Podcast: Tszyu's knockout of Harrison to preserve Charlo shot
Plus: Pacheco's impressive win and Yoka's career-wrecking loss to Takam; Fury-Usyk news, Taylor-Cameron; two notable anniversaries
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.
Welcome to the Fight Freaks Unite recap podcast coming off a Saturday that featured three notable cards headlined by Tim Tszyu’s knockout of Tony Harrison on Showtime to win an interim junior middleweight title and preserve his position as the next opponent for undisputed champion Jermell Charlo; super middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco’s fourth-round destruction of Jack Cullen on DAZN; and heavyweight Carlos Takam’s upset of extremely disappointing bust Tony Yoka on ESPN+. We discussed all three fights, covered two important news developments and looked back on the anniversary of two notable fights.
Here’s what we discussed on this episode (in order):
Tszyu’s seemingly dominant performance against Harrison (despite the close cards at the time of thee knockout).
Pacheco’s two-knockdown blowout of Cullen after a little bit of a slow start.
Takam’s upset of Yoka to end a two-fight skid as he handed the 2016 Olympic gold medalist his second loss in a row and probably ended his chances of becoming a top fighter.
The tentative deal reached on Friday for the long-awaited undisputed heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. But there is still a lot of work to get done and it remains to be seen if it can still be on their target date of April 29.
With Amanda Serrano sidelined due to injury and out of a May 20 rematch with undisputed women’s lightweight champion Katie Taylor, the fight being finalized for Taylor to move up to junior welterweight and challenge undisputed champion Chantelle Cameron for an Ireland homecoming fight.
Looking back on the 24th anniversary of what should have been a glorious night for boxing that instead turned out to be a horrendous disaster: Lennox Lewis getting a draw in a scandalous robbery against Evander Holyfield in their first fight for the undisputed heavyweight title.
A look back on the 19th anniversary of Winky Wright’s coming out party in his big win over Shane Mosley in a unification fight to become the undisputed junior middleweight champion in Las Vegas, where one night earlier I had my bachelor party.
Please give it a listen! Also: rate, review, subscribe and enjoy!
We will be bringing you the weekend recap each Monday. Let me know what you think of the podcast by leaving your comments.
Tszyu photo: No Limit Boxing
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
Tszyu seemed to be a special young man and I still think he has the potential to be great or at least to create a magnificent fight against Charlo. The only thing that doesn't sit with me is that I was so compelled to support him that I invited my kids and wife to watch his fight. After the language he used at the end (to "remember my m____________g name") in front my kids and their friends tuning in......I'm compelled to say these kids...and the ladies are no longer fans...and I am certain he lost that section that COULD have been more of his fans....Sad to see the making of a champion that could bring in fans from other sectors to his brand....Hate to write this but after 45+ years in this business we are watched through social media more than ever.......and if 'branded' correctly could create a larger following....