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Boxing's best of 2024 · Boxing B-Sides

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The B-Side and boxing.
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B-Side shit.
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B-Side.
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B-Side.
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And the B-Side.
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You got a B-Side.
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The B-Side.
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B-Side.
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B-Side.
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B-Side.
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That B-Side thing.
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This is the B-Sides Boxing Podcast.
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Ready if you are.
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Yeah, ready.
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Cool.
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Let me do this.
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Popping one open to toast to the end of 2024.
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Boxing B-Sides.
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It's a little hair of the dog for me.
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It's a little bit of a late night.
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But we're here and we made it.
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Oh, Shannata, how are you doing?
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It's we're coming up on it.
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Coming up to In-A-Way time.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, I'm good.
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A little disappointed in the Ioka fight getting changed,
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which I assume we'll talk about later.
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Yeah, that sucks.
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I was really looking forward to that.
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Yeah, I was too.
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I got excited and rewatched the first fight and scored it.
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And a lot more lopsided on the broadcast
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than I remember it feeling in real life.
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Yeah, oh my god.
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The broadcast was horrible.
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I could I didn't understand a whole lot of it,
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but just what I could pick up.
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Holy shit.
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You're hey, you are latching onto a foreigner just to shit
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on a guy from Osaka with tattoos.
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It's what are you?
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What's even happening right now?
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Yeah, yeah.
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Poopoo, but c'est la vie, I suppose.
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That's the life of an Osaka thug.
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Yeah.
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All right, 805, Firestone Walker,
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whenever you want to get a sponsorship going,
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you let me know.
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All right, 2024 picks.
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It's just you and me, so let's we can,
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I think we're gonna be able to breathe through these
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kind of quickly.
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First category, starting off,
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I picked up quite a few, like at least two
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for every category.
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So for stoppage of the year,
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my all of my options,
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Angela Leo beating Luis Lopez to win the title,
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the IBF 126,
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Daniel Dubois stopping AJ,
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Tank beating Frank Martin and Jang beating Wilder.
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All of them have different,
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the gravity of them or the magnitude of them is different.
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But like Dubois beating AJ, that's fucking huge.
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And same with Jang, just like ending Wilder.
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That also made me really sad.
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Yeah, stoppage of the year.
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So this is KO of the year as well, right?
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KO, TKO, I don't think submissions happen,
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but if there is one, go for it.
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Whitaker gets submission of the year on himself.
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Yeah, oh shit, I forgot about him.
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Yeah.
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For straight up knockout of the year,
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I have trouble remembering his name,
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that knocked out Noriega.
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I remember what you're talking about.
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Jairo Noriega knocked out by Shokichi Iwata.
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Ah, yes, Iwata.
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Or who was the guy who just turned the guy off?
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Body. Oh, these are yours.
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Stopping Ashton Silph.
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Yes, that was the one I was trying to think of.
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Yeah, that was a fucking, that was a good one.
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So those two would be my knockouts of the year.
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The Iwata one was just so unexpected
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and I was there live and man,
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Noriega didn't move for a little while, I was worried.
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Yeah, it was a bad one.
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Definitely was out of nowhere.
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Like Noriega was competitive,
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made it all the more thrilling.
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I'm not sure which one to take.
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I'm gonna go with the Jang stopping Wilder
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because that one hurt my soul
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in addition to shaking up the division.
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The tank stopping Frank Martin.
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I like that one a lot
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because it's the same situation that always happens.
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Everybody comes into Discord to shit on tank
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and then it happens every time.
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Rounds six to whatever, he's going to knock the guy out.
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It happens every time.
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Yeah.
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Well, and the Dubois KO of AJ was just so unexpected to me.
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It was.
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Like the way it happened was so unexpected too.
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Yeah, we had on ultimate effing casuals,
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we were saying like he has negative dog in him.
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The guy had no, seemed to have no confidence in himself
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and then he goes to stop.
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Like the poster boy of British heavyweights.
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Yeah, it was crazy.
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And the memes man, the memes of AJ face down, ass up.
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Hilarious.
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I think an honorable mention would be Itauma
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just recently on the Usyk Fury 2 card.
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That was beautiful, beautiful.
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Yeah.
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Buy the stock early, get it while you still can.
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Everybody on Discord is completely in love with him.
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Yeah, as they should be.
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If he doesn't live up to the hype,
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gonna be in shambles.
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Yep, Discord is gonna be down bad.
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What's the dude's name?
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Like McKinney, McKinson or some shit.
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I don't know, McAussie, whatever the fuck his name is.
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Master Class, I'll start this one as well.
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This is Pillar to Post outclassed.
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Typically does not end in a stoppage.
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It might, might not.
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My picks here, Jaron Ennis versus Karen.
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Damn it, I know his name.
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If I see it, I'll be able to say it,
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but I don't remember it off the top of my head.
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But I'm so bad at names.
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But he was a Shkodzian, there it is.
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He came in to prove a point
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in that he's not just some fucking scrub.
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And he made Jaron Ennis work every single minute
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of every single round.
