Punches and Punchlines
Punches and Punchlines
The Runner and The Monster: Why We Can't Stop Watching
A boxing weekend that began with disappointment ultimately delivered one of the year's most thrilling fights. Fritz and Franco take you through the entire spectrum of emotions that fight fans experienced over this packed weekend of action.
The Times Square card failed to ignite any real excitement despite featuring names like Devin Haney, who appeared hesitant throughout his victory, and Ryan Garcia, whose defensive limitations were exposed in his loss to the equally controversial Rolly Romero. Neither contest provided the fireworks expected from such high-profile matchups.
Saturday's Saudi Arabia event reached a new low with William Skull's embarrassing performance against Canelo Alvarez. Skull's strategy consisted almost entirely of running away, literally throwing his hands up and retreating whenever Canelo approached. The hosts don't hold back their contempt for this display, questioning how the IBF could possibly have made this their mandatory title challenge. Even the Saudi promoters couldn't hide their disgust, with Turki Alalshikh unceremoniously dismissing Skull from the ring after the fight.
The weekend was salvaged on Sunday when Naoya "The Monster" Inoue demonstrated why he's considered one of boxing's premier attractions. Despite suffering a knockdown in the second round against the game Ramon Cardenas, Inoue mounted a spectacular comeback featuring punishing body work that culminated in an eighth-round TKO. The co-main between Espinoza and Vasquez delivered consistent action as well, with Vasquez showing tremendous heart before the referee's merciful stoppage.
Join the hosts as they celebrate fighters like Inoue and Jaime Munguia, who showed impressive growth in his rematch victory, while calling out the sport's disappointments. They also address the problematic commentary that continues to plague boxing broadcasts, with Joe Tessitore receiving particular criticism for his hyperbolic reactions to punches that didn't even land.
Want more unfiltered boxing talk that cuts through the hype? Subscribe, leave a review, and join Fritz and Franco each time they break down the best in boxing... with a sense of humor.
welcome to punches and punchlines, where we break down the best in boxing with a sense of humor. And now your hosts, fritz and franco welcome back everybody.
Speaker 2:Thanks for joining us again this episode of punches and punchlines. Thanks for listening, thanks for subscribing. We have a lot of boxing to cover, franco from one weekend, and some of it is good. So, um, we're gonna save the best for last. We're gonna wade through some trash. There's a couple bright spots along the way, and then we'll end on a high note. From that Sunday of Cinco de Mayo weekend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the weekend was like my love life. For it it was awful and terrible and it hurt a lot, but then at the end we found happiness and and at the end of the day, that's all that matters. But that's definitely how the weekend went. But, yeah, let's go on ahead and wade through all of it and show how we finally found true love they tell us all the time you can't play boxing.
Speaker 2:We prove them wrong every episode with the segment called playing boxing. If you're new to the program, thanks for joining us. This segment's brought to you by the people over at zipix toothpickscom. Go over there, enter the code, punch 10. They will give you 10 off your. You can help you stop smoking. It's a delicious toothpick. Save a few years on your life, so it's not a bad deal.
Speaker 2:Franco, this boxing weekend that we're going to cover started on that Friday in Times Square. All right, it wasn't at Madison Square Garden, it wasn't at the Barclays Center, it was outdoors, and I think that's because they didn't want to stink in the building. All right, they had to let this just out in the streets where it could air out a lot faster. I didn't see any joy in now. Granted, I didn't watch every second of it, but nothing watching the replays made me wish I had. It made me joy that I didn't pay for this crap.
Speaker 2:It was Devin Haney versus Jose Ramirez. All right, haney looked so timid in this fight. There was more fire from his dad afterwards for people saying he looked timid than Haney showed at all during this fight. I don't give a shit what Bill Haney has to say. His boy looks scared and, granted, this is his first time coming back after just getting knocked down and beaten up in what was the first loss of his career. And then he sued to have it removed. So I agreed that ryan was a cheater, so I'm glad that he didn't get to keep the win.
