Boxing This Weekend: Conor Benn and Teofimo Lopez Tested

[00:00:08] Welcome, Boxing fans. Thanks for joining us here at Combat Talk Radio. Found at CombatTalk.fm. Welcome you back We're gonna crash course through our weekend of boxing that we got on deck and just as a side note if you are one that's on the move

[00:00:21] We do publish this to our radio station, which is CoolTunes radio CoolTunes.fm if you want to listen you can listen to that on tune in radio if you have it on your car And I think Tesla owners will be able to do this

[00:00:33] I think most people who watch Boxing don't drive Tesla as I'll put it out there just in case it is something of interest to throw back in the old days of listening to boxing on the radio side and

[00:00:43] There will be the occasional time when I'm gonna do live commentary if it's a signature enough event then I'll do live commentary Unfortunately, there's not there's a lot of crap out there

[00:00:52] And so I don't do it for every fight because there's a cost obviously on the streaming side as a Side note to that as well. I have did I'd have signed up a pro box TV account I do recommend checking out pro box TV

[00:01:06] It's right now. It's free for some damn reason. I don't know why but it's free So you can go in there create an account. It doesn't even let you put it in a credit card So I'm I don't know what's going on with it, but I'm not complaining

[00:01:16] But pro box TVs and putting on some really good events and most importantly they actually Celebrate their frickin ring girls. They actually you know the ring girls are put on display

[00:01:26] It's like the old days of streaming where they'll show or cable where they'll show the ring the wide shot of the Ring you can see the ring girl walking around waving at the crowd and sometimes they'll spotlight the ring girl

[00:01:38] But you think it's a small thing. It's not a small thing The reason that matters to me so much is because you got to understand if the ring girls They're helping sell the damn thing. Okay, so part of the part of what people don't understand about boxing

[00:01:52] We'll get into our weekend I want to rand a little bit part of what people don't understand about boxing and the decline of boxing Boxing had always been a spectacle and it always been a show. It's not just about the fight

[00:02:03] The fight is only one small aspect of the bigger picture. You got to look at the bigger You know setup the setup was always about the spectacle from the why do you think they do press conferences?

[00:02:15] Why do you think they do the face-offs knowing, you know in most cases these guys don't hate our gals don't hate each other They're not angry each other 99% of the time their buddies are gonna shake hands or smile and they're laughing

[00:02:27] It's all for show and photos and pageantry. That's what it is You take that and you take the promotion tours going around promoting it going to radio what used to be going to radio stations

[00:02:39] Promoting it what used to be TV talk shows promoting it then when you get to the night of the event What is it? It's the you know, I don't do this

[00:02:47] But the liquor and the food or if you're with buddies or if you go to a bar, right? You're you're together and you're how and it's an event. It's an event It was more about the event than the fight the fight was obviously a thing

[00:02:59] But it was the coming together the ring girls were always part of the package They were always part of the promotion always part of the sell of why you should pay attention because the target Demographic for boxing historically had been your 18 to let's say 40 year old male

[00:03:17] That was always the target demographic what they did. I saw this on showtime That's kind of why I'm glad they went away. They would just not even show the fucking ring girls They would just they were focused on every damn thing else every guy in the place

[00:03:29] But never show ring girl you would never even see the ones that would stand behind the fighter Like it was a joke his own does this crap pro box is throwback. So I'm recommending pro box. They didn't pay me

[00:03:40] I'm recommending them if you're a boxing fan check out pro box You can't beat it because right now for whatever reason it was free for me

[00:03:47] So you can't beat that and I'm always a big fan of boxing the way it used to have been so check them out BKFC is doing the same thing they promote their ring girls. So I No matter what I am recommending the throwback type

[00:04:00] I'm never gonna support that Amazon which is the big news the Amazon PBC deal I'm not gonna support that crap because it's pay-per-view. You're still forced to pay over 40 bucks in

[00:04:11] Addition to the prime they said that you don't have the prime subscription, but we know where it's going We know it's gonna go to where you're paying boatloads of cash just for the privilege quote-unquote

[00:04:21] Watching PBC fighters. It's never gonna work even Paulie Malinaji Paulie Malinaji said the same thing Why is this pay-per-view? It's not a pay-per-view event. It's not folks. So I'm not supporting that

[00:04:32] That's why I'm spending the first five here talking about pro box TV. Check them out pro box TV online Sign up for an account check out their streams. You can also see their historical fights

