Big Fight Weekend Boxing Podcast

We had a busy weekend of main events in Norfolk, VA, Doncaster, England and even Germany, and we're ready to go over the action and some fight news on the "Fight Freaks Unite Recap Podcast!"

Host T.J. Rives is back with insider Dan Rafael of his Fight Freaks Unite Substack and Newsletter to give insight and analysis.

They start with the Saturday night Top Rank/DAZN main event in Norfolk, Virginia
First Top Rank event of its DAZN deal, Bob Arum, age 94, back at ringside after knee replacement surgery that had kept him from traveling for months.
Junior welterweight Keyshawn Davis wins the main event in 12 over Nahir Albright, but does something stupid, again, during the fight, this time. Will he learn? Will it continue to cost the talented fighter in the future?

Also, Welterweight Brian Norman scored a TKO2 over Josh Wagner with a brain dead referee trying to adminsiter the count and then not stopping the fight, when he should have. What. Are. We. Doing Here?
Then, the Saturday Queensberry DAZN main event in Doncaster, England
Heavyweight Filip Hrgovic scores a lopsided TKO3 over veteran Dave Allen, who needs to retire. Hrgovic is apparently next for Moses Itauama. The guys have the latest.

And, back on Friday main event, on DAZN in Mannheim, Germany-
Welterweight Paddy Donovan decisions Karen Chukhadzhian for an IBF final eliminator. Will Donovan get another fight with Lewis Crocker? We go over it all.
 

NEWS
Canelo Alvarez vs. and newly elevated, WBC super middleweight titlist Christian Mbilli officially announced for September in Saudi Arabia. The guys wonder if Canelo has agreed to fight early Sunday a.m. again, there or not?

Also, former WBO heavyweight titlist Fabio Wardley has exercized his contractual right to an immediate rematch with Daniel Dubois, so, they will meet again later this year.  

The WBA and IBF have finally weighed in on the status of their belts for the Oleksandr Usyk-Rico Verhoeven fight on Saturday May 23rd at the Pyramids in Giza Egypt. Get ready to be confused.

Junior welterweight contender Oscar Duarte will be sidelined until late this year due to a severe laceration he suffered behind his ear in a split decision over Angel Fierro on May 2 so he has passed on fighting Lindlfo Delgado for the vacant IBF junior welterweight title. Dan has more.

And, another change to the Matchroom main event on June 6: WBC interim flyweight titlist Galal Yafai is injured and out of a mandatory fight with WBC/WBA titleholder Ricardo Sandoval.

It's all part of the "Fight Freaks Unite Recap Podcast" and make sure to follow/subscibe on Apple/Spreaker/Spotify, etc.!

It's a weekend without a significant world title bout but there are some interesting fights from Virginia to the U.K. and we'll go over it all with some fight news on the newest "Big Fight Weekend Preview Podcast!"

Host T.J. Rives is back with insider Dan Rafael to go over it all.

Preview of Saturday's Top Rank DAZN card in Norfolk, Virginia and the first event of Top Rank’s new DAZN deal:
Keyshawn Davis vs. Nahir Albright, in a rematch, 12 rounds, junior welterweights. Has Keyshawn fully gotten his act together, especially when he fought with Albright out of the ring in his locker room last year after he missed weight cancelling his main event?

Also, former world champ Brian Norman vs. Josh Wagner, 10 rounds, welterweights. It's Norman's first bout since losing the WBO title to Devin Haney and he wants to look good.

Then, it's a preview of Saturday's Queensberry DAZN card in Doncaster, England
Dave Allen vs. Filip Hrgovic, 10 rounds, heavyweights. It's an opportunity for the Croatian Hrgovic to look good and likely fight unbeaten rising star heavyweight Moses Itauma next in August. We discuss.

Then, some news
Three-division champion and former pound-for-pound king Vasiliy Lomachenko, who has not fought since May 2024 and announced his retirement in June 2025, is ending his retirement to return this fall. Whom will he fight? Dan has more also on Top Rank and DAZN working on April 8 IBF title defense for Ray Muratalla and discussing two opponents,  But would this be Loma trying to get his belt back against Muratalla? Dan has the latest.

