Podcast: Brandon Figueroa interview; Ramirez, Ortiz victories
Plus: discussion of the undercard results; James, Spence lawsuits; more news of the week; memories on the anniversaries of three big fights
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There was one significant show on Saturday — the Golden Boy card on DAZN on which Jose Ramirez and Vergil Ortiz Jr. won separate bouts — and we went over the results and what they mean. There is also my interview with WBC interim featherweight titlist Brandon Figueroa, the all-action fighter who defends his belt on the Canelo Alvarez-Jaime Munguia pay-per-view card. We also discussed the news of the week and I shared ringside memories on the anniversaries of three significant fights.
Here is what’s on the show (in order):
Recap of former unified junior welterweight titlist Ramirez’s hard-fought but wide decision over former two-division titleholder Rances Barthelemy.
Recap of junior middleweight contender Ortiz’s one-punch body shot knockout of Thomas Dulorme to punch his way into a huge fight with Tim Tszyu on Aug. 3 and other undercard bouts.
My interview with Figueroa, who defend his belt against former junior featherweight titlist Jessie Magdaleno on Saturday in Las Vegas. We discussed various topics, including: coming off a long layoff; goals of winning a full title; thoughts on Magdaleno; looking for an eventual fight with Naoya Inoue; much more.
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The lawsuit trainer Derrick James has filed against Errol Spence Jr. for at least $5 million over his pay and Spence’s counter suit.
Staying in the legal arena, my reporting that Golden Boy and Ryan Garcia have settled the lawsuit Golden Boy filed against him and his adviser seeking to have its promotional rights enforced.
My reporting on a pair of summer title bouts Top Rank is planning for WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinoza and unified middleweight titlist Janibek Alimkhanuly.
Ringside memories on the 21st anniversary of when James Toney outpointed Vassiliy Jirov to win the IBF cruiserweight title in an epic battle voted fight of the year by the BWAA and in the conversation for greatest cruiserweight title fight of all time.
Ringside memories on the 24th anniversary of when Lennox Lewis destroyed Michael Grant to retain the heavyweight title in my first fight at ringside after being hired to be the USA Today boxing writer.
Ringside memories on the seventh anniversary of when Anthony Joshua stopped Wladimir Klitschko to retain the IBF heavyweight title and win the vacant WBA belt before 90,000 at Wembley Stadium in London in the 2017 fight of the year, which turned out to be Klitschko’s final bout.
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Figueroa photo: Esther Lin/Showtime
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Haney vs Ramirez in SF at Chase Center for the 140 WBC Title, makes dollars and a ton of sense for both. Those Fresno fans do turn up and will travel the three hour drive. IF you can get WBC mando Sandor Martin to take step aside money (and retire 🙏 lol).