Boots Ennis BROKE Xander Zayas Down, but Roy & Dre Don’t Agree on That “Mental Lapse”

27:23I think he can whoop me, so ain't no sparring partner finna touch me because I'm going to stay sharp. And that's supposed to be in the ring. You not touching me when you're weak. We didn't expect, we didn't mean them to touch us. It's just that we probably had a little of a lapse where we thought, well, this is easy. Let me try this. And before we got to mind what we're going to try next, we got caught. Ain't no lapses. It happened, though. It happened to me. It happened to him. It happens. It happens. You set me up and you outwit me. You outskilled me. You outpunched me. That's different. I want to make that clear.

27:52I'm not saying you're never going to have rough moments. Some people don't call it that. It's a bunch of landmines. It's not if you're going to step on it. It's win and how often. Exactly right. So I want to take that off. I'm not saying that's not going to happen. I'm talking about giving any elite fighter You know he took his foot off the gas It was too easy It was He had an easy first round and an easy second round It was too easy That's obvious I already know what it is I'm looking at it That is a problem that he's fixing He won't fall asleep against the wrong guy And we're having a different discussion You know how you fix that problem?

28:25Tell some of the top guys to fight you I guarantee you won't go to sleep then Tell the top guy to fight him I bet you won't go to sleep then I guarantee you. That's not how you do it. I guarantee you. You know how you fix it? Put the top guys in the ring with him. I guarantee you won't go to sleep. And sure, in sparring and training and sparring, I bet you won't go to sleep. And I see you get touched and I see you go to sleep in sparring. Hey, man, hey, check this out. We ain't doing that today. Every single day. That ain't never happened to me. All right? That ain't never happened to me. But four times sparring, I never got caught with the left hand that DeVar caught me with until I got in that fight.

28:55It was a good shot. I got, like I said, I got like a day. He caught me. We can't have that. We had it. I ain't giving you that. We can't have that. It happens, but the standard is here. I understand what the standard is at. But also, like I said, Boots is a little bit outside the standard. Boots doing more than most people doing today. Boots don't care about who he fighting. Boots ain't ducking nothing to nobody. So Boots is actually going above and beyond. He giving you so much stuff. He throwing six, seven, eight punch coming. Boots doing it all. Boots putting it on the line for you. So, yeah, he might get caught being like a disease.

29:25Because he got a deep head. We want to be satisfied with where he at. You never be satisfied. You never be satisfied. You never be satisfied. You never be satisfied. All Boots got to do is be focused. All the time great fighter boys, the all-time greats, that mental lab stuff got to clean up. All you got to do is fight better fighters and that'll happen. So he just going to flip the switch and just tighten that up? He fight better fighters, that won't happen. If he didn't beat that boy, if he didn't beat them, if Xander gave him a harder time in round one, round two, that would not have happened.

29:56But because it got so easy for him, he thought, well, I can do anything now. So you get a little lack of days, you start trying anything. And it happens. My opponent, right? My opponent get to dictate my mindset, depending on how they fight, good or bad. Talk to me. Well, I dictate my mindset. I dictate my mindset. If it's that easy, then I can try all kinds of stuff. I can try anything I want to try because it's so easy. So, yeah, I dictate that too. And he dictated that. It was easy. He dropped me in the first round. He got up. He beat outbox in the first round, outbox in the second round. So he's like, well, this is easy.

30:25I can try this and I can try that. Now you can't try all that. He is still dangerous. So you got Colt being lazy and being like a days ago and trying stuff. You know, it's like I thought he switched at a bad moment anyway. He was doing great from one side, still on that side. But he switched because he thought it was that easy. And that happens. That happens. I think it's always, you always got to be reaching in this game. It's always room for improvement. And, you know, I say this with love with Boots. That moment is getting a lot of attention because he is an elite guy. how elite we don't know until he fights these certain type of fights and he's in these moments and he's got to keep coming out on top in these moments time and time again time will tell history will tell how great boots in this ultimately become but the eye test and all the stuff you see man he's elite and when you have an elite guy like that with that kind of pedigree from that kind of background with that kind of trainer you got to keep you you never satisfy elite guys don't sit up here and be like oh that was just a little you know i just had a moment he wasn't he wasn't satisfied.