Speaker 2:And then tiafema lopez was on that card as well. He was way better than barboza. There wasn't anything in that fight that I was like, oh, this is great, I'm, it was more just okay, it was. You know, the hot and cold that we get with tiafema lopez is just exhausting. Where you're just like, all right, which one are we going to get this time? And this time around we got the okay tiafema, not the guy who fought Josh Taylor and came out gangbusters. You got the guy that was like, yeah, it's in New York, it's outside, I'm just going to go for a stroll. You know he acted like he was out at Central Park for a walk. I thought it was fine, all right. And then my last thought that I'll give you Ryan Garcia versus Raleigh Romero. I wasn't rooting for either one of these. You got one guy who is a confirmed cheater. All right, he got busted for taking, you know, I think it was 38 000 performance enhancing drugs and allegedly, and another guy that's just been accused of being a scumbag.
Speaker 2:So that's part of the reason why I didn't want to rush and get in front of my tv and pay for this, because I'm like I don't want to give money to a cheater and a scumbag. And I'm glad I didn't, because Ryan looked timid in this one too. You know he got knocked down. Romero has a decent right hand, but that's all he's got and he still managed a one arm. Romero was able to beat Ryan Garcia, so I don't know where the hell he goes from here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, with this fight, I thought, with that main event, I thought that it was going to be a lose lose situation for us, where it's two people that I absolutely cannot stand, like the two boxers that I despise the most fighting against each other. Who do you root for? You know, I joked last episode a double knockout. I think we might have gotten the best case where not only did Ryan lose because he couldn't take his performance enhancing drugs, this time allegedly but he lost to Raleigh Romero, whose luster has already been lost from previous fights.
Speaker 1:So you're fighting against somebody who doesn't have the drawing power and then, on top of that, it just kind of solidified that your defense sucks. He still still has power, he's still super fast. But just watching this fight, as much as I hate raleigh romero, he was moving, he was weaving. You could see his head moving around, he was stepping back and ryan was just keeping his head on the line. He hasn't fixed anything. He's still got that one strong shot that he relies on. But if they're waiting for that, nothing's going to happen, and so it was like his game plan was like oh, I'm gonna try a left hook.
Speaker 2:Oh, that didn't work. Uh, maybe a left hook. Oh, he was ready for that one. You know what? I'm gonna try, uh, a left hook, that that, that was his game plan.
Speaker 1:Oh, and then the other thing that I forgot about. So I'm saying how much I hate Raleigh Romero, I completely forgot one of the things that got me to hate him before I ever heard him ever speak in an interview or speak after a fight. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, it was like Eric Cartman choking on a chicken wing up there. It was so effing annoying and I forgot about it. And so, man, it was just horrible. It was boring. The only fun thing was seeing Ryan get knocked down, but then I wanted to see Raleigh get knocked down. I just wanted to see them both just keep knocking each other out until their careers were ended.
Speaker 1:I do not like these dudes. I think that they had to rely on a gimmick like oh, we're in Times Square because of the weekend and because you're going up against two of the biggest names in boxing. But Ryan Garcia, I feel like his name still has some kind of power, some kind of draw. It's almost like Jake Paul or something, where it's just such a gimmicky joke at this point because they have such a big social media following that Ryan ended up getting pushed to the moon before he was ready for it. I don't think he was mentally ready for it. I don't think defensively he was able for it. Hopefully he just goes away now. I don't ever have to see another Ryan Garcia fight, but he's worth too much money. So I know we're going to see him again.
Speaker 2:I just don't know what they do with him next. Yeah, without a doubt I. I know that I went through the three fights on that card. Uh, did you?
Speaker 1:have any.
Speaker 2:Any, you know like I feel like I went a little long, so if you had any thoughts on on haney versus ramirez, tfmo versus barboza, I apologize oh, no, no, uh, I had nothing to add because.
