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We have two guests for this mid-week podcast!

We start with George Jakovic, a boxing insider with experience in various capacities in the boxing industry, and he now runs his own YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@oneroundwithgeorge.

The two talk about the following:

• Canelo vs. Christian Mbilli

• Issues with modern boxing

• Trainer Marc Ramsay

• Chris Algieri vs. Ruslan Provodnikov

• The undercard

Then, Abraham Gonzalez, the boss at FightsATW.com, joins the show and talks about the following:

• Canelo vs. Mbilli

• O’Shaquie Foster Fighter of the Year and P4P status?

Timestamps

0:00 Intro George Jakovic

1:10 Canelo vs. Christian Mbilli

5:00 Issues with modern boxing

11:25 Canelo vs. Mbilli fight breakdown

18:00 Marc Ramsay

23:41 Algieri vs. Provodnikov

30:00 Canelo vs. Mbilli undercard

37:17 Abraham Gonzalez

37:30 Canelo vs. Mbilli deep breakdown

56:44 Who is the face of boxing

01:07:30 O’Shaquie Foster, FOTY?

01:12:00 Where Shock sits on P4P list

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In this podcast, Lukie responds to listener comments.

The big one this week is questions around Foster win over Emanuel Navarrete. Lukie talks about the fight and answers questions about the referee and broadcast team.

Also, on this podcast, Lukie talks about his appreciation of Maxi Hughes, Alberto Puello, the modern era of fighters, Sammy Contreras, Steven Navarro, and the need of a new upset of the month for July.

Then, film study, where Lukie talks about the following:

• ArAr Andales vs Raito Kataoka

• Denzel Bentley vs. Shane Mosley Jr

• Carlos Emiliano Rojo Vazquez vs. Flavius Biea

• Bek Nurmaganbet vs. Marcos Vazquez Rodriguez

• Brayan Leon Salgado vs Hector Aguirre

• Reito Tsutsumi vs. Raymundo Rojas

• Divine Omojor

• Pryce Taylor vs. Tsotne Rogava

• Atif Olberton vs. Deon Nicholson

• Siro Choi vs Keisham Luckysun Singh

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The Return of Canelo

How to Watch: 11 AM PST on DAZN PPV with free prelims starting at 7 AM PST

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has had a sleepy, if not forgettable, last two years. He nearly lost to William Scull, then lost to Terence Crawford, who moved up two weight classes to fight him. Now in the twilight of his career, he faces Christian Mbilli, the WBC super middleweight champ.

Everything about this is messy. The undercard was announced only a few weeks out. Questions arose about whether the card would happen; nothing has been a plug-and-play, easy experience. Also, Alvarez is an older fighter. He has been pro for 21 years and is 36. He is closer to retirement than going on a legacy run, as he did eight years ago.

Stylistically, it can go one of two ways. Mbilli is a pressure fighter who could play into Alvarez’s ability to counterpunch, but the intrigue comes from the fact that Mbilli could outwork Alvarez, who, to me, looks mentally checked out of the sport. Also, Alvarez is older, and sometimes a young, physical fighter can trouble an older fighter.

Let’s be honest: it is good to have Canelo back. It just seems the circumstances of the fight, and the unrest in the region, including the U.S. embassy evacuating Saudi Arabia, have been the story; more than the fight itself.

On the undercard:

Jaime Munguia will defend his WBA super middleweight title against Nikita Zon. What is weird is that “Bek The Bully” is the mandatory opponent for Munguia’s title. It is a step back for Munguia, especially after a good win over Armando Resendiz to win the belt. Rather indifferent about this one.

A sneaky good fight turned meh. The WBO featherweight titleholder Rafael Espinoza was set to face Lorenzo Parra. Espinoza has been a revelation since upsetting Robeisy Ramirez in 2023. Espinoza has now held his title for nearly three years. Parra just knocked out Elijah Pierce in February. I talked myself into this being a good one, but it is off.

Instead, Espinoza will face Ricardo Blandon. I would be shocked if this fight lasted all that long.

I wish we saw Espinoza more often this year, as it has been a rather silent year for the featherweight division.

Then, Lindolfo Delgado and Arthur Biyarslanov were set to fight for the vacant IBF junior welterweight title. Now, Delgado has elected not to go to Saudi Arabia, with the story developing as we speak. Biyarslanov appears to be off the card.

The remaining silver lining of the undercard: former Naoya Inoue opponent, David Picasso, will face Carl Martin. The bout could be fun, since both are limited and aggressive.

