Bet Big Talk Loud with Former World Boxing Champion Chris Algieri

Bet Big Talk Loud podcast with special guest Former Boxing Champion Chris Algieri

Transcript

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All right, welcome back to the Bet Big Talk Loud Podcast for Good Friday, April 3rd, 2026. Sponsored by GirlsThatGamble.live and takingvegas.com. I'm Chris Hodge. We are very happy to have JR back. A little under the weather last week, JR. Under the weather. I didn't even know where I was. I mean, we literally did the radio show. We got done. It's like, do we have to do radio? Very good last week. Man, I was out of it. So I'm I just don't get sick often. So when I do, it like, it's like a punch in the face, man. My wife will tell you when I get sick, I act like the biggest baby ever. Oh, my wife would tell you straight out, I'm like a 12-year-old. I'm like, just can you get me some soup? Oh, we got a great show planned. Former boxing world champion Chris Algieri will be joining the show in a couple minutes. Uh, very excited for that interview. Obviously, we got the final four tomorrow, so we're going to break that down, give out some free picks. Your hockey is just insane. You got another free pick. Hopefully, people see it on Friday night because you're giving out a free pick for Friday night. Um, but before we get to the podcast, I always start with a question. Okay. Bro, these people drive me up a wall. And I don't know where you are with this. And again, I don't know if I'm in the minority with this, right? You go out to eat dinner with your wife.

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Okay.

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You sit at a square table. Sure. The people that sit next to each other drive me up. You're not one of these guys, all right? God, no. I tell my wife, go over there. Right. She's like, why? We're in we're being intimate. I'm like, I'm with you 30 years. I don't need to sit next to you. We we just did this, actually. It's so funny you bring that up when I was in Vegas. We went to the, I stayed at the aria. There's a great restaurant there called the Catch Seafood Place, right? So they put us at a table like you're talking about, but the chairs were kind of wide. So she came and tried to sit next to me. I'm like, what are you doing? No. She's like, What do you mean, what am I doing? I'm like, what are you doing? She goes, Well, we're out to dinner together. We've had a hundred thousand meals together. There's no reason. I want to look at you. So I use the excuse of I'd rather look at you than have to turn. See, you do it, you say the nice thing. Well, that's I say I want to look at your tits. That's what I say. I want to look right at you. At least you're being truthful, though. Well, yeah, and it's frustrating for me because I love going out with my wife when it's just me and my wife, right? Well, my because she she shows a little skin. I like that. When we go out with the damn kids, man, she covers up in a sweatshirt like this. You're not looking at anything. So you weren't like me as a kid. My mother used to try to, she, my mother loved to dress sexy for my father. What are you doing? You're a mom. Cover that up. I'm not going out with you like that. What are you out of your mind? So, yeah, I can I can respect your wife for doing that. Yeah, man. I love going out to eat dinner with my wife, just me and her. Uh, but I'm looking over, it's every freaking time I'm out to eat. I'm like, why are you sitting next to that person? Like, it doesn't make sense sitting across like a normal person. Listen, if you're on like a date or something like that, maybe. You know, you're trying to get in her pants or whatever. So you start rubbing her leg a little during the meeting. I'm always sitting across, bro. I wouldn't even know what to do on a date. It's been 30 years. I'd be out there like, ah. All right, man, let's do a podcast. So now, this is sport wife related. You know I always speak very highly of my wife, as you do for yours, right? Always. Boy, I tell you, man, last Friday night, last Friday, my wife pulled a divorceable offense. Ooh. She pulled a divorceable bitch offense. Ooh. This was really unbelievable what she pulled. So, I remember I told you last week that St. John's playing Duke Friday night. Now I'm in Washington, D.C. with my football team. Yes. The regional final is on Sunday. So I tell my wife, if St. John's wins on Friday night, we're gonna hang around in D.C., we're gonna go to the regional final game on Sunday. Which is a nice date, right? Like, now I'm I went to St. John's, right? Like, I want to see my school go to the Final Four, if possible, right? As soon as I tell my wife that, she begins to shoot down the idea, right? She's not happy with the idea. I don't want to go, I don't want to stay in DC. All of these little nonsensical things. And you know, you put your foot down as a man. You're like, if St. John's wins, we're going. I don't want to hear anything of it. Great, right? We're at the bar Friday night. St. John's is playing Duke. Now I'm with my whole team. Okay. We're all sitting up against the bar. We're watching the game. It's not going St. John's way. They're about to lose. There's five seconds left. They're about to lose. My wife is about 30 feet behind us at a table, all by herself. I'm leaning up on a bar. I'm like, God, man, put my head down, shake it. I look back at my wife. She's like, she's clapping. Smiling like a like a seal. I love it. Smiling. Love. I'm like, no, D. Don't go, D. Fuck D. Are you out of your mind? Oh my goodness. You got points with me, D. That's a good one. Blatantly roots against him. He would have done the same thing. Make no mistake. If he didn't want to go with the wife and she put her foot down, he'd be over there cheering for the other team. Make no mistake. Not I would leave. I am secret he would do it right out in the open, not giving two shit. These women have balls, man. Like, I tell you, I like I maybe I would have done that. I don't know you would have. My wife just out in the open, clapping, smiling. In front of everyone. In front of everyone. I love it. Oh, God. And she's sitting over there alone. So the poor girls all alone, watching a game, knowing that you want Yeah. Okay, so you go, D. Now you do know me well. I do. Because I'm gonna really uh and and there's if there's parents out there of kids in travel sports, do not lie. You motherfuckers have done this. Okay? There have been games. When I was at a travel tournament with my my son who played hockey when I was rooting against them. Because you don't want to. I don't want to get the hell out of them. I want to go home. I had enough of these people, these hockey parents that I can't stand. Okay? I had enough of this nonsense. Please lose. Are you shitting me? I've been on teams where I want to lose. When I was on baseball, younger, MVP team, whatever it was, with travel team. And I remember it was fucking brutally cold out, man. Just cold. And baseball is not a game you get to move around a lot. So you're feeling it. Your nipples are odd. You're just like, God, this sucks. And you're down three-nothing. I got up there and I whiffed. I'm not even trying. I don't want to play no more. I want to go home. So you know I'm gonna get hit with the emails. Oh, you're not you're a non-competitor. No, I'm fucking smart. That's what I am. I've been sitting in the stands. I was one of those parents that always sat by myself because I couldn't stand the parents, right? The parents were just a bunch of assholes. I agree. But I'd be sitting there and I'd be texting my wife, man, I sure hope they lose this game. I want to go home. I want to get out of here. I definitely wouldn't have put it on record. I had enough of this trip, man. Let me get the hell out of here. And people who are in travel sports, don't even tell me you haven't done that where you root against your team, your kids' team. Like, get the hell out of here. Um, I do have to mention a restaurant. You mentioned a restaurant at Aria. Oh, yeah. Great, great, great. I have to mention a restaurant from DC. Um, El Presidente. Holy smokes, Mexican. When I tell you, now my wife and I, we love Mexican food, right? Okay. We go to El Presidente. To me, the best Mexican restaurant I have ever been in. The president. El Presidente. Yes. Awesome. The nachos, the best ever. Like, you never, they come out like um on a on a pizza platter, the nachos. They were insane. All the food there was insane. Our waitress was a lady by the name of Ange, who was great. I'm getting a drink called Put Me In Coach. That's the drink I'm gonna do. Put me in, coach. I don't know what was in it. I just like the name of it, right? Because I coached earlier that day and we won. Sounds like coconut. And we won. Was it coconutty? I don't know. I got messed up. You don't even know. No, I was barely walk home to barely walk back to the hotel. Oh boy. I was in, I was in rare form. So are we gonna get a check now from El Presidente? Oh, endorsement deal. I'm doing this on the arm, man. El Presidente, uh, yo, I'll I'll send I'll send this clip over to them, man. You guys, that is the greatest Mexican restaurant I have ever been in. You guys did a great job. And Anne, she was our waitress. Oh, she did an awesome job as well. So if you're ever in the DC area, go check out El Presidente. You will not be disappointed if you love Mexican food. And um coaching that game uh before obviously we go out to eat dinner. You and I have been talking about referees all season long. Oh, yeah. It's been just horrific. I don't, I mean, how many times are we gonna say it? I mean, sports betting goes legal and refing just goes in the fucking dumpster. Come on, man. So you're just not gonna get me on it. Every friggin' game, man, every game that I coach, I get into a nonsensical argument with these referees. Every single game. They're not doing anything to favor. Oh, because they're well, there is no point spread on our all level. That's what I'm saying. But you still want like not stupid. I'm gonna take you through. I'm gonna tell you what happened. You know nothing about this. This is the first time you're hearing this. You know nothing about this. We have we played, we win the game 33-12, but we played. And we're down 12-0. We're down 12-0 playing the worst first half in the history of first halves, right? So gets under the two-minute warning. The next play starts at 154. The clock is running at 154, but they don't run a play. They take an intentional delay of game, which is fine. They're trying to get to the locker room up 12-0. No problem. I have one timeout left. Clock runs down to 114. No problem. Delay a game. I say next time they run a play, I'm gonna call a timeout. Look up at the clock, clock starts running again. I go, whoa, wait, hold on. Get the referee on my side line. Oh, what's going on here? Blow the whistle. Go out. The head referee comes over and talks to me. He goes, Yes, they took a delay of game, but if you don't call a timeout here, they're allowed to run another 25 seconds off the play clock, which is has never been the rule. Never on any level. Absolutely not. Here's what the guy said. Now I argue with this guy for this was a good argument, right? I argue with this, and the guy says to me, I am a college football official. I know the rules, you don't. That's what he says to me. I go, what the fuck does that mean? I watch more college football than anyone you know, and all you guys do is fuck up games. Every game. Every single game. So this was a legit college football official. This was a legit college football official, did not know the rule on the two-minute warning. Are you shitting me? Tells me that to stop the clock from running again. So I go, first of all. In your type of league, is is it possibly different? No, it's you're supposed to know what you're doing, right? It's still it's semi-pro, right? That's what I'm saying. So is it No? So I go, so you're telling me, so anyone out there who knows football, refs football, anything about football, watch football, right? Two-minute warning comes, they take a uh 40-second delay of game. So if you're winning a game or you want to get why wouldn't you just continue taking 40-second delay games? Just keep taking them. Just keep taking them. And I'm trying to explain this to this guy who, by the way, that referee wasn't a bad dude. He was a nice guy, but he got the rule completely wrong. And still thought he was right. And he let them do it. Yeah. Why didn't they just do it again? No, so so now what happens is I have to take a time out there in order to stop them from doing it again. That's absurd. I go, this has never happened since the days of the dinosaurs, when the dinosaurs was roaming around kicking rocks. And then I'm like, this has never happened ever. Kicking rocks. I like that. Right, doing whatever, wagging their tails, doing whatever the fuck they, whatever sport the dinosaurs created. This shit had never happened ever. Ever. That's really bad. And I'm trying to tell him, off all if it was before the two-minute warning, I don't think I would have stopped arguing. I would have literally just looked at him and say, I mean, common sense at some point in the next 30 seconds has got to set in. So I mean, seriously, think about what you're saying. So I I finally They could run the clock out. Okay, I finally say, all right, give me the timeout. Fuck off. This was after minutes and minutes of arguing, right?

