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Beyond The Game Live Podcast with Morris Jackson | Ricardo Laguna | Ron Johnson | Vegas Circle

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We took “Beyond the Game” live, and the biggest theme that keeps showing up is simple: talent is common, structure is rare. So we brought in three people who’ve actually built systems around talent and turned it into careers, community, and ownership right here in Las Vegas and far beyond.

Morris Jackson breaks down how esports goes way past “kids playing video games.” We talk youth esports training, discipline, coaching, teamwork, and why the new third space for young people is digital. He shares how Valhalla builds an 18 month development pathway, why off screen learning matters as much as game time, and how branding and professionalism can make or break sponsorships. If you’ve ever wondered whether esports careers are real, this conversation puts numbers, process, and accountability behind it.

Ricardo Laguna connects BMX risk to entrepreneurship, networking, and investing. He gets real about failing fast, protecting your time, and why some “easy” businesses cost more than money. Then Ron “The American Dream” Johnson brings the boxing promoter perspective: how he learned discipline early, what influencer boxing changes for the sport, and why athletes have to stop chasing relevance and start building ownership. We close with a message on unity, respect, and building something that lasts.

If you got value from this, subscribe, share it with someone building their next chapter, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Welcome And The New Direction

SPEAKER_05

Put your hands together for Mr. Chris Smith. I'm in hockey. We're gonna get the video.

SPEAKER_04

With it, it's a bit of a fit. You wanna hope? Y'all moving ready to go. I'm the big bit, ain't no big ballet skiddy. I'm the city key, get it low, okay, with it.

unknown

Ain't nobody running me. Ain't nobody running me. Ain't nobody with running me.

SPEAKER_05

Give y'all a quick heads up, man. This has been a making for a while. We've been working and strategizing and finally rebranded. Frank Mill is amazing. Chris and I interviewed him about four years ago now. He runs a company called Pretty Fly Society, and his expertise is on these live podcasts. So this is really sexy with what we're putting together with Frank's help. But he does a lot of events in, you know, London, Paris, New York, Houston. Um he's about to do Japan in May. So this is this is the real deal, man. He's very, very, very strategic with what he's doing. We have a lot to come, man. Last night we started off with a meet and greet. We thought it went really, really well. And we want to start curating and putting people in rooms with our network. So we'll be eight years coming up this July. So just give you guys a heads up. This ain't our first rodeo. We haven't taken one break, and we've been consistently putting out content every single month. And what Frank is mentioning is, man, we got to start bragging. We've just won our the award for the best local, you know, podcast here behind you know Sean Kelly and Misha Tate and Jake Shields. And so we we really want to start elevating what we're doing. Appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. Donnie, shout out to your wife, man. Starting to starting to clap. I see you. But just to give you guys a quick backstory, so we want to start curating these, right? So this is beyond the game, right? So we've got professional athletes up here like Ron Johnson, that's the American Dream. He's got, you know, the swaggy P and Blueface fight coming up in May. You know, he's been doing stuff with the Paul brothers. So a lot of these things that you're seeing behind the scenes, people don't even realize, you know, there's some really powerful people in Vegas that are building a lot of this stuff internationally. So we want to put our little sprinkle on that, right? So Ron Johnson's amazing and as a boxer. Then we've also got Ricardo Laguna, who is a retired, I don't even want to say retired because he's still amazing, is he'll be a X writer and he does amazing things in real estate. He's done a lot of stuff on the angel investing side. So these are real business brains that are here that have really got businesses that you can be able to listen to. And then we've got Morris Jackson that's building the Holland, which is an esport franchise. We got his business partner in the front row, Brand, you know, Brandon Parker, who's been on our podcast, man. So shout out to him. He's playing, I can't even are you with the Falcons now? I'm Jesus Christ, my bad. 49ers. So, but this is one of one of his business partners, man. And what they're doing on the e you know, the esports space that you'll be able to see. One person I super, super want to shout out, man, is this man right here, Dwight. We start we started with this brother right here, man. So we were with Dwight Studio, it's been what 2020? 2020. We were here for about three years. Shout out to his wife and his family. He went to law school, but I really want to give him a shout-out, man, because he really, really helped us elevate, you know, what we were doing at the right time, man. So I just appreciate Dwight, man, and his family. So much love uh to that. So but what else, Chris? I'm you know, sorry, I'm gonna talk y'all's ear off. You know, I talk a lot.

SPEAKER_02

So at the end of the day, we we just want to thank all of you for the support, right? We know it's you don't have to waste your time or spend your time listening to us talk about business or listening to these other people in our markets talk about business, but you're taking that time to be here with us today, to talk with each other, to look for opportunities to continue to develop the people around us, right? I think ultimately that's what we're trying to accomplish. You know, not all of everybody here probably had a hard path to get to success, and we're trying to help people make that path easier. So put people connect in with people who already did it, learn from it, and really just use that opportunity with our network to help people continue to grow and build our city. So we appreciate all of you for being here, taking the time and you know, just supporting us through this journey that we're going on.

Morris Jackson Enters Esports Journey

SPEAKER_05

For sure. And I can't I can't start anything without shouting out my wife, man, 21 years. This all started. I mean, we're going on eight years now. Thank you, thank you. And it's amazing because she got sick of Chris and I talking about this. But we were supposed to start, what, 10 years ago now? In 2015, right? In 2015, we were supposed to start this podcast. And I'm gonna be honest with you, she was like, look, either shut the hell up or start this, and I'm gonna help you. But we need to really do this because you know we me and Chris have always worked really well together, man. And you want somebody that's opposite of you that you can bring, you know, that chemistry and build a business with. So we're really killing this, man. But again, appreciate y'all, appreciate the support. So Morris Jackson, man, you up, brother? Let's roll. We got big money, man. We got big money first, man. Before he even gets in here, man. So I'm gonna embarrass Morris a little bit. Like I said last night, man, this is who I want to be when I grow up, man. So Morris is involved in so much stuff, man, from the hospitality space. He owns multiple hotels. People don't even realize that he's on that space. Been an angel investor for a while. And again, he got the Hollander. We're gonna talk about a little bit in this esports. Chris's been telling me about esports forever, and it's amazing how much these kids are making in esports. It's unfricking real.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, if I if they had this when I was younger, I for sure would not be sitting up here at Pocky. I mean, playing esports for sure, going to, and I probably wouldn't have been to college too.

SPEAKER_01

Same playing some Fortnite, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but Fortnite wasn't there when I was younger, man. There's like Call of Duty, like the first one.

unknown

There you go.

SPEAKER_05

I don't know nothing about video games, so I'm learning. I'm learning as we go. But man, let's jump in, man. So the first question I got for you, man, is how did you feel when you saw Chris in the Diddy documentary man with all that baby oil?

SPEAKER_01

It made me regret the first two podcasts I've been on. I'm like, I don't want to be on any Epstein Files list of whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02

I can just make a joke because he was being he met Diddy like 20 years ago, and he ain't been the same since.