31:24He got mad. He got mad because he said he didn't satisfied. And I wasn't either. So why you not mad about it? Why you not mad about it? I was mad about it. I was mad about mine and he mad about his. So why I'm mad about it? Because he went to sleep. I ain't mad about it because I know he know what he did wrong. So he know how to fix that night. He know exactly what he did wrong. He said it himself. So he can fix that night. That's the easy fix. Don't go to sleep. That's the easy fix. I tell you what. Put Virgil Ortiz in front of him and watch he don't go to sleep. Watch he don't go to sleep again, Virgil Ortiz.

31:53because if you go to sleep against Virgil Ortiz, Virgil will show enough to come at him. I guarantee you, put somebody like that in front of him, and I bet he don't go to sleep. And I put what they want to put on there. I guarantee you he won't go to sleep. Now, he might not win, but he won't be because he went to sleep. He won't go to sleep against Virgil Ortiz. Trust what I tell you, because that's a higher pedigree. That's a guy with a better background, with a better pass, with a better track record, with a guy that he knows if you go to sleep, he going to beat you. So he's not going to go to sleep with him.

32:17I promise you, he ain't. Some kids, see, this is what I like about boxing. Some guys in boxing you train, they're like Aaron Pryor. Aaron Pryor is never going to go to sleep. He got so much energy, he just stay wide open all the time. You understand me? You got a guy like Sugar Ray Leonard who know how to stay wide open, but if it get easy, he'll go to sleep too. He is going to sleep a couple times like that because that's just what they do. We got so much stuff we can do if it get easy, and we don't knock you out right away. I mean, we're going to keep doing our thing, but we call that sleep because that's just coming down being normal.

32:47You understand me? So when we come down and be normal and don't be trying to do nothing crazy, and I don't mind us going to sleep. Because for me, that's why I loved Ali. Ali stayed on you, stayed mentally on you. He never went to sleep because he was going to joke, talk, but he kept himself awake by all the things he did. All the antics he did kept him awake. Most of the antics I did kept me awake because if I started doing antics, I knew I got to be on my A game. If I just go out there and just box, I'm not going to be as sharp because that's not who I am. I need more. I got to be doing something where I feel like I'm in danger.

33:18Now I can still awake. If I don't feel like I'm in danger, I'm probably going to get less catacly because I don't feel myself being in danger. That's just what guys with that mindset do. Everybody's not like that, but guys that are like that, if they ain't got something to keep them going, they're going to fall asleep. I had to have something to watch. A hand behind my back, the shotgun, all that stuff just kept me awake. If I don't do those things, I would have went to sleep more because if I ain't doing that, I'm going to get bored. I don't want to just box and beat you. I need to be doing something.

33:47I need to be entertaining these people. while I'm beating you. That's what kept me awake. I ain't going to sleep, bro. I understand you different, though. You was a different type of fighter. Because you know that danger you talking about? Mm-hmm. I know if I take this loss, there's going to be a whole lot of things said about me. That's true. That's true. If I lose this fight, my next fight, y 'all going to be trying to play with my money. Oh, man, you lost, man. You didn't come through. That's a danger to me. having a deal with having a deal with me going to sleep and letting you get a moment that you shouldn't have got man that's a danger to me all them people sitting ringside with them laptops lighting up their face they waiting to write tonight it happened it finally happened that's a danger to me i don't need my opponent to do nothing i'm coming in here and i made a mistake against colab that wasn't i didn't go to sleep you just out with me and you caught me before i caught you.

34:43I can give you that, but you pay for it after that. But I'm not going to give you nothing about, I'm not giving you nothing because I went to sleep and had a mental lapse. Brother, it's danger all around. My money on the line, my legacy on the line. I got to look my family in the face, whether I do good or bad after this fight. Them folks sitting there with their laptop waiting to say, is this the night? Is this the night? I got a whole team over there that's been plotting against me for 12 weeks trying to figure out how to knock me out, trying to hurt me and put me in the hospital. That's a danger to me.