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Even if it was a clean sweep and Jaron Ennis
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very clearly beat his ass,
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Karen did not make that shit easy.
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So I guess like a scrappy performance from Karen
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turned what should have been like a pretty,
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you'd think an easy beat down,
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turned into just a prime schooling from Ennis.
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And that prime schooling is kind of had people
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like questioning his bona fides.
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Because what is he like, oh, Ennis can't stop this guy.
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Even though he's winning every fucking round,
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every single second of the fight, he's winning.
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But it still had people questioning him.
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So that was me talking up Karen
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way more than Jaron Ennis.
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But that was still from first bell to last.
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Ennis was in complete control,
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even if he wasn't knocking the guy out.
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My second one, Ryo Valenzuela beating Isaac Cruz
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for the WBA 140.
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How is this a master class?
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You might wonder, dearest listener,
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first of all, 833-589-7637,
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tell me why you think it isn't a master class.
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But Ryo beat Pitbull at like in his comfort zone,
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in Pitbull's comfort zone.
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He was in Pitbull's face, tagging him
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and out of the way before Pitbull
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even knew what the fuck to do.
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That was a, it was fucking beautiful.
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I was so glad I got to see that live.
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That was a beautiful, beautiful performance.
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He just outboxed him so badly
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and Pitbull just looked confused.
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That's a good pick.
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Yeah, he didn't know what to do.
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Ryo is more naturally built for 140.
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Pitbull, I'm surprised he's even at that weight.
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Nick Ball can make 126, so why the fuck can't you?
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Tacos, I guess.
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Pitbull looks more like a burritos guy to me.
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And a short and stocky and well stuffed burritos.
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Don't, Pitbull, don't change your nickname to Fire hydrant.
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Don't do that.
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I forgot about that.
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OK, my picks for master class.
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I actually didn't pick any of the ones you did.
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I got Nav beating, no, wait, who did he do?
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Valdez?
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Yeah, Oscar Valdez.
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Yeah, Nav beating Valdez.
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I had that one picked for beat down.
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Oh, I forgot we do two different things.
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Yeah. I don't know.
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I still think it was a master class.
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It was, it was.
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He just made it look really easy.
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Yeah, we were saying that in the aftermath,
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that it didn't look like he was trying all that hard.
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I do not doubt for a second that he was,
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but it just didn't look like it.
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Yeah, he just made it look effortless.
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God damn it.
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My other one is a better pick for beat down of the year, though.
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So I'm not going to say it right now.
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All right. Next category, we've got villain of the year.
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This is OK. You know who my pick is.
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Fucking everybody around the Tim Zufight.
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Oh, yeah.
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The doctor, the corner, everybody, the ref.
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Fuck all those guys.
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They ruined Tim Zuh's career that night, I think.
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He is so worried about cuts now.
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Yeah, that I think that him being scared of cuts or getting cut again,
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getting cut that badly, it made him really tentative in the Mortezaliev fight,
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and that ended up getting him stopped.
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We got career. Yeah.
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Be like in serious trouble.
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And I think if they'd have called that a no contest in the second
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and got him or third or whatever it happened and got him some medical attention,
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I don't think he would have nearly as much worries about it.
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Yeah, that's a good pick.
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I didn't even have an honorable mention for that one,
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because I think that one just is so obviously the villains of the year.
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I mean, Ryan Garcia is just a piece of shit.
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But yeah, like over on the MMA show,
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like for the blanket statement was Conor McGregor, of course.
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Guy's a fucking asshole.
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But let's let's pick other stuff just because that one's too easy.
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Yeah. Well, you didn't have an honorable mention.
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Don't worry, because I have plenty.
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So Terrence Crawford beats Errol Spence in 2023.
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That's cool. That's a really huge, monumentous win.
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Then he fucks off for a year.
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He comes back to beat Maddremov and then fucks off for another year.
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You are holding up the entire fucking division because everybody's waiting to fight you
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or trying to fight you. Like, come on, dude, do something.
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I don't give a shit what you do. Just do something.
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What's another one?
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Richardson Hitchens, because fuck Richardson Hitchens.
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That's one. That's a big one.
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That's probably going to be my pick, my primary pick.
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But Lomachenko gets into negotiations with Tank.
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Like I was on the hype train.
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I was like, yeah, fuck Lomachenko.
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This is what you should be doing.
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Everyone says you're the best, like of all the new generation post Mayweather,
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Pacquiao and all that. Good. Prove it.
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You're and you're about to.
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I have faith that you can do this at whatever age you are.
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And then he just drops out of the negotiations with no real rhyme or reason as to why.
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And that is unacceptable to me.
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Well, it sounds like Loma's retiring. So.
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Yeah, it does. So if that's if he does.
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Cool. Right off into the sunset, my man, you whatever you burned it.
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You've got other shit on your plate to deal with now.
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So like best of luck and all that.
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But why even bother entertaining the tank fight?
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Why bother if you're just going to not? Yeah.
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No, I'm I'm with you. Shit or get off the pot.
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Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
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But I would say Hitchens is my my fun pick.