Next, Jake Paul said in an interview this week with Ariel Helwani that he may not be able to fight again due to the severity of the broken jaw he suffered vs. Anthony Joshua in December. The guys discuss it and his options, if he doesn't box anymore.

Heavyweight Derek Chisora said this week to Sky Sports he is ending his extremely brief retirement – since the April 4 Wilder fight -- with permission from his wife and claims he is getting a rematch with Wilder. 

IBF welterweight titlist Lewis Crocker will make his mandatory defense against Liam Paro on June 24th at Pat Rafter Arena in Paro’s hometown of Brisbane, Australia, No Limit Boxing announced the details on Tuesday.  

The fight between middleweight Amari Jones and former IBF titlist Vincenzo Gualtieri, which headlines a Golden Boy card on May 22 (DAZN) in San Jose, California, has now been elevated to an official IBF title eliminator.  

We also take a look back to Sunday night's Zuffa card in Las Vegas: Middleweight Shane Mosley Jr., with his Hall of Fame father Shane Sr. at ringside, notched the biggest win of his career with a sixth-round knockout of Serhii Bohachuk in the Zuffa Boxing 06. 

It's all on the latest "Big Fight Weekend Preview Podcast" and make sure to follow/subscribe on Apple/Spreaker/Spotify, etc.

It was dramatic and it was brutal and we're ready to recap the WBO heavyweight world title fight won by Daniel Dubois. Plus, we had a featherweight world title fight nixed at the weigh in and controversy continues through the weekend. And, we have fight news too on the "Fight Freaks Unite Recap Podcast!"

Host T.J. Rives returns with insider Dan Rafael of his Fight Freaks Unite Substack and Newsletter with their takes.

They give a full recap of Saturday’s Queensberry DAZN PPV in Manchester, England
They start with the Dubois TKO11 Fabio Wardley, as he wins the WBO title. T.J. is adamant that no one cared about the safety of Wardley late in the fight. Dan gives his rebuttal and they also talk the future now for Dubois.

They also go over the undercard where:
Welterweight Jack Rafferty scored a TKO6 over Ekow Essuman
Zak Chelli 's stunning TKO10 of David Morrell in a light heavyweight battle
And gigantic Bakhodir Jalolov TKO7 vs. Agron Smakici but he isn't showing promise and progress enough for Dan at this point.
 
Then it's fight news
Featherweight contender Ra’eese Aleem badly missed weight on Friday and his mandatory fight with IBF titlist Angelo Leo was canceled though the rest of the Salita Promotions’ DAZN card went on Saturday night.

Next, SI's Chris Mannix is reporting that Shakur Stevenson on verge of signing with "Zuffa Boxing" a.k.a. Turki Alashikh bankrolling for Ring PPVs.

Also, Lightweights Edwin De Los Santos and Jose Valenzuela will meet in a 10-round rematch their shootout that will headline Zuffa Boxing 08 on June 28  at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. And, the Saudis may have ended their LIV golf commitment but TKO says they are still all in their boxing, UFC and WWE business.

Hear it all on the "Fight Freaks Unite Recap Podcast" and make sure to follow/subscribe on Apple/Spreaker/Spotify, etc.

We're back with title fight action in England and Atlanta and some fight news, as it's the newest "Big Fight Weekend Preview Podcast!"

Host T.J. Rives is back with insider Dan Rafael of his Fight Freaks Unite Substack to go over it all.

They start with the preview of the Saturday Queensberry DAZN card in Manchester, England
Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois, for Wardley’s WBO heavyweight title. This has the possibility of being fireworks early and should be quite the atmosphere.

Also on the undercard David Morrell vs. Zak Chelli, 10 rounds, light heavyweights, as Morrell gets a fight after his Callum Smith main event was cancelled a couple of weeks ago due to Smtih injury.
 