[00:04:43] Let's go ahead and get in our weekend of boxing. We got some fights happening today as I record this and so fights happening Thursday We're gonna get through those pretty quick. Let's start out in Wembley in London the UK 12 rounds of light heavyweight action

[00:04:56] This is showing on the cock peacock in the US Terrible and Sky Sports in the UK. I have no idea why they chose Peacock in the US honestly because that's yet another service, you know

[00:05:08] So you got ESPN plus you got peacock. You got Dazzone. You got pro box. You got sky sports They're just there's too many frickin all these different services and they don't come together

[00:05:19] So you have one place to go for all your boxing whoever is a billionaire that's smart enough That's what you should go after is to say, you know what? I want one platform that just receives

[00:05:30] Streams from all these different things in one unified source so I can sell it to fans. I digress Anyway, 12 rounds at light heavyweight action Josh Watsy makes his return against Dan Aziz

[00:05:41] And this is a great fight folks if you like the light heavies and heavies great fantastic fight both are good dudes both are undefeated Both are dominant dominant wins You can't get any better than this one. It's matched really well

[00:05:55] Experience is roughly equivalent. This is a hell of a fight people aren't really talking about it because they're unknown They mostly only fight regionally and so because they're unknown They don't get the screenplay that you might expect out of the fighters

[00:06:07] But I'm telling you you definitely want to check this out if you get a chance and I'm sorry It's the cock on us. I'm sorry and sky sports in the UK is pretty good because they don't charge you a boatload of cash But definitely check this one out

[00:06:21] I'm gonna lean at this one's hard. This one's really hard You know it hurts my heart on this one because they're both so damn skilled I'm gonna lean ever slightly towards Aziz and that's not digging on what see I just

[00:06:32] Aziz feels like he has a little bit more on the precision side It seems like he's a little bit better at landing the shots when he needs to What's he's really more about when he does land? It's gonna hurt more than what Aziz can pull

[00:06:47] But Aziz feels like he's a little bit better on the accuracy. That's my that's my tin fall Most people completely and fatally disagree with me and they think what's he's gonna just destroy this dude

[00:06:57] And I just don't agree with it. Maybe that happens. I don't personally see it in my personal opinion I think that they're underrated this dude, you know, we'll see what happens on that one Same event under card 12 rounds a super lightweight action Adam Aziz fighting Ennec Paulson

[00:07:14] Aziz is the one that you know, he fancies himself the next coming of Nassim Hamed and I said, you know You're promoting this dude wrong and he needs to he's gonna get hurt if you don't be a little bit careful

[00:07:25] Paulson is the one that possibly could upset the cart. Do I think he doesn't know? I think Aziz gonna blow this guy out. They're both undefeated But Paulson's not fought anybody of any note

[00:07:35] He has a paper record in my personal opinion and you know, I I think Aziz is gonna destroy this dude I suspect it's gonna be some kind of a knockout or stoppage

[00:07:44] Sometime in prior to the sixth round. It's my guess on that one Aziz was a good dude I just I feel like they're matching him to a point to make him look good instead of to make him stronger as a fighter

[00:07:55] Same event under car 10 rounds at lightweight action Caroline Dubois fighting Miranda Reyes Caroline Dubois courses the younger sister of Daniel Dubois And Caroline's been a little bit more successful than her brother and I'm a I'm a Reyes fan. I like Reyes a lot

[00:08:12] She's from the US to boss the UK. It's not that it's just Reyes Reyes is a so Reyes She has losses so it's not that she hadn't lost but when I watch her She puts it all in she tries a lot of the women not a lot

[00:08:28] But the majority of I'll say of the women they put an effort in but they don't look like they're developing Reyes looks like she's trying to get better. She looks like she's trying to improve So when she goes out and she's working

[00:08:41] It looks like she's trying to get better as a fighter and I can't help but respect that That's not saying Caroline's not doing that because she is and she's young and she's got her career ahead of her That's why I love the fight because they're matched well

[00:08:54] They're early in career. They're both young because you know, usually the women are older by the time they get matched up like this So it's good that they're young and they're in their prime and Caroline's a South Paul

[00:09:04] I do think Caroline's gonna deal with Reyes with ease on a decision I do see that most on line agree with me I see that Reyes is not gonna have enough for Dubois and if you know, and I don't think she's gonna hear this

[00:09:18] But if Reyes ever hears this what I would say to you is I don't think I don't think you have any chance against Caroline here I frankly don't but I want you to use this fight as an opportunity to improve because I do see something from you and

[00:09:33] This is just it's so early Don't let it get you down if if Caroline's just able to get past you with ease. Don't let it discourage you I think you have your whole career ahead of you and there's more you can offer to the business

[00:09:47] If you're willing to stick it out is my message now I could be wrong could be Reyes upsets the cart on Caroline I just don't personally see it based on the levels of experience that I saw

[00:09:58] Same event tent under car ten rounds at light heavyweight action Ben Whitaker fights Khalid Greig I Have not heard of raida Or Greidia, sorry Greidia. I had not heard of him Whitaker. Of course. I know Whitaker is young

[00:10:13] He's not been in the business that long. I think he just dated you like a year and a half ago or something He's not been in the business that long. He's been looking good as he is but the matchups have not been quality

[00:10:22] This is yet another one where it's designed to make them look good Greidia was just stopped, you know most recent. I think he quit on the stool even if I recall

[00:10:31] He's older. He's got a crazy ton of losses. This is a blatant mismatch ladies and gentlemen blatant mismatch And that's not ding in Greidia experience but experience didn't really matter

[00:10:42] He just he has almost as many I think he has more losses than wins like that's how bad this is So I'm discouraged to see this for Whitaker because I think there's something for Whitaker But this is not the fight to showcase him and make him look good

[00:10:55] If you wanted to make him look good, this damn sure ain't gonna do it So hopefully there's so hopefully there's some excitement or something to offset the terribleness of that fight I don't see it but yeah Now we're gonna switch to the US Las Vegas Chelsea ballroom

[00:11:11] And we're going to be on the zone for us in the UK 12 rounds at welterweight action Connor eggs Benedict makes his return against Peter Dobson

[00:11:21] Connor Ben has been he's still being chased around by you cat and the BBB of sea trying to get licensing things sorted out because of the failed drug tests that he did where it was claimed that was due to eggs and he denied that and of course

[00:11:33] He came back recently fought down in Florida I think it was and went the full distance with a guy when he was fully clean So we don't really know what's happening with Connor Ben

[00:11:41] Meanwhile Dobson let me tell you something about this fight and the reason I think it's a great fight and worth your time to check

[00:11:47] It out if you do I think my disown membership still active. I might try to check this for now. It depends on if it's too late What's the time on this business? Let's see 3 p.m. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so not that long from now

[00:11:59] So let's see five so about eight hours from now ish Ring walks at 430 my time So I might even try to see if I could check this out because it's in the middle of the day

[00:12:09] Which is sick. I like that. So all right. Here's the thing on this fight. Okay Again Connor Ben most recent fight he went the full distance. He could not get the guy out of there Yes, it was a durable opponent

[00:12:21] But the point is he was clean drug test and people speculated that his blistering knockouts that he did against tough opposition Was due to drugs that he was taking and when he's not on the drugs

[00:12:30] He's no longer able to get him out of there like he did before Connor Ben's being positioned as a future star I can't say that he is or isn't yet because he hasn't fought anybody. That's the upper level, you know, obviously

[00:12:42] You know, I'll Jerry van Heerden. These are decent quality wins. I wouldn't put them at the upper echelon So we don't know exactly what he is Peter Dobson, although he's older because he is older I'm not dismissing that Peter Dobson is

[00:12:55] Skilled he's highly skilled and if nothing else we're gonna get a chance to test Connor Ben's ability to deal with an actual skilled Boxer that's undefeated and Dobson has a couple of quality wins. Nothing great I will say the media is not making Dobson look very good

[00:13:12] Which I think is a disservice to him because I think he's quality in skill level. We have to see though again What's what's the story here on both guys, but more so Connor Ben? This is a this is a showcase for Connor Ben if he comes in here

[00:13:27] And he's made to look lesser than quality against Peter Dobson people are gonna start asking questions about you know Connor Ben and what he really is and whether he's being promoted by the media because remember there was a time

[00:13:39] His body didn't look anywhere like that and he was getting rocked and wobbled off on everything And then he comes up and then has a major body transformation and all of a sudden he's tanking through quality otherwise durable quality fighters

[00:13:52] And then just recently after this whole drug fiasco Then he goes the full distance and he was landing bombs and he didn't look you know weak But the point is is that we have questions and those questions need to be answered