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I'm going to have to flip a coin between Lomachenko or Terrence Crawford.
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And it's weird that these are like villain picks
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just because they're like it's being a victim of your own success.
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You're so good.
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Like, I want to see you fight better people.
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Well, and this everybody fighting once a year.
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Sucks like I can understand the arguments for twice a year.
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It's hard on your body.
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It has to be and everything else.
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But once a year, like I know you're making enough money
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that you only need to fight once a year, but that's that's not enough.
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If you're not getting having injuries, injuries like grievous injuries,
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Lomachenko is having back problems as well,
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which is what was driving him into the retirement talk.
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Is that he's having lingering issues that aren't that are going away,
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but then coming back sooner and staying longer.
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So, yeah, I got I get it.
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You're getting old and all that.
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But once a year is bullshit.
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I don't I don't care who it is.
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Do not care. Once is not enough prospect or new contender
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could be either like a prospect coming into into a renown or a
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renown or a contender that's really starting to break the mold
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of just being a contender and they're getting into the title contention,
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whichever you prefer.
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Yeah, I'm actually really crap at this one
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because I never know when people stop being prospects.
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You know what I mean? Yeah.
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So I'm going to pick two absolutely brand new people
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that I saw live that really impressed me,
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which is not your point of this category.
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But I thought that Kenneth Lover on the Osaka card
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looked fucking impressive.
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He wasn't in there very long.
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He got a round one knockout, but he just looked fast and accurate
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and like well put together for.
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I think that was only his six, fifth or sixth professional fight.
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And then there's that Japanese kid.
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Pro box. Oh, yeah.
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I know you're talking about Yokoyama.
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I think is his last name. Yeah, that's right.
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He also really impressed me and I started following him on Instagram
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and he seems to spend a lot of time volunteering
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at his grandparents retirement home thing.
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That's the guy you said.
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Yeah, the videos are fucking adorable.
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So neither of them is famous at all yet.
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But I think one of them is going to do something
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in the next like two or three years.
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Lover. He's on.
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He's next up for the OPBF title, so he's on his way up.
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Yeah. And I think this was his first fight in Japan
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because he's Filipino.
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Mine was Katsuma Akitsugi.
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Akitsugi, the pro box kid.
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Yep. Pro box.
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The Japanese firework, as as they call him in L.A.
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where he where he lives. Fighter of the year.
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Easy pick. Usyk. No shit.
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The gravity of his wins this year.
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Back to back beating Fury, hopefully sending Fury into retirement.
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Please for the love of fuck.
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I hope he goes away.
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But Junto Nakatani had an amazing year.
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Naoya Inoue, it was business as usual for him.
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This is like victim of your own success.
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Situation as well is. Yeah.
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For him, if you're not bopping guys in four, four to four to eight rounds,
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then it looks like a bad performance
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when he could be completely outclassing somebody.
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He hit Dohenny so hard in the ribs
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that it like fucked up his back.
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Yeah, that's right. I forgot he did that.
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You know, it's like a bunch of people online are like, oh, no,
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had he just stepped wrong and, you know, he's old and it fucked up his back.
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I'm like, no, he got hit so hard it tweaked his back.
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But come on, guys. Yeah.
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Yeah. I mean, I would have to pick Usyk.
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I know it's the boring pick, but yeah, my for in my case,
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like the honorable mentions, those are the real picks
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because you can't not give it to Usyk.
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All things, all things being equal, Usyk has to be the one.
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But Nakatani had some awesome performances.
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So just to pick something other than Usyk, I'd go with him for sure.
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Bam beating Estrada.
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Estrada, the way he beat Estrada was really impressive.
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Yeah, I think Bam deserves an honorable mention, too.
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It was funny in the post fight conference.
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Like everybody was asking about the knockdown.
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So the like the first person that asked him, he's like, look,
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I know a lot of you are going to ask me about this.
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So let me tell you, I'm just going to say it one time so that we get it out of the way.
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I I've never been knocked down before.
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Before tonight, I was actually I was more biddly curious of how how that goes.
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What's it like? So I got a little reckless and he knocked me down.
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He didn't hurt me. But yeah, he got me.
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I went down. That's how it goes.
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And wasn't bothered by it. But I don't want to do it again.
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I like Bam a lot. He's a really fun character.
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Yeah, he seems like a good kid.
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Ass whipping.
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Pillar to post brutal beatdowns could go by stoppage doesn't necessarily have to.
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I think I have the answer to this question and it's not on your list that I can see.
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OK, it's it's Zerto versus Chris Billams.
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Oh, shit. How could I have forgotten?
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Yes, that's a that is a great one.
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I think that's the only answer to this question.
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CBS took such an ass kicking and never quit.
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Twelve rounds like he went all the way.
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I do not understand how he stayed up.
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Seriously, that was seriously the worst ass kicking
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I can remember in a long time.
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Like there's been lots of beatdowns, but just the amount of damage
19:01
that CBS absorbed, you can say anything you want, but he is a tough man.
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Yeah, like with the the two in a way fights this year, Doheny and Neri,
19:11
he ended up stopping them.