SPEAKER_05

No, shout out, shout out to my bear Jarel in the front row, man. He introduced me to Diddy a while ago, but we ain't gonna get into that, man. So but shout out, shout out to him, man. That's that's his fault. So but no, but on a serious side, man, we'll have a good time with this, man. So when did you realize esports wasn't just about playing games, but about building an ecosystem, a business, and a real career for others?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no, great question. With esports, um, I almost put it into three buckets, right? I've learned from a leader of mine a long time ago that you make an impact through facts, symbols, and emotions. And when I learned esports or I got introduced to esports, I kind of all three of those, I would say, verticals hit me. I would say from the emotional side first. My son was a pretty big gamer, didn't know that. I was that father who Your son is here right here in the front of the house. No, no. That that son listened. It was the second one for any any of us who have who are parents who have multiple kids, it's always the second one that tends to fight you and everything.

SPEAKER_05

Man, we were just having our conversation.

SPEAKER_01

So it was my second, my youngest son who fought us, which honestly, he was so bad, it made my wife and I stop having kids because we thought there was something seriously wrong with the kid. But he actually showed me this lens of esports, right? He's he it was something that motivated him, something that inspired him. And I was that father who said, No, you're going to play football, you're going to wrestle, and you're going to run track. You don't have to, if you have time in between practice training games, then I'll let you compete in the esports. And lo and behold, his senior year of high school, he shares with me that he wants to compete professionally and to forego track season in order to allow him to compete in the esports. And so what ended up happening is that he made a contract, showed me the contract, and said, Listen, dad, if I end up breaking, if if I lead the state in Saxon football, if I go out and I go to state in wrestling, can I compete my can I forego track and just play Overwatch? That was the game he played at the time. Didn't know Overwatch. Every time I saw the game, I felt like I was having a seizure because the game was just moving so fast. I thought they were just smash buttoning, right? Because that's what my generation was used to. And so lo and behold, he ends up breaking the state sack record with Arborview High School. He then turns around during wrestling and goes to state in wrestling and wins state in wrestling for his high school. First time Arborview's ever won a state championship in wrestling. And so he turns to me and goes, Dad, so can I play Overwatch now? And I said, Okay, well, you've earned it, so you can. And so then when I went to the my very first esports tournament, my eyes were blown, right? The production, the competition, the intensity, the teamwork, the just just the vibe in the air just showed me this wasn't just any other game. This is a sport. And then it made me step back for a moment as a father and go, what if I linked into this with my son when he was nine, 10, 11, 12, or during his years in high school? What could he have done with this? I was just talking to Ricardo, and I don't know if I'm taking Ricardo's piece when he talks, but he was sharing with me about how his mother supported him with BMX and biking. And without that support, if he didn't have that support, I don't know where he would have been today. Maybe we wouldn't. I mean, he would still be good looking, so he still keeps that.

SPEAKER_05

The six pack.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, then the six-pack. But would he would he be riding BMX, right? It takes the support from families to really help their kids realize their dreams. And I just look at that moment as a failure for my part, because if I would have linked into that more, what could he have become to get into the professional world of esports? So that was a that to me, that emotional moment was an eye-awaking, an eye-opening experience for me. And then I would say from the so that so that was the emotion side that introduced me to the sport. And then when I looked at the symbols, right? You look at esports athletes today, they are they are creating brand identity. They are marketing engines, they are streamers who have thousands and millions of followers that are engaging with them on a consistent basis. They are the new future athletes of tomorrow, right? And you look at where robotics is going and AI and drone piloting, everything's going to become, I would say, either digitized or just driven by technology. And so these are the kids who are developing the skills to be able to manage and grow and develop that for tomorrow. And so those symbols, as I was looking around, going, okay, that to me there's something here. And then the facts, you just look at the facts, over 50 million kids today under the age of 17 are gaming. Over 50 million kids are also watching games, not even playing games. And the age keeps getting younger and younger. The digital literacy is advancing faster than we've ever seen before. There's over 20 million kids that don't play traditional sports, but play but game. So where do all those kids go? And so that's where myself, Brandon, Mike Sherwood, who's also a partner here as well, we decided to build what we call today is Valhalla. We've been on this amazing journey of building the, I would call the new third space for kids. Because when I was a kid, the third space for me was the park. Now the new third space is this gaming environment. And rather than being a parent who's pulling their kids away, we created a structure environment where kids can lean into and parents can lean into that really turns just average gaming into a skill development platform for careers. So that's what got my attention.

What People Miss About Esports

SPEAKER_02

That's awesome. And I think, you know, one thing you see though is that like the traditional paths in regular sports, like MBA, NFL, and how you're kind of there's a very linear way to go pro and navigate those kind of experiences through different phases of your life. With esports, they really don't have that anymore. Like as of right now, they don't have it. But I know you're doing a really good job of trying to build that foundation and structure to kind of take three people through that journey. You know, as you're kind of developing those things and you're seeing how hard these kids are working, just like you would to try to go to the NBA. You know, what are the biggest misconceptions that you think people have about how much work they are putting into this to really try to go pro, to really try to build that brand where you may see your kid playing video games, to them, they're working hard. They're doing a lot of stuff to try to make that happen. So, what how what do you see the future of that kind of foundation and growth perspectives kind of moving into what direction?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no, so I would tell you that we are building it and we have built it, which is great. So you can say yesterday it wasn't there, but today it's there. And tomorrow is on it, it's gonna just continue to get better and better. I think we've all seen with any type of sport, whether it's football, baseball, basketball, there's a lifetime athlete development model, right? Where you typically, if I want my son to be a professional baseball player, I know I'm gonna sign him up for T ball, right? And then from T ball, I go to little league, little league, I go to high school, high school, so on and so forth, right? Same with football, same with basketball, with AAU. There's all these programs out there where kids can train, develop, grow, and work their way up to become a professional. But then when you looked at esports, you didn't have that, right? To your point, Chris, it was very fragmented industry. But it's not new to what we've discovered because I mean, I'm pretty sure Ricardo will tell you BMX probably had it. We do know X Games formed because of the true ecosystem and infrastructure that was built with that. UFC went through it as well because, again, they took a fragmented industry with competitive fighting and said, let's put this all under one roof. Esports has just been waiting for it. And so rather than us trying to take the traditional route where most people or most companies always focused on the professionals on down, we went from the youth up and said, How do we build infrastructure? How do we build a an environment where kids can develop, learn, and grow and have support to have a pathway to get there? And so I would tell you, one of the misconceptions about esports is the fact that it's easy. It is not easy. The the reaction time, I mean, these kids are making making decisions in milliseconds. They are put in situations where it's constant pressure and constant just some games are under constant attack. Like I play Fortnite and I don't know what these I'm I don't know how they deal with it. Like I can't even get off the plane and drop to the ground without getting taken out. Like the strategies that they have to implement from beginning to end is unbelievable.

SPEAKER_05

I don't want to cut you off one second, but I want to I want Chris to step in because that was what you were recommending for our kids is you were like, look, do it, because that pressure and strategy is the stress of dealing with that helps you in other businesses. And the studies like Elon Musk and a lot of these other people in business, they've been doing video games for many, many years, and I didn't even know that.