Speaker 1:so, for anybody who might have missed the weekend of fights there, there was a special with DAZN where you could order the Ryan Garcia fight for like 20 or $30 more on top of the Canelo fight, and I didn't pay it. I was like it could be $5 more and I'm not going to pay because I know that they're going to get money from it. It's kind of like not shopping at Walmart or protesting Target like people are doing. I kind of felt the same way about this one where I was like I don't want either one of them to get my money. But if I wait and I'm patient, I know I'll be able to see the full fight other ways.
Speaker 1:But that was the only one that I watched and it looks like it was a good decision. I don't think there were any knockouts on the night. Maybe it was too chilly in times square, but it was a bunch of unanimous decisions, just long drawn out fights, I don't know, and there were big names on this card, but it still wasn't enough for me to be able to pull the trigger. For what? Two value meals at mcdonald's like exactly so.
Speaker 2:That led us into saturday, where I went in with high hopes, franco and I sat. I sat down and I watched the first fight on the very first fight, and that ended up being good. I didn't take too many notes, but I was like, all right, this is fun.
Speaker 2:And then I thought to myself oh, I only have maybe an hour left to sunshine, I'm gonna go snag a couple bass. So I did that. I snagged a couple bass and then I came in in time for now. Did you enjoy any part of the fa jogba versus martin piccoli?
Speaker 1:uh, you mean, besides him walking out the dude who walked him out, who walked out fa jogba? It looked like where's waldo combined with shaba Ranks. Do you remember Shaba Ranks for it?
Speaker 2:I can't remember it because I don't know that I've ever known it.
Speaker 1:It was a bad 90s rap, slash reggae, nonsense Like Informer, like Snow, but black Okay, like not a white Canadian dude.
Speaker 2:Oh wonderful.
Speaker 1:I don't know, it wasn't a bad fight. It wasn't a bad fight. I thought that they took a little bit long to get started. I thought it was fine. I don't know if I got burned out, because I did watch the entire card, like from the very beginning, and I kept waiting. I'm like this is a big card. This is Terrence T, bud Crawford and Saul Canelo Alvarez Like the asshole the night before, and all these big names yeah it just it kept being people that I had never, ever heard of in my life. It started getting a little bit long, like the night started getting a little bit long. So by the time that fight roll around, uh, I was like half awake, half asleep.
Speaker 2:Um, just for our listeners, it's not anything you would have to go back and watch. We watched FAA jog, but fight, fight. And we've seen really good fa a jogba. We've seen really shitty fa a jogba. All right, I stood next to him in the lobby at the virgin hotel in las vegas and the dude is a gigantic monster, all right.
Speaker 1:So many boxers have you stood next to in?
Speaker 2:vegas. Him and jared anderson were in the lobby okay yeah and uh.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh, my god, these are big human beings. All right, so I was rooting for him in this a little bit, but neither one of these dudes made me think like, oh, I can't wait to see them on. Uh, on another card. I was like, all right, they were both boring and a jog about. The only way he could win was by moving. All right, so he, he did move and I thought he did enough to win. So take your notebook out right now and write down. I don't hate somebody that's going to move, because later on I'm going to have some complaints about it. But in this fight, his only way he was going to be able to win was to kind of move around, because piccoli came in looking like the Goodyear Blimp or the you know Michelin man.
Speaker 2:He did not look in shape, so he was just trying to. You know, land bombs. A jogger was smart enough to not just stand there and trade with them, so they ended up being a draw where I was like all right, well, I'm glad I uh glad I made it back in for this one.
Speaker 1:Let me ask you this. So this fight was in Saudi Arabia. Like I said in the last episode, I was worried about a Canelo fight or even a Canelo card being in Saudi Arabia. So there's a lot of Mexican fighters. It sounded like there was a decent Mexican contingent there, but this did not feel like a big fight night and even during the Bacoli fight fight it was like half empty. It felt like we were watching the espn covet bubble or something right.
Speaker 2:it was really a weird vibe for this one I have a feeling that, uh, turkey, I shall leak, or what. Uh, I'm probably saying his name wrong, as people came back like you were given tickets and you're like, all right, you're mexican, all right, so you're cheering for this guy, this guy and this guy it depended on what section you had, and you know 90 of the remia was given mexican tickets.
