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Best of the year [so far] · Boxing B-Sides

0:00
The B -Side in boxing. B -Side shit. B -Side.
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B -Side. And the B -Side. You got a B -Side.
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The B -Side. B -Side. B -Side. B -Side. That
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B -Side thing. This is the B -Sides Boxing Podcast.
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Well, well, well. We have passed. It's past July
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1st. So it's time to get our mid picks, mid of
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the year picks. Mid picks doesn't sound very
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good. Alex, the one and only. What's going on?
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How you doing? And joined again by Isaac. Yo,
0:44
yo. He's giving us his boxing picks. If you want
0:47
to hear the MMA ones, Ultimate F and Casuals,
0:49
go check that out. All right, let's just get
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right into it. Stoppage of the year. Alex, what
0:57
do you got? In my opinion, I think the stoppage
1:01
of the year, got to go to Brian Norman Jr. No
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doubt about it. That was a nasty KO. I thought,
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I thought Jen Psaki was dead for a bit. That
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was nasty. Watching that, watching it live, it
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was 4 a .m. I was screaming. You know, and you
1:19
know, the thing is, I know it kind of seemed
1:21
like cream pie, but it really, it really proved
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to the world that Brian Norman Jr. He's got what
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it takes to be at world level. You know, he treats
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himself as the champion. And what he said about
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boots afterwards, dude, kind of cold, you know.
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He had to pack his boots for Storm and Norman.
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You know, whatever he said. That's good. After
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knocking out, he treated the knockout with grace,
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too. He bowed. You know, I like the guy. I think
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he's very solid. But, yeah, that's my stoppage
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of the year. I'm up here. My secondary pick was
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Norman over Sasaki as well, but I picked something
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else, another one just to have something different
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for flavor, and that's Dave Allen knocking out
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Johnny Fisher. Dumpy heavyweights, and then fireworks.
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Down goes Fisher. And the towel flew in right
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after. It was perfect. Yeah, it was a good knockout.
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All right, Isaac, what do you got? For me, Brian
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Norman Jr., Jin Sasaki, that KO is one of the
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more vicious ones we've seen in recent history.
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I'm glad Sasaki is okay afterward. I mean, we
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know he had some memory loss, like a month and
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a half of memory loss, if I remember correctly.
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But yeah, man, very nasty KO. Nasty, nasty KO,
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the way he landed. Kick us off for a masterclass,
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Isaac. All right. For me, dude, Stephen Fulton
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versus Brandon Figueroa. Oh, my God, bro. This
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was clean, clean victory from Fulton. Just complete
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domination. It wasn't like, I mean, in terms
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of, you know, he got knocked down repeatedly.
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There was none of that. But it was just in every
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facet of the game, he just dominated them everywhere.
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I mean, he was punching in between Figueroa's
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shots. Mid to close range, he was dominating.
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Figueroa can do nothing that way. than absolutely
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nothing. Alex, what did you have? I kind of have
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a couple. I couldn't necessarily choose. What
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do you got? Let's hear them all. So, my first
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one has got to be Boots versus Stanionis. Good
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one. Ranking -wise, they both have titles. This
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is part of the Lineal Championship, correct?
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Right? Yes. Lineal Champs? I'll tell you this,
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that... I honestly think it was going to be a
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lot more competitive than what it ended up turning
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out to be. So did I. It was a fantastic fight,
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and I think it was a true masterclass. That's
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my first one. My second one is going to be, it's
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kind of a shit pick, Stevenson versus Tadley.
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Tadley did the greatest two days notice. He came
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in, and he got a round against Shakur. I think
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it was that, right? All right, guys. Come on.
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Come on. Come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There you
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go. There you go. And then I can... This one,
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this is like the true one. I really couldn't
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decide between this one and Boots. And I think
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that the Bivol -Benerbief 2 fight was a masterclass,
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not purely for domination, but the fact that
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Bivol stepped it up to another notch that I truly
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didn't believe it was even possible for him.
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Like... Within the first, what, six rounds, he
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was playing possum. And then after that, oh,
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my God. He came out, and that was a domination
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over Betterbeef. I have never seen Betterbeef
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like that. It was making a miss, all this BS.
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It was making a miss more than in the first fight,
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you know? Crazy. I think that's truly what separates
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a great fighter from a generational talent, was
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that performance. Damn. Mine seem a little...
