Podcast: Interview with Lamont Roach Jr. ahead of 'Pitbull' PPV
Previews of Whittaker-Gavazi, Clarke-Tshikeva, Manny Pacquiao Jr.'s pro debut; recap of Inoue-Nasukawa card; death of Vanes Martirosyan, more news of the week
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With Thanksgiving, it’s a light boxing weekend but there are some smaller fights to preview and one world title card from during the week that we recapped. There is also my interview with junior lightweight titleholder Lamont Roach Jr., who challenges Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz for the WBC interim junior welterweight belt in a very interesting fight on Dec. 6. And, of course, we covered notable news items of the week. Also, check out and subscribe to the YouTube channel for a variety of content.
Here is what’s on the show (in order):
Preview of Saturday’s Matchroom Boxing/DAZN main event in Birmingham, England, where newly signed light heavyweight up-and-comer Ben Whittaker will face Benjamin Gavazi in his first fight of the new deal.
Preview of Saturday’s Boxxer main event in Derby, England (available on TrillerTV+ in U.S.), where Frazer Clarke and Jeamie “TKV” Tshikeva will vie for the vacant British heavyweight title in Boxxer’s first event with new partner BBC.
Preview of Saturday’s Manny Pacquiao Promotions’ first American card in Temecula, California, where in the co-feature lightweight Manny “Jimuel” Pacquiao Jr. will make his professional debut.
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Recap of Monday’s Teiken Promotions card in Tokyo, where Takuma Inoue outpointed Tenshin Nasukawa to win the vacant WBC bantamweight title; Ra’eese Aleem outpointed Mikito Nakano in an upset in an IBF featherweight eliminator to become Angelo Leo’s mandatory challenger; and junior bantamweight Tomoya Tsuboi, a former world amateur champion, advanced to 3-0 in a one-sided eighth-round knockout of former titleholder Carlos Cuadras, who announced his retirement.
My interview with Roach, who was left hanging by Gervonta Davis when he bailed on their rematch and will instead move up another division to challenge Cruz in the PBC on Prime Video pay-per-view main event in San Antonio.
The death of Vanes Martirosyan, a 2004 U.S. Olympian and three-time world title challenger, after a two-year battle with skin cancer at age 39.
An update on WBC junior welterweight titlist Subriel Matias’ defense against Dalton Smith likely moving forward on Jan. 10 in Brooklyn, New York, because the adverse finding Matias returned for Ostarine in a VADA test was below the allowable threshold in New York.
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We bring you the preview each Friday and the weekend recap each Monday. Let me know what you think of the podcast by leaving your comments.
Roach photo: Ryan Hafey/PBC