Speaker 1:So like like medieval times with boxing exactly exactly what they did.
Speaker 2:Now that fight led into a much better fight where it was the rematch of Jaime Maguia versus Bruno Saras. Jaime Maguia was coming back off of his the first knockout of his career, getting knocked out. When it started as slow as Jaime Maguia was going, I was nervous that that's how it was going to continue. But he got a little more comfortable as the Browns went on and then you could see him go more to his offense but was staying much more responsible defensively where he was having his way with Saras in the first one, but got laxed on his defense and Saras landed that perfect shot.
Speaker 2:They always say that puncher's chance and that ended the first fight. Munguia was smart enough and listened to his trainers and did not that let that happen in this one and was just a much better fighter. What made me laugh was saras comes in with shorts that were like pulled up just under his nipples, all right, and at one point munguia gets called for a low blow that was above the belly button, like that's sure it was below the belt, but the belt was right below his nipple, so it's like the ref needed to. You know, make that clear early that, hey, this whole area in here is fine to see somebody punch somebody above the belly button and still get called for a low blow Made me laugh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sir us.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you've ever seen like when wrestlers supposedly have like an injury to their uh abdomen absolutely and they've wrapped themselves up like all the way up with just bandages, like that's doing something like, oh, now I can go in and wrestle. Uh, that's kind of what it looked like. It really was way too high. But I was so happy like I like Jaime Munguia and to see him have Ryan Garcia levels of defense. In the past that was not the case. He had his hands up, he was moving a little bit better, but then when he unloaded and would start just letting off these flurries it was, it was like yes, like this is what we've been waiting for. It was nice. It was nice to see him make those adjustments and grow as a boxer. We talk about every fight like it's the first and last fight. It's nice when boxers show growth, when and especially when it's like younger guys I'm in Munguia looked good in this fight.
Speaker 1:I was. I was happy about it. But yeah, strauss in the in the shorts, he looked like an 80 year old man out there wearing them that high. It was a little bit ridiculous.
Speaker 2:It was. You know what I loved about this fight too. I don't know whether you noticed this, but at the post-fight interview, jaime mcgea had his translator and the translator took notes and then, while jaime mcgea was talking, and then read it back and then actually was taking notes and actually giving a full quote of what the guy had to say. I'd never seen that before A guy actually. I mean, he looked like he was writing, maybe shorthand or whatever, but he was delivering what was said instead of just oh, this.
Speaker 1:I'm going to sum it up for you, you know as somebody who has translated tons of times for meetings and presentations and speeches and all sorts of stuff, I have never thought to do that and it's fucking genius, Like why wouldn't you do that? And I appreciate that it is, but never in the last 44, almost 45 years of my life have I ever thought I should write this down and then just read it and translate it as I'm going. It's genius and you know what More. There are certain things boxing needs for it. We need to see the scores after every round.
Speaker 1:We need instant replay everywhere, just in case there's some shenanigans, but maybe with some rules. And then, yeah, guys that write shit down before they translate it, so that they don't just wing it and give some crappy, half-assed answer. Absolutely love it and less.
Speaker 2:Joe Tessitore. So after that Munguia fight, it went into Badu Jack versus Mikaelian. All right, that's how you said this dude's name was McAlien. It sounds like a toy you get in a Happy Meal McAlien. I was like, are they saying his name wrong? But no, they kept saying it. And here's what I'll say about this Badu Jack's 41. It's still fun. Mcalien had like an awkward style, so it made it a decent fight. But what I couldn't get my eyes off of is, while the fight's going on, turkey was right there in front row. I get it. It's his event. He paid all the monies. He gets front row.
Speaker 1:But he's standing up.
Speaker 2:I think I know what you're going to say, just talking to a dude in a red t-shirt and like half the fight he's just standing there talking Dude. If I had the seats behind him I would be probably decapitated right now, because I'd be like sit your ass down, you piece of shit.