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I turned around.

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My defensive coordinator's a great guy. He goes, You had to do what? And I'm trying to explain it to him. And he's like, nah, that's wrong. I'm like, I know what's wrong. You know what's wrong. The guy that matters thinks it's right. So I had to call a timeout. And you couldn't pull one of the other refs over, nothing. So this is another funny thing that happens when you're on the sidelines. Now, everyone that's watching this podcast, you included, or everyone watches football, you guys think this, right? Ever see a flag get called and you're watching on TV and you have a general idea of what the flag is, sure, and then you watch them congregate and you watch all the officials get together. Sure. And what you're saying when you're watching on TV is what the fuck are those guys talking about? They're talking about the different angles, who saw what. Okay, I can assure you, it's a stupid conversation. This is what got said on that field because I heard it as I was walking away. One of the referees goes, Hey, I think he's right. I think he knows that rule. Guy goes, We can't change it now. And as I was walking away, the dumbest conversations. When those six referees get together, seven, I'm telling I can assure you, they're not saying anything educated. You can't change it. It was ridiculous. Well, was it like a play later? So then they can change it. Absolutely. It was that bad and that's like don't they want to get it right? This is the reason technology is being brought into sports, because of them playing just being freaking wrong constantly, and then they don't want to admit it. Their ego is bigger than the call. And that's that's that's absurd. I can't mention the team, all right, and I can't say exactly what I said. This was last year. But and this this got caught on a hot mic. So I had I had some issues with this, right? How can I say this without really offending everyone? Alright, so the gist of it is another bullshit call goes against us. And I get the head ref over to me, and I go, every fucking year we play this particular team, I get up the every friggin' year. And the guy looks at me and goes, that's pretty funny. That's what he said to me. I go, every fucking year you guys show up. You screw this game up, you make every bad call known to man, and I gotta deal with it. And the the part of the bad cursing and nonsense that I said, what do you know? That got caught on camera. So what so what though? I mean, you're you're just it wasn't good what I said. Like you for me, for me to admit that it wasn't good what I said. Was it basically what you just said? Yeah, you guys shove it up our ass every year. Yeah, I said it in a little bit of a worse way. Okay. Yeah, I said in a little bit of a worse way. And it's not like it's a little league game. It's you know grown-in's. You gotta be careful of the times. Oh, stop. You gotta be careful of the times. That's where that foot goes down. No way, man. I'm not changing who I am to make everyone else happy. Sorry. You know, you gotta be careful that little yellow flag these fucks like to throw and give you 15 yards to take it. No reason to do it. In every situation, I'll take it. Yeah. Give it away, talking about refs and umpires that completely suck at their jobs, that brings us to one CB Buckner. C CB. Man, holy shit. Now look, MLB umpires over the first seven days of the season missed 850 calls. It's unreal. Okay. Now, you you have you've been in their defense a little because you said sometimes they miss by a fraction. And I I like that, and I don't like what they're doing to the game where it's just going to be a set strike zone. I don't like it. I think it's not gonna be a set strike zone. It sure could be a strike zone based on the player. Like the height and the height of the player, but that that's it. That box goes there, and that's that. I like that different umpires, you had to actually strategize on who was calling the game. And different umpires had a bigger strike zone. And the one thing I always wanted was consistency. If you had a short strike zone, stay consistent with it. Call it on both sides. There were some games where I'd see it a little bit different for different pitchers, and I'd be like, ah, I don't like what I'm seeing. So in that case, it makes it better, but I don't like what they're doing. I'm gonna do I think that, and it's just making the umpires look like complete shit. Well, do your fucking job better. But that's their job was to create that strike zone, right? But it wasn't a set here, here, that's it. It should be based on a little bit of the human eye. I have been very consistent in my theory on this. You have as well, okay? I agree with everything you just said, everything. Until gambling is brought into it. And now that there's so much gambling going on. But just talking balls and strikes, though. That is monstrous. Uh-huh. But it's get it right. If you if you're gonna have an ad from these sports books on the damn television, every friggin' half inning, get these calls right. You made 850 calls? 850. I didn't know it was that high. 850? 850. Do seven days, do seven games. 850. 850. That is an insane. And C.B. Buckner, he's become a meme. This guy can't get anything right now. He got hit in the head off a foul tip, so we you know, we don't want to, you know, you never wish injury. You want to see the guy, okay. But let me tell you something. I said this numerous times. The agent for Kirk Cousins deserves an all-time award. Oh, no doubt. And whoever runs the Major League Baseball Umpires Union should represent every union in the history of the world. It's unreal. Whoever, and I don't know who that guy is, but whoever that guy is, the fact that you got them whatever union numbers, money they got based on screwing everything up. It's amazing. I mean, you've done a great job. I will also defend him too, because my father was a 30-year-old New York baseball on point. But he was an MLB umpire. No. So he doesn't suck. I've said that to you. Okay, I've said that to you. I but it's just, I grew up in a house where no matter what the call, he always took the umpire side. Okay, how much money did he actually make? Zero. Oh, you mean as far as umpire? Yeah, he made money umpire. Okay, but he didn't make what these guys are making. No. Man, he made an extra six grand over the, you know, the winter or summer, whatever it was. Like, when you're making X amount of dollars, at least be good at your job. He was doing it because he loved doing it. And that's why I have no problem. Wasn't the money umpire like he loved doing it. I have if you got an umpire. Look at me, say, what are you doing? You're sitting out here for four hours for $125? Okay. What are you doing? I have no problem with that, guys. I just loved it. Okay, great. When you're making hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars and there's gambling, money being risked all over, and there's 45,000 people that pay to show up to watch you fuck something up. How come the the referees in the NFL still make like nothing? They're a whole other issue. What is going on there? Now, I now listen. As bad as those guys are, right? We've talked about it. They should go to continued right now. And they should be going to continued ed. It should be their job. I don't want a lawyer who practices 85 hours a week and as a side gig wakes up a little early on a Sunday to go call a game. That's not, this is the National Football League. It's worth billions. Who said it? What receiver said it? I think it was Puka who said it. He's going through a couple issues right now. He's going through some shit. I can go do some issues right now, so we won't get on to that. But I think he's the one who said it. These guys just want to be on TV. I think he's the one who said it. You see my muscle as I go like this. I mean, officiating is a problem. I mean, 70-year-olds on Royds. It's unreal. Officiating, MRB umpiring, CB Buckner right now is a problem. This guy went to the Angel Hernandez School of Umpiring. It's unreal. How bad was he? Every day occurrence. But no, listen, I'm maybe we should make a website. Let's grade them. No, someone else gotta be doing it. I don't know. No one's doing this bullshit, man. Grade them. All the referees in the NFL. And we can't do colleges too many. NFL Major League Baseball. You put that out there. No, that's gotta be. First of all, we'll get sued. Number one. You guys suck at your jobs. No, but everyone got an F-I-I'm telling you, man, um the these umpires, these officials, you know, like we we get upset when we lose a game that we worked hard on and we predicted the outcome of an event and we were wrong. Yes. We get upset. I get pissed. Right. Like we take away. I seriously get pissed. We want to win every game, even though we know that's not possible. Even though we tell our customers that's not possible. Even after that sick run in hockey, right? It cooled off a little bit. Well, how could it have to go that way? It wasn't even that bad. It was it just, but there was a few in a row. I had clients texting me like to try to bring me up, like, hey, don't let it get you down. Because they know I I when I lose, I lose not just what I put into it, but for all my clients. So I feel that, right? So you you accuse me of being nice all the time. That's part of it, right? Like that's an accusation? That's a fucking compliment. What the hey man, hey, ever said anyone, he accused me of being nice. You're the nice guy. He tells me all the time, I'm the nice guy. I have I I feel when shit happens. You know what I mean? I'm not I'm not this ice cold guy that's just like, ah, fuck it, we lost the game. No, I'm not that guy either, but I feel it. It it's real. I'm not giving you compliments no more. Man, if you accused of giving me