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Did Foster win Fighter of the Year with the victory? Does Lukie get to gloat for being right? What is next for both? We talk about the performance. Also, we talk about Albert "Chop Chop" Gonzalez stopping Edward Vazquez in two rounds, Frank Martin getting a stoppage win, and the development of Deric Davis.

Then, we go to the U.K. to talk about Dalton Smith winning a split decision over Alberto Puello. What is the tenor and thoughts on this? Also, Giorgio Visioli won a majority decision over Maxi Hughes, and Shannon Ryan looked amazing with a quick stoppage of the only woman to stop her: Shannon Ryan.

We conclude the show talking about Canelo Alvarez versus Christian Mbilli. The bout is strange, and not for the right reasons. It is happening in Saudi Arabia when the region is going through unrest. We talk about the fight itself, but honestly, the fight card looks to be the story of who will and won't be there... or if it will happen.

Timestamps
0:00 O’Shaquie Foster
17:08 TR undercard
30:20 Dalton Smith vs Alberto Puello
39:00 Canelo vs. Christian Mbilli…and more

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He shocked the world

For those who knew junior lightweight O’Shaquie Foster, it wasn’t a surprise; for the rest, it was a shock.

Foster didn’t just beat Emanuel Navarrete; he made him look foolish en route to a 12-round unanimous decision win. The victory was capped off by Foster dropping Navarrete in the final round, twice. The first blow from a right hand when he timed Navarrete coming in appeared to affect Navarrete’s knee.

In a fight billed as a “Fight of the Year,” it was far from that. Foster displayed his full ability and probably wrapped up “Fighter of the Year” honors; albeit Naoya Inoue’s win over Junto Nakatani is impressive.

It was a crowning achievement, where Foster won the fight to garner the respect he always deserved.

On the undercard:

San Antonio, we have a featherweight contender.

Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez stopped the usually durable Edward Vazquez in two rounds. The telling blow, a left hook to the body. Gonzalez is good… real good. He called for a title shot after this fight, and I think he has earned it, as only he and WBO featherweight titleholder Rafael Espinoza. Gonzalez also offered to fight Espinoza next week in Saudi Arabia. Probably not possible, but in an era of fighters not being active, the gesture is appreciated by a fight fan.

Welterweight Frank Martin made his Top Rank debut. He stopped Tarik Zaina in the seventh round. It wasn’t good until it was. Martin believed in his power and that he is a puncher. Then delivered. Martin was on his way to a win today, a look-good-tomorrow type victory, only to

To start the DAZN telecast, lightweight Deric “Scooter” Davis won an eight-round unanimous decision over Joaquin Faccio. Davis has potential, as the Barry Hunter-trained fighter showed early promise, but after a close fight in July, and now a ho-hum performance against a 22-year-old who fought like a veteran. After 10 straight knockouts, Davis now has recorded three straight decision wins, all coming when he made the jump into eight-round bouts.

Davis replaced Steven Navarro-Emanuel Moreno after Navarro missed weight and the two teams couldn’t agree to terms for the fight to move forward.

On the early prelims, we saw good fighters tested.

Junior featherweight Daniel Cortez III won a split decision against Joshua Montoya. Montoya had some cool dance moves coming to the ring and tested the local fighter, with some believing Montoya should’ve won.

Lightweight Sammy Contreras won a six-round unanimous decision over Oscar Pedroza Padilla. Contreras was in complete control, but appeared to get rocked in the third round. Contreras went from looking like he was going to get a stoppage to battling adversity.

Junior middleweight Joseph Almajdi won a six-round unanimous decision over Miqal Dolphus. Almajdi had to work hard for the victory, but took over in the final rounds.

Smith wins, but …

That won’t feel great.

Those are my first thoughts on Dalton Smith’s first junior welterweight title defense against Alberto Puello. He won a split decision in his hometown. Puello troubled him for most of the fight. It was close, but it felt like it was contested at Puello’s pace, and not Smith’s; often a good indicator of who won.

The end result: Questions about Smith. He stopped Subriel Matias to win the belt in January, and looks to be a star for Matchroom Boxing. This win keeps him in that position, but boy, was it close. For Puello, he could make a case that he should be undefeated, as both of his losses to Smith and Matias are disputed (the Matias fight was a majority decision).

The loss truly stings for Puello, who becomes a high-risk, low-reward contender, whereas Smith will need to improve to have a long title reign… Even if you felt he won.

Full transparency, I scored the bout 115-113 for Puello. That said, Puello could have done more. It just is the type of fight where it hurts the momentum of both fighters. Smith will be questioned on how good he is, and Puello could easily be avoided.