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He was beating them so badly that the fight ended.
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Same with Nav Valdez and Alba.
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And my other one of my other favorites was Baccholi Anderson
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because love Baccholi, dark horse of the heavyweights.
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Yeah, the Baccholi Anderson one was also an ass kicking,
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but nobody stayed in there as long as Zerto did.
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I think of all of the ones I have written down, Doheny
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went the longest at seven rounds.
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But yes, he didn't take nearly as much damage as CBS.
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Hell, no, he didn't. Yeah, that that's the pick.
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That is the only pick.
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Zerto beating beating the fuck out of CBS.
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I I was saying like at round seven, going into eight throughout eight.
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And I was very emphatic about it in round nine.
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There's no need for this to continue.
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CBS is getting the shit beaten out of him.
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And this could be like shaving time off of his career.
20:11
There's no need for this to continue.
20:13
I agree. His corner should have stopped it.
20:16
Fucking right. They should have.
20:17
Yeah, you could put them in villain of the year.
20:20
Honorable mention to Tim Zue's fucking ragged ass corner.
20:25
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the Tim Zue fight could almost go
20:28
a beat down of the year, except he was winning too much.
20:31
Man, that cut really fucked him up.
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He was. Yeah, I'm really upset about that.
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That actually that really did change the trajectory of his career.
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We're yet to see what what's going to happen with CBS. But
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if he also goes on tilt from here, then his corner's going to get
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retroactive villain of the year for 25.
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Comeback of the year.
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I usually go with career resurgence, but mid fight also counts.
21:00
I picked a few. Dubois beats Hergovich and AJ
21:05
to set up a fight with Parker in 25 after that really,
21:09
you know, questionable situation with Usyk.
21:12
A little bit of a stinker with Gerald Miller.
21:14
And he set up Tony 24 really nicely to go into
21:18
what could be an undisputed fight with Usyk to rematch,
21:23
you know, get it, try to get that that low blow back.
21:25
Yeah, Dubois really has turned it around.
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And I think Parker's had a real resurgence.
21:31
He has maybe more last year than this year.
21:34
But yeah, that's what I he was going to be my pick.
21:37
But the only thing is that the Wilder fight was it Wilder?
21:40
I believe it was. That was at the end of 2023.
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It was no shit on the 23rd just before the cutoff.
21:50
Still, if you if you give a give that give a Parker
21:55
an extra two weeks on the year at the beginning of the year.
21:59
Yeah, Parker's right up there with two big wins over two very heavy handed guys.
22:04
And in fight comeback, Lucas body
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he was getting his fucking shit taken to school by H2O Silph
22:14
and then just gets that clutch KO fucking.
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Yeah. Randy Orton.
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That was my pick.
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Out of nowhere with the RKO.
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I love I love those come back knockouts.
22:27
The clutch knockouts. Yeah. Yeah.
22:29
I actually I didn't have I didn't have a runner up for this one.
22:34
Just Lucas body.
22:36
Actually, what was the Angelo Leo doing before this year?
22:39
Let's find out.
22:41
He was on Pro Box, I believe.
22:43
Yeah, but that that was kind of a career resurgence, right?
22:47
Like he had gone away for a little while.
22:49
He did. He lost to.
22:53
Where was he at in 2021?
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He lost to Stephen Fulton.
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He got a little kind of a shaky win against questionable opposition.
23:02
Some dude named Aaron Alameda that was in Houston.
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And that was June of 2021.
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And he disappears because of what?
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Coming off a loss and a shaky win.
23:15
Then he comes back November of 23 on Pro Box,
23:19
gets three fights on Pro Box.
23:22
Awesome wins, all strong wins.
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And then he projects himself into a title that is.
23:28
I think that's a pretty good career comeback.
23:31
Oh, yeah, that's a good comeback right there.
23:33
Upset of the year.
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It's plenty. There are so many this year
23:39
to get the the fun ones out of the way.
23:44
Devin Haney, he was very upset when he lost to Ryan Garcia.
23:49
So that's a very big upset.
23:51
He was also a massive betting favorite, too.
23:54
It's like I think Ryan opened up at like plus seven hundred.
23:59
That's fucking huge.
24:02
Another one, Rio beating Pitbull, like people that were in the know.
24:06
We knew like this was not going to be like a sweep or anything
24:11
or like a beat down. Yeah, we knew.
24:13
But a lot of people that was more of a casuals being surprised.
24:19
Yeah, everybody in the arena, they were like, what the fuck?
24:22
But Pitbull was the one coming forward and throwing punches.
24:26
Did they do anything? Yeah.
24:27
Though, if they land right, were we were we watching the same thing?
24:31
Because I don't think so. I called that one.
24:34
I was pretty sure Rio was going to outbox him.
24:37
I had my hopes on him.
24:38
I was tentative just because Rio has had his chin checked before.
24:44
That was really it. But I had faith in his skills.
24:47
I have a honorable mention that's not on your list here.
24:51
Go on. I was fucking shocked to see a beat.
24:54
Chazora beat Joyce. Is it upset of the year?