a compliment. I'm gonna never get him anyway. So tell you all the time you're a nice guy. Say it on the damn podcast. I said, hey, yo, yo, the people that are watching, and I said, we we got some sponsors that are looking at us now, and they literally say this. They literally say, Hey man, that guy JR, you got an apartment. What a nice guy. That guy seems like a nice dude. And then there's you, Chris. And then there's you. Like, what the hell, man? But you are a nice guy. I am a nice guy, but I I'm just I have no time for bullshit. You say some dumb shit sometimes, man. You're a really nice guy. Nonsense guy. You and I get into that sometimes where I'm like, no. No. Like it was our first show or whatever, killing a dog over the human. No. No. That does not just make me a nice guy. Okay, now that makes me normal. I'm good. Oh, it does. Normal. Oh, it does. Yeah. Okay, great. So when we did that, would you rather shoot your best friend or your dog? I don't care what the fucking psychos out there said to me. More than 50%. That's thinking I'll shoot the best friend. All right. So is the normal person gonna comment or is the psycho gonna comment? I'm just saying. Yeah, no, you know the answer to that. No, no, no. I've said it before. Psychos are gonna say that, uh, I mean, definitely kill my best friend before I kill my own dog. Bullshit. I will say bullshit to all of you a hundred thousand times over again. My best friend knows it's the truth. It's not the truth. I would never You are not putting a bullet in your friend. No less someone you know. Forget about it could be a stranger. Let me ask you a question. When it came down to it, am I allowed to do it? You are not pulling that trigger on that view. There has to be some logistics here. Am I allowed to do it? Meaning if I shot my best friend, I gotta go do 20 in jail, right? No, no, no. All right, so it it's what's that movie where you're allowed, purge, purge, purge? Are you allowed to shoot him? You're allowed. So long, Rob. Have a nice day. Pulge, and he knows it too. I'm calling shenanigans. He knows it. No way. So long, buddy. Nah. Nice knowing you. That's that's facade. Bullshit. He don't even really want to live anyway. He always tells me. Because if you put if you put the gun in your hands and said, kill JR. Or the dog. Or the dog. Not happening. I'll look, I'll look right at it. Not happening. Not watching on YouTube and they're just listening on some platform. I waved at him. And I'll deal with your kids and your wife's. I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it. Uh let's get to the final four. Hey, again, we got former boxing world champion Chris Algieri. He'll be on in just a few minutes. Oh man, that's gonna be a great interview. I can't wait to speak to him. I mean, in my opinion, is no one more knowledgeable about the sport of boxing than this guy. So he's gonna really get into it, and we're excited to have him. We're very lucky to have him. Um let's just go over the final four real quick. Uh, first game, Illinois, Yukon. Uh, second game, Michigan, Arizona. So Michigan, Arizona, both number one seeds, a little A3, UConn a two. Um no real big surprise there, other than maybe Illinois, but even that I'm not gonna do that. I don't think that's a surprise. No, Yukon's not everyone's saying Yukon was having a down year. No, they weren't. Go look at their schedule. Okay, they they didn't try against Marquette to any year. No, I will say they kind of they they've overachieved in the tournament. I mean, absolutely not. I disagree. Absolutely not. They played a ridiculous schedule to start the year. Um didn't they get killed by St. John's? Yeah, twice, but okay. I mean, yeah, you played 38 games. I know, but still, I mean, just not as strong of a UConn team as I've seen. Okay, but here's what I will tell you. And this is no disrespect of the four that are left. He is, Dan Hurley, that is, no doubt the best coach of the four that is left. I don't even believe it's close. And no, to Lloyd and to, you know, May and to Underwood, no disrespect. You guys are all great coaches doing a great job. You know more about college basketball than I will ever know. All doing a great job. Danny Hurley's the best one. He's probably the best coach in the sport right now. Probably not close either in terms of me, him, Izzo, a couple other guys. And when you have the best coach, it's amazing how how good UConn has gotten this done at a high level since I've been following college. St. John sucked before who showed up exactly. Yeah. Now that there, a perennial could be a problem. And I was actually, we were speaking about that in Vegas. I'm like, you know, because I thought that they, not that I thought they were gonna win, but I thought that they would cover that Duke game. And and I'm looking, and they did. And I'm looking at it, and we were having this discussion amongst some of the other betters around. I'm like, do you guys not realize that Duke, no matter what, even without Shachevsky there anymore, they will always be like the Yankees in baseball. There will be a premium on their name. So the real line, I think the line was six and a half on that game. The real line should have been three, three and a half. But the real thing was. That's what I would say. But the premium made it six and a half. And no, we know St. John's because where we are. People around the country don't know who St. John's. They haven't been relevant since Calapata, since all the way back in the uh, you know, Carnisecond days. They just did not a team that gets there often. So I thought there was a lot of value there, and then they did have the shot at winning that game. They really did. They wouldn't. They probably should have won. Like I said, if it wasn't for D, I think they get the W. That's so bad that you've been against the damn team. That's miserable. Uh, I think the Illinois Yukon game is a fantastic game. Uh, free pick here before you get to your NHL pick, and we have Chris Algiri come on. I look the Michigan-Arizona game to me, whoever wins that game wins the national title. All right. I I just think they're the two best teams. Take nothing away from UConn and their tremendous coach, or, you know, uh Waggler for Illinois and their three-point shooting and their defense and their overall size, they're a problem as well. I just think the winner of the Michigan-Arizona game is going to win the national title. So now, the winner of that game was going to be a big favorite on Monday. Six and a half to seven. Yep. Right? So to get some value there, I'm gonna give you Michigan plus 165 to win the national title. Um, I just think that's some good value. And again, it's tough. Like, we're not going crazy with these games tomorrow. We're not going crazy. We're not. We're giving them out for free. We are. We offered them on the radio. We're not giving, we're not going crazy. So don't go nuts, okay? But if you're looking for some value and you want to get by, because now you got a hedge. You know, if Michigan, wherever they play, whether it be you know a Big Ten matchup against Illinois or they play UConn, again, they're gonna be six to seven. So now you can come back, bet the other way, and now you got a six to seven point middle. Definitely. All right, so probably a good way to play that. You have been I don't even want to touch, you've been so on fire in the NHL. You got a free point. Melting the ice. What do you got? Oh man. Give out your free. All right, so I was gonna give out a game happening tonight, but like you said, probably not a lot of time. By the time this thing drops, just not gonna be enough time for people to really get it in. So I'm gonna give out a game tomorrow. A matinee game, okay? I used the under in the Ottawa game earlier in the week on Thursday, yesterday. Um 0-0 first period. It was 1-1 at the end of two. Just knew it was gonna be easily on Ottawa, even without the personnel. I mean, tons of injuries, but they're playing great defense. They they really control the puck well. They don't allow a lot of shots on net, and they're gonna be taking on Minnesota tomorrow, who, by the way, playing great hockey, but also a very defensive team. I the especially Mattine's, for whatever reason, it just, if you watch hockey enough, you notice the early games, they don't get their legs until later in the game. That's because most teams play at night, right? So they they go through their morning skate, and then by the time the game comes around, they're ready for it, and they get to scoring immediately. These early games, it just feels like they're a lot of unders. And this is going to be a big defensive match. So under the six and a half, and it's a big number. Six and a half is a big number on any Ottawa game. So Ottawa, Minnesota, go under six and a half, lock it up. All right, so you got under Ottawa, Minnesota, and it's a good one. One o'clock Eastern on Saturday. Taking a shot with Michigan to win the national title at plus 165 again, just trying to get some value there. We believe Michigan-Arizona is going to be a great basketball game. Both these games are going to be great games. Yeah, I mean the lines tell you look, Illinois minus one and a half. Um that road flipped right away, too, on that Arizona-Michigan game. Early, early. As soon as it was put out, Arizona was a point and a half favorite within 48 hours. Michigan point. Keep it right here. We have former box and world champion Chris Algiri joining the show. You want to end this right here for us? Everybody, be safe. Have a very happy Easter, and let's go out there and make some money. Keep it right here for Chris Algieri. All right, back here on the BetBig Talk Loud Podcast. It is my absolute pleasure. Former WBO Junior wealth away world champion Chris Algiri joins the show. Chris, thanks for spending some time on this good Friday.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

