Podcast: Andrade interview; Shakur, Navarrete title fight previews

Plus: Plans for Joshua, Wilder card, more news; weekend recaps; anniversaries of epic Pryor-Arguello I, historic Pacquiao win

Demetrius Andrade

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It was a light weekend of action, but we have brief recaps of a few fights. More notably there is my interview with Demetrius Andrade as he prepares for a super middleweight showdown with David Benavidez on Nov. 25 on Showtime PPV. We also previewed Thursday night’s Top Rank world title doubleheader involving Shakur Stevenson and Emanuel Navarrete; covered news of the week; and looked back on a pair of extremely significant fights on their anniversaries.

Here’s what we discussed on this episode (in order):

• We briefly recapped the limited weekend action, including knockout wins for junior welterweight Harlem Eubank (Chris Sr.’s nephew) and cruiserweight Roman Fury (Tyson fury’s younger brother) on the Wasserman Boxing card; the shaky split decision win by junior featherweight up-and-comer Shabaz Mousad over Jose Sanmartin on the Matchroom Boxing card; and the woeful heavyweight exhibition between long-faded James Toney (age 55) and Razor Ruddock (59).

• My interview with the outgoing Andrade. We covered several topics, including finally getting a marquee fight; his thoughts on what his biggest win has been; what is his path to victory against Benavidez; as a former junior middleweight and middleweight titleholder, his comfort level at super middleweight; his thoughts on the bad rap some lay on him about being a boring fighter; the respect he and Benavidez have shown toward each other; and whether he thinks the winner will get the huge fight against undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez.

• Previewing Thursday night’s Top Rank world title doubleheader: Stevenson versus Edwin De Los Santos for the vacant WBC lightweight title and WBO junior lightweight titlist Navarrete’s defense against Robson Conceicao.

• My reporting and thoughts on the plans for a huge mostly heavyweight card in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 23 that would see Anthony Joshua-Otto Wallin and Deontay Wilder-Joseph Parker in the top two fights with several other heavyweight contenders in action and two world title fights also in the works.

• Thoughts on the IBF stripping Terence Crawford of its welterweight world title and elevating Jaron Ennis from interim to full titleholder.

• Memories on the 41st anniversary of the all-time legendary first battle between Hall of Famers Aaron Pryor, then the WBA junior welterweight champion, and Alexis Arguello, who was attempting to become the first fighter to win a world title in four divisions.

• Ringside memories on the 13th anniversary of when Manny Pacquiao pummeled Antonio Margarito to win the vacant WBC junior middleweight title to become the only fighter to win world titles in eight weight classes.

Please give it a listen! Also: rate, review, subscribe and enjoy!

We will be bringing you the weekend recap each Monday. Let me know what you think of the podcast by leaving your comments.

Andrade photo: Victor Ren/Showtime

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