SPEAKER_02

Your point, Morris, really helps you kind of navigate complex environments very quickly. But I think with gaming is like anything else, you have to structure it in a productive way. I think the problem is we kind of throw kids to this experience and kind of let it go. So you really lose the ability to showcase like the economy of a Minecraft or the strategy of building something in Fortnite at a rapid pace. Like if you could structure it that way, that's where the real benefit I think comes from.

SPEAKER_05

And the team and the team games, from my understanding. When you're playing team games online with people, you're building that camaraderie also.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, just to get in the right team, though, because a lot of people are rude online, I tell you that.

SPEAKER_01

Well, that's the key, right? It's getting the right team. But kids need help with forming that team because a lot of times they're playing with teams because it's their friends, but they're not building the team with the right roles of the person to help support that team. But that's no different than when we play football, baseball, or basketball, right? When we walked onto a field and we played in an organized fashion for the first time, yeah, me and five of my friends walked on to our football team, but not all of us made it. Maybe only two or three of us made it. And then I had to learn how to build chemistry, communication, and connectivity with new kids who complemented my skills. Now, again, I can have a team where I'm friends with everyone, but it doesn't mean it's the right team to help me succeed. But when I have to work with people who are different than me, when I have to work with people who see things different than me, when I have to work with people who can who need to execute roles that are different from mine to make me better, that's when I learn the true art of teamwork. And that's what we're teaching kids today is that understanding that playing with your friends is fun. But if you want to be a professional, you have to learn how to play with people beyond you who can elevate you and who can upgrade you. So it's a hard lesson for a lot of our kids to learn because they're so used to playing a lot of these games just for simply entertainment. But we are turning gaming into an organized, structured sport, which requires discipline, which requires strategy, communication, comprehensive thinking, cognitive skill development, all these things go into it. But again, no different from any other sport we've ever played.

SPEAKER_05

So parents often think gaming lacks structure. What does real discipline training accountability look like inside a competitive esports program?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so I would tell you the real competitive side of esports, it's truly a development model. It's truly where kids are coming together, our gamers are coming together, and really putting intent behind what they're developing and building and executing on. So one thing we focus on within our organization is a curriculum training model. So we'll bring in a young recruit, we'll bring in a young member. We consider them what we call a recruit. At that recruit level, we then put them on an 18-month curriculum process that advances them to what we call the mastery level. And so every single kid gets to compete at those different levels. So no different than what you see from karate and all the different levels and the belts. Exactly. And it's because there's there's there's certain things within the games you have to understand and realize that's gonna make you a what we call a legendary player. And once you're at that legendary level, which we call that tier five, then you really start to compete against the best of the best that are out there. And so it's it's understanding that there's there's these, there's there's teaching, there's there's participation, there's involvement with everyone around you. There's a coach, there's practice times, there's game times that you have to show up for. And again, when you don't show up for the games, that means you don't show up for your team. When you don't show up for your team, your team can fail. And so it's getting them to understand that you need to move from seeing this as a casual platform to a competitive platform. And I would say the one thing we teach our kids, and we also teach parents too, that just because you see all these games and you see the environment, we're not an arcade. We are a place of competition and a place of development. And that development model over the 18-month period to seeing our kids become legendary, that's what we strive for and work with our kids on.

SPEAKER_05

And and I want to put this in reality too, from somebody you introduced me. I mean, we got one of the top gamers here, Virgus Inferno. We got Hyro in here right now that is making some serious money in this business. So shout out to Hyro. And we had him on our podcast. You guys can listen to his podcast. These guys are really making some big brand deals, and it's amazing, man. And you got one of the top teams here, period. So shout out to him.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and what I've learned from even people like Hyro and Las Vegas Inferno is that being a top gamer doesn't mean you, I mean, the skills are one thing. Like you can be the best basketball player or the best football player individually, but if you don't know how to work with others, play with others, communicate well with others, you're not going to be a professional. And what I've learned from Hyrule within, and it really helps our kids understand too, that if you're if you want to become a brand presence, if you want to have millions of followers, if you want to be a championship player on a team, there's a lot more that goes into this and just being good at the game. You have to be able to communicate effectively, you have to create this non-toxicity when you do things, you have to approach things from a positive intent. Because Hyra will tell you, he can lose a sponsorship deal just like that if anyone doesn't perform or behave with integrity or with the right type of, I would say, professionalism and character, because brands don't want to be associated with people with bad character or reputation. So all of these things go into this branding and marketing, which again, a lot of these esports kids are learning at such a young age, but with it being unstructured, they don't know how to really bring it all together to make them successful.

SPEAKER_02

Regular sports, right? Like MBA. There's a physical component to it where you can't do it consistently for 18 hours a day. You know, a lot of gamers are there's a real addiction for about people who do play video games and the adorphins that it brings to the table. You know, how do you bet? Balance the or teach kids the balance between the two because you can sit behind a computer and play for 18 hours a day. You can kind of get involved and have a negative repercussion from that experience. So as you're kind of structuring it in a positive way, I feel like there's there seems to have to be a balance between what the work you're putting in for the outcome you're looking for. Because to be great, you have to put in a lot of time. But NBA, you you're limited with the time you can put in, but not really with video games.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I would say to that point, uh just like anything else, too much of anything is can create exhaustion, right? Like you play basketball too much, you can get exhausted. If you play football too much and the physicality of it, you can get exhausted. Now with esports, you can play a little longer and remove exhaustion, but there is brain exhaustion. And in order for you to remain focused and to stay focused, you have to have off-screen time. And there's things within the game that you should be focusing on and working on that is going to help you be better in the game, like understanding the maps, understanding the economies, understanding comms, understanding positions, right? There's all these, there's there's all these other tactics that you have to develop. And that has to be off the game. And there's that old saying, you if you continue to do the same thing, expecting different results, it that's just a definition of insanity, right? So we show our kids if you're making the same mistakes, let's take you off the game. Let's show you ways we can improve this, let's show you videos or VODs, which is nothing but chalk talk, right? Let's show you skills you need to be working on to improve the behaviors over here. And again, a lot of that's off-screen time. And I would say the most magical thing about the places that we run is that most of our kids spend more time off the game than on the game. Because once they find their community, it just becomes powerful. And then they're learning how to really be a team and perform at a high level.

Scaling Valhalla Nationwide

SPEAKER_05

How many franchises do you guys have now?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, right now we have over 50 locations across 20 states here in the United States. We just so when we acquired Valhalla and we took over 20 locations with three that are scheduled to open. Um, and then we just acquired our second closest competitor, which is XP League. Congratulations, um, thank you. And once we acquired XP League, that allowed us to become the number one youth esports academy across the United States.

SPEAKER_05

Powerful, powerful, amazing. Final question for you, man. What does success look like for you 10 years after the game is over?

