Podcast: Huge recap of Paul-Tyson, including horrible Netflix issues

Plus: Epic Taylor-Serrano II; outstanding 'Latino Night' card; news of the week; big fight anniversary memories starring Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones

A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.

There were two significant weekend cards and we recapped them both in detail — the MVP card headlined by the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson spectacle on Netflix and Golden Boy’s Riyadh Season “Latino Night” show on DAZN topped by the Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez-Chris Billam-Smith cruiserweight unification fight. We also covered news items of the week and looked back on the anniversary of two huge fights.

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

• Discussion of the horrendous technical issues Netflix had during the Paul-Tyson card, thoughts on a very disappointing production of the show, and the massive audience it drew.

• Recap of the Paul-Tyson heavyweight fight that saw 58-year-old Tyson return from nearly 20 years in retirement for an official fight. We covered this in depth.

• Recap of the rest of the card, including the epic co-feature, which was the long-awaited rematch between undisputed women’s junior welterweight champion Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, who produced another classic. We spent a lot of time on this one also.

• Recap of the excellent “Latino Night” card: Ramirez’s impressive dismantling of Billam-Smith; junior welterweight contender Arnold Barboza Jr.’s clear decision over former unified titlist Jose Ramirez; William Zepeda’s hard-fought split decision over Tevin Farmer to win the vacant WBC interim lightweight title; Oscar Collazo’s dominant seventh-round knockout of Thammanoon Niyomtrong to unify the WBO and WBO strawweight titles; and welterweight Oscar Duarte’s decision win over Batyr Akhmedov in a slugfest.

---

I am in my 25th year of full-time boxing coverage. Take advantage of that experience by upgrading to a paid subscription for full access to all posts and comments — and also support independent journalism.

---

• PBC’s official announcement of a good looking Prime Video PPV on Feb.1 headlined by unbeaten light heavyweights David Benavidez and David Morrell with interim featherweight titlist Brandon Figueroa’s rematch against Stephen Fulton Jr.; junior welterweight Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz against Angel Fierro; and junior middleweight Jesus Ramos Jr. versus former titlist Jeison Rosario.

• My reporting on Matchroom Boxing’s plans for a Jan. 25 card in Las Vegas headlined by super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco with lightweight Andy Cruz ticketed for the undercard.

• Ringside memories on the 23rd anniversary of when Lennox Lewis obliterated Hasim Rahman in their rematch to regain the heavyweight title.

• Memories on the 30th anniversary of when Roy Jones Jr. moved up to super middleweight and dominated then-undefeated pound-for-pound star James Toney to win the IBF title in perhaps the greatest win of his legendary career.

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

We bring you the preview each Friday and the weekend recap each Monday and sometimes a special episode. Let me know what you think of the podcast by leaving your comments.

Paul-Tyson photo: Getty Images for Netflix

---

Please upgrade your subscription here: https://danrafael.substack.com/subscribe

Thank you so much for your support of Fight Freaks Unite!

---

Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danrafael1/

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanRafael1

Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanRafaelBoxing