio accepts his position, he understands it, and you know he's I'm sure he doesn't love being criticized. I don't know anybody that does. But you know, he doesn't take it personal. And I actually appreciate that because again I've had my criticism of him, but we have forged a nice relationship. Again, I don't take any shit, but I'm happy to say what I think. But in the end, you know, you do what you gotta do. And if you have to criticize, he criticize and he takes it like a man. He take you know, let's put it like this, as a as a sanctioning body president. He's got a good chin.
I will end it with that. Follow Dan Rayfael on Twitter at Dan Rayfield One. Subscribe to the Fight Freaks Unite substack. You can find a link to that on Dan's Tweeter page and across his social media channels. Dan always appreciate the conversation man.
Thank you very much, Chris. Enjoy the fights this weekend and enjoy the NBA playoffs.
And when we come back, my picks for the weekend. All right, time now for this week's picks. And because this is a huge championship boxing weekend with two major fights, two major cards, I'm going to give you two picks to lock in on. So get your parlays ready and get ready to make some cash. First up, over in Ireland, Katie Taylor Chantel Cameron all the belts at one hundred and forty pounds. Katie Taylor right now is a minus one eighty favorite over at FanDuel, so it is being looked at as a competitive fight. She is minus one thirty to win this fight against Cameron by decision. That's the number I'm locking in on going into this event. Look, it's gonna be a competitive fight. Chantel Cameron is a very good fighter, but I think Katie Taylor is more battle tested. I think that she's going to be sharp at this weight class. And frankly, I don't see three judges not giving Katie Taylor decision in Ireland. I hate to take that approach, and you know, try to bring the politics of boxing into it. But Katie Taylor in her first fight on Irish soil as professional, I'm just not seeing it. I think the judges are going to rule in favor of Katie Tasayler on some of these closer rounds, and I think she is going to pull out a decision. So Katie Taylor minus one thirty make that first bet. Now in Las Vegas, you've got Devin Haney against Vasili Lomachenko, all the belts at one thirty five Hani right now minus two to eighty favorite, Lomachenko plus two h five underdog Hani at minus one fifty five to win by decision, Lomachenko plus three thirty to win by decision. Now, I have gone back and forth on this because I think at his best, Devin Haney is better than this version of Vasilli Lomachenko. I'm just not convinced that Hani coming into this fight at this weight is going to be at his best. I think Hani is depleted at this point at one thirty five, and I think Lomachenko, even though he didn't look great against Jamaine Ortiz, I think he's still got enough left for one more big performance. We're talking about an all time great who has been tested against some of the better names in boxing at one twenty six, at one thirty, and now at one thirty five. I think Lomachenko is gonna bring it in this fight, and I think he's gonna get to Devin Haney and start to touch him a lot more in those later rounds when Haney starts to fatigue. So Lomachenko plus three thirty by decision. Hear that again, Lomachenko plus three point thirty to win by decision. That is my upset of the weekend. I'm riding with facility Lomachenko one more time to get the upset over Devin Haney. Those are my picks, and as always, gamble responsibly. That's it for this week's episode. My thanks to Dan Rayfield for joining the show. As always, subscribe, rate review this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you download podcasts, and I'll see you next week.