25:00
Probably not. I think it is.
25:02
It doesn't mean anything, really, other than Joyce's career is probably done.
25:09
But that shocked the hell out of me. Chazora beating Joyce.
25:15
That is a that was a big one, just because Chazora
25:18
has been in the fucking dumpster for a while.
25:21
And Joyce had those hard fights with Jang.
25:24
But you can say, OK, it's Jang. Fine. It's OK.
25:27
It's not what's not bad. It's not terrible to lose to Jang.
25:31
But fuck no. You lose to Chazora, dude. What are you doing?
25:35
Are you sure you want to keep doing this? You're almost 40.
25:38
I was almost upset for Chazora because he needs a couple.
25:43
I think he has two fights left on his contract or whatever.
25:46
He needed a couple like give me's and then you beat Joyce.
25:49
They're going to give you real fights, man. Yeah.
25:56
I expect that Joyce, if he's going to continue fighting,
26:01
they're going to put him on like the Dillion White rehab plan.
26:05
Have you fighting like random dudes from Africa
26:09
that come out in like IT technician polos?
26:14
That was such a weird fight.
26:16
I have several polos just like that from various companies I've worked at.
26:22
Nice. Chazora, Joyce is a very good one.
26:27
What else do I have here?
26:29
Saras, Munguia, of course, cannot. Of course.
26:32
There's nothing else, I think.
26:34
No, I mean, that's the obvious correct answer to this question.
26:39
No recency bias either.
26:41
The unknown Frenchmen coming and knocking out
26:44
fucking Munguia in Tijuana.
26:47
Neighborhood good, never fought outside of France,
26:50
campaigned at middleweight for knockouts.
26:53
Yeah, they pulled him up.
26:55
Jesus. Cherry picks gone wrong.
26:58
Oh, my goodness.
27:00
It doesn't get worse than that.
27:02
It can't get worse than that.
27:05
Paro beating Matias.
27:07
That was another that one upset me.
27:09
I was very shocked. Yeah, about that one. Yeah.
27:12
Like I did not expect that.
27:15
Like we were we were having a funeral for Paro before the fight.
27:19
Yeah, exactly. Wait a second, guys.
27:23
Yep. That's exactly what I was going to say is like I the joke that I made was like,
27:28
like, Paro, I hope you have your life insurance and will signed up
27:33
because this ain't going to be fun for you, buddy.
27:35
And man, he gave Matias what for and then gets jobbed by Hitchens.
27:41
Was it a jobbing? I don't know.
27:43
I just really don't like Hitchens. He is not fun.
27:46
Another upset.
27:48
Better be if getting the nod over Beville better be.
27:52
That was just a robbery. Did not win that fight.
27:55
I am upset. Beville is very upset.
27:57
We're all upset except for better.
27:59
We don't have a robbery of the year category, do we?
28:02
No, but we have a lot of categories, but that could be a good one to pick up.
28:07
Robbery of the year, I think, is a crime.
28:10
I think is a con say so over Foster.
28:14
Oh, I was shocked when they read those scorecards.
28:19
Yeah, but but like the fight sucked.
28:21
The fight sucked.
28:23
But Foster was clearly better than him.
28:26
Yeah. But those are all the upsets I got them.
28:30
Fucking Dave Allen on the Usyk card.
28:34
Yeah, Johnny Fisher piece of garbage.
28:37
I mean, it's not Fisher's fault, but he did not win that fight.
28:40
No, he didn't.
28:41
Could have been the comeback of the year.
28:44
The White Rhino could have been hero of the year.
28:50
Non fighting stuff.
28:51
Pro Bucks always going to get a nod from me.
28:54
And they picked up Angelo Leo, rebuilt him, sent him off to win a title,
29:01
building up other solid prospects, always putting on great fights,
29:04
putting on cards for fucking free all the time.
29:08
Yeah.
29:08
Cannot say no to Pro Box still being hero.
29:12
Well, I have to agree.
29:14
Pro Box is really expanding to they had their couple European cards and stuff.
29:19
I'm glad to see they're doing well.
29:21
Yeah. The expansion into the UK is really cool.
29:24
I'm going to make a pointed statement here. Turkey.
29:28
Anyways, anyway, a hero.
29:31
One good thing that a fighter has done outside of the ring throughout 2024.
29:38
Valdez has been volunteering a lot in Tucson and Phoenix areas.
29:45
So like donating a lot of shit to kids in like needy neighborhoods,
29:49
school supplies and stuff.
29:52
Take like a little bit of a break.
29:54
Like giving gifting passes to boxing gyms for, you know, like older boys.
30:04
And like, yeah, dude, get off the streets and go fucking hone a craft here.
30:09
So that's a good thing.
30:10
I like Valdez for that a lot.
30:12
It's the type of nobody like sees or hears about that stuff either.
30:17
That's what kind of bugs me.
30:18
Fucking Al Hayman hero.
30:20
I was just going to say, which was the promoter that we found out
30:23
was paying for some of the injured fighters in his. Isn't that Al Hayman?
30:28
Yeah, it's Al Hayman.