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I don't know. I think mine are fine. David Benavidez
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over David Morrell. That was my first pick. Abs
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just loved it. Every second of it. Very good.
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Good one, yeah. And my second one, just in case,
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Teofimo over Arnold Barbosa. Oh, yeah. That's
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another good one. Oh, yeah. Very good performance
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from Teofimo. I'll roll it into Villain of the
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Year. This is for non -fighting stuff. Number
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one pick, Canelo signing with fucking Riyadh.
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Not happy about that. Let's see. Number two was
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DB3 for their shenanigans with Nasheer Albright.
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And then I have a third one that I have an E
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next to. It's my Emeritus pick. This is always
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going to be one of them. Whoever the fuck is
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letting Derek Chisora continue to fight. That
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is unacceptable. All right. Isaac, what do you
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got? All right. So for Villain of the Year, I
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put Canelo and Skull along with Haney and Ramirez,
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bro. That ruined that weekend. Those two fights,
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I couldn't believe they were that boring. I mean,
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ruined Friday and Saturday. Yeah, those are my
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villains, bro. It was a crazy bad fight. I almost
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killed boxing right there. Thank you, anyway,
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for stepping up. Oh, God. All right, Alex, round
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us out. I agree with your pick. I was going to
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say Keyshawn for the villain of the year. And
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I know it's crazy. I have to kind of switch up.
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I still support Keyshawn as a boxer, but, man,
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what he did that night was terrible. Yeah, absolutely.
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It ruined a whole card, homecoming card. It's
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embarrassing. Hometown, yeah. He was my argument.
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Yeah. It was just embarrassing what he did. And
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DB3 as well. I don't want to say DB3 exactly
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because I know one of the brothers wasn't really
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involved. Yeah, he didn't do anything. The oldest
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one. Yeah, but, you know, Keyshawn and his other
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brother, that's just, that was unacceptable.
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And that's between him and then Cole, for obvious
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reasons, like what Isaac mentioned, he made that
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fight horrible. And I know I could blame Canelo,
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but at the same time, I knew Canelo was going
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to fight a Cuban like that, but that dude just
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ran. And then my third one is Turk Yalashik.
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Is this your emeritus pick? Yeah. Always going
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to be in there? Because it's kind of BS. Yeah.
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I don't even know how to explain it. I explain
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it every day. What about your new face of the
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year? Doesn't necessarily have to be a prospect.
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It could be somebody who just like broke onto
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the scene and they've been a contender for a
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few years and then they had some awesome performance.
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Alex, what do you got? See, I got a couple. I
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would say my two would be Floyd Schofield. Obviously
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with that win over Tim Farmer. That was phenomenal.
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I would also say that Abdullah Mason is an also
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obvious pick. But I think Abdullah Mason, he
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kind of saved that card. He not saved so much,
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but salvaged that card by putting on a pretty
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good performance against Nakatila. I was expecting
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that he was going to beat Nakatila, but the way
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he handled himself against Nakatila as well,
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his public image, the way he fought was phenomenal.
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That's how a boxer should be, I would say. Isaac,
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what about you? For me, I put Moses Atamaman.
9:14
I feel like I know we spoke a little bit about
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him last year, a little bit on his rise. But
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this year, I mean, I feel like he's really made
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like a strong push into the boxing sphere where
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he's starting to become like pretty big in the
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UK and then like worldwide boxing fans know who
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he is. I mean, it's been really nice to see his
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rise. But, you know, he's not there yet at the
9:34
title, but I think he'll be there. He's one to
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watch for sure. As far as, like, for honorable
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mention. Oh, no, I was just saying for honorable
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mentions, I had Abdullah Mason and Emiliano Vargas
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as my honorable mentions. Yeah, I had Emiliano
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as well. Just for the same reasons that I gave
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it to Mason last year. He's bringing his fights
10:02
together really well. He's staying active. He's
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keeping himself in the spotlight as much as he
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can. And he's doing a great job. He's very composed
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and carrying himself well in the media and stuff.
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It's really nice to see. It's like the same way
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Mason was the fucking adult in the room when
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he was having that little quip with Keyshawn.
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It's pretty nuts, but yeah. Abdullah Mason, I
10:30
was going to put him on here again, but wanted
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to get some variety. So I also picked Tara Moana.
10:38
She's doing good things over there in the Oceania.
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And my emeritus pick, Tenshin Nasukawa. I've
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got to make sure that Tenshin Nasukawa stays
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upset. That's all I got. She's his biggest fan.