Speaker 2:You know, like I just paid 40 million drachma for these seats I don't know what kind of money that is, but I paid over $100 American for these seats. You better sit your ass down, like that shit was driving me crazy where I almost was, you know, distracted from the fight Cause I just thought that was rude. I don't care who you are, it just sit down and let other people watch the fight.
Speaker 1:You know what I think the first time that I ever saw that was when WWE went over to Saudi Arabia and it's like oh, wow, they're having a major sporting event like in the middle East. This, you know, we haven't really seen this before and when I watched it that's what drove me insane that, like the first couple sections of people, they basically they had tables set up for that event and nobody was paying attention, like you would have thought that they were at a piano bar and like oh yeah, yeah, there's something going on behind me. I'm kind of of listening. Why are you there? Yeah, be off camera or something, but it looks so bad.
Speaker 1:Same thing applies here. Like that's cool, if you have something else that you got to do, you're an important person, I get it. Go, do it off camera. You do not need to do it on camera, but it is fair to say, we've seen that a lot where I feel like boxing productions in general don't pay attention to who they're putting there and so you'll have some chick on her cell phone or some dude that's, you know, texting his friends or whatever. It's just a bad look to have those people there if they paid cool that's perfectly okay.
Speaker 2:You're doing that in your seat. I don't, I don't even care. But to just stand up, not even facing the ring, talking to the people in the row behind you, and it driving me nuts.
Speaker 1:It's like sit down or get out of the way and he didn't pay for that seat, like I mean I guess he did by holding the promotion he's, but he's making money off of it if, if you're a non-paying person, they need to put those people somewhere else. You're so-and-so's girlfriend or whatever. Have her off to the side and when she reacts, move the camera to her over there. But he doesn't have to be on camera if he's not going to be paying attention. It's disrespectful and, to be honest, you know what? Badu Jack, 41, almost the same age as me and the way that dude was going everybody should have been paying attention Like the fact that he could move.
Speaker 1:I hurt getting out of bed and this dude was moving around the ring with his fringe, dancing around on the side of his shorts. It was glorious and you know what Representation is important for it in television. It was nice to see a fellow 40-something-year-old in there still doing it. He still got it. Was it the greatest fight ever? No, but it was still impressive to see badu jack moving and the way that he still does right and it was way better than the main event.
Speaker 2:I don't even want to spend too, much time on this main event, franco? No, because it was such a letdown. I now hate william skull more than I hate ryan romero. All right, that's uh when you mash ryan garcia and rolando romero together and make uh ryan romero I think that's illegal yeah, I, I hate william skull even more than that guy.
Speaker 2:Like we talked about movement, fine move if it's the other fighter's job to cut off the ring, but this is the first time I've ever seen somebody literally run like high tail it and get out of there. It was such a bad showing and the fact that skull even thought that he was winning makes me want to see him Never box again. I hate his face just for the shitty performance he put on. If styles make fights, franco, this was a platform shoes and leisure suits like just so out of style bullshit.
Speaker 2:I hate it. I hope he's wearing some flammable shit and you know he has to wander the desert for the rest of his life because he should not box again. It was an embarrassment. And the fact that he kept shaking his hand after he had landed two jabs in a round fuck you, dude. It was such an embarrassment. And you know what? Uh, I'll give another. Fuck you to the ibf for making this the mandatory. Yes, eat shit like I love that the ibf enforces a mandatory, but how the how this guy became the top guy the mandatory is unforgivable. It was garbage.
Speaker 1:I fell asleep twice during this fight and then had to rewind and thinking maybe something happened, maybe there's a part where it gets dangerous. He wasn't just running, so Canelo would try to cut off the ring and then would just lunge at him and dude would literally throw both hands up in the air and jump backwards like a scared cat. It was so ridiculous. This was such a horrible fight and the only thing that made me feel even slightly validated was how upset everybody was. Like forget social media, forget the fans. Canelo was upset, the promoters were upset. Turkey what's his face? He, after the fight, he had like the special belt or whatever to present this ridiculous belt and it was super awkward. But he literally he told Skull and his people he's like get out of the ring and then presented the belt. But it was awkward, it was weird, it was giving like the, the rich kid who buys his friends. Nobody wanted to be there.