Yeah, man. Happy to be here. And uh yeah, it's a it's a good Friday in my in many ways.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

Awesome, man. So obviously you're a professional boxer, a former world champion, but something that's really interesting about you, you're also a kickboxer. So I have to ask, right, which sport is harder?

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Um in terms of technique, you know, it was that's a good question. Um it's boxing. Boxing's harder.

SPEAKER_00 30:16

Yeah?

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Yeah. And is it because it's it's because there's there's only two weapons, so you have to master them. Um and I used to I used to always argue like, ah, we know kickboxing we would would be more difficult because there's more weapons to learn, but the talent pool is smaller, so the level of competition is lower. But that's not I don't think that's the case. I think I think uh the better you get at boxing, but boxing is the ultimate fight sport. I don't think there's anything else that compares to it. It's a harder, it's a it's a harder sport, hands down.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Yeah. Compared to the UFC, what do you think boxing? That because that's always been an argument, you know, the UFC guys always saying the UFC guys, Chris. I'm a boxing guy. I rarely watch UFC events unless it's a big one. I watch boxing matches, man. I'll uh boxing after dog, whatever. I'll watch it because I I think boxing to me, it's better than UFC, but I'm sure I'll get some people out here to disagree.

SPEAKER_02 31:03

No, I mean there's no question, boxing's harder. And it's the same, it's the same, it's the same, it's the same vein I was talking about with kickboxing. Just because you have more tools and more ways to win doesn't mean it's harder. Doesn't you have more things to learn, doesn't mean it's harder. Because people, boxing is so it's so fine and nuanced. If you don't practice a sport, if you haven't been involved at high level, you have no clue how good guys can be. There's there's there's there's no level. I mean, I've kickboxed, I've wrestled, um, I've fought professionally. I've been a world champion in kickboxing and in boxing. I've wrestled at a high level. Um, I never fought MMA, but like I've I've had tons of high quality MMA guys in the gyms with me. I sparred with tons of high quality MMA guys. There is no comparison. Boxing is the hardest sport that the man has ever created. So there's no question for me.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

I love it. I love it, man. And uh getting right into this. Now, you won your world title at home. You did that at the Barkley Center, Brooklyn, New York, Rustling Provotnikov, you beat him. You were down twice in that fight and you came back and you won. But take me through that moment of being able to fight in Brooklyn. You're a New York boy like I am, you know, winning it in front of your home fans, your family. What's that moment like when they when they call your name, when you win that split decision and you know you're a world champion? What's that moment like?

SPEAKER_02 32:14

Funny little backstory. Say I, you know, I won at a home. Technically, my home is Long Island. So I fought on Long Island a lot. I fought the Paramount Theater in Long Island. I fought there 11 times, sold that out every single time. Um, and then I was I I got this opportunity. So I beat the number three fighter in the world. Uh his name was Emmanuel Taylor. We fought the Paramount Theater. It was on ESPN. It was the first time ESPN was ever on Long Island. Um, and you know, I was supposed to lose. I was the underdog in the in a fight. Uh I win. I won nine out of ten rounds. I boxed beautifully that night. Won and I beat the number three guy in the world. He was in line to fight Ruslan. So I beat him. So, all right, I'm in line now, right? That's that's how that's how it should work. And it did. So they talked to me about fighting Ruslan, and I'm like, yeah, okay, boom. They were gonna do it on Long Island, they were gonna do it at Nassau Coliseum. Really? Really in my home. Then at the last minute, Brett Yormark, who is Russian, is was the owner of uh of the Barclays at that time, and he was running it there. Um, he petitioned to have the fight moved from Nassau Coliseum to Brooklyn, to the Barclays Center. Uh and I was like, all right, the the the the the fix is in. They don't want me to win. You know, like I'm I'm I'm done. I'm done. We had a press conference, uh, we had a press conference uh, you know, in Brooklyn, deep in the Russian area in Brighton Beach. And I'm like, I don't want to go to Brighton Beach. They're like, no, no, no, you gotta go. I'm like, oh my, come on, man. I'm I'm I'm I'm gonna get sniped over here. Um, but also I'm gonna get sniped on fight night. But regardless, you know, we end up fighting in Brooklyn. I sold, I mean, I've sold sixty thousand dollars in tickets to the Barclay Center. Had that play. It was mine. You know, I I I took it over. Yes, Ruslan was the star. Yes, Ruslan was the guy. He had the HBO contract. Uh, he was the world champion, he was coming to defend his title, and they picked an undefeated guy that they thought they were gonna beat. Um, but I I I pushed the entire show. I sold the show. I I I sold the tickets. Um, and it was one of the, I think it's the second highest boxing after dark viewed fight ever. Uh, we only got beat by Amir Khan versus uh I forgot who it was, but yeah, number number two boxing after dark, highest viewed um fight ever on HBO. So yeah, I mean it was a it was an amazing night, obviously, you know, getting the title. Um you said I got dropped. I got I got actually both of those were in the first 90 seconds.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