SPEAKER_01

Living in Ireland with my wife. That's like that's success for me. Like, I if you've never been to Ireland, go to Ireland. Anyway, no, success for us in 10 years is us being able to look back and A, have a company we built that we're proud of. I mean, you the people who formed Little League, I'm pretty sure they can look back and say, okay, we left a mark. Yeah, we are developing the future generation of baseball talent. I want us to be able to look back and say, we are developing the future generation of not just esports professionals, but young men and women who are going to be leading this in, you know, leading the 21st century or the 22, you know, the next centuries of where the world is going. I mean, we can already see the world's going in this, just continues to advance in this technology age. I mean, what five years from now, I can be sitting here talking to a Tesla robot. Yeah, but who's gonna be programming the robot? Who's gonna be coding the robot? Who's gonna be managing that? It's going to be our future gamers. It's going to be those who started in this ecosystem to say, we are the next creators, we are the next designers, we are the next engineers, we are the ones that are going to be innovating for tomorrow. That's what we're building. And so to see any of those young men and women come from our ecosystem 10 years from now and say we had a small part to do with that, whether it's them in the Olympics, whether it's them at the esports world cup, or them developing the next technology, that's where I want us to see. And then also a pretty big exit, too. So I get it. I get it.

SPEAKER_05

I know about that exit, man. I'm trying to get in so I can get that billion dollars too. So, but but man, shout out to you, Morris, man. You've been amazing, man, and we support everything that you're doing. Shout out to your wife and your family and your business partners, man. Keep killing them because we want kids to have these opportunities. I mean, obviously, we all got kids sitting on the stage. Chris has had three kids with his wife, Savannah. My wife and I got two boys, and we want to be able to give opportunities. So we appreciate what you're doing and applaud what you're doing, brother. So we take time, man.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you.

SPEAKER_05

Thank you, brother.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you're welcome. And hey, real quick, shout out to Vegas Circle. You guys, Pocky, Chris, you helped us start this journey. And I would tell you, these two gentlemen here, huge advocates for what you built and well deserved on your number one podcast in Vegas. Love it. Thank you, brother.

Ricardo Laguna On Risk And Reinvention

SPEAKER_05

Appreciate that. Next up, got our second guest, BMX writer, uh, and creator entrepreneur. We got Mr. Ricardo Laguna.

SPEAKER_00

I'm quick, so let's get up here. Oh, we good, we good, we're good, man. Which, by the way, retired? Man, I feel like I'm some of the trails with the kids. They're like, when is grandpa gonna retire? And I just let my writing do speak for itself.

SPEAKER_05

I see, I see. I'll be watching your pictures, man. Like I told you, I gotta get my ab game up, man. I know you ain't retired yet, man. And I see what you're doing in your backyard is absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you, thank you. But no, I need more comments like that so I get more feeled up and uh let the writing speak for itself. I got you, brother. How are you guys? Moving on as much.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, Ricardo, man. So I think we interviewed Ricardo six, I think it was five years ago, right? She's saying no. So I'm saying four years. So, first question we got for you, man. So BMX is built on risk. I know you take a lot of risk, got a lot of businesses that you're involved in. How did that mindset prepare you for entrepreneurship?

SPEAKER_00

You know, I I I wish I could tell you there was one exact thing that was like that's what got me into that path. But for me, it's just taking the risk and fail. I know it sounds so cliche, I fail so many times that brush it off and keep getting back up.

SPEAKER_05

Especially you gotta do that when you've fallen off and breaking stuff and doing all these different things.

SPEAKER_00

You gotta absolutely, but thank God now we have new technology like foam pits and reci jumps, so it helps the false not to hurt so bad.

SPEAKER_02

You mean when do you realize so after you become a BMX writer that that journey becomes over at some point, at least competitively, at least I would assume. When do you realize that the transition and you have to create that story, like reinvigorate yourself, re-navigate how you're gonna live the second chapter of your life post-that experience?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I mean, I like to think I'm not negative, I'm just realistic. The longevity of my sport is not very long, and I always knew I was gonna use my bike as a vehicle to open up doors. So with that said, I I managed to do events. With that said, I managed to do shows. With that said, I managed to look a couple pistols, become a couple BMX dollars, and really invest into real estate. So now I made a good foundation that I feel like if bike riding really winds down, well, if it's today and a couple months away, I think I'll be doing all right. You had some shows too, right? You were in like MTV and a bunch of different things. Correct, yeah, yeah. I was very blessed that I knowing who you know is your net worth. That's basically why I always say I was doing this event and they asked me if I can do the interview, and I was like, sure, I'll do it. And then I stutter and did terribly, and I said, take two. And I was like, What? This is way better than me falling and potentially getting hurt. Yeah, so I kind of want to dig into this TV stuff, and you gotta open up your mouth to get fed. So I asked the lady, what can I do so I can kind of follow this TV path? And she says, Let's do a SISO reel, and then we can figure out from there. So from there on, she hired me to host a couple TV shows. From there, I met Wilmer Baldrama, and he said, Who's your hero? And I was like, Wilmer, back then, one, I didn't speak English that well. Now that I claim that I speak very good English right now, I I was like, I just kind of paved my own wave. So that's when he said, like, well, why don't you be that hero? Showcase that to the world, and that's how the MTV show uh the Ricardo Laguna project started. Love that.

SPEAKER_02

Always been like a good networker, or is that something you've learned through BMX? Are you just a people person in general? Like, do you like to open those doors, navigate experiences?

SPEAKER_00

You know, I I foundation. My parents, I always look at them, took the best, and then you got me. My mom has a business side, my dad has a charisma. So I figure let me be the business side of my mom, sprinkle my dad's little charisma, and here I am.

SPEAKER_05

That's awesome. That's awesome. When did you realize your story had value beyond competition?

SPEAKER_00

I think when a kid lined up on Instagram, so I have a backyard with some ramps, and and it's just for me. Now I'm upgraded four acres, and now more people are finding out about this place. But they lined up the the photo to see if they can find my house. And randomly, yes, I pulled my own eats out of my front house. So I was doing some landscaping, and the kids were scooting around, and they were like, Oh my god, Ricardo. So you kind of know that they're serious, they're not just like fans. And I was like, How come you guys are not riding with helmets? And and I I managed to put together an event where we give over a thousand helmets, we land Rover in other partnerships. That's another story. So the kids they said, Well, I just want to ride with you. So I was like, Well, you guys need to start wearing your helmets. And until this day, this kid is potentially gonna be in the Olympics as a scooter and comes about. So I think that's one of the big eye openers that wow, what I'm doing is not just a passion. I'm impacting some kids. And they're watching. That's the main thing they watch.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, yeah. So when you live your life kind of in the public eye, I feel like people generally only see a lot of the wins. They see the success, not the work that gets put into it. You know, how do you I'm sure you've had navigated some failures over the years, whether it's in business and BMX or even relationships, or however you're handling things. You know, how have you kind of built that foundation to be able to face that adversity and continue to push yourself forward and move in that successful area?

SPEAKER_00

You know, I uh I started a trucking company a couple of years ago, and I was like, oh, this will be easy. I hire some people, buy a truck, and I'll do it myself. It was great. My girlfriend hated it because I had to wake up most of the days at four in the morning to pick up the loads, and then I had to count on a team. My driver. I fired a bunch of drivers because I'm like, where are you? I gotta go pick, you gotta go pick up the load, and and he missed the load. Now he had to sit there and the truck is now making money. So I was like, I need to like kind of like work with something that I really enjoy, but at the same time not sacrificing so much time so I can really live. Because I got to the point it was putting a lot of tension to my relationship with my girlfriend, so I think she was very happy when I sold the trucking company. But I think stuff like that, it always sounds like it's a bad thing, but it actually taught me a lot. Like, you know, time is limited, so most wealthy people really try to figure out how they can save time, even if it costs them money. So at this point, I always try to figure out where I can invest into something so I can free up time. So that's one of the lessons that I learned from I don't want to say I took an L by that trucking company, but I gain a huge knowledge from that.

