Trent Kiri
Welcome to episode number two of the Barbwire^® Fightcast. I’m here with my co-host James ‘Batman’ Langton.

Let’s talk a little bit about what’s been happening in the boxing world.

We’ll start off with the most recent news. Obviously Jai Opetaia retaining his IBF Cruiserweight title against David Nyika, fourth round KO. What’s your thoughts on it Batman?

James Langton
Well, we didn’t expect Jai to be so dominant, did we? He, from round one to round four, he just dominated that fight. Very surprised how David approached the fight. His game plan just didn’t work.

I don’t understand why he would want to fight in close. I would assume being a taller fighter with the longer reach he would have just been picking him off, dancing around the ring and just offloading. I just didn’t get it. Just didn’t get the game plan. Didn’t understand what he was trying to do out there. So yeah, very disappointing.

Trent Kiri
The general consensus around the loss was that a lot of people would have liked to see him on the pro scene a little bit longer, maybe get a few more professional belts under his belt.

Jai standing at now 27 and 0, David taking the first loss of his career in the professional ranks. You’ve got to think that experience definitely played a factor into the way that it turned out, don’t you?

James Langton
Yeah, everyone’s saying that, was it too soon, was it too soon? It turned out, yes, it was too soon. But you can’t blame a fighter for giving it a go. You can’t blame him for wanting to have a shot of the world title, you know, I’m sure a loss on your record It’s not what you want, but it’s boxing, I actually respect boxes that you know that have a few losses on their record. It’s shown that they’ve got in there and they fought guys that are superior to them, that’s right. So good on him. Okay, got in there He gave it a go. Okay, didn’t work out. Okay, go back to the gym. Go back to the boxing club start again.

Trent Kiri
Go back to the drawing board.

James Langton
Go back to the drawing board. You know, let’s go. Let’s go again.

Trent Kiri
I think David Nyika, he’s taken this loss very graciously too. I think that’s a great show of his character. He’s not called the nice guy for no reason. Following the entire build up, you know, all the face-offs, the press conferences, the sit downs between the two. You could tell that there was a massive air of respect between the two. There wasn’t like controversy created out of it. It was genuine two guys that know each other very well, have had rounds against one another. And on the night, Jai went in there and he looked like a destroyer. I was really blown away by the end sequence. And upon doing research for talking about it, I actually went back and watched his previous fight against Thompson and wow, Jai Apataya is the definition of if you see red, like you get hit and you see red, there’s this moment where Thompson
smacks him really clean with a one-two and Jai goes hunting for him straight away and I was like, wow, okay.

Obviously as a nation, we’re gonna back David Nyika, he’s the Kiwi boy, whether he’s going in there with a one-and-0 record or a 0-and-1 record, we’re like, hey, New Zealand’s in the ring doing his thing. So, you know, all credit to Jai. He went in there and he showed why he is the Cruiserweight Champion.

James Langton
Yeah, and thinking about Jai, you know, everything about him is just aggressive. Bit like a younger version of Mike Tyson where every comment’s just aggressive. He’s just got a purpose in life, you he’s got a purpose in the boxing ring. There’s no fairy dust thing, you know, it’s just aggression. He fights like that.

Trent Kiri
He’s not trying to make headlines. He just says, this is what I do, this is how I feed my family. And if you’re going to try to take that away from me, then we’re just going to have to settle it.

James Langton
Yeah. Yeah. He’s talking about wanting him to go up to heavyweight. Yeah, why not? Once he gets all those belts in the Cruiserweight division, why not do what Oleksandr Usyk, went up to heavyweight, but why not do what Evander Holyfield done? It can be done, you know? So why not Jai give it a go?

Trent Kiri
It’s an intriguing prospect, especially, know, even though he is Australian, we’re still going to support our brother across the ditch because, A, putting Australasia on the map, can’t ever complain about that. So all credit to Jai Alpatia and David Nyika, obviously with David, the future plans.

We get to be seen. He’s doing well after the KO. So, you know, God bless to him. And I’m really excited to see what he’s going to bring back to the professional ranks of New Zealand.