I got dropped right away. Broke my orbital, broke my orbital in three places, broke my nose, my eyes shut almost immediately. Um, pretty much is the worst first round you could ever have in a 12-round fight. My first 12-rounder uh as a as a boxer, and I was fighting an absolute monster. He was the boogeyman of division, nobody wanted to fight him. He was the baddest, baddest guy around. Um, and of course, that's who I have to fight my for my title. Uh, the the the the Siberian Rocky hits me with a left hook in the first round and just literally broke my skull. I I couldn't believe I couldn't believe people could hit it that hard. And to this day, hardest puncher I've ever fought. Really? I fought. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 35:03

And you fought some big guys, man. I mean, Pacquiao's not a big guy, but he's many Pacquiao.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

Ruslan hit harder than Pacquiao. I'll tell you never now. I'm sorry, Pacquiao would agree with you. Pacquiao is smart with Ruslan. He'll tell you the same thing. Really? Ruslan hits like he's different, dude. He is he is he's from Siberia. He's been eating moose liver since he was a little kid. He's been running through, he's been running through snow this high since he was little. Still does, by the way. If you follow him on Instagram, it's amazing. The guy still spars, he still trains, hasn't fought in you know 10 years or so, but stayed in shape. But yeah, it was it was an it was an amazing night, you know, and had to get off the canvas and swallow a lot of blood um and and get the victory that night. Um, it's it still goes down as one of the greatest nights of my of my life.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

I'm sure. And look, I I wasn't at that fight. We have you know a couple, you know, uh friends that were at that fight. I was I was watching that on TV, but you know, it just seemed like I don't know what round it was, like sixth or seventh round, it was like your boxing took over. You were able to go in and out on him, and it was almost like he looked at you and he was like, What the fuck are you still doing here? It was almost like you had he had that feeling, like you I don't know if you'd agree with this or not because you know you you you know you guys are professionals, but almost like you broke his spirit in terms of hey, I'm still here.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

So in the in the lead up to the fight, we had a press conference and he said, Um, I break my opponents. And I got up and I got up there and I said, I go, you know, Ruslan when it came up and said he breaks his opponents, and yeah, he has. We've seen him break his opponents. I go, guess what? So do I. And everybody was like, What do you mean? Like, I'm not I'm not a knockout puncher, I'm a boxer. I'm like, I break opponents too, but I break them here. We play chess until you realize you can't beat me anymore, and then you stop trying to win. Bruce Lon stopped trying to win. I broke his will that night. He stopped trying, he stopped trying to win. He stepped, he kept looking, he he was I know what you're talking about. He literally was looking around like, Yes, what the hell is this guy still doing here? Why can't I hit him anymore? And why does he keep hitting me? And in the last round, Freddie Roach tells him, You need a knockout. Yes. Yes. Because you're losing the fight. Like you everyone watching knows you're losing the fight. In his own corner knows he's losing the fight. Andre Ward was the only person with the big enough balls on the telecast to say, no, I got Chris winning the fight. Because these guys are all, they were all like pro-Rousan, pro-Roussan. They want the Pacquiao fight, pro-HBO, HBO guy. Nobody was willing to say that I was winning the fight except for Andre Ward, who's the actual fighter there. You know, Max Kellerman didn't want to say it. These guys don't want to say it. So, so uh Andre on on the air, it was in the ninth round, he's like, I have Chris ahead. You know, and and uh I remember Paul Imanaji was working for Sky Sports and he was ringside and he was like he was yelling at Dan Raphael, like, no, no, Chris is winning this fight. He's like, if you're not watching this fight, then you think he's losing. If you're watching the fight, he's obviously winning the fight. You know how poly is. Yeah. So it was uh it was it was an interesting night. But yeah, I I I mean, once once the bell rang, I knew I knew I did enough to win. I just didn't know the judges would give it to me.

SPEAKER_00 37:55

Yeah, and that's the thing with you know your particular sport. I mean, sometimes those judges get in the way and you just don't know what they come up with. Like there was a fight, um, a little off topic. Canelo when he fought Mayweather. One of those, now Mayweather just dominated that whole fight. And one of those. He won 11 and a half rounds out of 12. Right. And one of the judges scored that as a draw. If you remember that.

SPEAKER_02 38:16

I think it was Patricia German Marning, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

She's yeah, but it's absolutely unbelievable. So to my next question, you you've been in some, you've been in fights with some of the biggest names in the sport. Amir Khan. Uh, you just said Provotnikov hit you know harder than anyone. Arrow Spence. Arrow Spence, you're obviously Manny Pacquio. So, in terms of boxing, I think I know the answer to this one, but I I am I I'm not the guy, I'm not the pro. I think the answer is Pacquiao, but who's the toughest guy, man? Just when you're in the ring with those names, Manny Pacquiao is a Hall of Famer.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

No, Manny, no, Manny Pacquiao's not even a Holy, not just a Hall of Famer, he's a living legend. Manny Pacquiao is on a on him and Mayweather are like this. I know Mayweather got the win. Honestly, honestly, I think Mayweather always beats him. That's just styles. But in terms of accomplishments and and a level, I think they're like this. I think in history they should always be brought up uh in the same vein. That's that's how good Manny Pacquiao really is. Um and yes, I've never been in the ring with someone as good as as Manny. You know, um Errol Spence, when I fought him, when I fought him, he was at his absolute best. He was tremendous when I fought him, and he was excellent. And he it was it was the weight collapse was not not great for me. Neither I fought Pacquiao up too. But um, but no, Errol was was was fantastic, but Manny's different. Manny is absolutely different, which is the way that I look at Floyd. I didn't get to get in the ring with Floyd. Um, but also I predicted that Floyd would beat Manny, and I think he'd beat him every single time, um, even though they're supposed to fight in September. I still I still have Floyd. Uh stylistically, it just wasn't a good matchup for Manny. Um, but no, Manny Manny is something different, something special. By far the best fighter I've ever fought.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

That's awesome. And you were in your last fight, that was that guy was no joke either. Connor Ben. That guy's no joke. Like he, I don't know if he's undefeated or has one loss right now, but he's very, very good.

SPEAKER_02 40:05

Now he lost, but also it comes with stipulations. You know, he he failed a drug test multiple times. Oh, okay. Two two fights after we fought. And I had heard going into the fight, you know, people had said, like, ah, you know, he'd be I'm like, ah, whatever, you know, whatever. And then, you know, he he he was supposed to fight Chris Schubank Jr. He's gonna jump up two weight classes, failed the multiple drug tests leading up to that. And there was this big scandal, didn't fight for two years. Um, honestly, I don't, I he listen, he's good, he's very good, he was young. You know, I was 30, I was just shy of 38 when I fought him. Um, and he was 25. I when I watched him, I was like, yeah, the only reason I was gonna take that fight because I was fighting at 140 and they offered me the fight, and I was like, no, I'm fighting at 140, because the fight was at 47. And so they were like, oh, you know, you have got this fight. And I was like, I I was like, all right, yeah, I met the guy once and I was like, okay, whatever. I don't really know much about him, you know, fighting over in the UK, and he hadn't really stepped up yet. I was gonna be his first real step-up fight. So I looked him up and I'm watching, and I'm like, I'm like, I mean, yeah, it's a weight class up, but it's you know, it's good money. I'm like, yeah, I'll go up to 47, get a win, and then come back down to 40 and go look for a world title. So I didn't really think much of it, and I took the fight, whatever. Obviously, it was way more than I expected, and and he he was he was very, very good that night, closed the distance really well, super explosive. Um, didn't expect him to punch the way that he did, and obviously he did, and you know, I got knocked out. I'm not gonna, and there's no no way to no way to uh to slice it in any other way. But I was like, damn. I was like, first of all, I was like, why am I getting hit with punches like that? You know, I'm I'm I used to be able to make those miss, but at 38, I'm like, all right, well, but also I used to be able to take those punches, so I was like, uh, maybe maybe it is time. Um, but regardless, and then six months later he fails, and I'm like, uh and then he comes back and he looked kind of ordinary. Court, kind of very ordinary his next two fights. And I was just like, mmm.