SPEAKER_02

You always kind of move with that optimism because you can see it just talking to you. Like if you don't ever see something as a failure, you just always come with a smile and optimistic.

SPEAKER_00

Look, any day that you wake up, it's already a win. Why look at the cup half empty when it can be half full? Why why complain and spill milk? So keep going.

SPEAKER_05

I 100% agree. What what does Beyond the Game personally mean to you today?

SPEAKER_00

You know, I don't know because I'm hoping that I have many more years since I'm not retired by the last time. I I you know, I in my sport, I I don't know when the end is gonna be there. But I have a friend that he just turned 60. Believe it or not, he won the um what is that show called? America's Got Talent? Yes, that one. He won the America's Got Talent. And and I always tell him, Gary, do not stop writing because you set the bar for me. So as of now, I have about 16 years left because he still makes money, he's still doing events. So I don't know how that's gonna look, but what I am hoping that it's gonna look like, I'm gonna have a lot more free time, especially with so much technology out there. Since I do a lot of social media stuff, I actually have two assistants that they run my social media, and the way things are looking is I'm gonna have to condense because technology is there that I really don't need them anymore. So I'm excited to see what the future presents itself to allow me after bike ride and what is the next thing. I know there's a lot of talk, which I spilled the beans, Ireland. We were visiting, so hopefully not move to Ireland, but you never know, maybe travel more.

SPEAKER_05

Last question for you. If the audience remembers one lesson from your journey, what should it be?

SPEAKER_00

I mean, for me, and I hope that you guys are picking this up for me, I'm living my life to the fullest. Maybe some people don't look at it that way because sometimes I don't even leave my house. I have my own gym, four acres are jumps, assistants come to my house. So there's a reason why I don't leave my house. But to me, that's uh an amazing day. So I'm living my life to the fullest. If I really need to do something, I can make it happen. So that's what I look at as the best.

SPEAKER_05

Salute to you, Ricardo, man. We always appreciate your time, man. And keep killing all you doing because I know you're involved in a lot of businesses and you in your is it a in with the is it a Facebook show? Because you got a comedy show. Can you just share the last part of the video?

SPEAKER_00

No, so uh I work, it's called the network. Okay, collectively as a company, we just reach over 300 billion views. We're the number one channel with 300 billion? Billion with a B, yeah. 300. So it it's the future's here. I mean, I heard earlier someone said it. We we're basically entertainers that crazy to say they're making actors from Hollywood money. So, because social media, like it or not, is is is a huge thing in life right now.

SPEAKER_02

I've been pocking practice of stand-up, so I get it.

SPEAKER_05

Hey, this is the whole I want to end with this. This is why this is in our backyard, this is in Vegas, and he's doing 300 billion views, is unreal. That's that's unreal. So, congratulations, man.

SPEAKER_00

Remember, that's this a company, not me. I just do a couple of things.

Ron Johnson On Loss And Faith

SPEAKER_05

No, no, no, no. But but the point is that you're involved in it. You're involved in it so much talent. So I salute what you're doing, brother. So Keeping here. Thanks for your time, man. No, muchas gracias. Thank you, dog. Always. Thanks, brother. Appreciate you. We got our last guest of the evening. We got Mr. Ron, the American Dream Johnson, boxing promoter. I've met Ron probably 15 years ago now. We were talking about last night when we were hanging out. Um I don't want to say he's he's uh retired yet. He's still active, but he's got amazing things he's been doing, like I said before with the Paul Brothers. He's got a fight that he's gonna be talking about tonight with um Swaggy P and uh Blueface Man. Let's bring up Ron, man. Salute.

SPEAKER_06

All right, y'all. Before I come up, I want a little bit of crowd participation. One of my favorite songs. So if y'all can stand up and sing it with me. Appreciate y'all. Make it up.

SPEAKER_05

See, Ron always gonna come with that energy, man. You never know. He's the X Factor.

SPEAKER_02

He's the promoter.

SPEAKER_05

That's why.

SPEAKER_06

Hey, you know, being a boxer promoter, you gotta switch it up, man. You gotta be creative.

SPEAKER_05

Always switch it up, man. So let's let's throw these out for a second, man. So what what do you want to start with? What's what's on your mind that you want to start us off with first?

SPEAKER_06

Really, just just want to say, just thank God for another day. Start there. And you know, my prayers is with you. Appreciate you, my brother. I appreciate that, brother. So that's where I want to start with, man.

SPEAKER_05

So you're gonna start with me making me cry, especially what you say.

SPEAKER_06

No, you know you show a lot of strength. Yeah, I don't know if I could be able to do what you're doing right now, man. You know, so it's I commend you, man.

SPEAKER_05

And everybody give them a round of applause for being here at do what he's doing. Thank you, man. You know, that that means a lot, man. And I'm I'm glad we starting there because, you know, I've really been thinking a lot about this, man. I know not to get on me, because this is about you, but you know, I lost my mother November 13th. I just lost my father February 8th. So we're planning his memorial service in Chicago. I'll be in Chicago literally in like a week. But, you know, it's amazing because my father was supposed to be here tonight. So it's it's it's tough. I know I'm gonna cry, but I appreciate you. I appreciate you. I appreciate you. I appreciate you, I appreciate you. Yeah, so I mean that means a lot, man. Let's start with that. So, how did boxing prepare you for the realities of business and promotion? Because it's a big mix in that.

SPEAKER_06

You know, honestly, I don't even think boxing prepared me for business promotion. I want to credit my father for that, you know, because at such an early age, we were entrepreneurs. My dad, we sold, he had me selling oils, incense, because my dad was Muslim, so we you know, I sold oils and incense, final calls, but then my mom was Christian, so we go to church. But that entrepreneurial spirit started at a young age, even before boxing. And and I watched my dad have multiple businesses, always create numerous income, so that's where I feel like it came from. But boxing was my niche, and I had to figure out how to make more money outside of the ring.

SPEAKER_05

You know, I like you said it. So we all Midwest brothers, that's the funny thing, right? So Ron is from Cleveland, I'm originally from Chicago. Chris is originally from Michigan, right? And he got his family in the building, too, man. So shout out to his family. And we actually have multiple people from Michigan. I forgot about that, but OH. Yeah. I oh.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. There we go.

SPEAKER_05

But it but it's amazing you talk about the hustle. I didn't realize the similarities because I don't know if people even knew this, man. Farrakhan lived across the house from my godmother. So I grew up very similar to you, man.

SPEAKER_06

So maybe I went to Sabres Day every year in Chicago. So yeah, that's right. You know, yeah. We related, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I get it, man. We pass this to Chris, man. Jump in, jump in.