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Oh, yeah, absolutely. Same way Alex here is Tamsa
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Shiraz's fan. Oh, yeah. I'm a big fan. The fighter
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of the year, I went with Brian Norman. Two amazing
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wins. And my secondary pick was Abdullah Mason.
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Continues to stay active and puts together solid
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wins. Alex, who do you have? I agree with your
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fighter pick with Brian Norman Jr. So far, I
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think that was a phenomenal win. And I also agree
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with Abdullah Mason as well. We have very similar
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picks with a lot of these, but I'll tell you
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this, that I also think that Bivol is also another
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one. But just with that Masterclass, he pulled
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off with better beef. You know. That's it. Isaac,
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who do you got? Yeah. For me, I actually put
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Bivol down. I mean, he's going to get, he got
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the better beef fight early on in this year.
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He's going to fight him again at the end of this
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year. Potentially have two wins over better beef.
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And, you know, one year that would be massive.
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I mean, it's still, you know, we got to wait
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and see. But I think he's a strong contender
12:13
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13:39
with the mid -year picks. Alex, who do you have
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for your ass -whooping? Your beatdown? I got
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a couple. I'm not gonna lie, I got a couple.
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So, I got Keyshawn versus Baronchick for the
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title. It's that one. I got Yolanda Pie. versus
14:03
Rodriguez. Oh, that's a good one. That one was
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a one -sided beatdown. That was nasty, dude.
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That was nasty. I would also say Boots. I got
14:19
to throw Boots in there, too. Again, I always
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say that. I've been saying Brian Norma Jr. this
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whole time, but I got to throw that in there.
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I have to. Brian Norma Jr. Over. His first knockout
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was also pretty dominant. Yeah. So just both
14:36
of his? Yeah, yeah. Cool. Isaac, what do you
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have? Let's see. Wait, for which one? Beatdown.
14:55
Oh, yeah, for Beatdown, I have... For me, Boots
15:01
versus Stanionis, bro. This was just really,
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really rough. We had seen, you know, Stanionis,
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he likes to be in wars like that. That's something
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he sort of thrives in, like, you know, foot to
15:14
foot, or toe to toe, rather, like these battles.
15:17
But, man, Boots, like, really, really just laid
15:19
it on him. His face was busted up. I mean, it
15:22
was rough, man. I mean, we knew it was going
15:24
to be a good fight, but, man, Boots really came.
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He showed out. He really showed out. Definitely.
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Is that the only one? Yeah. Looks like we're
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unanimous. Boots versus Stan Jonas. That was
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my pick. One for Variety, Andy Cruz versus Hironori
15:43
Nishiro. Oh, yeah. That was a good one. Andy
15:47
Cruz did really good. Out of Andy Cruz did. Out
15:51
of Nishiro. comeback of the year. This doesn't
15:57
necessarily have to be in the middle of a fight
15:59
comeback. It could be like a career resurgence.
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Alex, kick us off again. I got a couple. I think
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Gareth Jordan has had a pretty good comeback
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so far. He's kind of heading a little bit towards
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title contention again. I think that's kind of
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a silly pick, but I mean, I kind of, I got to
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feel like this is the gods are kind of saying
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like, oh my God. I think Cesaro can... We gotta
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make Cesaro win again for some reason. We gotta
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end his life fucking early? Yep. And then I would
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also say that the A .V .S. Griffin loss, that
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was a pretty good comeback mid -fight. I forgot
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his name. My apologies. I think it was Rodriguez,
16:48
right? Who? For Rodriguez versus Griffin? Avius
16:54
Griffin on the MVP undercard? I don't remember.
16:58
I forgot. Yeah, I don't remember either. Julian
17:02
Rodriguez? I think so, yeah. Yeah, that was him.
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Avius Griffin was winning the whole fight, went
17:11
to the decision he was probably going to win,
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and then got knocked out. That's wrong. All right.
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For me... I came up with Stephen Fulton coming
17:25
back from the Inouye loss. Takes a year off,
17:27
then he comes back and lays a smackdown on Brendan
17:30
Figueroa. Another pick I had was Jesus Ramos.
17:35
Got jobbed by fucking Erickson all that while
17:39
ago. And he's been putting his wins back together.
17:43
He's getting himself back into where he rightfully
17:45
should be. And Isaac finishes off. Dude, for
17:51
me, I only had one. It was sort of hard to think,
17:54
but I put down Callum Smith, man. I put down
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a Brit. I mean, it was sort of wild because,
17:59
I mean, we have only seen him lose to, like,
18:01
elite fighters. You know, he lost to Beterbiev.
