Podcast: Devin Haney interview; previewing return of Ryan Garcia

Plus: Conlan-Gill battle; news of week; anniversaries of two big fights

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We have two notable cards on Saturday, both on DAZN, and we previewed and discussed both: the return of junior welterweight star Ryan Garcia to face Oscar Duarte in the headliner on a Golden Boy card in Houston and a Matchroom Boxing card topped by Michael Conlan, at home in Belfast, Northern Ireland, taking on Jordan Gill as they both move up to junior lightweight. There is also my one-on-one interview with Devin Haney, the lightweight champion, ahead of his move up to challenge Regis Prograis for his WBC junior welterweight title on Dec. 9. We also covered various news items and, of course, made time for a trip down memory lane as we looked back on the anniversaries of two major fights.

Here is what’s on the show (in order):

• Preview of Garcia’s return from a knockout loss to Gervonta Davis in a mega fight in April to face Duarte and aiming to set up bigger fights, plus lightweight up-and-comer Floyd Schofield taking on Ricardo Torres in a fight elevated to co-feature status due to the postponement on Wednesday of the vacant interim WBA junior welterweight title bout between Ohara Davies and Ismael Barroso due to Davies’ visa issue.

• Preview of Conlan against Gill as both move up in weight and look to bounce back from knockout losses.

• Coming to grips with the fact that my all-time favorite rock band KISS will perform its final concert on Saturday night in New York and how I am going to juggle watching it and the Garcia-Duarte card.

• My interview with Haney, with whom I covered several topics: Having VADA drug testers randomly show up right before our original interview time and having to reschedule; why he pursued Prograis over a variety of other quality fights; whether the poor performance of Prograis in his last fight influenced the decision; is there real animosity between them; how will the fight unfold; thoughts on the possibility of returning to fight at lightweight in the future; his view on comments from some that he ducked mandatory challenger Shakur Stevenson to instead fight Prograis; thoughts on being a fighter of the year candidate if he wins; bringing big-time boxing to San Francisco, where is originally from and still has family, for the first time since the early 2000s; and more.

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• Now that Haney has announced he is vacating the unified lightweight titles, a look at how each organization will fill the title.

• Top Rank winning a purse bid for the vacant WBA featherweight title fight between Otabek Kholmatov and Raymond Ford and my reporting on Top Rank having signed Kholmatov.

• Announcement that WBA junior bantamweight titleholder Kazuto Ioka will defend against Josber Perez on Dec. 31 in Tokyo, marking the 12th New Year’s Eve fight of Ioka’s decorated career.

• Memories on the 44th anniversary of when Sugar Ray Leonard stopped fellow Hall of Famer Wilfred Benitez in the 15th round to win the WBC welterweight title in a huge victory and Marvin Hagler getting robbed in a draw attempting to win the undisputed middleweight title from Vito Antuofermo in their first fight, which was on the undercard.

• Ringside memories on the 23rd anniversary of what I consider the greatest junior middleweight title fight ever, when Felix Trinidad stopped Fernando Vargas in the 12th round of a classic battle to unify titles, and my wildly busy week of covering five shows in Las Vegas.

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

Haney photo: Melina Pizano/Matchroom Boxing

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