SPEAKER_02

So once you kind of grow through the boxing ring, right? You have this entrepreneurial spir uh entrepreneurial spirit, like really there's not a lot of lanes where maybe I don't know in boxing to really transfer to being a business owner. And did you always have that kind of flair of being a boxer to get into promotions, or was the goal to more be the backbone of people being put them in front of everybody else?

Boxing Promotion And Influencer Fights

SPEAKER_06

Well, my first favorite fighter, and my still my favorite fighter of all time is Roy Jones Jr. And if you know Roy Roy Jones in 90s, early 2000s was the man. And I studied his career like no other. And you know, he came right out and he did it his own way from start to finish. He was the first one to really have his own promotion company. People don't know he was the one that started Shane Mosley, Winky Wright, all of those guys, those former champions, got their big starts from Roy Jones. Was he sponsored by Michael Jordan too? He was the first fighter to have a major sponsorship. You don't even see those things. He had his own shoe. You don't see boxers having a shoe at all. Right? So these things were sold in footlocker and all these things. So I, you know, I was blessed to be around him and like pick his brain as I got older, but I already already knew everything about him more than he knew about himself almost, you know. So because I studied everything that he did, and that kind of helped me shape everything right from the gate. I I didn't come right out my being on my own. I was signed to some people, but the first chance I got to be able to get away from them and do my own thing because I had enough money to do my own thing was in 2007, which I turned pro in 2004, but I had a four-year contract, so I was able to buy myself out already immediately. And my first big event was October 6, 2007. In Cleveland, my hometown, I did the event with me, Jim Brown, and LeBron James. And it was called Put Down the Guns, Pick Up the Gloves. Because a lot of my friends that I grew up with was getting killed left and right. So I wanted to like send a message through what I could do, but then with other powerful voices that had like bigger names and images than myself, so people really take notice of it. And it was very successful, and that was the kickoff of my me owning a promotional company journey.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, promotions are a big But how do you bridge the gap between technical ability that you're seeing, like you actually being a professional boxer, now kind of this influencer boxing space, where it's more for entertainment purposes in a lot of senses, less out of being like you're gonna go pro. Like, do you see that's kind of hurting the game or helping what you kind of did?

SPEAKER_06

I'm I'm I'm really torn between the things, yeah, right? Because I come up traditionally doing it the traditional way. And I'm I'm st I'm still all for the traditional way. Like we have a fight tonight, Ryan Garcia is fighting Mario Barrios. I love it when guys we go in the amateurs, try to go to the Olympics and do it that way. But I also I also love what Jake Paul and a lot of these other influencers have brought to the game because our amateur boxing programs is not the same. So if you go in any inner cities in the Midwest, like when I was growing up, we had a hundred gyms in Cleveland. We probably have five right now. Oh wow. So that means the next Floyd Mayweathers, the next Mike Tysons, the next Muhammad Ali's are less likely.

SPEAKER_02

Well, the money these guys are pulling in, though. I see some of these dollar values, these guys put in this work for 20 years than for a year.

SPEAKER_06

It's it's the the money part is it's it's a great business if you you know if you can make it to that level, but not everybody gets to that level. There's a million fighters in the world, in the world. That's great because we're 365. There's no seasons. Boxing is all year round. So you have to end up either making enough money to there's no medical plans, there's no pensions, no nothing. You know how many people I know and fighters I know that when they used to come, when I used to, when I first moved to Las Vegas, they used to come and tell me, Ron, really take this serious, because you can make so much money in the sport. But then everybody I looked around, it'd be 30 of us in a gym, and only one person got money.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, good, too.

SPEAKER_06

That's comfortable, but that's comfortable. Not even like super wealthy, right? But that's comfortable, right? And and I always had it in my mind that I wanted to box because I wanted to, not because I have to. So I wanted to change that narrative. Boxing definitely was the reason why I was able to move to Las Vegas. I was moved here by Layla Ali, Muhammad Ali's daughter. So I live with her. So shout out to Layla, and uh, she was the one that brought me here and so gave me my first start. But like I said, I didn't I wanted to quickly make boxing where I wanted to do it and not where I had to do it.

SPEAKER_05

Stay on that for one second, man. You just gotta just sidetrack one second. Talk about when you sparred with Layla Ali real quick.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, yeah. I forgot about I boxed with Layla thousands of rounds, and it was this one particular day I was like messing with her, and I put my hands down and I was like trying to showboat. She hit me with her right hand because I didn't have my mouth open, you know, and you were supposed to bite down on the mouthpiece to protect your jaw. And she hit me with the right hand, and then she followed it up with another one. I couldn't eat for a week. I couldn't chew. I was like, yo, I'm like, Layla, where you get that power? She like, you better stop playing with me, boy. I'm not playing. She had her dad voice that day. She was it was a real deal. Layla is no joke. Layla's no joke.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Ron got the best stories. If you ever get a chance, talk to this guy.

SPEAKER_05

He's the coolest behind-the-scenes stories. I want I want you to just kind of share, like, you deal with some of the strongest personalities. Oh, yeah. Like a Wackwood Hudded. Um Jumper. No jumper Adam 20. All these people that you're in the rooms with. But how do you like keep your composure and not like want to lose it because you're dealing with so much strong personalities, and it's like they ain't no, it's all it's all lions in there. Yes.

SPEAKER_06

You know, it's it's it's crazy because I had a conversation, you know, again, talking to my dad, we were talking about this because when I was young, my dad would like take me in the bars where I would sell a lot of products at, right? And so when we go in, my dad would say, if this guy over here, he wants to smell a hundred oils and don't give you not a no money, he wasting your time. This person's very aggressive when they're talking to you because he's drunk. This person's this so you start to I was able to learn just the different personalities of people at an early age to be able to adapt in rooms. And then coming from Cleveland, you know, in the in the inner city, I grew up around certain kind of individuals that had tough backgrounds and and hardcore kind of guys. But then my my uncle was the only person in our family that had a college degree. He was a doctor. So I knew what like how that kind of personalities are. Then I knew like being in with the Nation of Islam, I knew what this kind of personalities is. Like, so it's just being like, just being well-rounded. And I love preaching about just that in general. I think just all of us, we all have kids, and just us as adults, because we still live our lives and still trying to reach our goals. And the more well-rounded you could be, the better. And I learned something from what's her name? The the lady that went to jail with Snoop the Snoop. Martha Stewart. Martha Stewart. I watched her documentary, and something that stuck with me, she said, try to learn something new every day. Doesn't mean you gotta master it, but just expand your brain, and that's something I live by every day. I just I just try to look up little different things and just to be able to be more educated, because a lot of people don't think that I sh should be as educated as I am sometimes from being a boxer and different things, right?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know, because talk about the discipline, like those your personal experiences and navigating the you know, the different personalities, and you have discipline when you're boxing and you're trying to navigate the structure of getting to that pro level. You know, having all these different disciplines and trying to really, you know, hold on to them. How did you think that having that gives you the backbone to really grow your business the way that you want it to do?

