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[00:00:38] It's the pattern, it's the visual, it's when you're trying to get mainstream. Shakur Stevenson is learning this right now, which is why he, quote, retired on social media. It's the visual is important as a fighter, quote, boxer, because Crawford said that this isn't fighting.
[00:00:56] So boxing, when the visual is put that you are essentially dropping rounds all the way up until the very last minute and then you eke out wins, which unfortunately Shaki Foster has now done three times back to back.
[00:01:10] He ekes out a win and I'm getting sick of seeing him eke out wins because I see quality in the dude. I see he's capable of more, but for whatever fucking reason, he's not doing it. I understand he's the one in there throwing the leather.
[00:01:23] I'm not trying to criticize a strategy. I'm saying it's going to be hard for him to appeal to a mainstream audience if he cannot do like he's the opposite of Andre. Andre would essentially do a boxing, a boring boxing masterclass over 12 rounds
[00:01:41] every time like Clockwork until what happens? He gets up in there against Ben Avidas and gets blitzed and taken out in short order. Shaki Foster is doing the opposite. He's doing basically nothing for the first minimum six rounds at this point
[00:01:54] in all three fights in the first minimum six. He's doing arguably nothing, not a damn thing. Layton, the fight, something happens that wakes him up and then all of a sudden he happens to either get a knockout or he gets a split. Just recently fought Abraham Nova.
[00:02:09] And I said before this, he needed to stamp every damn round because Nova was had the power to do something on this. And that was on display. There was no point where it was somebody would take it that Nova is anywhere close to Foster's class.
[00:02:25] That's not what I'm saying. He wasn't in terms of class. I'm talking about the power and the power could have swayed the judges because Nova was going to be the aggressor. That ultimately happened when you're the aggressor and you've got that power.
[00:02:38] You're going to sway judges mind that you're winning the fight. That's what I was always concerned about. So seeing Foster eke out a split decision win over this dude. And I'm not dismissing Nova at all. I'm actually reasonably high on him too, but that's why I'm frustrated
[00:02:53] because I knew Foster is the more skilled fighter. He has more talent than what Nova was going to bring to the table. All he had to do was go and deal with him, deal with him early,
[00:03:03] put a stamp on every round, even if he didn't want to put himself in any risk. I understand that, but fuck. And then apparently I didn't see this, but apparently Foster had problems making weight leading into the fight. So I don't know if he hears it.
[00:03:18] And I know on YouTube, somebody had said, you know, I'm going to share this to Foster because he needs to hear this shit. If you're out there and you share it to him, good. I saw an interview with him. I think he's a good dude.
[00:03:28] I think he's got some issues he needs to sort out because if he steps up, he's going to get taken out. And I don't want to see that happen to him. So he's a good fighter. I think he's he's quality. It's just he's not using it.
[00:03:39] Now I don't know why, whether that's his lifestyle outside the ring, whether that's his trainer, whether that's injury. I don't know, but three fights now, this dude has essentially not impressed anybody in the first half of the fight. You're talking very short attention spans.
[00:03:56] You're talking to an audience who's not going to play with guys who put out boring master classes. They're going to get up and leave. We see this happen time and time again. So they won't even get to the point of seeing this outcome.
[00:04:06] And regardless, when you get a split decision win with this guy, that gives the illusion that this guy was somehow close to your class. When he wasn't one judge actually did have no but winning. And I think that's a joke. I had Foster winning the fight.
[00:04:20] My point is I don't think it should have been anywhere close. It was only close because Foster didn't show up. He got the W. He didn't show up as in stamp every damn round to show the judges that you're better than this guy. That did not happen.
[00:04:35] That's my frustration and what I want him to change. So again, if he ever hears it, I don't know what it's going to take for you to stamp every round and show the skill that I know that you have as a fighter. Regan Dio had to learn this.
[00:04:51] I think the hard way. He's the closest example I see of you, dude, is Rick and Dio for the vast majority of his career was doing boring boxing master classes every single time out. He meets Lomachenko doesn't even have to fucking punches and then
[00:05:06] claims he has hand hurt when he didn't even land the shit, but gets completely bliss and dominated leaves comes back and he's a different fighter. Now he's going for knockouts. Now he's actually trying now. He's actually throwing now. He's actually moving forward.
[00:05:21] Arguably, I like to see the same thing from Nick Walters. He just got a decision, I believe in his return after he quit against Lomachenko. So I maybe it's just that, dude, you got to take an L, another L before you show up again.
[00:05:35] But you've already taken those L's that you know, you're coming from from behind, you're coming up. You're not at the level. You should be from a skill perspective, but you're coming up. These kinds of wins are not going to get you the big fights
[00:05:49] you think you should get. So I'm imploring you, dude, step the fuck up. I'm saying step up as in every damn round should be decisive in your favor. And that means you've got to do more than what you're doing.
[00:06:05] That's I don't know what else it's going to take for you to end up doing that, but I think that's what you need to do. If you don't want to do it, it's your whatever. Let's talk about the fights. There's not a lot.