[00:14:04] We're gonna see what's really the story and I like the fight. I think it's a good fight Like I said, I may try to catch this this afternoon And I might even do live commentary on cool tunes. I haven't decided that yet

[00:14:15] But I think it's a good fight for what it is and we're gonna we're gonna get some questions answered And that's always a good thing if you're watching the fights this weekend I think this one's definitely good to check out

[00:14:28] Undercard of that same event 10 rounds at middleweight Austin Emma Williams fighting arml mamba, Yaza. I had not heard of Yaza Williams I'm aware of I'd only watched a couple fights. I think it's a good fight. It's matched very well

[00:14:43] The experience is kind of weird, but they're both undefeated guys They're both boxers that have power so you're not gonna see a I don't think it'll be a boring fight because it's middleweight

[00:14:54] I don't think you're gonna see a boring fight at all. I think Williams is going to get the W here if only because William strikes me as Again precision, you know accuracy of shots Williams is a Southpaw

[00:15:06] I think that'll play into factor and Williams seems like he is more focused than what I saw of Yaza It seems like Williams he keeps his eye on the prize and he works hard I like I like to do it a lot good, dude really good, dude

[00:15:19] Most agree that that's the outcome we expect to see and So if you get a chance to see a fight this one, I think it's definitely worth your time To check out. I don't know how long that fight lasts

[00:15:31] I don't know if it is and I'm not gonna not because it could a good fight Same event under round under card rather eight rounds of heavyweight action Johnny Fisher fighting Demetrio Bezos Had never heard of Bezos. I know Fisher very well fish is a quality fighter

[00:15:46] I'm not gonna call it a mismatch because I think that's unfair But I think the level of skill is gap is wide. I think Fisher is just way too skilled way too strong for Bezos, I I would struggle to see Bezos get even some shots landed

[00:16:01] Even though Bezos has all the physical advantages. It's the skill gap It's just it's shocking how skilled Fisher is from what I saw now that said it's a regional level fight So the skill is it's relative, right?

[00:16:15] So Bezos is regional Fisher's regional within regional fighters Fisher to me is way Way out matches this guy if Fisher stepped up and he fought somebody on the US side

[00:16:26] I don't know that he would be as successful. Hell. I don't even know if he'd be that successful again Somebody like you know, Dillian White or something. I don't I don't know but from what I saw

[00:16:35] I think this is a again. I don't think it's a mismatch per se I just think there's levels to it and I believe Fisher is gonna get a dominant win on this one

[00:16:43] I think a stoppage is is my call on this and I think that it's just gonna be a Overwhelmed and the rest gonna jump in there and stop it I don't think Fisher is gonna be able to knock Bezos out Bezos strike me as durable

[00:16:56] But he's been stopped before you got stopped in his most recent fight two rounds So but again, it was a stoppage, you know, he's never been to the point where he was physically knocked out cold Right. I don't think Fisher is gonna be the one to do that

[00:17:08] I think it's gonna be a stoppage probably early Sometime less than four rounds is my call on that one that one Yeah I hate to sound that but it feels like it's easy to call that fight and I hate fights that are like that where they're just

[00:17:19] Frickin easy to fight Now we're gonna switch to the Michelobre arena in Vegas and this is on ESPN Probably I don't think it's paper. We got CSPN plus I don't know ESPN in the US Sky Sports in the UK 12 rounds that super lightweight action

[00:17:35] Another top-built fight a return of Tia Fimo Lopez finally and he's by Jermaine Ortiz This fight's been heavily promoted and heavily hyped people have been going crazy on this one It's a there's belts on the line. There's all sorts of stuff. This is for 140 pound

[00:17:52] I'm gonna just tell you a couple things here. Okay, Tia Fimo Lopez. He has had a tough time of it He's trying to rebuild. Okay. He's going off of his performance against Josh Taylor as some sign that he's back in the game

[00:18:06] Because he beat the lineal champion at the time and certainly there is that message But you got to look into perspective This is a guy that got beat by you know, CM Punk, Cambosa's and then struggled against Sandov Martin

[00:18:18] And arguably should have had a loss against Sandov Martin. We can say well, what about this fight? What about that fight? That's fine

[00:18:24] But Sandov Martin's quality but if you look at the two he should not have been able to he should not have been struggling against Sandov Martin And then of course Cambosa's people talked about well his health issues with Cambosa's I understand that