On the undercard:

Lightweight Giorgio Visioli, an unbeaten prospect, won a majority decision over veteran Maxi Hughes. Even though Visioli won a close fight, my takeaway is how cool Hughes is. He refuses to be a gatekeeper, and even though he “lost”, they was he did so via a majority decision will hurt some of the luster of Visioli’s career. I thought the 23-year-old Visioli edged a 96-94 fight, but it also showed that he is very young in the game and isn’t ready for title fights yet.

Junior bantamweight Shannon Ryan avenged her lone career loss in dramatic fashion, as she stopped Emma Dolan in the first round. For Dolan, it is back-to-back stoppage losses. This one especially damning as she was dropped twice, and stopped in 0:46 seconds.

Opening the telecast, 19-year-old heavyweight prospect Leo Atang stopped Jonathan Exequiel Vergara in one round.

Other notable results:

In a Northeastern junior middleweight rematch, Jahyae Brown outlasted Anthony Vieira to win a unanimous decision. The first fight was a classic, and the second one was just as good.

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What is up, everybody? Lukie is back with a mid-week podcast (but he forgot his cable to connect his mic… sorry for the audio)

In this episode, Lukie is joined by British boxing writer (and his buddy) Declan Warrington (https://x.com/decwarrington).

The two talk about three subjects

• First, O’Shaquie Foster’s career, being underrated, and the role his trainer, Bobby Benton, has played in getting him to this point

• The second is Dalton Smith will face Alberto Puello; how important is this fight for British boxing and Smith’s career?

• Finally, Warrington was in the building for Daniel Dubois stopping Fabio Wardley in two rounds. He offers insight from being on-site.

  
  Timestamps
  0:00 O'Shaquie Foster
  15:00 Can Foster stop Navarrete?
  18:48 Bobby Benton
  25:28 Dalton Smith vs Alberto Puello
  32:10 Daniel Dubois stops Fabio Wardley in rematch

In this podcast, Lukie talks about when fights are stopped too soon with two examples from the weekend. He talks about various fights and then goes to FILM STUDY at the end.

This week, Lukie talks about the following fights and fighters:

• Freddy Rojas Jr.

• Ricardo Sandoval

• Riku Masuda vs. Seiya Tsutsumi

• Jhon Orobio vs. Hendri Cedeno

• Paul Gallen vs. Nelson Asofa-Solomona

• Sam Hickey vs. Troy Coleman

• Jack Rafferty vs. Hovhannes Martirosyan

• Joshua Buatsi vs. Willy Hutchinson

• Emanuel Navarrete vs. O’Shaquie Foster

• Dalton Smith vs. Alberto Puello

• Frank Martin vs. Tarik Zaina

• Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez vs. Edward Vazquez

• Tiago Osorio Muxanga vs Muzamiru Kakande

• Steven Navarro vs Emmanuel Moreno

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The battle for Fighter of the Year?

How to watch: Saturday at 5 PM PST on DAZN

A good ol’ three-belt unification between Emanuel Navarrete and O’Shaquie Foster is the most talked-about fight of consequence this fall. The winner will have two solid wins. So that means “Fighter of the Year” will be the winner of this bout, or Naoya Inoue.

The fight itself, I see it one way. The world sees it another. I see it as Foster never gets the credit he deserves, and Navarrete, despite a good recent run, had a dreadful loss to Denys Berinchyk, a draw to Robson Conceicao, and should have lost to Charly Suarez. His wins are against Oscar Valdez (probably a fighter too small for 130lbs) and Eduardo Nunez (a come-forward fighter).

Whereas Foster holds wins over Rey Vargas, Stephen Fulton, Eduardo “Rocky” Hernandez, and Raymond Ford. His loss to Conceicao was viewed as one of the worst decisions in recent memory, and Foster continues to impress time and time again, while maybe not being an action fighter.

If they were both in their primes, I would say this would be interesting, but Foster is entering or in his prime, whereas Navarrete, to me, left his. I am expecting Foster to win easily, and the bout to shock people (pun intended) with the result.

Notable undercard bouts:

Featherweight Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez looks like the goods. He reminds me of a cross between Vergil Ortiz’s personality and Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez’s talent, but in his own way. He faces Edward Vazquez, a fighter who tests everyone, and only the elite can separate against. Hence, Rafael Espinoza stopping him was a statement. So, it is a fight that will tell us how elite Gonzalez is.

Junior welterweight Frank Martin will make his Top Rank debut against risk-averse Tarik Zaina. Martin looked mid against Nahir Albright earlier this year, as the two fought to a draw. Zaina is a mover who speaks a lot of languages. It should be a good test for where Martin is at, since a KO of a very old Rances Barthelemy didn’t win me over completely.