30:29
Since 2015, almost 10 years, he's been paying for Pritchard Cologne's
30:34
medical expenses, helping the family with living expenses.
30:38
And not a peep out of that man about it.
30:41
Nobody knew about it until just recently.
30:44
That is some shit right there.
30:46
That's a man's man.
30:48
That's a real man right there.
30:50
I didn't think I'd ever put a promoter on that list, but.
30:53
Seriously, I think he deserves it.
30:56
Absolutely.
30:57
Like there's a lot of people, like figures like Eddie Hearn
31:01
that are always in the camera talk about taking care of fighters and stuff,
31:05
but they never do.
31:07
If they do, it's it really feels like a publicity stunt.
31:10
Right. Yeah.
31:11
If they do anything, it's always to to be noticed or to be seen doing it.
31:16
I love these stories when you find out years later
31:19
that somebody's just been being a good human being. Yeah. Oh, man.
31:25
Where do where does
31:28
Alexis Rocha fit in for just what's what's the category called for?
31:33
Just I just cannot bring myself to care.
31:36
I know that this I know that he's working.
31:39
He's up in the rankings and everything.
31:42
I just cannot get excited about him. Yeah.
31:46
There's lots of fighters like that for me.
31:48
Yeah. Well, like Shakir is really good.
31:52
I'm never going to be excited to see him.
31:55
Last topic.
31:57
Fight of the year.
32:00
My midyear pick was Kensho Toraji
32:04
first kind of solace.
32:06
That was in like January.
32:07
Still holds up Ortiz versus Bochachuk.
32:11
Holy shit. That was amazing.
32:13
Yeah. Fireworks, fireworks, fireworks.
32:16
That was just too well, I don't know, like artillery cannons going at each other.
32:23
I think that has to be my pick.
32:25
Bochachuk's always in good, exciting fights.
32:28
I don't care what anyone says.
32:30
That's what he does.
32:31
He's more of the Dervienchenko ilk
32:35
than the like Usyk Lomachenko. Yeah.
32:39
Of the Ukrainian style,
32:41
just like the Japanese have a particular flavor
32:44
that can lean, you know, are they boxer, puncher or puncher, boxer?
32:50
Ukrainians have the same kind of the same.
32:52
Yeah. Bochachuk's the indestructible style of Ukrainian.
32:56
Yeah. Like just a fucking tank.
32:59
Dervienchenko takes so much punishment.
33:02
I don't understand it.
33:04
And it's not just to the head.
33:05
He doesn't have just a great chin.
33:07
Like you can't body him either.
33:10
And Bochachuk's the same.
33:11
Never been stopped.
33:13
Dervienchenko, that is.
33:15
I know that last one probably should have been.
33:18
But for his sake, yes.
33:21
But for the sake of his pride or whatever, I get it.
33:25
Yeah. Oh, Bochachuk has he he lives in L.A.
33:29
I know he has because he's been signed with Tom Loeffler.
33:33
The the dude with 360 promotions used to be with K2
33:37
managed, promoted, slash promoted Golovkin for the longest time.
33:42
So Bochachuk, I've been keeping up with him since the Hollywood Fight Night days.
33:48
So I know he's a Los Angeles like local, but his nickname,
33:53
just like Akitsugi has a Spanish nickname.
33:59
So does Bochachuk.
34:01
What's his nickname?
34:02
El Flaco.
34:03
It's like the slender guy, the thin guy, skinny guy.
34:07
That's not a great nickname.
34:09
Whatever it is, whatever your insecurities are,
34:13
Mexicans will make that your nickname.
34:15
It's just what happens.
34:16
Fair enough.
34:17
He's six feet, fights at 154.
34:22
So I can see why they'd call him that.
34:25
He used to fight at 147.
34:27
So definitely get it.
34:29
Another fight.
34:31
Bam beating Estrada.
34:33
The back and forth affair.
34:36
And Estrada was for me, he was the door that got me into being a quote unquote
34:46
hardcore fan.
34:47
That was like my introduction to him.
34:50
Estrada and Roman Gonzalez, their first fight.
34:54
That was like, man, why do people not watch the smaller weight classes?
34:58
This shit is so fucking fun.
34:59
That's what I've been trying to teach people forever.
35:04
Yeah.
35:05
The little guys are awesome entertainment.
35:08
For Estrada to be fighting Bam, who is clearly the next generation of the smaller guys,
35:18
in a way, of course.
35:19
But Bam fighting Estrada, it was like there are two wolves inside of you kind of thing.
35:27
I don't know what to do here because Estrada has always been my favorite.
35:32
He's also kind of a dickhead.
35:34
Bam is really awesome.
35:36
And he's also really cool.
35:38
I don't know what to do.
35:39
Bam in street mode is one of my favorite things because he's got the glasses.
35:45
And I bet you people make fun of him on the street when he walks by.
35:51
Not to his face, but people will be like, oh, did you see that tiny little guy in the
35:54
glasses?
35:56
You just know that that tiny little guy will fuck them up so bad.
36:01
No kidding.