Speaker 1:Canelo hated the fight. All of it was just such a shit show and so terrible that by the time I was done actually forcing myself to watch it, I forgot it was even Cinco de Mayo weekend, like. Like I was so upset by the whole thing. The crowd sucked for a Canelo fight. The ring walk was not great. Who?
Speaker 2:was the guy that was the ring walk, because I just thought he looked like a Latino, patton Oswalt. I was like he walked out by Patton Oswalt.
Speaker 1:It was Luis Conriquez. Okay, it's a singer, is that Spanish?
Speaker 2:for Patton Oswalt. Yeah, yes, it is Because he definitely looked like Patton. I was expecting him to do the tirade about Star Wars and the Marvel thing for Parks and Rec. That would have been at least some entertainment for that night.
Speaker 1:That actually made me smile when I saw that this fight.
Speaker 2:I just sat there with a grumpy face the entire time.
Speaker 1:It was so bad entertainment for that night, so that that actually made me smile. When I saw that, uh, this fight, I just sat there with a grumpy face the entire time. It was so bad. I hope, and it looks like uh canelo's going to be fighting terence crawford on september 12th. Thank you sorry, uh. Yeah, he's going to be fighting t-bud next, so at least this led to something, and it sounds like it's not going to be in saudi arabia, so hopefully that helps the situation as well. It's going to be in Saudi Arabia, so hopefully that helps the situation as well.
Speaker 2:It's going to be in Las Vegas pending, but yeah, it looks like it's going to be in Las Vegas, which will be a joy. Let's move on to a joy, franco where we had Espinoza versus Vasquez.
Speaker 2:All right, that was the co-main event from top rank on Sunday, and that was Espinoza is the tallest featherweight champion in history. All right, that was the co-main event from top rank on Sunday, and that was Espinoza is the tallest featherweight champion in history. All right, this was just such a wonderful fight, especially after coming off of watching and hating William Skull more and more by the second. It reminded me like oh, this is why I love boxing. This was such a good fight. And I was like, oh, and this is just the co-main event. I'm like this is absolute fun. So anybody that has an espn subscription, make sure you find the nioya anyway versus cardenas.
Speaker 1:Um, you said it right the first time cardenas well they kept saying cardenas in the fight.
Speaker 2:So it looks like cardenas, but they kept saying cardenas. So I'm gonna go with you because I'd love to disagree with joe Tessitore any chance I get.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if anything, that's borderline offensive the way he was saying it. He's a piece of shit and they should drag him out back and beat him with sticks. Yeah, the Espinoza Vasquez fight. He was not freakishly tall, just way taller. But it wasn't like. You know, when you see sebastian fundora you're like, oh, I think there's something wrong with your tv. This one he was tall.
Speaker 2:It didn't look cartoonishly tall over the other six foot one and 126 pounds is pretty crazy. You know what I mean. That's. There's a reason why he's the tallest ever to hold that belt. The dude is it's an absolute monster.
Speaker 2:I thought this should have been stopped in like the fifth round, where cardenas was just too tough for his own good, you know. Or, um, vasquez was for his own good, yeah, he was just taking a beating but seemed like unfazed by it, almost like cool hand luke, where he's like no, you're gonna have to kill me. Where finally, in the seventh, they did wave it off and I I was relieved for vasquez, ecstatic for espinoza, because I became enough of a fan of vasquez from, just from the heart he was showing he was having a little bit of success early, but then that faded quick. He didn't stop trying. You know he didn't go all right. Well, I'm just going to make it through 12 and hope for the best. He kept trying and just did not end up being the better man that day. He took the loss but put on an awesome fight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if anything, it was just impressive that he didn't get knocked out because he wasn't throwing a lot of punches. He was definitely taking a shit ton of punches, but he definitely wasn't throwing a lot. But when he would, it's like, oh, maybe one of those catches espinoza off guard, launches him off of his mountain, but uh, but never happened and then that led us into the fight of the weekend.
