Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
City's gonna be on fire this weekend, as my next guest is a big reason why. With an undefeated record of twenty two oh and oh, please welcome the man know as the Chosen One. Ain't Lebron James is super middleweight boxing champion, the one and only Edgar Blinga.
What's going on? Big time? How are you?
Man?
How's everything going?
I'm good man, I'm good man.
You know we here in Vegas, you know, two days away from the biggest fight of my life.
Man, and be ready to go.
How did this fight come about? Edgar? I mean, were you pushing for it? The canilo call you? How did this come about?
Yeah?
He caught me. He caught me. He caught my phone. Man, he caught my phone. Now, uh, that was more. You know, I was already talking about the fight. You know what I'm saying.
Four years ago, I've been I've been speaking about, you know, me fighting him and stuff. You know what I'm saying. So we got the call once he won mo Gear. But I already knew because Renault. So I said something like, yo, like let him know that you know if we win, you know, we win this fight that you know you're gonna get the But I'm gonna fight in September.
You know, I'm looking at you right now.
First of all, you know what you you You recently stopped your last fight, You had a stoppage in the sixth round. Prior to that, you hadn't knocked out anybody since twenty twenty. Really, but the first sixteen fights, not only did you knock everybody out, you did it in the first damn round for crying out loud.
And I wonder when you were doing that, as you will elevate.
Yourself in this business, what did what did you think of yourself? And why did you believe you would tailor made for this fight against Canila?
Oh?
I feel like right now, you know it's my time, man, you know I think, well, no, I think I know that. You know it was written, you know, God's plan, right, and I'm supposed to be here. You know, we ain't we ain't fighting no world champions. You know, we didn't fight for a title yet. But my first world title shot is for three titles. Is unification fight with a legend, you know. So that's a ready legendary right there, you know. And God don't make mistakes, man, you know. So I'm going in there and I'm gonna perform greatness. You know what I'm saying. I've been ready for this. You know, four years ago, five years ago, I've been speaking about this fight.
Man.
It's a different type of vibe when when a person is mentally ready for some you know what I'm saying five years ago, and now I'm getting to fight.
You know, I'm ready to go.
Man. You know, the tickets are booming, is a sellout event. Pay per view numbers are gonna do amazing. You know, I got two on the line, man. You know so that right there, once I got two on the line, I said, I know the fight is viral and this is greatness right here.
You know, so I've been ready for You.
Got people that look at you, and let me tell you what they say about you. They say that if you're going to win this fight, it's going to be because of your power and the fact that you've got the power to ultimately take down somebody who has never even been knocked down, let alone knocked out in Canilo Alvarez. But they say, if it's a boxing match, that's where you could be in trouble because they think that you're the inferior boxer.
What do you believe you are in this fight?
Everything? I got everything everything, counter punching.
I come to fight a great jazz, great legs, great head movement, great waists, great everything. Man.
You know, that night for thirty six.
Minutes, I gotta be great for thirty six minutes, and that on that night, I gotta be the greatest egga belonga that has ever been, you mean, and I know what I'm capable of doing. I needed a guy like him to take me to that level. I needed a legend like himself to push me to that level to where I know where I could be, you know. And yeah, if it goes twelve rounds, you know, like I said, we got to be locked in for thirty six minutes greatness, you know, and if the knockout comes, it comes, But we're looking to take him out in six rounds.
You know, he's put it down.
He puts it down and said he's gonna take me out of a He said he gonna take me out of six. I told him, all, so you're gonna go out in full and if you come out swinging in the first you know, I'm the knockout king when it comes to the first round, Nagos, you going on in the first round.
So when you look at yourself and you see Canilo Alvarez, tell me what you've seen from him in recent memory.
Now, when I look at him, I see one of the greatest ever. But I also saw a dude that lost at the house at.
The light heavyweight division. I saw a dude who fought an undersized Charlo. I see a dude that people are talking about eventually fighting Terrence Crawford, who'd have to move up through weight classes in order to go up against him a three rate classes.
Actually, I'm seeing these kinds of things.
But I also see somebody that obviously has knockout power, swings with power with practically every punch he throws, and he's been known to take a few cats out in his day. When you look at Canelo Alvarez, what do you see at this moment in time?
What do you see from him right now?
I see cat I think right now, you know it's his time already passed. You know what I'm saying. He's a great champion, he's a great.
Fight you know.
But for me, right I don't think he faced anybody at the one see state division that's big, that's strong, that's gonna come to fight. I don't got no respect. You get what I'm saying. I got everything to lose. Anybody can say whatever they want. I got everything to lose with this fight. You know what I'm saying.
Regardless of anything, I'm facing a legend. You know what I'm saying.
It's how I want to wake up September fifteen. You know, either I'm gonna wake up with an l and my record, or i'mnna wake up being the face of boxing, being the face of everything. You know, the face of Puerto Rico, the face of New York, you know, the face of the world man, the face of boxing.
Bro.
So that's puts on my mind. You know, I'm right now, I feel like his time has passed. Every king has his day, right, and this happened.
Years ago, just like you, right, stephen A.