[00:18:36] What I'm saying is mentally. He's not the same dude that he was that's my point So when I looked at it Jermaine Ortiz Jermaine Ortiz has the one loss and he has a drawn record Jermaine Ortiz is a solid boxer

[00:18:50] The one thing about Cambosa's is that he's a solid boxer the one thing about Sandov Martin is that he's a solid boxer So and then the close against Loma Chaco for Tia Fimo a solid boxer The only ones who have troubled Tia Fimo are solid boxers

[00:19:06] So people online think that Tia that Tia Fimo is going to blow this guy out. I Fatically disagree. I am fatally disagree even if he does win I think he's going to be tested again. I believe that Ortiz is going to show some stuff

[00:19:21] Again where where Tia Fimo just struggles a bit at points Even if he does get the w again, it's going to be one of those where it continues to mantra where when it's a true boxer

[00:19:31] For whatever reason Tia Fimo is not able to hang it and that may be mental I don't think it's a physical thing. I don't think it's a lack of skill. I think it's mental

[00:19:40] He just his focus is if you're the kind of guy that's going to take his shots and stand in front of him and do what he wants you to do He's all there. But if you're a boxer

[00:19:50] Where you're making him think he gets frustrated in there and then he loses focus So I'm not calling it Ortiz win. Although I wouldn't dismiss it. I'm not calling that I'm saying If or I believe Ortiz is one that could show more

[00:20:05] Chinks in the armor for Tia Fimo Lopez and if that happens We got to start asking questions about whether I'm right. I'm on his mental if Lopez is not all there Mentally that means anytime Statistically anytime you match him against a pure boxer

[00:20:21] He's going to struggle some will say well, you got the w that's fine But you still got to ask the question of well, jeez this dude every damn time every damn time Other than that other than the statistics. I just talked about It's a fantastically matched up fight

[00:20:38] Roughly equivalent on both sides. Tia Fimo has the loss too. So I I like the fight for what it is And I like it's a big level fight and it's worth your time to check that out

[00:20:48] I'm just calling out these things because I I think they're things we're talking about Undercard at the same event 10 rounds of lightweight action Kishan Davis makes his return and he's fighting the gatekeeper Jose Pedroza

[00:21:00] And I call him a gatekeeper because he has he's off a fresh dominant loss Split decision before that a dominant loss before that. He's a gatekeeper at this level. That's fine Because kishan davis does need to step up a little bit

[00:21:12] He's still being kind of protected quote unquote and no problem He has a no contested kishan in his last fight and that put a little bit of a mark on his record It's not his fault

[00:21:22] So I I think this is a good fight and a good test for kishan because Pedroza if anything else You know, he has that ability that you know to catch you off things

[00:21:30] I don't think kishan's gonna struggle with him. I think he's Sean deals with over these and makes it look Terribly easy Most say knockout. I doubt it. I think it's gonna be a boring

[00:21:41] Boring fight for what it is and it's just the boring decision is my call on that one Oh, and then the last one which I hate but eight rounds of lightweight action same venue Georgia Costa fighting Renee Giron

[00:21:56] And this fight the reason I hate it is it's not the fault of the fighters It's just all they could do. It's what it is. It's ESPN plus The the fight is reasonably evenly matched But I still call it a mismatch I called a mismatch because Giron

[00:22:13] Has been on a significant decline And a costa has been on a significant rise It's the polar opposite of what you want to see out of fighters And so I I guess this is the best they could do to kind of pad the undercard and I understand that

[00:22:26] I just I'm not a fan Of it. I wish they could have done a little bit better job of this one So a couple of things just to point out On this apparently and I don't know this but apparently For the ESPN stuff if you have the

[00:22:43] ESPN subscription deal So I'm talking the cable side if you have this subscription deal Then you can stream some of these ESPN fights for free through the app, which is so bass-acquards But that's apparently what that is Allegedly if you sign up for hulu now

[00:23:01] You get a free seven day trial and you can stream the fights Through all your different devices through hulu for seven days So just to check out the fights if you want to do that and cancel And then otherwise it's ESPN plus which I think is nonsense

[00:23:13] But the ESPN plus is only for a month for 11 bucks. So the us So if you want to check them out, that'd be my recommendation That's all we got on deck and we will check back in like I said

[00:23:23] I'll probably try to see if I can check in the Dizone fights for sure Because that's happening in the middle of the day and I'm cool with middle of the day fights