Speaker 2:We kind of hinted at it in our preview in our last episode that this was going to be just a joy, and it was nioya inouye versus cardenas. What was uh cardenas first name? Do you uh ramon, ramon cardenas?
Speaker 2:but he says ramon, like that ramon scored a knockdown, you know, put anyway on the mat in the second. This is second fight in a row, or two out of the last three. Yeah, something now that that anyway has hit the mat. But to his credit it wasn't like this thunderous knockdown. It was a little more than a flash knockdown, but not like a crazy where his marbles were scrambled if that makes any sense.
Speaker 2:It was kind of that in between, where he waited and watched the ref count, didn't just spring back up like, oh no, I'm fine. He took the time that was allotted to him and then stood up and was ready to fight. I thought even like that third round I was like this is probably still going to cardenas, but that might be where I just stopped giving any rounds to cardenas because, uh, after that it was uh like all anyway. What I didn't understand too in this, like I know, I bitch about joe testator, but in this one, when cardenas was missing shots, he was like oh, and look at that, what's the shot that didn't land? Yep, stop it, you asshole. Your stupid call is making this fight less. You know like it's the same stuff that used to drive me crazy. Any white socks fan out there would know like early on hawk harrelson was was cute.
Speaker 2:It was like fine, but then it became more about him than the sport and that's when it stopped being cute. You know, like when he called mark burley's perfect game and just kept screaming and yelling instead of letting mark have his moment, he made sure that it was about him. And that's what I think joe tessitores does is just loves to hear himself talk. He has zero volume control and was just going crazy on punches that didn't even land. So I was like is he trolling me? What the fuck is he doing? He's actually screaming about a punch that was thrown. Yeah, it looked like it would have caused damage if it landed anywhere. Didn't even land on the arms, it was a swing and miss, an absolute fucking whiff and the guy loses his mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I felt like they were kind of rooting against Inouye. It felt like that Totally From the beginning of the fight. I even thought like you realize why you're making money right now. It's not Ramon Cardenas, it's Inouye. Like what money right now? It's not Ramon Cardenas, it's Inouye. What are you doing? You should be hyping your guy up a little bit better and they were not and, to be honest, it was super annoying.
Speaker 2:They did admit at one point that Ramon Cardenas was part of the camp of Tim Bradley's old trainer or there was some kind of connection there. So that at least made a little sense why Tim was a little biased. But he didn't go nearly as over the edge as Joe Tessitore was, where literally punches that were missing it was. It was driving me nuts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I will say I do like when Tim Bradleyley he almost lets you know when he's being a homer like it would be like oh, this is my boy. Like, yeah, and so I almost forgive it a little bit. It's like, oh, they're buddies. Like I would be doing the same thing if fritz was in the ring I'd be like look at this manly man up there like it makes a little bit of sense.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I thought Inouye looked great. I loved how he came back when he did get knocked down. It looked like a little kid that spilled his milk, Like he was more upset with himself, Like, ah, I can't believe I did that and you know, totally not giving credit to Cardenas but I thought it was good. It was a great fight. I thought Inouye looked great and I thought Ramon Cardenas put on a great show. Like he built up his brand. He has more value now. I'd love to see this dude fight again. He kind of looks like a really muscular version of my barber.
Speaker 1:Even though my barber is Jordanian, he's not Mexican, but like that thick beard and then like the tapered fade going up the mid fade, I thought I thought Cardenas look great. Inouye is like hitting legendary status. Now he's up there as one of the greatest boxers in the world but and this was the important thing Set himself apart from Canelo, where it's like it's not just that he's good, it's that he's entertaining to. Canelo could not catch his fighter. Inouye put it all out on the line line. Even though he got knocked down and he caught one, he ended up getting it back and made sure that cardenas paid. So it was such a good fight and such a great ending to such a horrible long weekend of boxing now there was a knock that inouye scored his first knockdown in the seventh.