35:10That's enough danger right there for me to stay on point at all times. I don't care if you 0-12, 12-0, 20-0, 0-20. It's the same difference. If you 0-20, you come up in there with me, I'm going to treat you like that. If you're 20-0, then I'm going to treat you like that too. That's how I get there. I don't do the highs and lows and the flip and switch on and off. I'm like this and I'm trying to keep growing each and every fight and trying to stay locked in because whether I'm fighting an elite guy, a mid-level guy, or a guy that ain't got no business in here with me, brother, you don't get the same Andre Wood every single time.

35:41And I think Booth Ennis has that in him. He's talking about it. He just has to rep this stuff. He's been 10 years of being better than everybody else. It's been 10 years. He's not been able, and it's not his fault. He ain't been able to be in a 50-50 fight or maybe a 60-40 fight or a fight with somebody like, bro, this dude better than you, where he has to come up and elevate mentally the whole time. He hasn't had it in 10 years. Xander Zayas, as much as I respect him, as good a job as he did, as long as he did, Boots knew he ain't got nothing for me. So when you're dealing with that for 10 years, you always had your way, you psychologically continue to think you're going to have your way again tonight.

36:27And even if you hear me, I'm going to be able to shake it off. You have to treat these dudes like they got dynamite in their hand. Don't tell me he ain't no puncher. You got eight to ten ounce gloves on, and you trying to hit me in my head, bro. If you hit me right here, here, anything can happen. So I got to take my mind there when it's very easy to stay here and just feel like, well, you know, my offense should be enough. I'm not risking my legacy on should. I'm not risking my money on should. I don't think like that. And I don't believe that Boots is accepting that, right? Now, all the people out there talking about, you know, trying to down Boots and minimize Boots, we're not going to minimize this performance either.

37:15This performance was what it was, and Boots did what he had to do. He turned up, he showed out, and now he off in vacation somewhere doing his thing, man. I want to give Xander a shout-out too, and I'm going to finish this fight because we got stuck on this third round. We ain't got to the fifth round or the sixth round or seventh round. But, you know, Xander, man, he took the fight, and I believed in his confidence leading up to the fight. You know, sometimes dudes, they'll pump fake, and they'll say things, and they'll do things pre-fight, and then you leave that situation. You leave, you know, after you watch it, and you're like, who are they trying to convince, me or them?

37:53They trying to convince themselves, or they trying to convince me? And I didn't get that sense for Xander. I believe that what he brought to the table in terms of his confidence was real. And he did the best he could. The issue with Xander was never offense. The issue with Xander is he was a defensive liability. And when you got a dude like that with them kind of cannons, with that type of firepower and that type of ammunition, and you haven't worked on your defense, getting your head off the line, learning how to slip out, slide out, different defensive maneuvers after you punch. If you haven't worked on that, it's going to be tough to beat that dude with that mentality, that skill set and that type of firepower.

38:32And that's what Xander ran into. And after he hurt Boots in that third round, they continued to fight and rumble in that fourth round and the fifth round. Xander was still in the fight. They had some some good exchanges in that fifth round. And then Boots, who had been trying to land the right hook from the left hand of stands, he finally brought it under. and because Xander hadn't seen nothing come under up until that point he wasn't ready for it he just wasn't computing he thought it was going to come around the side like it's been coming he came under I don't believe he saw the shot beautiful shot from Booth Ennis and it put Xander down and there's a lot being said about that fifth round and I want to get your opinion on that that happened I guess early-ish in the first round it was I don't know I'm you know I think it was a minute and a half two minutes i don't have the exact number but there was a lot of time left on that clock boots did what he had to do in terms of trying to close the show and finish the show xander did take some punishment many are saying that his team failed him and that they should have stopped the fight i'm an advocate for somebody stopping a fight if need be a little too soon one or two punches too soon and one or two punches too late but i'm not sure i can get on board with that, man.

39:50This is a championship fight. There is a lot on the line here. And I'm on the fence, Roy, about if the corner should have stepped in there in that fifth round. What you think about that fifth round and if they should have jumped in there in that moment? I thought they should have stopped in the fifth round to preserve his career, to preserve his life. Because after the fifth round, when you saw him get set up with a new punch, this man is still going through the gears and you're right here where you was at, you're not going no further. He's still going through gears on you. Don't let him keep going through gears on you, bro.