When you get older, you you're the king of what you do, but eventually someone's gonna come in and take your place and you're gonna have to sit down and retire.
Right. So it's the same thing that goes with him. Every king has his day.
My day gonna come is depending how I wanted to go right, But at the end of the day, my time is gonna come to become king. And then eventually I'm gonna have to get you know, not saying I keep throwing by anybody, but it happens.
You got. What I'm saying is boxing, bro, you know, And right now I feel like it's my time.
I feel like, right now is the time for me to just take over the sport.
You know, the sport needs somebody like me. Man.
They need that energy. They need a New Yorker, you know what I'm saying. They need a Puerto Rican. They need a person that's gonna represent the brothers man, you know, saying that's gonna represent everything.
You know, And I'm not God, you know what I'm saying.
When I think about Canelo, Here's what I think about.
I think anybody who's just gonna walk to him and try to and try to just get in a brawl with him, they're playing right into his hands. I think that even when you have the power, he's somebody, you gotta use the jab, you gotta stick, you gotta move, you gotta be, you gotta keep him in bath. You can't just walk to him because the brother will catch you. I mean, you catch anybody, especially with that left hook. Do you recognize that about yourself? Do you feel like this is a guy that you got to fight a little bit differently against compared to how you fought against everybody else in your career.
That's far all a thousand percent. You know, he's a legend, right, So he's a guy, he got a lot of experience, right. And I'm gonna go back to when Roly for when when Roly for Javonte Davis. Right, Roy was a power puncher, but Roly depended too much on his power, you know what I'm saying.
And that's and Tank is a guy that has IQ. He's intelligent, and he has power too, and he knows how to use it. You get what I'm saying. So that's why he did Roly the way he did. You get what I'm saying.
So my my, my strategy, My plan is not to go in there and try to run and then throw bombs from down head to try to We're not gonna land that, you know. We gotta use the jab, we gotta use the things, you know. We gotta go in there and be smart, be intelligent man, make him think it's different when you're going there with a thinker.
You get what I'm saying. You see, when he fought Floyd, Floyd made him think.
Floyd made him think the whole twelve rounds made him think, you know, you gotta go in there and making that guy think you can't go in there like I'm gonna get went in there and just doing combinations.
You know, is a great fighter, But I feel like he lacked the i Q. He lacked the intelligence and that's why he ain't get the victory.
You know, Look, I look at you, and you know, and I saw y'all with y'all press conference, y'all was talking some stackers, some smacks each other, and Canela was like, I'm gonna hurt I'm gonna hurt this brother real bad. I'm gonna put I'm gonna hurt him real, real bad. That's the prediction that he's been telling all of us. He's been telling the world about what he's going to do to you Saturday night. Is there any history between you two that most of us may not know about, but we need to know about.
Nah.
But what I do know is that he sees something right.
You know, what he sees he sees a young kid, right, A young kid, strong, pretty, you know, got a lot of a lot of great stuff going for myself.
You know, I'm a guy, right And I said this before.
And I don't mean like meaning like I won't with he has, like you know, I don't like that when when somebody said they want what I got, right, but I didn't mean it like meaning I want he everything he I want, No meaning.
Like whatever he got I could get.
You get what I'm saying. I could fight my ass so I could sell tickets. I'm a guy that that I bring that energy. I bring that light into boxing. You know what I'm saying sort of like how Floyd did you know? And I'm spandings I'm Puerto Rican. I got a whole country behind, the whole island behind me, you know. So he sees that and that's the threat for him. You know what I'm saying, That he sees a kid that don't got no respect for him. You know what I'm saying in that ring, You get what I'm saying. So a lot of these guys got a lot of respect for him, you know, because they like kissing his feet cause you know, payday and they got paid.
And he's you know who he is.
He's kind of os and let me, let me kiss his feet, and it's like, nah, man, like I'm not doing that. He keeps talking about respect, but it's like, brother, you're trying to go in there and hurt me. Steven, if somebody wanted to go in there and hurt you right on Saturday night, you're gonna have.
Respect for them.
No, I'm gonna try to kick the ass.
Yeah, exactly.
And you're gonna talk this ship right, You're gonna tell him I'm gonna kick your Assfucker, It's not gonna.
Be no respect. You're trying to hurt me. You want to you want to send me.
To the hospital.
Bro, you wanna you You're trying to embarrass me f of my kids in front of my family.
You're crazy.
I gotta do the same to you. That's why I say boxing is not it's not a sport. It's respect after the fight. But during the fights, contract sign that sit is over out the window. It's bluss when it's is, Bro, I could die in that ring. He could die in that ring. You know what I'm saying. So it happens, man, you.
Know I'm looking at this right now. And obviously you're Puerto Rican, he's Mexican. How much does that factor into I mean, it's Mexican Dependence Day and all of this.
How much does that factor.
In your Puerto Rican ancestry compared to his Mexican ancestry.
How much does that factor in to not just how big this fight is, but how exactly you'll.
Fight him, Because a lot of times we're watching from the outside looking in, and we're wondering whether or not that pressure, that pressure from your countryman, that pressure from your peach plays a role in how you choose to fight somebody. Talk about that for a second and what kind of influence that could potentially have on this fight.