James Langton
Yeah. Yeah. Now you still get him behind David now one loss. Okay. Pick yourself up, scrub yourself off, get back into it.

Trent Kiri
100%. Moving on to another Kiwi boxer, not even prospect, She’s a champion. Mea Motu right out of Kaitaia, the IBO Super Bantamweight Champion. She’s heading over to Nottingham on the 25th of January to take on Ellie Scotney for a unification bout between the WBO, IBF, IBO and ring title belts.

This fight is gonna be very interesting. Women’s boxing has never been hotter than it has been as of late, man, and obviously we’re coming off the heels of our New Zealand Pro Box Women’s Heavyweight Title Challenge. Which shows just how exciting women’s boxing can be. Maybe it’s not gonna be all KOs and raw power, but it’s gonna be technique, it’s gonna be consistency, it’s gonna be walking forward through shots. Mea Motu, standing at 20 and 0 at the moment. She looked sensational in her last performance in October, I believe it was. Fourth round TKO, her opponents corner threw in the towel.

Going against her opponent Ellie, who’s standing at 9-0 at the moment. So weigh in your thoughts on this one.

James Langton
Yeah, Mea Motu, words can’t really describe how amazing she is. You just go look at the woman and her physique, you just know she’s living in the gym, training hard, pumping the weights.

Peach boxing, fantastic club in Auckland. No doubt she’ll have her ready for this fight. She has to be… I don’t know, would she be the favourite?

Maybe it’s a 50-50 fight, but it’s gonna be a really exciting fight. Absolutely wanna see Mea win, right? And it’s gonna be one hell of a fight. So best of luck to Mea. Fantastic sports person, fantastic asset for New Zealand.

Trent Kiri
100%. Mia Mutu, if you’re seeing this right now, good luck to you, girl. Go over there, New Zealand’s got your back. We’ll all be watching and hopefully you come home the new undisputed to Bantamweight champion of the world.

Moving on forwards, we have to touch on Beterbiev and Bivol number two with the main card fight also featuring New Zealand’s very own Joseph Parker taking on Daniel Dubois. We touched on this last time, but honestly, we can’t get enough talking about this because when it comes to a rematch, especially when it’s something that was as contentious as the first fight between Bivol and Beterbiev, something that could have been, could have gone that way, could have gone this way. You can’t help but continuing to talk about it, Batman.

James Langton
Yeah, I thought Bivol was probably my gone into as a slight favourite in that fight. And then to come away with a loss was probably some very surprising to a lot of fighters. So he has something to prove, right? In this rematch. So he’s probably watched the video hundreds of times to see where he can improve and see what adjustments he can make. We’ve seen it before when fighters have come back and they made adjustments and won. Very excited to see what adjustments he makes.

Trent Kiri
Beterbiev power punching can’t be understated though, because he has just murdered people that he’s walked in the ring with. He’s gone in there and thrown fists to face and nearly every time it connects and nearly every time they fall to the canvas unconscious.

James Langton
Yeah, he’s got an unusual style doesn’t he? He just comes forward, comes forward, he’s just throwing punches, throwing punches and just keeps moving forward. And you’ve got to be super fit. You’ve got to be able to fight off the back foot. And that’s one thing we maybe we mentioned about David Nyika. Why wasn’t David Nyika fight off the back foot? Maybe that’s something that he needs to bring into his game. And maybe Bivol will be looking more to fight off the back foot.

Trent Kiri
Definitely. And as for Joseph Parker and Daniel Dubois, gotta back Joseph Parker, you can’t not back Joseph Parker. He’s looked really, really good in these last few bouts that he’s had. Win or loss, he’s still, he’s always gone out and had a solid, solid showing. He’s looking really good. He’s really, I think, recaptured his love for boxing, seeing that it’s starting to become such a platform for young Polynesians, young Kiwis, you know, all around the world. To see him supporting not only his Kiwi and Samoan brothers, but just supporting the sport of boxing in general in New Zealand and the greater realms is, I think it’s wonderful.