Tell me if you have heard this before: bantamweight Steven Navarro is in tough? Seems like the trend of his career; he faces unbeaten Emanuel Moreno, who is a Texas native. Navarro is one of the best amateurs of the past decade, and this is a real fight.

Lightweight Deric “Scooter” Davis looked average at best in July. Now, he returns Joaquin Silva Faccio, a fighter who will be fighting for the first time in the U.S. (make of that what you will). Davis went from being seen as a potential top prospect to a huge work in progress.

Lightweight Sammy Contreras is someone I was in the gym with before his pro debut, and his dad picked me up from the airport, so for that (and his talent) I will tell you to watch him.

Smith returns

WBC junior welterweight titleholder Dalton Smith will make his first title defense against Alberto Puello. What a horrible first title defense. Puello has no concern for trying to land impactful punches; he wants to be slick and tricky. Meanwhile, Smith’s biggest win, a stoppage of Subriel Matias, is all but an afterthought nine months later. This is a very hard fight; I favor Puello.

If Smith wins this one going away, I have underrated him too much, and he is fringe pound-for-pound level talent.

On the undercard:

Giorgio Visioli is a lightweight with star attributes. That said, his second fight of the year is against the always tough Maxi Hughes. I thought Visioli would have a big year. Instead, it has been eh. A win over Hughes makes him a name (at least in British boxing), and vaults him into the discussion of title contention.

Shannon Ryan will rematch the only woman to beat her, Emma Dolan, in a women’s junior bantamweight bout. Ryan has the look and appeal of a star, but we still question the talent component; some wonder if she gets her opportunity for looks as much as skill.

Dolan, on the other hand, is coming off a devastating stoppage loss in April to 45-year-old Irma Garcia. She won a stay-busy fight in between.

Heavyweight Leo Atang will also be featured. He is a good heavyweight prospect who is years away from big fights.

Other notable bouts:

On Sunday, Shauna Browne was on track to be in the spot Elif Nur Turhan is in now. That was until she got stopped in 45 seconds by Turhan. She has rebuilt and is now a 10-round fighter facing Jade Burden in a DAZN main event on Sunday. Browne is talented, but more so, has a good record in a division that needs opponents. A win here, and she is in the mix.

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In this podcast, Lukie is joined by a panel. Yes, he has his usual co-host, Dakota, but he is also joined by Sherry Abbasi, who has his own channel.https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtMg-fWm7awR41vM1GhVOkA) . Abassi was live last night at the major British fight between Dubois and Wardley. We talked about the second-round stoppage and what we learned about the fight.

Also, we briefly touched on Michael Gomez Jr. getting a majority draw against Louie O'Doherty and how mid, heavyweight Bakhodir Jalolov looked

Then, Mario Munguia joins us.

Munguia contributes to FightsATW.com and has his own podcast. The group talks about Sebastian Fundora's buzzbeater of a stoppage win over Ermal Hadribeaj. Could Fundora unify with Jaron "Boots" Ennis next? What did this fight say about Fundora?

On the undercard, Armando Resendiz struggled his way through a unanimous decision over Koen Mazoudier. Mazoudier is essentially a junior middleweight, and despite being a late-sub, Resendiz is a former world titleholder. Super middleweight Marco Romero, who Lukie wrote about this week on The Good Fight (https://thegoodfight12.substack.com/p/marco-romero-puts-his-chips-on-the), got a first-round KO, but the story of the card was an odd one... Brandon Figueroa lost his featherweight title on the scale only to pull out due to illness on Saturday morning leaving Tomoki Kameda without a fight.

Then, we look ahead...

O'Shaquie Foster versus Emanuel Navarrete will unify the titles at junior lightweight. It should be a good one, despite Lukie having a strong take on this fight. On the undercard, we will see featherweight contender Albert “Chop Chop” Gonzalez vs. local favorite Edward Vazquez, Frank Martin make his Top Rank debut against Tarik Zaina, Steven Navarro rekindle an amateur fight he had with Emanuel Moreno. Also, Deric "Scooter" Davis and Sammy Contreras Jr are on the card.

In the U.K., WBC junior welterweight champ Dalton Smith will make his first defense against Alberto Puello. Also featured on this card, lightweight Giorgio Visioli will face veteran tough guy Maxi Hughes, and Shannon Ryan will look to avenge her only loss to Emma Dolan in a rematch.

Timestamps
0:00 Dubois vs Wardley II
14:25 The journey of Dubois
30:40 Undercard thoughts
36:30 Dalton Smith vs Alberto Puello
47:30 Giorgio Visioli, Shannon Ryan
55:00 Sebastian Fundora performance
01:15:20 undercard
01:23:45 Navarrete vs. Foster
01:32:00 undercard

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Fundora wins, but…

Sebastian Fundora retained his WBO junior middleweight title, stopping Ermal Hadribeaj in the final second of the 12-round fight.