You know, it's gonna be a great fight, right because you know the tempe of style fighter I am, the type of stuff fighter he is. You know, he's intelligent. I'm I'm gonna be ready intelligent that night. You know, But it's gonna be eventually, it's gonna wind up being a slug fest when it comes down to it. In the later rounds. You know, my job is to go in there and the later rounds and go and and and and take them into deep waters. You know what I'm saying, and put that pressure in. You know, he's been he has sixty seven fights. So like what Cole said, right like when we talk about he's been in sixty something camps, training camps. That takes a toll on your body, you know what I'm saying. And I feel like, right now it's my time. You know, it's gonna be a slug fest, I feel like. But not only that, it's gonna be in the later rounds. You know it's gonna be it's gonna be a fire.
Fight, man.
You know, pull When Puerto Ricans and a Mexican go at it, it's always a fight, right because there's like two countries going up against each other, and then there's two fighting countries. You know what I'm saying, Like Puerto Rico is a fighting country. We fight for a shit, you know what I'm saying. And then you got Mexico who has the same thing. You know, so when you put those together, you know, it's explosive.
Yeah, but he's got the experience because he's gonna have the composure because of those damn camps that he's been in pretty much his entire career with sixty five fights. Just like you just said, so he's experienced in this, whereas these kind of bright lights is your first experience ever.
So that's how people are looking at you. What do you say to them?
I'll ask you a question.
Right, if you was mentally for something five years ago, and you've seen everything happen played out the way it is, and you've seen your name, and you see your name, and you've seen your face where certain people's face was when he was facing them. Right when that time comes, would you would you have any anxiety? What you feel any nervousness? Would you how would you feel? You feel ready?
Right?
I feel ready, I feel ready. I feel ready mentally and what have you. But I also know I gotta be careful because I'm going in again.
No for sure.
But a dangerous fighter is a confidence fighter, right, and a smart fucker.
You know what I'm saying. A person that's confident and that knows what he's going to do in that ring is dangerous. You know what I'm saying. I don't. I don't.
I can't look at him like, oh my god, like that's Canilo. He's a legend, you know, Oh my god. He fought Mayweather, he fought triple g for just like what Wall said, he ain't fight Bolonga. You know what I'm saying, he ain't fight Blonga. You know, So it's my time, man. I feel like right now, this is my time to make history, you know, going there and perform greatness and do what I do best.
You're fighting him at one sixty eight, you super middleweight.
There's a person that's been there even though they recently moved up to light heavyweight, because Canilo wouldn't fight him. That guy's name is David Benavidez. A lot of times when people looked at Canilo, they thought that was the guy that should be in.
The ring with him.
Canillo hasn't hasn't embraced that smoke yet, but he's willing to embrace you. What do you believe the difference is between you and a guy like David Benavidez And why you're in this fight this Saturday night against Canilo?
Because I know he thinks that. So he's like, I got this young kid, right if I grab him now, he's young, he's inexperience, he doesn't have the IQ that he says he has. This is what he's saying.
He's the puncher he could fight, right, he's gonna be a star. But let me grab him now, let me grab him early.
That's before you get to him to him.
Let me grab him early because he gonna be that guy.
So let me grab him early so I can have him on my resume and let me let me duck smoke with with Benevidez that already fought you know the you know Booboo Andre.
You know he fought a klab plant.
You know he fought a lot of big guys, right, That's the reason why, one hundred percent.
You know.
But just like what everybody says, man, he's gonna run into a train Saturday night.
If you win this fight, what will this do for your career and your.
Estimation ship on the face of the boxing world completely. I'm gonna be that guy I'm gonna be I'm gonna probably go see you in person. You're gonna probably want me on your show in person.
You know what I'm saying.
I'm probably gonna want that anyway.
Bro, I'm probably you know you can you can fight, make no mistake about it.
You can.
You can.
You can take people out. I'm gonna give you your respect. I'm asking what would be next, do you anticipate a rematch? Do you anticipate moving on to a David Benavidez. What do you anticipate reaping from this fight?
For yourself?
I want to collect that that other belt that he gave up the IPF. It's so there's two guys that's fighting for that belt right now. I think they're gonna fight for his own. So the one that I would like, I would like to get that beat to become.
Undisputed, you know what I'm saying. But I know for a fact he's gonna want to rematch, you know what I'm saying.
So we're gonna have to, you know, work some stuff up.
You get the money, you get the rematch, because you're gonna get more money fighting him in the rematch.
If you want to get the money, get the money, get the paper, bro.
Last question to you, you say you're gonna win, I assume you're predicting the knockout.
What rounds are gonna happen in six? You're taking them out in six rounds?
Six rounds?
Mhm.
So remember there's a man that's never been knocked down, let alone been knocked out.
And you predicted you're gonna stop him in the sixth round.
Six rounds. You know it's coming five coming to that boy.
Man.
It's fire coming down.
At a good blinker right here on the Stephen A. Smith Show. Appreciate you, my brother. Good luck saturdayight man. You hand your business are right, you take care of yourself.
I thank you, brother, I appreciate it right