James Langton
I’m not going to change my prediction with this one. I’ve seen Joseph Parker’s going to put on upset. We’ve seen Joseph Parker put on upset in his last two or three fights.
This will be another upset. I think Daniel Dubois will probably go in as favourite but I’m expecting Joseph Parker to get the job done. He’s just a different beast to what he was two years ago and he’s just looked so much better. He looks like he’s right in the zone. Everything that comes out of his mouth is just so confident and he just seems to be, I don’t know, just raring to go, know, really excited about it.

Trent Kiri
He seamlessly walks that line between cocky and confident, but he never tips over to cocky. He’s just a man that has a lot of mana and what he says and the power in his words. He allows his hands to do the talking, which is always the great mark of a great boxer, isn’t it?

James Langton
Yep. Yep. And you said let his hands do the talking and that’s one thing Joseph Parker has done over his last two or three fights he’s just let his hands go, far out, man, he has let some go and something lands, night night nurse.

Trent Kiri
Indeed. So Joseph Parker, looking forward to that. We’re locking in our pick for that one, aren’t we?

James Langton
100%. Let’s go.

Trent Kiri
Logan Paul, Conor McGregor, in Mumbai.

Interesting, interesting to say the least. Logan Paul been working for the WWE for the last few years. He’s done really well in there for the entertainment factor. Conor McGregor, as we know, one of the most polarizing, entertaining, slightly controversial figures to ever step into the world of combat sports. This fight is going to be, if it does go through Batman, I think we could see something that could be akin to Jake Paul and Mike Tyson but maybe just that little bit more believable because obviously when we saw Paul and Tyson, oh, Mike Tyson’s nearly 60. How many 60 year olds do you know are going in the ring? Unless your name’s Bernard Hopkins.

And to see him go back in, have another boxing fight, have another high money boxing fight, I think it still continues to elevate the sport and obviously it’s going to bring some great numbers to Mumbai as well.

James Langton
Yeah, I know what you’re saying Trent, I slightly disagree with you there. I want to see boxing fights. I don’t care who’s fighting, I wanna see fights. I’ve still got it back in my mind, the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul fight, still can’t get it over how disappointing it was and paying money and all the hype and it just turned into a bit of a joke. I don’t think this will be the case. I’m not 100 % sure that Conor McGregor is taking this fight for the right reasons, but nothing more apart from the money. that, I don’t know, is that the right reason to take a fight? Maybe it is, maybe I’m old fashioned, but maybe taking a fight just on money, know, fair enough.

It’s not a fight that’s really getting me getting me excited, but nor did the Mike Tyson Jake Paul fight until one week out, damn it, then I go and buy it. Maybe this is will be the same type of fight at this stage. I’m not excited about it. I Just think it’s just too many other big fights happening at the moment, but like you said good for boxing It does bring in a different
age of people and a different viewer type

Trent Kiri
Outside of your boxing purists and your guys that have followed it for years. I’m from that school of the new age. I grew up with the Mayweather McGregor kind of thing. That’s where I first started being like, okay, there’s a bit more to boxing than just punching in the face. So, so growing up with that, obviously I’m easily biased towards this fight being, if not anything, but entertaining.

Logan Paul, he’s had, he’s had bouts against Floyd Mayweather. He’s also had, you know, a couple of YouTube fight matches, he’s had matches against other YouTubers but you he went in there and went a full seven eight rounds against Mayweather so anyone who does that I think you know get back in the ring have another go at it.

James Langton
Yeah why not, time you climb through the ropes you deserve respect. Good on him, in the ring have a fight right?

We’ll see how this one goes. Just watch this space.

Trent Kiri
Yeah, watch this space. I think that’s good prediction there.

Also, we’ve heard whispers that there’s a possibility of Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford having a bout. As soon as I saw the news for that got me really, really excited because these are two of the finest boxes in their not only divisions, but in this era. These are guys that are synonymous with the words undisputed, greatest, possibly even goat.

In Terrence Crawford’s case, undefeated as well. This fight could really be that super fight that we’ve been waiting for a long time. Obviously Canelo is starting to get on a little bit in years, but hey, mean, still look sharp in his last couple of bouts. Terrence Crawford looked great in his last bout against Errol Spence.

