Podcast: Recap of Essuman's upset of Taylor and Leo shines in Japan
Also: Itauma's crushing KO; Taduran retains title; Garcia claims vacant belt; news of the week; 60th anniversary of Ali-Liston II
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.
I hope everybody has a relaxing and safe Memorial Day — and checks out this episode. While it is available on the usual podcast platforms we also did this week’s recap show live on YouTube! We recapped and discussed the most notable fights, covered the news of the week and looked back on the anniversary of one of the most famous fights of all time — the Muhammad Ali-Sonny Liston rematch. Make sure to subscribe to the Big Fight Weekend YouTube channel and check it out.
Here is what’s on the show (in order):
Recap of welterweight Ekow Essuman’s upset decision over former undisputed junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor, who moved up in weight, lost his third fight in a row and finds his career in free fall, in the main event of the Queensberry card on DAZN in Glasgow, Scotland.
Recap of heavyweight mega prospect Moses Itauma’s second-round destruction of Mike Balogun on the Taylor-Essuman undercard and all the hype surrounding him.
Recap of IBF featherweight titlist Angelo Leo’s decision win over Tomoki Kameda in a fine performance on the road in Osaka, Japan, and IBF strawweight titlist Pedro Taduran’s decision win over Ginjiro Shigeoka in their immediate rematch that saw Shigeoka collapse when the scores were read and have to be rushed to the hospital.
I am in my 26th 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 support independent journalism.
Junior bantamweight Willibaldo Garcia’s split decision over Rene Calixto in a rematch of their draw to win the vacant IBF title in the main event of a Zanfer Promotions card on Friday in Zacatecas, Mexico.
Tyson Fury’s announcement in a social media video in which he insists he is indeed retired for good.
Canelo Alvarez’s comments during a media scrum at a golf tournament saying that his fight against Terence Crawford in September will be in Las Vegas even though Turki Alalshikh has said that remains to be seen.
Discussion on the 60th anniversary of Ali retaining the heavyweight championship via first-round knockout of Liston in their immediate rematch and the decades of questions and controversy about whether it was a legit punch that landed or if Liston threw the fight.
Please check out the video on the YouTube channel here and make sure to subscribe and help us out!
You can also, if you prefer, listen on the usual podcast platforms. If you do, rate, review, subscribe and enjoy!
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.
Taylor-Essuman photo: Leigh Dawney/Queensberry Promotions.
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