[00:06:17] Like I said, there were some and it looked like they got canceled. There also were some that wrapped up throughout like yesterday, for example, and some that wrapped up early this morning. I already covered those on the prior.
[00:06:27] So we're just going to talk about what's on deck here this week. The big fight, I say big and I put that in quotes because most of these are not really crazy. There's one that's a really good one, but most of these
[00:06:39] are not really crazy big fights, but this one is is the closest you're going to get to a big fight on the zone. This is happening on Tuesday out in Detroit, Michigan at the Wayne State Field House. 10 rounds of light heavyweight action.
[00:06:51] Ali as my as my self fighting Britain, Norwood and I am Norwood is Norwood is I've watched Norwood so many times that I'm I'm disappointed this fight was booked because he's such a good dude. He really is South Paul.
[00:07:08] You know, he's up there in age, but again, I've watched him so much and he's a good dude. He just he started late. He's been in the game, not that long. I mean, you know, relatively speaking, but he hasn't had a lot of fights.
[00:07:20] He hasn't had a lot of opportunities to show because he was on a rise and then he started getting those L's. He already has four L's in a draw and he was got stopped twice and it's hard for it was hard for him to recover and rebuild.
[00:07:33] And so here we are. But with as my off, I'm just it's like, I don't want to see what I suspect is going to happen to us to Norwood happen here. I think as Molly, I was going to run right through him and I hate to see that
[00:07:47] because again, Norwood's a really good dude. So it is what it is. If you like the light heavies, it's I think it's worth watching. So I think you're going to see some action. I just don't think it's going to last too long.
[00:07:56] I don't think it lasts the distance. I think Norwood is going to get taken out early, probably sometime inside the seventh round as my guests on that one. Again, hurts my heart to see that fight on the dockets.
[00:08:07] Same event under car, 10 rounds at super well to wait action. Argyle Holmes, fighting Marlon Harrington. I'm aware of Holmes. I've only saw him fight a couple of times and I did a watch couple fights after this Harrington.
[00:08:18] I was not aware of a watch couple of fights of his. I think it's a good fight. Very well matched, roughly even on the books rounds of experience leads towards Holmes. What I saw of Holmes is frustrating though, because it seems like
[00:08:32] he's got the skill and he's Southpaw and he's Rangy like he's got this. He's got this visual about him where you think he's more than he is, you know, and he'll go in there and it's just boxing.
[00:08:44] He just boxes and then he'll either eke out a win or he'll dominate you, but it's never exciting. It's never explosive. You don't walk away thinking this is the next guy or it's like he's going through the motions is the best way I can describe
[00:08:58] it, which I don't like to see at his age. He's he's young and he's only been fighting roughly two times a year, which I think at his age of 29, he really should be fighting roughly three times a year by now and he's not.
[00:09:10] I don't know why that is. And again, it seems like he just going through the motions doesn't really pull the trigger to go all out. What I'd like to see when I'll put yourself at risk, but you know, do a little bit more than what you've been doing.
[00:09:19] Meanwhile, Harrington, what I saw absolute opposite in terms of style, he's a knockout guy. He's going to try to get you out of there and he has got skill. So I'm concerned because again with Holmes, I don't know
[00:09:32] the matchup on this one was just to test Holmes, because this is going to be a test for him. Harrington is not a soft touch for him of what I saw. Harrington's going to bring something and Holmes is going
[00:09:43] to be tested from what I saw his for the first time in his career by somebody who really can hurt this dude. And if Holmes ever hears this, if he half asses this, Harrington is going to put a hurting on this guy. I think so.
[00:09:58] Holmes has to box smart. He's got to basically do what he's been doing, which is box smart, stay away from the power. He's got the range advantage, but not by much. He's got the height advantage, but not by much. You got the South Pole advantage.
[00:10:10] The only thing that's really playing in your favor. In this fight against Harrington, arguably is I'm going to apologize up front. Holmes is his best strategies to run. And I don't mean run as in run. I mean he cannot engage here. He cannot.
[00:10:33] This won't let him showcase anything. He's not going to be able to be an aggressor. He's he's got to move. He's got to stay away, you know, and somehow points win this guy. And I suspect it's not going to work.
[00:10:46] If he can exploit the South Pole stance, maybe I don't think it's looking good for young Holmes. I see it's a good test. So I hate these matches anyway. So this next Saturday is the other big fight that I saw on docket. And this one's a burner.
[00:11:02] This one's a bar burner. Make sure you do not miss this one. Takuma and no way fighting on Kaha's. Wow, what a frickin great fight. Fantastic fight for what it is. And I'm going to just warn you. This is not the annoying who knocks everybody out.
[00:11:16] This is the boxer in knowing this is the this is the. I don't want to say skill. This is the guy who boxes. This is the guy who moves. This is the guy whose precision and accuracy. He does have one loss by decision other than that.
[00:11:29] He's been dominant in almost all of his situations. He's a quality dude and then on Kaha's, I'm cause speaks for himself. He's quality as well. He's coming off a stoppage when he's running on a high.
[00:11:39] My mind leans towards on Kaha's in this one because I'm cause is quality. He does have the losses where you got dominated by decision. He's never been knocked out. He only got hurt. I believe the one time other than that, he's just been solid
[00:11:51] except for when he stepped up and he got dominated. I'm leaning on Kaha's. I'm just going to say that on Kaha's has every advantage in this one other than age, but it's going to be a great fight for what it is.
[00:12:02] That's ESPN plus if you want to check that out, taking place in Kokugin, Tokyo out in Japan and I again recommend you check that one out if you want boxing true boxing by definition of the other fight that's happening on ESPN plus. This is on the undercard.
[00:12:20] It's the same event 12 rounds at Benton weight action. Alejandro Santiago fighting Junto Nakatani another amazing fight. Another great fantastic matchup to on the numbers. They're roughly equivalent. The only difference is that Santiago slipped a bit, slipped off as far as he has some losses.
[00:12:37] He has quite a few draws too. Like it seems like the number of draws is staggering for the guy. I was surprised to see that there were so many times where he just couldn't get the judges to decide for him and then I watched some footage
[00:12:49] and I realized what it is. It's that if he sees an opportunity, he'll take it and he'll get it. If he can't find the opportunity. It's like he doesn't have a plan B. So that's why I'm really sad to say Junto Nakatani.
[00:13:03] I see him getting a W on this one, possibly by stoppage. Junto Nakatani is not the other Nakatani that embarrassed Tia Fimo. This is a different Nakatani, but he's quality just like the other Nakatani. He's quality, Southpaw tall, rangey, good dude. Win streak. He's never been beat.
[00:13:20] He's never been close to getting knocked down or out and he's just skilled. He's skilled, powered hands. He's just good dude. Nakatani, I think walks to Santiago. I think something I'll go be there early on. I don't think he's got enough basically to keep Nakatani off of him.
[00:13:38] Again, I see a knockout on that one. I hope I'm wrong because, you know, sent your good dude, but it would not surprise me. I guess I should say probably better set in Moscow, Russian. I'm not sure if it's televised.
[00:13:50] I'll talk about in case you're local or broadcast. You can find it 12 rounds of cruiserweight action. Igor McCalkin finding Umar Salamov had not heard of either guy. I think they're both, I think it was both Russian actually. And I looked at the numbers.
[00:14:06] I wasn't really impressed, but it's a reasonably even match fight. I would say they're really eating on the books. McCalkin has Southpaw stance. He's a little bit shorter. Other than that, it's pretty even matched. A number of fights years in the business, favors McCalkin, but I think
[00:14:21] it's even otherwise, I think it's going to be a good fight. I think it's crap. If you can find it televised again, I could not find that fight anywhere televised, so it may or may not be.
[00:14:30] So I apologize if it turns out being and you missed some boxing, but that's the state of our fricking boxing situation is it's harder and harder to find all these events. Switching back, I wanted to talk about that when I was switched
[00:14:43] back to Tokyo for the ESPN plus event, 12 rounds of super flyweight action. Kosya Tanaka fighting Christian Eduardo Bakasegwa. Wow, great fight for what it is, although I'm worried for Bakasegwa because because Tanaka has been on a tear ever recently.
[00:15:04] He got beat, he got stopped and then rebounded, rebuilt, and he's been back on back on track mentally. I think it's going to be really good for what it is. And I think Tanaka wins that one.
[00:15:14] I don't know if by decision or knockout, I'm going to lead decision, but I think he wins that one. And then eight rounds at Bantamweight action, Jonas Sultan fighting Riko Masuda, Riko Masuda I was aware of. He started very recently.
[00:15:26] He's like two years in the business and he's already had a he's been good. He's not obviously stepped up yet. He only has like three fights, but he's a good what I see visually. Southpaw just quick, quick hands, quick feet. I think he's a really good fighter.
[00:15:43] The one thing I saw Masuda that tells me to lean a little bit in his favor is Sultan, the person he's fighting out of the Philippines, I believe. Sultan lost his last fight by decision. And so far he's never been knocked out.
[00:15:56] He's I don't even think he's been dropped. He's durable. He's got skill and he just for whatever reason has these lapses in the fight. And so that to me is going to give, I believe Masuda a little bit of an advantage over Sultan.
[00:16:10] Sultan has six losses, so don't get it twisted, but Sultan's skilled. So don't let the six losses sway you. He's talented. He's really skilled. He just, I think he's going to make a mistake and Masuda is going to catch him
[00:16:22] and deal with him as my that's my gut speaking on that one. That's our fights that we got on deck here for the next week. I probably won't be able to catch any of these, but I will circle back next weekend for more coverage.
[00:16:33] And again, if Foster hears this dude, I really wish you would step up because I see something in you in terms of talent, but the cruising for six minimum is just not going to cut it when you need to step up
[00:16:45] and showcase yourself when you got guys like fucking Tia Fimo and others out there who are dominating the spotlight when they don't deserve it. You could be up there. You could be one of those guys, but you're not going to be able to do that
[00:16:56] if you're just coasting every single damn fight that people see.