SPEAKER_01 41:49

There you go.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

All right. Well, well, whatever. But listen, this is boxing. You can you can you can do everything under the sun, and eventually, as long as you're popular, it it you keep moving forward. Um, so you know, sounds like every other sport. Yeah, no, actually, no, that's a good point. That's a good point. It sounds like every other sport. So as long as you're popular, but you know, Connor is actually doing great things right now, he's making a ton of money with Zufa. Um, you know, he's got some big wins. He actually beat Chris Eubank Jr., which is crazy because their father's fought. Like it's it's it's such a legendary thing. And that's the thing. Like, I'm retired now, I don't hold any grudges. It is what it is. Like, I cover the sport as a media member now. I've I've lived long enough to become media. The people I used to hate, now I'm now I'm one of them. Um so I have to I have to just kind of put it all to the side and be like, uh, listen, Connor's a guy I have to talk about now. Connor Ben is is is is a thing and he's doing his thing. And um, you know, but he's uh he's he's he's got some big stuff coming up and which is which is great, but also he's gonna be he's gonna be in this sport for a while.

SPEAKER_00 42:48

So I made a comment to you before we went live on on the podcast, and you absolutely disagree with me, and that's fine. I'll I love it. I and by the way, it wasn't coming from me, it's going from you know, people asking me, hey, can you get a boxer on, you know, this, that, and the other. But a lot of people felt like boxing is on its way down. So let me ask you this, right? And I know you disagree with that, and we'll get to that. But right now, you know, Canelo isn't really the drawer. Maybe he is, but he's not Canelo anymore, right? Um Terrence Crawford just beats Canelo, he retires for all intents and purposes. We don't know if we're gonna see him back. Like the face of the sport right now, is it Ryan Garcia? Is it Shakur or Stevenson? Like, who is the face of the sport right now and someone that is gonna be the guy? I know Pacquiao and Mayweather talking about fighting in September, and that'll do you know pay-per-view stuff, but who's the guy right now that's really gonna carry that pay-per-view mantle?

SPEAKER_02 43:34

All right, I'm gonna counter that right now, quickly, with a question. Who's the face of the UFC? I I told you, I am not a UFC guy, right?

SPEAKER_00 43:41

I'm not a UFC guy.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

Guys who are people who are listening, who's the face of the UFC? There's never a U face of the UFC. The guys roll over over and over and over again. All these stand countries are coming in and beating everybody's ass. There is no face of the UFC. You have really what's what's in trouble is UFC. I don't know, people who are talking about this, and I've been hearing this for years. I used to have people be like, oh, Yo, Chris, you used to wrestle, you kickboxed. Go make that real money in UFC. And I was like, no, I make the real money. Every UFC guy I know, every MMA fighter I know, talks to me about boxing money because they know I make more money for them. And I and I always did. So like Well, not to interrupt you.

SPEAKER_00 44:15

Didn't Conor McGregor make more money in one fight against Mayweather than he did in his entire career? Is that he made a hundred?

SPEAKER_02 44:23

His entire career put together and a whole bunch more. Right. Like we're talking like 200%. So like that's that's the thing. These the the the public is so misinformed because the media armor of the UFC is so damn good. So the idea that boxing is in a bad place is so wrong. We're getting more of the best fights possible. I I would have agreed with someone five years ago. Okay. Ooh, boxing's really in trouble. Now, no, we got we have we're getting so the Riyadh Saudi money is coming to boxing. Boxing is blowing up, blowing up. We have just signed a bunch of new we. I'm not we. Boxing has just signed a bunch of new streaming deals. Dzone has multiple promoters now. We're getting multiple fights. Uh Sky Sports is working with MVP. Jake Paul has made a big splash in the sport, doing really, really big things with his promotional company. He signed with ESPN. He signed with Sky Sports. We're seeing multiple organizations go to DZones who are on one streaming platform. They're becoming the global boxing network. You've got uh Zufa and Paramount Plus, which is a Dana White thing that's bringing in more fights. We're gonna have so much boxing on air streaming all the time. Boxing is better than it's ever been. We're gonna get big fights, and guys are getting paid. Paid, paid, paid, paid. You mentioned Connor Ben before. He just signed for 15 million, dude. Awesome. 15 million. That's awesome. That's awesome. That's awesome. What UFC fighters are fighting for 15 million?

SPEAKER_00 45:43

Maybe one. I listen, like I said, I'm not a UFC guy. I I've watched maybe in my life, in my life, three UFC fights. Maybe. You know who I you're you'll laugh at this. You know who I know the most from UFC? Ronda Rousey. That's that's who I know the most.

SPEAKER_02 45:59

Dana always brings up his two biggest stars. It's Connor, McGregor, and Ronda. Those are the only ones that ever touched those levels that eight, nine, ten, twelve million dollars, you know, big, big, big, you know, deals outside of the UFC. Other than that, you know, it it's a it's a precipitous drop-off. So when people are talking, I used to I laugh when people say, oh, boxing's falling off, UFC's taking over. Absolutely not. Dana basically jumped shit from UFC and now is his boxing. He's doing Zufa. Like that's that's his that's his baby now. Every you know, we're doing Sunday night boxing with Zufa, and he's bringing up the next level of talent, and he's involved with all these shows. So, you know, people saying that you know boxing is dead and UFC is taking over is out of control because UFC I think is in the worst place it's been in a very long time. You would make a lot of money, sure.

SPEAKER_00 46:46

Yeah, you would know like better than I would. That's the way that's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

First of all, the fighters are revolting. They've they there's a multi-hundred million dollar lawsuit against the UFC for for not monopoly reasons. So um Dang. Yeah, I the you the you the and when I was saying about UFC and asking, I wasn't asking you, I was asking the people who are listening. Yeah, they're the ones who are trying to say this thing. And I'm like, all right, well, tell me, tell me, tell me who these stars are who are making the same amount of money because they're all coming out and complaining. Oh, Malley is a is a one of the stars of the sport, right? He's one of those guys who's really up there and really pushed. He's complaining about boxers and their pay.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

So take me like through it. So when I'm growing up, right, it's it's Mike Tyson. I'm I'm too young for that, those 80s with Sugar Ray and Hearns. Like, I just kind of missed all of that, right? Hagler, I missed all that. I come up with Tyson. Um, then it seemed like it went right to Oscar De La Jolla, right? Then it seemed like it went right to Floyd Mayweather, and then Connor Canelo, right? So my question, you know, like the pay-per-view guy right now, then when he's fighting, you're not gonna miss the fight. Who is that guy?

SPEAKER_02 47:52

We don't have that guy yet, and we're in a transitionary period. So David Benavidez is taking a big risk. He's fighting Zerto Ramirez.

SPEAKER_00 47:58

Oh, I can't wait to I wanted to ask you about him, right? Because I'm gonna be at that fight. Now, why? All right, so just jump just a little. He why doesn't he fight Bivall in in light heavyweight, right? Bival has four titles, right? And Benavidez has one. He's jumping up for Ramirez. So I thought him and Bivall would be a great fight. Am I wrong?

SPEAKER_02 48:17

Yeah, it makes sense. But Bivall hasn't fought since his last fight with Better BF. Okay. He he had back surgery, so that's that's something that people didn't bival had back surgery. He did get tripped to one of his titles. Um Benavides got tired of like waiting around like he always did. He did the same thing 68. Canelo wouldn't fight Ben Benavides. Canelo literally ducked Benavides, wouldn't fight him. So Benavides goes, you know what? I'm going 175. Goes up to 75, beats a couple really tough guys up there. Then he's you know, he's waiting for the result of the Bival and Ben uh Better Beat fight. They fight twice. Bival wins the second one. I think he did it very convincingly, he looked great. Um, but then nothing. And Benavides just doesn't want to wait. He goes, all right, cool, I'm gonna go up to cruise weight and go fight the second best cruiseweight in the world, is Vitor Ramirez. And you know, that fight's coming up. He beats him. It's like, yo, Benavides is the man. I'll tell you right now, he's already the man. But he has the star power, he talks the talk, he walks the walk, he fights the fights. He can be that kind of guy. Um, but we're just in a transitionary period right now in terms of stars. But in terms of the money being made and the fights being that are being made, I don't think so. I think we're in a really good, we're a good time. But we've got Ryan Garcia who just became a world champion. That's a huge deal. Ryan was a megastar prior to being having a belt. Now he's got a belt. The Devin Haney rematch is the biggest fight that could possibly be made in the U.S. They have a backstory, they have a narrative, they have bad blood, they have everything. That fight has to happen as soon as possible, and it's going to be an absolute mega fight, unification fight. Devin is the guy to beat at 147. Ryan just got a belt, they both have belts. They have to fight.