Speaker 2:yeah, he was attacking high, attacking low, attacking in between, like it was incredible. And then he gets the, the tko in the eight. But I want you to rewind just to the sixth round, where I don't speak japanese, uh and I I know that you don't either, but it feels like his corner maybe said let me see how many body punches you can land this round and really just scramble this guy's innards. Because there was so many body shots in that round that I was like this this dude might fall, this might be a body shot knockout, like it was like spring break in Cancun, like that many body shots were happening.
Speaker 2:Like it was, you know, like like, uh, my buddy Chad laying on the bar in Wisconsin for body shots. Like it was so crazy the amount of body shots so I maybe before next episode, I learned to speak Japanese.
Speaker 1:It was all cuss words, it turns out.
Speaker 2:That's all yeah.
Speaker 1:Like yelling out racial slurs. You're like hey guys, no, don't worry, Nobody speaks Japanese anyway.
Speaker 2:If you don't have, I don't know, do you have anything else to add on the anyway versus Cardenas fight.
Speaker 1:He's must watch boxing.
Speaker 2:Uh yeah, go back, watch it on your ESPN app. It's was absolute joy. Just go to the main card, because the two fights are right there and both of them are worth watching, especially if you already have ESPN. Now, franco, I'm giving you another chance to get off the mat on trivia here. All right, so this is what I got in honor of my new, least favorite boxer on planet Earth, william the Runner Skull. Roadrunner Skull. This was his first loss when he fought Canelo. Sorry, we all had to lose while he did too, but here are the people he has beat. List of four. Please tell me who. He did not defeat All right.
Speaker 2:We got Sean Hemphill, Dragan LePay, Wilson Fisk or Ivan Sokic. I'm going to go. Dragan LePay, Dragan LePay, he did defeat.
Speaker 2:Ah that is not a real name. Wilson Fisk is the kingpin, franco. Oh, god damn it. He cannot beat the kingpin Because when he tried to run he would just break his leg and the fight would be over. So I'll get another one ready for you next episode and for anybody out there. I don't think we're going to be missing much. I think we're going to be off for a few weeks until caleb plant is on prime video, not fighting charlo, but charlo's on that card too. Uh, there'll be a few things between now and then that I'll pay attention to, and if there's anything to cover, we will definitely come back. But probably the next time you'll expect an episode is after that may 31st fight with caleb plant. Uh, return to the ring. Did you see anything before between now and then? That would demand our attention.
Speaker 1:No, not really. I saw some highlights of some random stuff, but also, just on a quick note to if there's anybody out there that runs boxing pages specifically for, like, the big brands like Top Rank and for DAZN, stop posting old shit, please, for the love of God. Start promoting the fighters that you currently have. Like, stop living in the heyday of boxing and it's good to sprinkle it in every once in a while but promote the fights. There's so many fights that are going on, and maybe there's a diamond in the rough and I'm not going to tune into it because you're showing me Manny Pacquiao versus whoever it's. Just, they need to start promoting this stuff a little bit better. On the other hand, they promoted the hell out of Ryan Garcia and Canelo, and that was a big wet turd anyway. So, yeah, not much that I've seen since then.
Speaker 2:Oh, just a quick mention because I know both of us are big fans of Lee Wood, the man, the myth, the perm. He came back just this past weekend, took a loss, but, franco, it was. The exact reason why we like him is that he just kept coming forward, he did not try, he did not stop trying and finally his corner threw in the towel where he was just taking a beating. He has zero quit in the dude. So if lee wood ever boxed here in the States, I would go buy a ticket because the dude is just fun and he's got the heart of a goddamn lion. So shout out to Lee wood Sorry you lost, but you haven't lost a fan on this side of the pond because you are a good boxer. I want to thank everybody for listening. Thanks for subscribing. Tell a friend, uh, write a review. All those things will help. We definitely appreciate it. Thanks to Franco for doing all the real work behind the scenes. And you don't have anything else, franco, I'm throwing in the towel.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to Punches and Punchlines. Make sure to like, subscribe and follow and we'll see you next week when we break down the best in boxing with a sense of humor.