Then, a preview of Saturday night's Salita Promotions DAZN main event in Atlanta
Angelo Leo vs. Ra’eese Aleem, 12 rounds, for Leo’s IBF featherweight title. Leo has some big title wins, but Aleem may be poised for an upset, too.
 
And, a quick Preview of Sunday night's Paramount+ Zuffa main event in Las Vegas
Shane Mosley Jr. vs. Serhii Bohachuk, 10 rounds, middleweights. A solid second level, non title fight in the main event.
 
Then, some fight news
WBO welterweight Devin Haney and "Zuffa Boxing" in talks for a multi-fight promotional deal. However, T.J. wants to make clear what's "Zuffa" and what's actually Turki Alashikh paying for and putting a fight on PPV that has nothing to do with "Zuffa Boxing."

Next, Junto Nakatani is diagnosed with a broken orbit bone by his left eye. It apparently happened on a right uppercut in round 11 of the loss to Inoue Saturday night. He will be out a while.

Also, the official announcement of WBO lightweight titleholder Abdullah Mason’s first defense, a Cleveland homecoming vs. Joe Cordina on DAZN July 4 with WBC featherweight titlist Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington’s first defense vs. Rene Palacios in the co-feature. An intriguing card on the famous holiday.

And, a new date for British rising phenom heavyweight Moses Itauma – moving off a July 25th main event date, so as not to go same day as the Anthony Joshua-Prenga PPV. Dan has more.

It's all part of the "Big Fight Weekend Preview Podcast" and make sure to follow/subscribe on Apple/Spreaker/Spotify, etc.!

We are back off a GREAT weekend of action with recaps coming from Japan to England to Vegas and we go over it all on the newest "Fight Freaks Unite Recap" podcast.

Host T.J. Rives returns with insider Dan Rafael of his Fight Freaks Unite Substack to go over it all.

First up is the full recap of the "PBC on Prime" PPV from Vegas that originally aired early Sunday Eastern time on our Big Fight Weekend. YouTube page.

The guys discuss David Benavidez's demolition of Zurdo Ramirez in six rounds to knock him out and gain the WBA/WBO unified cruiserweight crowns. Benavidez looks awesome and we dissect how he destroyed Zurdo in his latest fight and importantly, his options next?

It was a FANTASTIC undercard with Jaime Munguia winning the WBA super middleweight crown with an impressive 12 round whipping of Armando Resendiz to get his biggest win in several years. And, it makes Munguia a defiinte "player" at 168 lb. again.

Pluse, we talk Oscar Duarte's 140 lb. contender win over Angel Fierro, a tremendous 10 rounder with Tito Sanchez and Jorge Chavez bombing each other in the junior middleweight division and an upset for Ishmael Flores scoring in an impressive showing over Isaac Lucero.

Then, we pick up with the recap of the Ohashi Promotions card on Saturday in TokyoNaoya Inoue W12 Junto Nakatani to retain the undisputed junior featherweight title in the biggest fight in Japanese history at the sold-out 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome. Inoue quickly becoming one of the all time greatest smaller weight fighters. And, might we see he and Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez down the road?

Also, his younger brother,Takuma Inoue W12 over veteran former title holder, Kazuto Ioka and retains the WBC bantamweight title. 
Theres also discussion of the Matchroom Boxing main event in Wolverhapton, England
Conah Walker outlslugs Sam Eggington to score a 10th round TKO in a junior middleweight battle that will be considered for "fight of the year" type hype.
 
And, finally, some news
Canelo Alvarez confirmed that he will meet Christian Mbilli for Mbilli’s WBC super middleweight title on Sept. 12 in Riyadh in the Turki Alashikh headliner. The guys discuss.

And, PBC hosted a presser on Saturday afternoon to officially announce Errol Spence ending a three year hiatius to go to Australia to fight favore son Tim Tszyu in July. T.J. has doubts, even with the announcement, about Spence and the fight.

It's all part of the "Fight Freaks Unite Recap Podcast' and make sure to follow/subscribe on Apple/Spreaker/Spotify, etc.