SPEAKER_00 49:49

That fight is absolutely ridiculously huge. Isn't Garcia, uh, I just read that he might be fighting Tio Lopez in a couple months. Is that is there any truth to that? And I don't know how that even happens because didn't Lopez just get destroyed by Stevenson?

SPEAKER_02 50:03

Yeah, he got dominated by Stevenson at 140. Now he's gonna go up to 147 and go right into a uh a Ryan Garcia fight, which I don't know who the mandatory challenger would be for uh Garcia's title, uh, because he is a legitimate world title now. Um but Tio being who TO is, being a former unified champ at 135, being a world champion at 140, probably could jump right into a title fight at 47. And if it was Ryan, like I mean, logist legally, logistically, it would make it would make sense. It would be okay to do that. Um, I would feel bad for the other guys in 147 looking for that title. Guys like uh Barbosa, guys like um uh Jack Catterall, these guys who are you know want to fight uh Curry L, these guys who want to fight Ryan, everyone wants to fight Ryan because it's money. Um but yeah, I I I could see that fight, especially because we're talking about Haney's probably gonna fight Roley Romero in between. So if they both had that fight, but they both got to win, obviously. And Tito's not never an easy guy to fight, and unless you're Shakur. And um even Rolly's is not an easy guy to fight for Haney. So if they were both to win, obviously that that that that would be the fight to make. But yeah, I mean the winner of that fight, Ryan seems to be maturing. Yes, he could be the face of boxing. Yes. If and and we've always said that, right? We've been saying that for a long time. But I think he's still 27 years old. He's a world champion now, a legitimate world champion. He beat a world champion, he didn't get a vacant belt.

SPEAKER_00 51:30

He dominated that fight, knocked him down early and dominated that whole fight.

SPEAKER_02 51:33

Barry said nothing for him. Um, but Ryan's talking the way he's supposed to talk, he's training the way he's supposed to train, he's fighting the way he's supposed to fight based on his potential. With the way that he's looking, if he can keep that together, he could take over as the face of the sport, no question.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

Now, what about Shakur Stevenson? Do you see him moving up maybe and and fighting getting into that wealth weight and fighting those guys?

SPEAKER_02 51:58

He's already moved up. You know, he just moved up to 140 and he went right into the fight with TFI Melopez and dominated. Um, I I don't want to see him just keep chasing and just trying to wait, wait, wait, jump. Because we do that, we do have the guys a lot. We force them to move up. We're doing it in a way anyway right now. You know, the guy's super dominant, and you're like, oh, what about next? Bamar Bam Rigas, another one. What about the next weight class? Well, you know, you gotta fucking get some real competition. Just because you're blowing everybody out in your weight class doesn't mean you have to constantly move up until you get beat. So I don't want to see that with Shakur. Now I'm not saying that he will, because I think Shakur is as close to unbeatable as anybody in the world today. Um, the problem with Shakur is this is his selling ability. He's gonna have to be, he's gonna have to make a transition like a Floyd. Floyd at 30 was a killer. Yeah. Knocking guys out. Then he was up to 35. He struggled.

SPEAKER_00 52:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:44

A lot of people thought he lost to Jose Luis Castillo. Immediate rematch beats him, right? Uh I think he hurt his hand against David. That might have been 132, but 35 he didn't spend a long time there. Goes up to 40, beats Arturo Gotti, becomes a star, goes up to 47, beats Oscar de Hoya, becomes a bigger, bigger star, mega star. Um, but then's when he changed. He went from, you know, he went from uh uh pretty boy Floyd to Money Mayweather.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 53:06

When he went to money, that's when the trash talks started talking. That's when people were like, I need to see this guy lose. Um and became the heel. So this marketing strategy.

SPEAKER_00 53:16

Brilliant. Brilliant. Because the guy I wanted to watch him, I never wanted to watch him lose, right? But the guys that hated him wanted to watch him lose. Oh, yeah. And I don't know, you know a zillion times more about this than I do. To me, Floyd Mayweather is by far the best boxer I have ever watched. I don't think there's a close second. I've you know, Ali and I miss all those guys. You did as well, but you know more. He's the best guy I've ever watched fight.

SPEAKER_02 53:42

For me, it's Roy.

SPEAKER_00 53:44

Roy Jones.

SPEAKER_02 53:45

Roy is the Roy is the best fighter I've ever seen. Really? Roy, Roy, Roy, shout out to you, Roy. And and uh Roy's Roy is prime Roy is I don't even know how to explain him. He did things that people can't do. That's the crazy thing about Roy. You couldn't hit him. He's lightning fast, he knocked you out with either hand, knock, he set you up, he boxed you, he he he clowned you, he it looked like he was having fun. He played basketball the morning of in a world championship fight, and then go out and whip you and whip you. Now Roy was uh otherworldly, virtuoso. He Roy at his prime is the best I've ever seen box.

SPEAKER_00 54:26

Love it. And and he had a situation, and correct me if I'm wrong on a name, but I think it was Montel Griffin where he takes a disqualification. I believe he hit him when he was down, right? And he gets disqualified, which I believe was his first loss. So then he had to do the rematch, and I but I don't believe that fight lasted 90 seconds. One round, one round, right? He took him apart like I'm not messing with this. That's how good he was.

SPEAKER_02 54:52

So the first fight with Montel Griffin, Montel Griffin was very good, very, very, very, very good. And he was giving Roy fits in that first fight. And Roy was getting frustrated, and then finally Roy gets him. He puts him down, but as he's down, he clips him with a two-piece. Bung bung! And knocks Montel out. He goes face down, can't continue. Late hit, disqualification, DQ. Um, I hate to say it, but it was deserved. You know, he hit him late. He hit him while he was down. Fair. You know, and and and it was it was it wasn't one shot, it was two. Okay, and they were hard. And the guy couldn't continue 100%. Second fight, first round, Roy is all business. No, no playing around, comes out. I mean, leaping left hooks from across the ring, knocks Montel's head off. First round KO. Uh that Roy beats everyone, bad man. Everyone. I love it. Everyone all the time, all the time. It doesn't matter. Nobody, nobody. Roy at his best is unbeatable.

SPEAKER_00 55:50

I was I was also a Roy Jones Jr. fan. I was actually at the Manny Pacquiao Oscar de La Jolla fight. By the way, are you gonna be at the Benavidez fight on May 2nd? You're gonna be out there?

SPEAKER_02 55:59

I'm not. I'm working a show uh in Maryland.

SPEAKER_00 56:03

Dang, I was gonna say I'm I'm gonna be out there. Uh the football team, my coach is actually playing out in Las Vegas the Friday before. So I'm like, great, hanging around going to the Benavidez fight Saturday night. Looking forward to that. But um, you know, you said, you know, he hits him down. There was there was another situation with Floyd Mayweather. I believe it was Victor Ortiz. There was a headbutt, and then Mayweather knocked him out right after. I noticed it's so long ago, but you think that was a little dirty, or you thought protect yourself at all times, and this is the way it goes.

SPEAKER_02 56:30

100% protect yourself at all times. Victor was uh Victor, Victor messed that up. Okay. You know, he first of all, he was headbutting blatantly. Um, second of all, he's getting reprimanded, point taken, and he just said sorry too many times. Like, yo, put your hands up, bro. It's a fight. Like he he just he completely shut down from actually being a fight. And it was like his third apology. And Floyd is like, all right, bong, bong. Like, what are we doing? Hits him with a 3-2. Hook, right hand, boom, and like, all right, like you can see Floyd's face literally change. He's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, boom, hug. And he's like, all right, we can do this again. He's like, no, bong, bong.