36:02
But after, I'm trying to remember who Bam fought.
36:05
It was Sonny Edwards.
36:08
After the Sonny fight.
36:11
Fight of the year, Kanisales, Taraji holds up.
36:21
Bam Estrada for personal reasons.
36:23
Bohochuk Ortiz.
36:24
That's just fireworks.
36:27
That's the type of shit.
36:28
If you wanted to get some casual fans involved, show them that.
36:34
This is...
36:35
Yeah.
36:36
Ortiz Bohochuk is my jam.
36:38
That's the kind of boxing I like, which isn't the best, highest class boxing, but man, is
36:44
it exciting.
36:45
It's still, it's a lot more technical than people give it credit for.
36:49
We talk about it a lot with quote unquote, flatfoot Mexican brawlers.
36:55
There's so much more technique happening on the inside than you can see.
36:58
Yeah.
36:59
But nobody's going to call it a master class.
37:02
No.
37:03
No.
37:04
Same way Usyk kind of gets the, he's like the de facto fighter of the year.
37:08
Fury Usyk, that whole storyline for the heavyweight division.
37:13
Kind of, I feel like that has to be the de facto fight of the year as well.
37:18
Both of them.
37:19
Well, the first one was more exciting.
37:21
The first one was definitely more exciting.
37:23
Yeah.
37:24
The second one was like a good punctuation.
37:26
Yeah.
37:27
I'm still, I'm still picking Ortiz Bohochuk.
37:30
That's a, yeah, that's a solid one.
37:32
I think I'm going to go with that.
37:33
Fury Usyk won for, I guess for the gravitas, but Ortiz Bohochuk is the jam.
37:40
That's the fun, that's the fun stuff.
37:44
If you have to explain why it's a good fight, to me personally, it's not fight of the year.
37:51
If you have to explain the background before you have somebody watch it to get them excited
37:57
about it, that's not it for me.
38:01
I need something that I can just send the link to my dad and be like, watch this.
38:07
Yeah.
38:09
That's one of the old proverbs about arguments or whatever.
38:13
If you have to start explaining, you're losing.
38:16
Yeah.
38:17
If you have to explain.
38:18
The only tag I would have for like Taraji Kanesales, they're smaller guys, but it's
38:23
fucking fun.
38:24
Watch it.
38:25
Yeah.
38:26
I mean, that's not explaining anything though.
38:30
That's just getting somebody to watch it.
38:32
Right.
38:33
Like I was explaining my whole shit with Estrada and then bam and blah, blah, blah.
38:39
That's fight of the year in my heart, but it's not going to get the fans, new fans.
38:45
That's emotional fight of the year.
38:47
That's it.
38:48
That's all we got for picks.
38:52
We do have a lot of categories.
38:53
Yeah, we have 10, but some that I've been seeing that are interesting is like a nation
39:03
of the year.
39:05
Which nation is having the best year in boxing?
39:08
Like obviously Japan right now.
39:10
Fuck yes, Japan.
39:11
No questions asked.
39:12
I think that's the only answer right now.
39:14
There is no other answer.
39:16
If you say something other than Japan, you're fucking wrong.
39:20
You don't watch the lower weight classes if you say anything other than Japan.
39:24
Yeah.
39:25
And I expect if you're going to say something other than Japan, it might be Ukraine.
39:29
Yeah.
39:30
They've got three belts, four belts right now.
39:33
There are four people with belts, I think.
39:36
Yeah.
39:37
It's not even necessarily the belts.
39:39
It's just that they're having a really successful year.
39:42
Ohechuk, even though he lost, still in some awesome fight with Ortiz, beat the shit out
39:50
of Brian Mendoza.
39:53
Feel bad for Brian after that.
39:56
Yeah.
39:57
I hope PBC makes him whole and gives him a good payday for a softer touch.
40:04
He steps in all the time for them.
40:06
Usyk, of course, Derevyanchenko, even though he lost to Imbili, valiant effort, one-armed
40:16
and still went the distance.
40:18
I really think Derev would have won that if he didn't hurt his arm.
40:22
I agree.
40:23
That was an early, early arm injury.
40:26
Dennis Baranciak wins the 135 title, beating Nav.
40:32
That was a good one.
40:34
Karen, like I said about Jaron Ennis, excellent performance, even though he lost.
40:41
Vostik gave David Benavides all he could handle, even though he lost.
40:46
I didn't even realize he was Ukrainian.
40:49
Yeah.
40:50
I think that's enough.
40:51
I would say Ukraine is a good second based on everything I just listed, but they're not
40:58
wins, so can't really give it to them.
41:00
Japan has fucking all the champions right now.
41:04
It's crazy.
41:05
And there's so many title fights all the time, and it's awesome living here right now.
41:11
I bet.
41:13
Oh, Japan.
41:15
Inoue, no shit.
41:17
Nakatani, no shit.
41:19
Andy Hiraoka on the come up.
41:23
Love that guy.
41:25
Yep.
41:26
Tana, despite losing, still a solid competitor, punch burger champion.
41:32
I mean, even little in a way.