40:24It can get worse. You understand me? He's still going through these gears on you, bro. You're not catching no more. Now you're still right here in first gear. He on the fifth now. In the fifth gear, he caught you something that you've seen coming that you probably have never seen before. So at that point, you should say, you know what? This guy is levels above us. He already in fifth gear. He's only going to keep going up in gear. Let's stop right here and let's not take the punishment. Let's get him back home. Let's go back and study this fight, study some more things, and see where he can come back and change.

40:53You understand? Don't keep going through them last two rounds. We didn't really need him because he had already shown that he wasn't on that level. You understand? So I'm not an advocate of stopping the fight too early either. But when I saw that in that fifth round, when I saw that uppercut that he hit him with then, I said, oh, yeah, that's true game over with, you know? And it's like, also, like I said, you took that, now you took a confidence blow, because when you looked at how he looked up after he got dropped, he's like, man, there's nothing I can do. Exactly. So in his face, to me right there, he had already gave up.

41:20So at the end of the fight, when he went down, the body was hurting. He basically got completely broke. I would try to stop it before he got completely broken. Yeah, I can get on board with that. I think I'm torn because the fighter and the competitor in me is saying, no, man, let me fight this out. You're going to have to do something. But everybody don't think like that, Andre. That's elite guys, you know what I mean? And like you said, his age, that's where you want to talk about, at the age where he may not be ready. That's why you got to stop the early because now you see that you can bit off a little bit more than you can chew.

41:52Then you get to get him on out of that. You got to get him on out of that because y 'all have to bit off a little more than y 'all can chew, but you had to because you're the two-time champ. So you had to take that, but it's more than you really need right now. So that's why they should have got him out of that in the fifth round. That's probably the best thing to do, you know, but like I say, I'm torn because the fighter in me is like, ah, let that man fight that out, you know. But the humanity part where, you know, you as a trainer are there should have saved that fighter from himself. They probably should have stopped it in that fifth round.

42:20I can only imagine what they were thinking and why they didn't. I would love to talk to them at some point and see what they were thinking. And because Boots put out so much in that fifth round, the sixth round was, you know, sort of an off-round for Boots. And then in that seventh round, man, Boots, you know, he stepped back on the guy. Turned back on. He just kept going through the gear. He just kept going through the gear. And let me say this, too, just so you understand, Andre. I'm not saying that you're wrong about how he shouldn't get on himself for being lackadaisical. We all should get on ourselves for that because we know that shouldn't happen.

42:51We're not saying that shit happened, which it just happened with us because we got so much going on. Sometimes if you're that kind of guy, it's like I knew I could box because I was an agitator. So if I ain't got to agitate you no more, I'm bored. You know what I'm saying? So it's kind of not fun for me if I can't agitate you. I want to do exactly what I saw my idol, Muhammad Ali, do and what I saw Sugar Ray do. If they're agitating you, you're not going to beat them when they're agitating you. Now, if you make them fight normal, you might have a chance to catch them. But when they're agitating you, you ain't going to catch neither one of us because that's what we do.

43:18You understand? So that's the difference. And as far as the ring goes, I agree with you too. If that was me in there, I would have told him, no, no, no, no, let him kill me. Don't stop no fight. But I would have not had the same look on my face that he got. I'm ready to die when I go in there. You understand me? I don't care about no. I don't hear about it. I'm hurt. I'm good. Forget that. Let me go until I can't. Let me go until he stopped me from going. When he stopped me from going, then we said he don't want. Until then, but everybody not like that. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Everybody ain't built with that inside.

43:47Xander Zayas is not that guy. And he's really a young kid, 23, 24 years old. Like you said, that was young for him to even be in a fight like that. So, but because you got two titles, you had to take the fight. You cannot. If you're going to take the crown, then you're the king of the hill. You got to take what comes up the hill. So, I'm sorry for that. But that's why in that fifth round, when he got hit like that, with that uppercut, they should have stopped. Yeah, you're probably right, man. But they didn't. And Boots came on in the seventh round and foot was back on the gas. And he just put the type of shots together, man, where, you know, Xander took that knee.

44:22I want to get your opinion on this. So Xander looks to the corner while he's on one knee. And guys look to the corner for different reasons. Right. Like sometimes it is to give that. hey, yo, come get me. And sometimes they just want to see if the corner's saying, hey, stay down for the eight count, then get up. You know, it's different ways guys communicate in those moments. And a lot is being said about Xander quitting. I'm not going to say that about that man, you know. First of all, I don't know why he looked at his corner. And, you know, one can only imagine. I'm not even going to get into what I would do because that's not even the point right now.

44:57I think in that moment, Xander could have packed it in a long time ago. But you check the heart box, you check the toughness box. And because you're not willing to die in there or go out on your shield in the way that people want to see you go out on your shield, that doesn't take anything from you. Because if something happens to Xander, if he gets hit with one shot that opens up a brain bleed or something in his brain and he's not the same, you know what everybody going to be saying? I'm talking to the fighters, too, that said he quit. Oh, prayers up for Xander. Prayers up for Xander. and that's cool the prayers and them type of moments are needed but ain't nobody got time for that if that can really be avoided and you had shown enough it's one thing about the first sign of trouble the first time he got dropped he looked for a way out Xander didn't do that he endured a lot he dished out some got his respect on that front I believe Boots Ennis respects him more now than he did before they fought and that's really all you want at the end of the day you want to get your hair raised but i just want i want to make sure you respect me and he got that so i don't look at that like xander quit i'm not gonna use that word around that situation man and i can't do that to him but i don't i don't i think he has shown enough roy and i think he checked enough boxes for me to continue to salute him and tip my hat to him and say great fight young man and you just came up short okay that's cool too and i agree with you i thought he did a lot and uh i I thought he fought a great fight for up to, I say, five.

46:26I feel like you disagree with me, though. Of course I'm going to disagree with you, because what you're saying, in my opinion, ain't the way I see that. You understand me? Hey, hey, y 'all gave Roberto Duran all that hell for quitting against Sugar Ray Leonard. That was different, bro. Well, it still happened, though. He still stopped. That was different. That man get dropped at all? Did that man get, did that? No, he didn't get dropped. That man. He got humiliated and embarrassed. When you look at your corner like that, you feel humiliated and embarrassed. So you look at the corner like, how much more does I got to take?

46:56You understand me? How much more is humiliation and embarrassment I got to take? So, of course, that's why I said, had they stopped in round five, you saved him from having to do what he had to do in round seven. Come round seven, his body was so banged up, like I said before in the beginning, his will got broken. When your will get broken, you give. What does you give me? I give me, I got to concede to he's a better man, which basically is almost saying I quit because I stopped for the bail ring. Now, I thought, like I said, had they stopped in the fifth round that they should have, we wouldn't have to see him go through that.

47:28But they didn't. So now he had to, listen, the next ten fighters he fight are all going to be trying to push him to their place because they're going to think now that they can make him quit. And that's what people don't understand. Did he quit, though? What did he do? He quit because he looked at his corner? No, he didn't quit because he looked at his corner. He quit because, you know, the body shots were on him and he couldn't get away from him. That's why he quit. He got dropped. Guys look at their corner all the time. So because he looked at his corner and his corner said, that's enough. He didn't wink his eye?

47:54No, he didn'togenize his eyes? You ain't gotta wink your eye. You just throw the flag by us a lot of way. You can weigh that flag. He weighed the flag. You weigh the flag, I give. He weighed the flag. He weighed the flag. But you can't say that. I can't say that. I can't say he weighed the flag because herey did the right thing to weigh the flag because his corner didn't care enough to get him stopped out and get him out of love. So he had to weigh the flag. He weighed the flag. I'm sorry. He weighed the flag. He had to. He was in a bad situation He weighed the flag he had to And I don't blame him Because it ain't worth dying about Once you see you can't beat this dude He saw he couldn't beat the dude It's not worth me giving my life for it I can't He can't He ain't even on that dude level So it's not worth him getting messed up over So he weighed the flag Which was a smart thing Now he get to come back and fight another thing But he did weigh the flag Roy, tell me how he weighed the flag Because he looked at his corner Fighters do that when they get dropped all the time Sir, he did that He weighed the flag before he ever looked at his corner Like I just told you When I seen his hands down Trying to cover his stomach up He waving the flag then, Andre.

48:50You know boxing. You know when a guy waving the flag. Come on, bro. You done seen guys quitting before they quit. You done seen that before. Several times, amateur and pro. You know that. When a guy down here holding a step. Quit out the fight beat out of him. I think he got the fight beat out of him. Well, okay. We'll say that word. He got the fight beat out of him then, okay? If that make you happy. If that make you happy. That's right. If that make you happy. He got the fight beat out of him too. He got the fight beat out of him too. Remember that Sugar Ray Leonard put on him. That had that man talking about no miles.

49:16No miles. He got the pipe beat out of him too at that time. I ain't calling Xander no quitter, bro. I ain't saying no quitter, but he gave in there. He gave in that night. He had to. He had to. I'm saying for the people out there that's talking, I ain't saying he no quitter. I ain't going to say no quitter, but he had to give in. He was overmatched. We're going to hear your prayers, but I would rather see Xander Zayas talking right, walking right, and living right, and living to see another day. So all that rah-rah stuff, hey, man, if that's where you're willing to go with it, you know, I feel like that's where I would be willing to go with it.

49:49If that man feel like he got a point that I'm not willing to go with it, man, I respect it. But you showed enough, though, as a fighter, a former fighter, I can respect what I saw because I know you could have packed it in a long time ago. After he got hit with that uppercut, Roy? I respect that, too. That's why I just said that they should have stopped it for him in the fifth round to keep him from having to go. I agree. I agree. I agree. That's why I said that. Sometimes you got to save your fighter yourself From him having to weigh the flag He shouldn't have had to throw the flag in But because y 'all didn't save him Y 'all forced him to have to throw the flag in And he threw the flag in I don't care what nobody tell me But they forced him to throw that flag in Had they stopped in that fifth round when they saw He wasn't on that man level He couldn't go through the games with that man He wouldn't have been forced to throw the flag in That's why I say If they stopped in that fifth round They could have brought him back and fight another day You made him go and go and go Until he refused to go anymore Basically He couldn't go no more That means he had to throw the flag in And that's not him.

50:41Like you say, he want to live. He want to live. And I don't blame him because he was outmatched. I think he showed enough, bro. Again, I think he showed enough. I think he showed enough. At the end of the day, man, we can play around. Oh, he looked at his corner. Fighters look at their corners a lot when they get dropped. Yeah. And like I said, I'm not judging him. I was just looking at his corner. That may not be my MO. I'm not making it. That may not be your MO. I'm not making it. I was just him looking at the corners. I'm making it because of the body language I saw before the fight got, before he ever got started.

51:06Oh, for sure. He got the, bro. Bro, he for sure got broke. I'm not saying that because he looked to the corner. For sure. There ain't no doubt about it. Ain't no doubt about that, man. Ain't no doubt about it. And Xander ain't saying nothing different. You know, let me ask you this. Where does Xander go from here? Can he bounce back from this physically and psychologically? Well, I'm going to be honest with you. You're going to go see a sports psychiatrist first. If he's smart, you're going to see a sports psychiatrist. Get his mind back right. I'm just keeping it real with you. Because you got to go over, turn that back.

51:33You got to turn your head. You got to turn it back on your brain. See, this is what people don't understand about prize fight. And this is where it's changed so much at. In a prize fight, in your mind, if you're going to be a real prize fighter, you got to be willing to kill or die. You understand me? You don't want to kill and you don't want to die, but that's what's got to be the mindset. That's why we respect, that's why a lot of times back in the days, the Army veterans, they watched boxing, they watched fighting because they over there out of war where they know they got either killed or they're going to die.

52:06You understand me? And that's almost what boxing is. It ain't got the guns, but the gloves are the same thing. You're out there to kill or die. So somebody's got to have, you got to have a team that understands how to save you from yourself. Because me, I'm going to get myself killed. Because that's just who I am. You understand me? I already know it. I'm going to get myself killed. So somebody's going to have to save you. I'm just keeping it real with you. Somebody's got to save me from me because I'm not going to stop. You understand me? I don't care what happens. I'm not going to stop. Somebody's going to stand.

52:36I'm going to be mad at the person that stopped me, but I'm not going to stop. It just ain't in me. So it's like, that's a different type of person. But Xander could have that in him too. He just would outmatch that night. And that's why I say he got to go back and get a sports psychologist first to put that back in his mind. You understand me? Because once that's broken, that has to be fixed. A lot of times when they get broken, people don't go back and fix that. That has to be fixed first, psychologically. If it gets fixed psychologically, he can come back and be world champion again because he has the tools he has the skills he got all the things he he was one punch away from it that night you understand so he got all the good he's just got to go get that that that part where he got broken which was some people call quitting he gotta go get that fixed psychologically you gotta get rewired again so that that's not there man respect to xander i hope he does whatever he got to do to get back in contender and in title contention.

53:30He young. Hopefully he's got a job. Get him a good sports psychiatrist. Get back in that first, then get back in that gym. He'll be champ again because he's that good. He showed you he's that good. I want to see him on a big stage. He showed you that good. He's got to come back. But he's got to get a sports psychiatrist, though, to wire that brain different. Naturally, the talk is going to be about what's next for Boots Ennis. And for me, it's either Virgil or Fondor. Virgil had a lot to say. He said that Xander quit. A lot of people didn't like that. A few other fighters said he quit. And so Virgil put himself back in the mix, at least on social.

54:07You know what I'm saying? These guys tried to fight before. It's a lot of back and forth about why the fight didn't happen. But for me, it's either Virgil or Fandor for Boots next. Well, I'm going to tell you like this. A lot of that should be predicated on how Earl Spence does against Tim Zhu. And I'm going to tell you why. In this game, I am a killer, and I'd rather kill or be killed, but I do have a knowledge and sense, too. The biggest fight right now for that division is Earl Spence, if he beats Zhu, versus Virgil Ortiz in Dallas. They sell out Dallas Stadium. you don't you don't you don't throw that away chasing boots you let boots go fight front door first you wait and see what happens when the air is in this fight if you're smart you make way more money right there in dallas stadium at home finding the guy that grew up in the same gym you grew up in but y 'all got different trainers i'll probably always have you make way more money doing that first then you do going to fight and boots first you and boots is a good fight but you are as a It's a dream for the state of Texas and for the city of Dallas.

55:18You understand? So I think if you're virtual, you're going to make the dream fight happen first if he wins. If Earl wins, which I think he will, and you make that dream fight happen first, then you go ahead and take the winner out of Boos and Fandora. Guess what? If you let Boos and Fandora fight each other, you ain't got to beat both of them. Now you just got to beat one of them. If you're going to beat Boos now, you still got to fight Fandora after. So you double work yourself, but you're going to get less money out of it in the long run. Because you're going to get way more money out of fighting Spence in Dallas than you're going to fight in Boots anywhere.

55:50You understand where I'm coming from? Yeah, I got you on that. And I'm not mad at that. If Spence goes to Australia, takes care of business, that's definitely a great fight for boxing, but then also for the state of Texas, Dallas specifically. But what do you think about Boots? You think Boots should go and try to make the Fondora fight? He has to. Where is he going to go? He's been in his game 10 years, Andre. He's got to make every move he can make right now. He can't wait forever. You know, we saw what happened with Boo Boo. Boo Boo kept waiting and waiting and waiting. Look what happened with Boo Boo.

56:20He waited too long. You understand me? So you can't keep waiting like that. He got to go. That's why sometimes he's having these lapses because he's not, like you say, he's not used to having to stay focused the whole night because he's not fighting that he ain't got the right opportunities. So now you got it. You need to go take these opportunities now while they're available. Guess what? Fondura has been KO'd and you have KO power. So that's not a fight you can't win. You understand me? Yeah. And that makes the Virgil fight even bigger, too, because now if him and Earl fights, the one of that fight, you go to Dallas and fight that person, there's another huge payday.