And I think this fight could potentially be just that super fight that I think boxing purists craved against like your Mayweather and Pacquiao’s or even against like when Alvarez went against Triple G. I think this is a fight that we’re looking forward to as like, wow, this could be a super fight. You know what mean?

James Langton
Yeah, 100%.

It’s gonna be, if this fight does happen, this is the fight that really gets the world excited. Yes, sure, there was some talk that Canelo may have been, his legs may have been getting a bit tired and Aids was catching up with him with his fight against Bivol, but then he’s come back and won his last three fights. And then now he’s got Crawford, if the fight does go ahead. There is a bit of a weight difference, so how they find the right weights. It’d be interesting to see what weight they agree on. Canelo might have to come down, lose a bit of weight. But great fight, man. Just a great fight. And this is where boxing is going. Boxing is just on a high. For whatever reason, we’re just seeing these amazing matchups finally coming. Maybe that’s the pressure from the UFC, skyrocketing. Maybe it’s the Saudi Arabia’s getting involved with big money. But whatever’s happening in boxing, HELLO. You know, the world’s taking notice.

Trent Kiri
Boxing sort of laid in obscurity for a little bit. Outside of the odd pay-per-view super fight, there wasn’t a lot of hype around boxing. So to see it in these last few years make a massive resurgence and start to gain its traction, sort of go back to its roots about you have spectacle, you have entertainment, you have athleticism, and you have execution on the night. And I think so far we’ve seen a lot of that. We’ve seen things that have just kept the people talking. So to continue that trend of having two great, two goats go against one another, that would be awesome.

Painfully I do need to retract a former statement I said in our first episode that Tank Davis would be retiring. Yeah, I need to take that one back. He is scheduled for the 1st of March to have a bout against Lamont Roach. So, Gervonta Davis, my apologies to you good sir. I wish you nothing but the best of luck. Maintain that zero on your record and go out there and get the win, my man.

Finally, something that’s been a little bit more controversial in the boxing world.

Tommy Fury, brother of Tyson Fury and former UFC welterweight contender Darren Till have had their boxing match cancelled because Darren Till turned around to Tommy and said, “if you start beating me, I’ll just kick you in the head.”

What are your thoughts?

James Langton
Yeah, when I saw the interview I thought, I just thought to myself, do these guys really want to fight each other? It was just a whole lot of smack talk. And then a couple weeks later, Tommy Fury’s pulling out because he’s going to get scared and get smacked in the head by a foot. Okay guys, good idea. Cancel the fight.

If you want to fight your fight and you work through all these ins and outs and whatever’s going on behind closed doors. The chances of a fighter going in the end, kicking something in head will never happen because there goes your license. You’ll never be able to have a boxing fight ever again.

Trent Kiri
Well we did have that viral clip not long ago of old mate getting in there and having a boxing fight and he yeah his opponent backed up and he just sort of let that left high kick go so it has happened previously and obviously that guy will probably never fight again. Yeah. And we’ve also seen Darren Till lose his cool as well because in his last boxing match I believe after the fight he squared up his opponent for round must have been round 13. Yeah he sort of wanted to get some elbows. They’re going in a bit of jiu-jitsu so I mean fair play to Tommy Fury obviously if there’s the threat of genuine violence there that it’s gonna go past and beyond the sport to actual waters that are unknown for Tommy I think good on him he needs to maintain his not only his image but also his health you know it’s important.

James Langton
But isn’t boxing a mental preparation? Is Tull just playing mind games with Fury, and maybe Fury just couldn’t handle it.

Trent Kiri
I think Tool just had a bit of a tool moment there, and it sort of cost him a payday, and it cost us the chance of watching another great MMA boxing crossover, but oh well, it is what it is. I just know we won’t be seeing any head kicks on our cards, Batman?

James Langton
We’re punching only.

Trent Kiri
Strictly fist, no feet.

It’s been lovely to have another episode of this with you Batman. Thank you very much once again for hosting us in the beautiful Opunake Gym. We out here again and until the next time.

James Langton
Until the next time.

Trent Kiri
Thanks for tuning in. Keep your eyes peeled for more information and until next time. Barbwire^® Fightcast. Peace.