SPEAKER_06

Again, it started at an early age. Started with fasting. Right? Fasting helped me just in general when we would do Ramadan and things like that, because it helped me it helped me refrain from just like the everyday things that as just me as a man speaking, just the things that we crave and things that we want to do, right? So it helped me. I'm glad I had that early bringing because I got to Vegas when I was 17. So we had a yeah, so you know, and I'm with Floyd one night, I'm with Mike Tyson this night, I'm with so you could just imagine the things I'm around. But I'm the young guy, they're already who they are. You know, I'm the young guy that's trying to make myself a somebody. So I had to really hold on to those strict values of certain things and depriving myself of a lot of things that is right in your face, that's very easy to have. So you you have to be disciplined in everything you do, no matter what walk of life it is.

SPEAKER_02

You intentionally out to yourself, like to set certain parameters to build that discipline even now that you know you're in this different environment.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, yeah, it's I because I feel like if you if you're able to fight some of your strongest things that may not even relate to your business, then that's an easy thing. Right? So it's like I love I love making love to my wife, right? But I know if I can't, if I got a fight coming up and I we can't do that for eight weeks, and if I'm able to refrain from doing that, I can refrain from anything. And so that's powerful. No, as a man, no, you tell a you tell a truth as a man.

SPEAKER_05

That's that's powerful.

SPEAKER_06

I'm just being real.

SPEAKER_05

That's real. What what do you have coming up? It's in the Philippines, right? You got something coming up.

SPEAKER_06

So we the first I had I had to wait for a second because we were negotiating. Uh, Blueface was just getting out of prison, and I didn't know exactly when we were gonna have his fight. And we were planning in LA at first, and we were planning, but I've been building in Miami a lot. So my first choice was Miami. I didn't want to deal with the LA stuff, right? Because it's like him and Swaggy both from LA, and you know, if you know a little bit about their backgrounds, you know, I don't get into the whole color stuff and then those type of things. So I just didn't really want to deal with none of that. So I was like, hey, let's let's go to Miami, let's keep it neutral. So Miami's good m majority good weather all year round, positive place, and it'll be a good place. So I had to set that up first before I was able to uh let my good friend, the president of the Philippines, Bong Bong, he wanted me to come to the Philippines and do a series there, which kicks off in June. So June 13th, we'll be in the Philippines in Manila.

SPEAKER_02

Sounds fun. That was a question for my mother in my life.

SPEAKER_06

I'm actually more excited about that, I think, than the blue, because the Philippines is amazing. It's amazing. I got a Filipino. Shout out to the Philippines.

SPEAKER_05

I was I mean, I was asking about that because up my honesty, I we got family there, we got a house over in that area, man, and it's it's amazing because that just shows, again, Vegas, you're doing stuff internationally, and it all comes back to Vegas, man. Right. And we keep having this, we Chris and I were just having this conversation with Philippe Ziad that runs, you know, owns the AI Hotel. And he was saying something to me. It's amazing. He's got like 50 of them coming up. But something did he share with me, being from the Middle East, same, same, you know, Lebanese background as Chris's family. But he says something to both Chris and I, and he was basically saying, look, Vegas, everybody looks at us internationally. Right. But with such a small market compared to like a Chicago or a New York or an LA. But he's like, we got to start beefing, beefing up and sticking our chest out a little bit because Vegas is an amazing place, man.

SPEAKER_06

I'm gonna tell you one thing. Reason we're like, of course, I have a place in Florida, so I'm back and forth. Yeah, but eventually I want to live in, and I don't want to jump to questions because I know that's a good thing. Sure, no, no, no, you're good. Yeah. Eventually I want to be in Greenwich, Connecticut, right? Because it's 30 minutes outside of Manhattan. Connecticut is you know my family live in New England. It's one of the wealthiest areas in the United States. It's a beautiful place. But when I went there and visited, and I saw that I was looking at houses and it was a cottage for four million dollars, I said, you gotta take your ass back to Vegas for me.

SPEAKER_05

That's real. It's not gonna work. That's I think that's like one of the number one markets. Yeah, it's like one of number one markets in the world.

SPEAKER_06

It's no joke, bro. But it's Vegas for business is like I said, it's when you invite someone here and you want to do a deal, very rare, unless they have a strict wife, they can't come. But more than likely, nobody says no to Vegas. No, not at all. It's a great place to live, to be able to just, hey, I need to come out for the weekend. If you need to bring them out and entertain them, you got millions of restaurants. 100%. You know, and if they're doing good, they can come sit down at the Vegas Circle Podcast. To pull it up, to make that intro. Make that intro. Yeah, so it's all kind of things.

SPEAKER_05

So I'm glad you said something about that. Not to cut you off a second, and uh, and we always talk about this on our podcast, man. Vegas is the Mecca, man, for food too, man. It's it's the Mecca for everything.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, it's kind of the Mecca is it's the fastest. Like when I moved here in what 2003, it's been growing expeditionally crazy, like to the point where, like, yesterday when we went to the mixer, yeah, I didn't even recognize where I was. I'm like, when did they build this? When when did this happen? And it was like so dope. And I'm I'm glad you guys like opened my mind up to just so much more than the normal things that I normally do in Vegas. Thank you, brother. That to not even know that none of this stuff exists. Like, this place is cool, love this. Last night was amazing too. We was out late last night, man. We was like, no, no, that was kicking the last night. I woke up at one o'clock. Yeah, you know, but it was it was a good time, and I love making it. So give a shout out to Vegas Circle Podcast for opening up my letting me know what's there's more to Vegas than I know. But thank you.

SPEAKER_05

And shout out to our sponsor, man. So Saffron Lounge, shout out to my guy Chef Roman, amazing guy, Amazing Food. They were a vegan spot before. That's funny. It was Morris Jackson's, one of his favorite restaurants. So believe it or not. But wow. But shout out to him and shout out to our guy, James Trader, too. James Trader in the front row, man, got one of the best omakase places here called Kase Sushi. My wife and I are there like all the time, man. So amazing food and don't get scared from the omakase, because omakase is expensive, but he's figured out the rhythm of making it very reasonable for people. So shout out to Kase.

SPEAKER_06

Shout out.

SPEAKER_05

I I really want to ask you this question, ma'am, just because of your mind and how you've been able to move through everything. But how do athletes stop chasing relevance and start building ownership?

SPEAKER_06

That's a hard one because you know, when you're in the spotlight with different things, and I think I think this is I think it's more than just an athlete. I think the way the world has shifted with social media, I think everyone chases relevance now. Well, what's a global playground? It's a it's a global playground, right? So people it's if if they're not feeling accepted on social media and it's it doesn't exist, if it doesn't count, if it's not there and people like it, then they take that as reality. And as an athlete where people think you automatically supposed to have it already together, you automatically have all this money, everything's supposed to be in order, so now you you really got a lot of pressure on your back. So it's I think it's just you have to like discipline, you have to be able to take back and set step back sometimes and just really understand what's important because none of those people are gonna be there when times get hard or any of those things, right? They like you when you're up and they really don't give a shit if you're down.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, me and Pocky had to do long talks about that.

SPEAKER_05

That's literally our conversation. We just had a two and a half hour conversation about that, man.