The fight summed up in one word: frustrating.

Hadribeaj was awkward and troubled Fundora in the early rounds, but lost a point from referee Thomas Taylor. That said, Fundora didn’t look like the monster he had looked for the past two years. Fundora looked mortal. At points, he got roughed up on the inside, but inevitably Fundora just had too much power and size for Hadribeaj.

Fundora won. You can look at it in two ways: He stopped a spoiler, which is a good thing; or he looked human, and at 6 ft 6 in, that isn’t a good thing.

The jury is still out, but at least Fundora won, and the bout served a purpose.

Notable results from the undercard:

Brandon Figueroa never fought on Saturday, but might have been the biggest story. He lost his featherweight belt to the scale. Then, his fight with Tomoki Kameda was called off on Saturday morning. Now, we have a vacant title, and Figueroa, one of 2026’s greatest redemption stories, after defeating Nick Ball in the U.K., now suffers a major setback.

In its place was a super middleweight bout that saw former beltholder Armando Resendiz win a 10-round unanimous decision over Koen Mazoudier. Resendiz took the fight on late notice; the fight was closer than the scores showed. Troubling is that Mazoudier is a lower-weight fighter, and Resendiz looked to be at the same level. It was decent to watch, but troubling for the future of Resendiz.

Middleweight Marco Romero stopped Braulio Matias Ferreira in the first round. Romero shows traits of a star. He drilled Ferreira with a right hand, and the ref didn’t allow him to continue. Romero has three straight first-round knockouts.

In the opening bout, middleweight Julio Osuna won an eight-round majority decision over Christian Cangelosi. The bout was originally an untelevised prelim bout, which got moved to the main card after Figueroa-Kameda was scrapped.

The encore, where less is more

Heavyweight Daniel Dubois stopped Fabio Wardley in two rounds.

The fight was nothing like the original beloved fight. The first fight saw Wardley drop Dubois early, only for Dubois to get up and beat up Wardley until the towel came crashing into the ring in the 11th round.

The fear was time itself. Wardley, who made it to a world championship without any real amateur career, aimed to come back a mere five months later. Sure, that doesn’t seem long, but at heavyweight, and given the beating he took, it felt quick. That quick turnaround also led to a quick fight.

Dubois rocked Wardley with his first meaningful punch of the fight. It only got worse from there. Wardley could get criticized for a lack of adjustments, but just look at his face and his reaction. Wardley’s nose still holds damage from the first Frazer Clarke fight, and his reaction to the blow looked like someone reliving a nightmare. Dubois is just all wrong for Wardley, and these two fights have proven it.

By the second round, the fight was halted. Wardley’s corner threw the towel in to concede defeat. Dubois continues his run as the best British boxer of this decade, and might have rewritten how these two fights were remembered.

The first fight saw Dubois dropped twice and get up to hand out a one-sided beating, and the second fight was an extension of the latter half of the first fight. Will we look back at these two fights fondly, or just remember them as a pivotal moment in the potential Hall of Fame career of Dubois?

Notable results from the undercard:

Lightweight Michael Gomez Jr saw victory vanquished, as a perceived victory became a majority draw against Louie O’Doherty. Gomez, a veteran who had struggled at a certain level, appeared to outwork O’Doherty, an unbeaten prospect, who looked in over his head. Maybe it can be rematched.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist heavyweight Bakhodir Jalolov had a vintage performance, winning a 10-round unanimous decision over Solomon Dacres. Jalolov dropped Dacres in round five, but showed signs of fatigue coming down the stretch. The days of Jalolov being a destructive puncher before his Olympic run are gone. He is a professional amateur at this point.

Junior lightweight Nelson Birchall stopped Levi Giles in the seventh round.

Other notable results:

On ProBox TV, Junior middleweight Kevin Anton won a 10-round unanimous decision over Freddy Rojas Jr. Rojas took the fight on short notice and has now lost his last two fights. Anton looks like he might be this generation’s Antonio Margarito.

In the co-feature, Justin Pauldo won a 10-round split decision over Rene Tellez Giron. Featherweight Carlos Orona knocked out Bryan Acosta in the fourth round, a mild upset. Junior welterweight Charles “LoLo” Harris won an eight-round unanimous decision over Misael Cabrera. Harris made it look easy by outboxing him.

In France, junior middleweight Milan Prat edged Brandon Thysse in a “Fight of the Year” type of bout. Prat was dropped in rounds six, seven, and eight, but went on to win a close unanimous decision.