SPEAKER_00 57:07

100% Floyd did the right thing. Awesome. So the the sport to me, again, this is just an outsider's opinion. It has always been about the heavyweight division, right? Like it's always been like the heavyweights and then on down, right? Because we've had some great heavyweights throughout history, right? Right now, I don't know about this heavyweight division. You know, I I know it's uh who Olsic is the heavy, yeah, but he's 39 and he's only fought like I think 24 or 25 times. You know, you know, Tyson Fury was great coming down, you know, Wilder, Joshua, like these named guys are starting to come down. Um, what do you think about the heavyweight division right now?

SPEAKER_02 57:44

I think we're on a we're in a really good spot in terms of what the next generation is gonna look like. So Oleksander Usick is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. He's the guy to beat. He's unbeatable, he's undefeated. Uh, cruiserweight champion, uh unified cruiserweight champion, undisputed cruiserweight champion, and beat really good guys. Um and then moves up the heavyweight and he beats Anthony Joshua twice. He beats Tyson Fury twice, he beats Daniel Dubois twice. Uh he's you know beating guys on the way up, he's he's maintaining his position. Um he's one of the best heavyweights who's ever lived. I'll tell you that right now. I think he's in the top five best heavyweights of all time when you look at just head-to-head matchups. How are you gonna beat that guy? I don't know. So um he's as high as three for some people, maybe arguably higher, because he's just such a difficult style to deal with. Um, and the guy shows up every single time. So you got the old guard, you got the Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Anthony Joshua mix. Those guys were all circling each other, you know, for many, many years. Uh, some of them fought Tyson fought Wilder three times. Um, Anthony didn't get a chance to fight either one of those guys, and those are big fights that are actually still possible, but they're like they're on the back nine, those guys. The uh but the new up-and-coming crop, you got Moses Atalma, who is being viewed as the next Mike Tyson. He's yeah, he's wow. He's have you if you haven't seen this guy.

SPEAKER_00 59:07

I have not, I didn't even know he existed. I love it. Go look him up.

SPEAKER_02 59:11

He fought last weekend, fought a guy, uh uh Jermaine Franklin, who went 12 with Anthony Joshua. Okay, and Atalma blasted him out in six rounds and dropped him. K. I mean, highlight real KO, uppercut like from hell. I mean, blasts this guy out, drops him twice. Guy's never been down, never been stopped. This kid knocks him out in six rounds, drops him really twice. Yeah, no, Moses is an absolute freak of nature. Southpaw, six foot five, you know, 240-ish, athletic KO punchers, 14-0, 14 KOs. Um, they're trying to move him into they want him to fight Usiknik now.

SPEAKER_01 59:47

Really?

SPEAKER_02 59:48

He's like 22 years old. It's ridiculous. I think he's no, he's 21. He's 21 years old. Wow. Wild. So that's the name to follow. That's the guy. Awesome. Then we got we got Ricardo Torres, who's a former Olympian. I think it took a silver medal in the uh the Olympics. He's an American. Um, he can really fight. He's good, he's coming up. And then we got a bunch of these Europe guys, European guys. Agate Kaiba is uh is a German who's undefeated, really good body puncher. Um, you've got uh Jololov, who is I I don't know if he's Uzbek or Kazakh or you know, one of those Eastern European countries. He's phenomenal as well. Doesn't get a lot of shine. Um Fabio Wardley isn't is the British world champion, WBO world champion. He got one of the belts that Usik gave up. Uh phenomenal, phenomenal athlete, killer puncher. Come from a guy come from a hind type kid. He's a uh yeah, he he he's a monster. Definitely fights.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:38

He fights Dubois, right? Uh I think on May 9th. Right, correct.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:41

So him and Du Bois, that's a that's a that's a goddamn fire fight. Awesome. You got two guys who who are killer punchers. Both of them have been the distance one time each. They knock you out. That's what they do.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:52

They knock you out. So on the Bet Big Talk Loud Podcast, you're saying bet the under in the rounds. Bet the under.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:58

You are not going to hear the bell for the 12th round of that fight. I love it. Two killer punchers. Yeah, no, heavy heavyweights, heavyweights are sneaky good. The problem is the U.S. heavyweights suck. We have no, we uh Ricardo Torres is the only guy, or Richard Torres, excuse me, is the only is the only uh American heavyweight that we have. Jared Anderson, too, but he kind of let us down. But uh majority of the talent and the high-level guys in the heavyweight division are in Europe, which is why us Americans are like, oh, heavyweights suck. No, they don't, they're just not here.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:25

So uh a couple more a couple more questions here, and then we'll let you go. And thank you so much, Chris Algiers, for spending time with us. I am gonna be in Vegas May 2nd. I'm probably gonna be getting my asses kicked, my ass kicked at craps. So Ben Benavidez, Ramirez, who wins that fight?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:41

Benavides.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:42

Easy, just go load up.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:44

Benavides. I think I think I I and and this is no knock on Zerdo. Ramirez, I think, is a fantastic fighter. I really like him. I really like him. I think he's a better cruiserweight than he was at light heavyweight and at 68. Um, I just think they're both really good at the same things, and I think David's better.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:00

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:01

So I think he's just a quicker-handed guy. Um, he's he's I I interviewed David last week, and the dude just is just riding high on confidence. Um, he's he's he's really feeling himself. He's coming into his own. He made some great points about the weight. Like, he's like, I don't have to cut weight for this. This guy has to cut weight. I don't have to cut weight. He's like, we both throw a lot of punches, neither one of them are big punchers. He's like, we both throw a lot of punches. I got fast hands. Like, I got faster feet. And I was like, I couldn't, I couldn't disagree with anything he said. I was thinking the same things, and then he says it, and I was like, yeah, all right. Well, we're on the same page.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:32

Well, I don't know what the odds are of that fight right now because it's a month away, but as soon as we get off this, I'm gonna go check that out.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:38

I'm pretty sure David's actually the favorite.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:41

And maybe he might be a big favorite. So let me just take you outside your sport real quick. Obviously, it's college basketball. Final four is this weekend. We have Illinois playing Yukon. We have Michigan, Arizona. Any predictions with what do you think is gonna happen there?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:55

Man, if if I had time to follow, follow other sports, that'd be nice. All right. That'd be nice. I do boxing seven days a week, man. Um, and when I when I'm not doing boxing, I'm sleeping.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:07

That's pretty much it. Fair enough. Uh, former WBL WBO Junior welterweight world champion, Chris Algieri. Thank you so much for spending some time with us. I think the people that were asking me about boxing, they're gonna love this interview. And again, thank you. I wish you and your family a happy Easter. And uh, I would love to do this again sometime.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:26

Yeah, man, anytime. Um, this is this is great. I, you know, I love talking, I love talking boxing. Like I said, this is all I do now. So this is uh 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Talking boxing.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:35

Chris Algieri, thank you so much. All right, that's gonna wrap up this edition of the Bet Big Talk Loud podcast for Friday, April 3rd. First and foremost, everyone out there have a happy Easter celebrate. Uh, hope you guys enjoy the uh holiday with your friends and family and loved ones. Special thank you to former boxing world champion Chris Algieri. Came on, he gave some great information about the state of boxing right now and was really high on everything that's going on. Uh, free picks here on the show. You heard JR earlier give you the under in the Ottawa-Minnesota NHL game for Saturday afternoon. A little bit of an easier play for me in terms of don't go crazy on it, but just some value. Michigan to win the national title, then maybe look the hedge come Monday because the winner of the Michigan-Arizona game is going to be a big favorite no matter who they play on Monday, unless a serious injury occurs. And uh that'll take the number down a little. Short of that, Michigan, Arizona, whoever wins that game is going to be a big favorite on Monday night. Everyone out there, have a great Friday, have a great Easter weekend, and we'll catch you back next week on the Bet Big Talk Loud Podcast.