41:34
I know he lost to punch burger, but he had a good year too.
41:37
Yeah, he's still a solid, solid name.
41:40
Losing to punch burger is nothing to be ashamed of.
41:43
Kosei Tanaka had that awesome, awesome fight with Kafu, even though he lost.
41:48
Yeah, that was good.
41:49
Quote unquote lost.
41:50
It was really, really close.
41:52
Higa.
41:53
Yep.
41:54
Daigo Higa.
41:55
For the purposes.
41:56
Karate.
41:57
I mean, there's the kid.
41:58
Well, he's not that young anymore.
42:01
Natsukawa.
42:02
Tenshin.
42:03
Yep.
42:04
Tenshin.
42:05
Thank you.
42:06
I was going to save that one for the end to really put a cherry on the Japanese fucking
42:11
cake there.
42:12
Iwata.
42:13
Iwata really impressed me this year.
42:16
That Aoi Yokoyama.
42:18
Yeah.
42:19
That kid.
42:20
Yep.
42:21
It's a good year to be a Japanese boxing fan.
42:25
It really is.
42:26
For the purposes of giving accolades to Japan, they'll count Daigo Higa.
42:33
But the second he slips, he's from Okinawa.
42:37
We don't care.
42:38
Yeah.
42:39
Yeah.
42:40
Wow.
42:41
Japan likes to disown people all the time.
42:43
Yeah.
42:44
I think the Brits do it with like Scotland and Ireland.
42:49
Yeah.
42:50
They do the same thing.
42:53
Okay.
42:56
Now.
42:59
Enough of a tangent.
43:00
Yeah.
43:01
We'll see how much of that.
43:02
Patreon only.
43:03
Yeah.
43:04
If you want to find out what the best flag in America is, check out our Patreon.
43:09
You're going to have to go to Patreon because how much of that actually makes the final
43:14
release before I'm even editing this.
43:16
I can tell you it's not going to be a lot.
43:19
All right.
43:20
So heading.
43:21
Well, these are just our picks.
43:23
So we're heading into 2025.
43:29
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Boxing B-Sides, a Lux Media production.
43:34
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44:36
Anyways.
44:37
So yeah, parting words.
44:40
Okay.
44:41
Parting words going into the new year.
44:45
So I saw, not a trend, but just like an internet post suggesting fun New Year's resolutions
44:53
instead of like productive ones.
44:56
Yeah.
44:57
Yeah.
44:58
So like every time I see a new Chinese restaurant, I try it or I go to, you know, every art museum
45:08
in, or one art museum in every city I visit this year.
45:13
I think that's better.
45:15
Cause I always give myself resolutions that I don't like.
45:20
So I haven't figured out what my fun one is this year, but I'm going to do a fun resolution.
45:25
I never thought to do that.
45:27
I hadn't either, but it makes sense.
45:30
I did that.
45:31
You can just do fun ones.
45:32
Yeah.
45:33
I know that I did that when I f***ed up, New Year was like right around the corner.
45:37
So I didn't consciously do it, but I did make like more positive resolutions.
45:43
Like let's do fun stuff.
45:46
Stuff that makes me happy.
45:47
Yeah.
45:48
So, I mean, it's probably important to do your other type of resolution as well, but
45:54
this year I think I'm only doing fun ones.
45:56
Yeah.
45:57
Every party I go to, I'm taking a f***.
46:00
Is that a good one?
46:01
Is that fun?
46:02
I mean, I guess if that's your fun one.
46:07
And then I have, not affiliated or anything, but I have a gamify your life app that I really
46:17
like that I find helpful with resolutions and stuff.
46:21
It's called Habitica and you put in like habits and to-dos and stuff.
46:25
And when you click them off, your little character gets experience points.
46:29
It's like an RPG.
46:30
That sounds pretty fun.
46:32
Yeah.
46:33
I really like it.
46:34
If you're looking for something to help you with your resolutions, check it out.
46:39
It's free.
46:40
You can subscribe and then you get gems to buy skins and that sort of thing, but you
46:45
can just use it totally free.
46:48
Hmm.
46:49
Heading into 2025.
46:51
F***ing hit that follow button, subscribe button, wherever the f*** you're listening
46:54
to this.
46:55
Check out the socials.
46:58
If you want to have like more fun social media stuff, I would suggest checking out Instagram
47:03
and Twitter.
47:04
I just kind of repost stuff there for the, just for the sake of doing it.
47:10
Not because I actually like that platform.
47:13
So yeah, heading into 2025, you're going to subscribe to all our s*** and you're going
47:19
to check out all the other shows in the Lux Media family because like we just have the
47:24
biggest ding-dongs of all time.
47:26
Even Shannata has a bigger ding-dong.
47:27
Especially me.
47:28
Yeah, she's a bigger ding-dong than all of you listening.
47:30
If you don't agree, 833 Luxpods.
47:32
Tell me why not.
47:33
Alright, that's it.
47:34
Enough shenanigans from me.
47:36
Ta-ta.
47:37
We will see you in 2025.
47:39
Happy New Year everyone.