SPEAKER_06

So I mean, so when you really realize that in life, and and just if you could really just sit back and say how many people when this was going on, this many this was going on, was around, and then what because when you're winning, everybody loves you. So it's you just have to really understand that. That's the biggest thing is understanding that. And as an athlete, when it's over from a relevance aspect, you have to be content that you gave it your all and happy with what I've able to accomplish, and just know you've done more than probably 90% of the world ever done, and you gotta be happy with that. When you actually tell yourself that, like, wow, I've done something 90% of this world have never done. You should be okay with that.

SPEAKER_02

We're very proud of that. That's a good thing.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, be very proud of that.

SPEAKER_02

And not this should be, I gotta I gotta ask one thing though before we move on before we close it out. Who do you got? Swaggy P or Blueface?

SPEAKER_06

Going with Blueface.

SPEAKER_02

Are you gonna go blue face? We have a whole bunch of blue face.

SPEAKER_06

I just think Blueface has like that that fighting spirit. But not only that, he actually trains very hard for boxing. A lot of people don't know this.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_06

We've had him spar with Floyd.

unknown

Five rounds.

SPEAKER_06

You told me about that last night. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, he sparred with Floyd five rounds. Like he can box, bro, and he's aggressive. So my goal is y'all gonna hear it here first. We're gonna get him to win May 2nd. We're gonna get him another fight. Not sure who it'll be, maybe a professional boxer. But Jake Paul at that time should be healed. And I love you, Jake. When you see this, don't take offense to it, but we want you next.

SPEAKER_05

You heard it here first, but I appreciate that. I appreciate that plug. I appreciate that plug. Ron, I want you to I respect you so much, man. I want you to just wrap this in a boat, right? Yeah, beyond the game. What what should we leave out on? What's the nugget you want to leave us out on?

SPEAKER_06

Um if I could just leave us all out and just I just want to say that nothing is impossible. You know, be careful of the words you say because the tongue is strong. Speak things into existence, good and bad. Just watch the people that's around you, love them. Nothing is promised, tomorrow's never promise, and live the just just live every day like it's our lives. But still be responsible.

SPEAKER_04

Ron real deal, man.

SPEAKER_05

Man, I I salute what you're doing, man. And and and like I've said to you before for many, many years, man, I I I love being able to expose this brilliance of what you do outside because you're in so many different rooms, man, but you know how to move. It's it's amazing, man. So I salute you, brother. I salute you. I really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_06

And that's that's I think that's uh my greatest things. I can I've been in a room full of murderers. I know I know, I know Fortune 500, right? And uh But you still yourself. No, I had to I have to, you know, and it's really hard, especially with, you know, in this day and age, and I never really get into politics or religion because those two things, everyone can have their own opinion about those things, right? So I never usually bring up those, but just to, you know, being real, right? You know, my dad can't stand the president of the United States, right? And I have to stay neutral because I have friends that's friends with him, and I have friends that don't like, you know, so it's a balance for me. And I, you know, I just choose not to ever really respond on those things, right? But my dad don't mind me saying what I just said. Yeah, I get it. He doesn't care, right? But that's that's fine, right? We all can agree to disagree, and he always like, you know, when I'm always invited to go to Margo's, like those things, man, you bet not uh so if I go, I gotta you'll never know if I win. Yeah, I get it. I get it. You know what's funny, but it's not it's not about if if I agree or don't agree. I respect my friends. So I have friends that before he ever thought about becoming president, like Wayne Allen Root, who's one of my good friends from here in Las Vegas, a very Las Vegas elite. And this has been my friend since 2005. So I cannot suppose be his friend no more because he's one of his good. So it's a very tight thing. And that's another thing. That's so no matter what, that's what I would, that's definitely what I want to leave you guys with. We are a very divided country right now, a lot of things from race to religion to everything. And at the end of the day, we all bleed red, we all human beings, and love wins. So let's make sure we love each other. We love our brothers, we love our sisters, and no matter what race, I got friends for that's Mexican, Puerto Rican, and every race in the world. And I love everybody.

SPEAKER_05

So I'm glad you said it, man. We Vegas Circle, we United Nations, man. So that's what I mean. We are, man.

SPEAKER_06

I mean, Vegas, Vegas is a melting pot.

Closing Thanks And Subscribe

SPEAKER_05

100%. That's why we did this. I mean, we black Chris, I I tell him. Because you never know. I think Chris might be black. No, no, no, no, no. He is, but but white and white and Muslim, right? Your family from the Middle East, man. So it's it's amazing. But we're United Nations. And and I love that you said that, and I and I'll end it, guys. It's amazing that you said that we don't get caught up in politics either. Yes. Because at the end of the day, man, I think it's all bullshit at the end of the day. It's all it's all bullshit. They play the game just like we have to play the game, right? But at the end of the month, at the end of the day, it's it's it's money. The color's green at the end of the day in that space. Exactly. But I want to keep, I don't want to keep rambling, man. But we really appreciate your time. I appreciate y'all, and thank y'all so much. Yeah, and uh so guys, we what we're gonna do after this, man, we're gonna we're gonna be here for a little bit longer. You know, please don't leave. We are gonna start putting up the chairs and things along those lines, man. But we want you guys to hang out, man, get a chance to chop it up, get each other's numbers, make sure the uh the bartenders is taken care of, man.

SPEAKER_06

And then I was gonna say go support the bartender. The bartender gave me a good one earlier. The Elder Channel, y'all go see her. Yep. And we uh we tip our peoples, right? 100%.

SPEAKER_05

And the last thing I want to say, man, so shout out to Roderick, Roderick Handel and the videography and everything. Yeah, shout out to the video. Roger killing it. He did one of our events before, and then Kayla, amazing from Origin. She's actually from the studio that we're at, man. So shout out to Tyus and everybody. Tyus had another event that he had to do in LA, but shout out to the whole team at Origin Studios, which is our partners, and we've been there for about two years now. But I really appreciate it. And shout out to my brother Frank Mill, man. Frank Mill, shout out Frank, Frank Mill. Frank, we we like we said last night, man, we was hanging out, man. This shit, we we going, brother. We're going, man. So I appreciate you. I appreciate your mom coming out, appreciate your whole team. And shout out to my wife, love you and the the support, and shout out to Savannah, also, man. So appreciate every all everybody in this room. And we got a lot, a lot more to come. So please be paying attention, man.

SPEAKER_06

So shout out Shout out to the other two amazing entrepreneurs, man. I yes, I'm glad to share the stage with y'all. It's an honor for me. Trust me. I yeah, I was showing my kids like, look, this is who I'm gonna be with right here. So I'm I was excited to be able to do this with you guys, bro. So I appreciate it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_05

And I appreciate it. As soon as I called you, y'all said yes immediately. Of course. All three of y'all, man.

SPEAKER_06

Appreciate all y'all, man. As soon as I call you, you said you call me and say it's a hundred guys over here. I'm saying yes. I'm coming. So don't worry. I got you. I got you, bro. I'm here.

SPEAKER_05

Well, Spec, man. Thank you, man. Check us out at VegasCircle.com, man, and subscribe with us and all love. Thank you, Vegas.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, guys. Thank you.