18:03
He lost to Canelo. But after the Beterbiev fight,
18:06
I mean, you know, he made the move to 175. Or,
18:09
I mean, you know, obviously after the Canelo
18:10
loss, he moved to 175. But, I mean, just nothing
18:13
has, like, really been going his way. And, like,
18:16
a lot of people were counting him out for the
18:18
Boazzi fight. Me too. Yeah. And then, you know,
18:21
he came in and just got in an absolute war with
18:25
Joshua Boazzi. And he got the win, man. I mean,
18:29
he hurt Boazzi multiple times in that fight.
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A really, really good fight. And he got the win
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and he established himself as, you know, again,
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one of the contenders at 175. I mean, we were
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even talking about, I mean, it looks like it's
18:40
not happening, but we were talking about Benavidez
18:43
versus Calvin Smith at one point. So, yeah, he's
18:48
my comeback fighter of the year. All right. I'll
18:52
start us off here for upset of the year. My first
18:56
one was Resendiz versus Plant. I think everybody
19:00
was looking past Resendiz. It was like a foregone
19:02
conclusion to everyone, to most people. Lamont
19:08
Roach beating Tank is another one. I don't care
19:13
what the hell the judges said. Yep. And I had
19:18
a fun one. Fatal Fury, City of the Wolves. I'm
19:22
upset that I fucking paid for that shit. You
19:27
liked it? Oh, no. No, I did not. What? You didn't
19:33
like You Big Rude Ben? No, not that one. What
19:38
are you talking about? The Times Square one.
19:40
Times Square. Oh, Hell. Oh, yeah. That was horrible.
19:45
I'm upset. Isaac, who do you have for upset?
19:52
Dude, for me, I put down Ryan Garcia versus Roley
19:56
Romero. Bruh, I couldn't believe it. You know,
19:59
Ryan Garcia, he's coming off this win that was
20:03
later overturned against Devin Haney, where he
20:07
absolutely demolished him. Serves the suspension
20:09
time for the popping for Osterine. Comes back,
20:15
fights Rolly Romero, who had, you know, not too,
20:18
too long ago lost to Isaac Cruz. Man, Rolly in
20:20
the second round hits him with the hook, puts
20:22
him down, and goes on to win a decision. Man,
20:25
I can't believe it. I think Ryan was like minus
20:29
1 ,400 or something like that. Wow. Dude, yeah,
20:33
it was wild, man. To be honest, I didn't expect
20:36
it. Rolly looked good, though. Rolly looked good.
20:41
And Alex, upset of the year. You guys kind of
20:45
already took my picks. I was going to put Resendiz
20:47
to Plant. I honestly did not think Resendiz had
20:50
that in him to get to Plant. I knew he was not
20:54
a bad fighter, but I thought Plant was going
20:57
to be the better fighter that night. I was wrong.
21:00
And then, like what Isaac said, Roley and Ryan,
21:03
the fact that Roley took Ryan to a decision is
21:06
crazy. Not even a knockout. It was his decision.
21:10
He outboxed Ryan Garcia, Roley Romero did. So...
21:14
You guys already kind of said what I was going
21:16
to say, but I just wanted to add on that. The
21:18
fact that Roley is now a true Cuban fighter.
21:22
I don't know. That's kind of nuts. For hero of
21:31
the year, Isaac, who do you got? Yeah. So for
21:35
this one, I put down Inouye and Ramon Carabanas,
21:39
bro. Boxing needed that fight so, so bad. after
21:45
the Friday and Saturday we had had prior to this
21:48
event. This fight saved the weekend, and they
21:51
put on a war for us, man. Carter the Nice really
21:53
showed up to win. You know, he came. He didn't
21:56
go there to lay down. He came to win. He knocked
21:59
Inouye down. I mean, that was a level of excitement
22:01
that we got as boxing fans just seeing that.