56:53It's moment. You understand what I'm coming from? So you got to look at it from that side, too. But that's not ducking. That's just taking fights the smart way, taking the smarter fight first. You understand me? So I also want to give a shout out to Emiliano Vargas, Fernando Vargas' son. He had a great stoppage against Brian Mills in the fourth round. Now, Emiliano is a right-handed fighter, but he chose to fight left-handed in that fight, man. And he looked tremendous. He's growing. He was a co-main event in that fight. Big, big stage for him. A lot of people are calling for him to, you know, face better competition.

57:25And, you know, I'm excited for him to do so because, you know, he's very marketable. He understands, you know, in this game how this works with social media and just his presence, you know, with him and his brothers and a family name. But the boy can fight too, man. He moved to 18-0. So I want to give a shout-out to him. excited for what's next for him. Ben Whittaker moved to 12-0-1, and I think it's time for him to step up his competition because the antics and stuff can work to a point. You start facing that stiff competition, bro, you ain't got time for all that. You're trying to duck your head.

57:58You're trying to get out the way, brother, and you're trying to hit something. You ain't got time to be doing all that unless you're Roy Jones Jr. It's only one Roy Jones Jr. It's going to be interesting to see as he continues to face tougher competition if he continues to fight this way if he continues to have the answer maybe that's him maybe that can grow as the competition grows we'll see but Ben Whitaker seems to have a bright future we excited about him and I got to give one more shout out man last night on the Zufa car in the main event Jose Rayo Valenzuela knocked out and avenged the loss to Edwin De Los Santos De Los Santos came in as a late replacement back in 2022 when Valenzuela had motion.

58:41He's climbing. And his original opponent got swapped out with De Los Santos, didn't know who De Los Santos was, and De Los Santos stopped him in the second round, and it really just shook up Valenzuela's career. And he bounced back. Then he had tough moments, and he's had to deal with that knockout loss since that day. And he said it made him better, but that's something you got to deal with as a competitor and as a fighter, and it's always something that people are going to bring up unless you avenge it. And he spit the block and came and got Edwin De Los Santos again. And I appreciate that because these days, it's not a lot of appetite for guys avenging losses and being willing to risk it again, especially after getting stopped in the first fight.

59:26It's a lot of risk there. And a lot of times you see the managers and the promoters and even the fighters, they just go a different direction. They just kind of sidestep that guy and they go look for an easier type of out. Valenzuela was risking a lot because if he lost this fight and got stopped again, it's hard to come back from, bro. And he came up in there, and De Los Santos had the same game plan that he had the first time. He was throwing heavy shots. He landed a couple shots. But, man, Valenzuela landed his first, and he stopped De Los Santos. I know that was the best feeling ever to be able to get that monkey off your back, man, to be able to put that to bed once and for all.

1:00:00Great things up ahead for Valenzuela. He called out Shakur Stevenson. Everybody want to fight Shakur Stevenson right now. First, they were saying, don't nobody want to fight him for a couple years ago. Not everybody want to fight Shakur Stevenson. They're like, I want to fight him at 35, 40, 47. It don't even matter. Shakur got motion, man. And it's a good thing for boxing. But I do want to see some of these fights not just get talked about, but I want to see them get made. Not necessarily that one. If that happens, that happens. But I'm saying some of these big fights we've been talking about, I want to see them happen.

1:00:28Shout out to Valenzuela. I hope Dele Santos is okay. but that's how you come back and get your lick back, man. Sometimes you got to spin the block, trust yourself again, trust the work you've been putting in, and believe that you can do it this time. I mean, Valenzuela did that. So, shout out to that brother, man. Man, you got me fired up today. Roy talking about that, you know, all that stuff going on between the ears and above the neck. That's my lane. I like talking about that. That's our lane. I like talking about that mindset, man, because you can't be great and you can't be keen. unless you perfect this right here, man.

1:01:03We appreciate y 'all. I want to give a shout out to Roy for being awarded the Boxing Writers Award for Excellence in Broadcasting and Journalism. I won that award in 2019. You just won it 2025, man. Congratulations, doing great work. You've done great work inside the ring and obviously outside the ring as well. Thank you, brother. Same to you. Thank you, though. I appreciate it. I'm always glad to be on your block. Hey, man, that's it, man. I got to get on the flight. I got to get home, man. That's it for us for another episode of the Hall of Game. We appreciate y 'all, man. Hope you enjoy.