22:04
And then, Inouye rallies back and was able to
22:06
finish him off. Just a tremendous fight, and
22:09
boxing really, really needed it. So I put him
22:11
as my hero of the year. Alex? I 100 % agree with
22:17
that pick. That was one of my secondary picks,
22:20
I was going to say. But I think my first pick
22:22
is going to be Lamont Roach. Ah, nice one. I
22:25
think the fact that everybody was counting him
22:29
out, and he came back and came out and showed
22:34
up in his tank. To me, that's a hero. I know
22:37
it's silly to say that, but to do that to tank
22:39
what he did was... crazy and started grease started
22:43
grease skate right and funny i i just think the
22:47
whole the whole thing what what he caused was
22:50
as funny as hell i think i just i just like that
22:52
you know i like that he went on a victory tour
22:55
yeah which i thought was fun yeah um let's see
23:02
i'll give first my emeritus pick his pro box
23:04
his pro box is good pro box is always good um
23:08
but my pick was al hayman Do you remember Pritchard
23:12
Colon? The guy who kind of went into a vegetable
23:16
a few years ago after getting hit in the back
23:20
of the head? Al Heyman has been taking care of
23:23
his family and all of Pritchard Colon's medical
23:26
bills this entire time. And nobody knew about
23:32
it until it came out a few months ago. Let's
23:42
see Eddie Hearn do something like that. Exactly.
23:47
And Al Heyman does that without putting himself
23:50
in front of a camera to, you know, be a martyr
23:54
or whatever. Like, hey, look, I'm saving this
23:58
guy. I'm paying for this guy's medical bills.
24:00
I'm paying for my promotional company. I'm just
24:03
taking care of a person because he fucking needs
24:05
it and I can't. I'll step off my soapbox now.
24:12
Fight of the year. I'll start this one. My first
24:16
pick was Beevil, Better Be of Two. When two fucking
24:19
titans collide, that's the masterpiece that we
24:23
saw. A boxer versus a puncher. Both of them just
24:26
absolutely elite. And razor thin both times,
24:31
just because that's what happens when you have
24:34
such... I don't know. Amazing competitors. But
24:40
my more fun pick was Eubank versus Ben. The shenanigans
24:46
building up were kind of fun, but the fight itself
24:48
was much more fun and made up for the corny antics
24:52
before. Alex, what do you got? I got, for me,
25:01
I have... Worthy fight of the year. Anyway, Cardenas,
25:04
as I was saying earlier, that saved the weekend.
25:07
Worthy. It kind of restored my faith in Baku.
25:09
I'm not going to lie. I was pretty close to not
25:12
watching that fight just because I was so bummed
25:15
out for having to pay for that damn pay -per
25:17
-view. Yeah. And, you know, I saw it, and it
25:22
really made me happy to be a Baku fan. I was
25:25
like, damn, this is what it's all about. The
25:26
whole card itself was phenomenal. But that fight
25:29
was crazy. And then also, secondary pick, David
25:35
Morrell versus David Benavides. Also very good.
25:37
Very good pick. Moved up to the hype. Isaac,
25:43
what do you have? Yeah, I put down Isaac Cruz
25:47
versus Angel Fierro. Nice. That was my primary
25:50
pick. Very good fight. Just Mexican versus Mexican.
25:53
A war. I mean, we're obviously getting the rematch
25:55
pretty soon. It was that good. Very good fight.
25:59
Very fun fight to have. And then as one of my
26:02
honorable mentions, I put down Calum Smith versus
26:05
Boatsy. I really enjoyed that fight. That was
26:08
a good one. Yeah. The levels were shown, you
26:13
know, in the mid -lates. It started to look like
26:17
who has the extra gear. Yeah, but it's still
26:22
very fun. Man, that's it for the mid -year. I'm
26:26
going to hold on to these, and we'll see if end
26:29
of the year, if something better comes up. But
26:33
yeah, we're wrapping up our picks so far. All
26:39
the way up to June 30th was the cutoff. What
26:42
are our parting words, if we have any? Dude,
26:47
I feel like we had some solid picks. Tell us
26:50
yours. If you have anything different, tell us
26:52
yours. Yeah, you can 833 -589 -7637. Works in
26:58
WhatsApp. So if you want your audio cut on the
27:01
show, send me a voice note. Or go into Discord
27:04
and chat shit in there. But if you're going to
27:07
come in acting a fool, don't be surprised when
27:08
people start slapping you around. Alex, you got
27:18
anything? I just want to say good start of the
27:23
year. Not too bad. But the later half is going
27:26
to be something to look forward to. Especially
27:27
the next couple weeks. Absolutely. Alright, well,
27:32
if that's it, then that's it for this edition
27:34
of the Boxing B -Sides. We'll see you fucking
27:37
next time. See ya. See y 'all later.