Dre & Roy Break Down Spence vs Tszyu, Fulton’s Weight Disaster, Berlanga’s Must-Win & Fury-Joshua

0:00What up, this is Roy Jones Jr. I'm hanging out with my man, Andre Ward. We two Hall of Famers will bring y 'all to a show called The Hall of Game. A show where we discuss boxing, sports, life, and entertainment from our view. How much better than that can you get? Me and Roy don't always agree, but one thing you will get is a Hall of Fame worth a game. What up, Fight fans? Welcome back to another episode of the Hall of Game. I want to welcome in my co-host, my main man, Hall of Famer, Roy Jones Jr. What's happening, Dre? Roy Rogers, how you doing, brother? Doing good, brother. How you feeling?

0:43Tell me you've seen these fights this weekend, man. I ain't seen all of them. I watched a little bit of some of them, but I ain't watch them all. But I'm with you, what you need. but you but you but you watched enough to know we for us to be able to unpack this thing and talk about it though of course great fight weekend like i said i love uh coming back you know the next week after a big weekend you know sometimes you can have a big car and not great fights and this weekend we had some great fights the first fight was errol spence the return of errol spence after three years uh his fight against tim zoo in australia errol spence takes on a dangerous contender in his home country.

1:21That was intentional. Errol Spence wasn't forced to go to Australia. This is something that he decided to do. Jamal Charlo was also supposed to be on the card, did a full training camp, was unable to get a visa. When it comes to Canada or Australia, they don't play about them visas. If you have a, you know, form of charge or something going on, bro, it's a hard bargain to get into that country. And unfortunately, he wasn't able to get into the country. So, you know, we got to see and wait and see what's next for him. and Stephen Fulton, scooter, more weight issues, another fight that fell out, or just a fight that fell out and just a lost opportunity.

1:59We're going to talk about that and get into all things Errol Spence, the actual fight, post-fight, and a lot of the chatter that's been going on. And Zufa had a great card and a great main event between Edgar Belanga and Stephen Butler, two guys that have similar styles, a lot of punching power, and at similar places in their careers. It was guaranteed that that fight was not going to go the distance. And just a much-needed win by Edgar Belanga to get off the canvas, to get the job done in his backyard at the theater at Madison Square Garden. But before I get into these fights, Roy, man, I had two great interviews this weekend in New York.

2:39One is Joe Tessitore, my colleague at Zufa. I didn't know a lot of the things that Joe Tessitore had been through and had overcome, And that's why I love these sit-down interviews and these in-depth interviews because you think you know the man until you understand the story. Joe Tessitore, very powerful story, has overcome a lot. And you understand what makes that man tick the way that he does. I'm excited for you guys to hear that interview on all the smoke fight in the near future. And, Roy, I had my old rival. I sat down with Chad Dawson. I'm trying to normalize getting these former opponents face-to-face to unpack these fights, the buildup, everything that happened, the good, the bad, the ugly.

3:21I reached out to Chad, didn't hear nothing back. I figured he wasn't going to get back. And all of a sudden, a couple weeks ago, I got a message. He said, man, I'm with it. Give me the date. Give me the time, and I'll be there. He showed up. I'm not going to tell you everything about the interview Roy but your boy shed a few tears in that interview man yeah I told Chad that I done whipped a lot of butt in my day since I've been a knee high to a grasshopper, a baby a lot of sparring sessions a lot of amateur fights, a lot of fights you know as a pro I don't really feel a way when I'm done fighting you know I move on to the next but that fight with Chad Dawson that affected me in a different type of way man i'm not a a fan of many fighters like i respect all fighters but i'm not really a fan i was a fan of chad dawson man i liked how he got down roy you know he was a family man he always had his wife and his kids with him you know they tried to always make him be something he was you need to talk more but chad was always with it he was always ready to fight anybody at any given time if the price was right and he and he performed He did his thing and he had some swag with, you know, how he got down with his business.

4:34And I remember when he fought Bernard Hopkins and sitting on the couch with my wife and I'm watching a fight to support him. And Max Kellerman asked him a question about what's next. And then he say my name. And I'm looking around, I'm looking at my wife like, what I do? Why me? and this man is 175 pounds and he said i'll fight him at 168 i'll fight him at a catch weight i'll fight him at 175 it don't matter and i remember the first feeling i felt was i was hurt because i'm like bruh like i'll rock with you and and you're not really on my radar like that you a whole weight class up but then the second thing that that that that switch flipped and i said okay Got on the phone.

5:21I called James Prince. I said, hey, I don't know why you want to fight me, but if he want to fight me, we can fight. And we're going to hold him to everything that he said. And the fight happened. Those that followed the fight, y 'all know what happened. But, Roy, that fight affected me, bruh, because I didn't want to fight Chad Dawson. I'm willing to fight Chad Dawson, but that really wasn't. Man, you was doing your thing. And he was at the height of his powers. and he allowed a promoter and he confirmed this for me in an interview to get in his ear i said how long did you have your sights set on me he said really about he said the two weeks before the fight that's when the promoter starts saying war war war because i just won a super six i'm hot and he didn't really have nobody else at 175 he said i let the promoter get in my ear man and and that's why i took that fight and i shed a few tears bro because everything went downhill for Chad Dawson after that.

6:14He fought Adonis Stevenson after that, got stopped in the first round. And, man, he just, he never really recovered, bro. That situation hurt me, man. Like, no fight has ever hurt me before. Bad part about that is, man, it's like, I understand that. And I do understand exactly where you're coming from with that. And the bad part about it is that, like, it's two things, two phases to it. You know, it's like, number one, you know how you and, you know, other friend Andre were, y 'all were like, y 'all knew y 'all were coaches the same way. And y 'all knew y 'all might fight at any time, but y 'all kept it gangster.

6:48Y 'all, nobody never called nobody out. You kind of just took it easy. But you knew if whatever happened in Super 6, it was going to happen, right? But we never talked about it. Y 'all never had to talk about that. Because there ain't something neither one of y 'all truly really in your heart wanted to do. But if y 'all had to, y 'all had to. So what I'm going to say is that first, I respect that more than anything. because when you know somebody near your weight class and you know it might happen, you got to keep that boundary like that because you never know when it might happen. A lot of these guys now, you know, they, oh, that's my dad, that's my homie.

7:20No, bro, that's not how boxing works. You know what I'm saying? Boxing is not a team sport like that, bro. We don't get down like that. That's not, new school boxing, yeah, they do that. But old school boxing, that was not how that worked. Ain't no peace treaties. Exactly, exactly. So like you, I thought Chad was all right as a light heavyweight doing this thing. And I always thought that fighters should always look up. Because when you look back, you're the bigger guy. You're basically trying to bully a smaller guy. Don't do that. Go up and fight the bigger guy. That's why you never really. So I mean, look back at smaller guys.

7:50I always looked up to the bigger guys. Because if I'm dominant, a smaller guy don't look like he have a chance with me. Which he probably wouldn't. But a bigger guy, they give people hope. So I was wondering, why would Chad challenge Andre Ward then go to 68? Is he crazy? But like he said, the promoter got in his ear. And that's why I want these young fighters to understand. You don't let promoters get in your ear to take you somewhere that you don't want to go. Because they're only doing it for the money. They're not doing it for your longevity. They're not doing it for your future. They're not doing it for the benefit of you.

8:23They're doing it for their pocket. Because that fight, like you said, ruined Chad Dawson. He was never the same after that. You understand? Because of what a promoter wanted him to do, not what he wanted him to do. So if you're a fighter looking at this and listening, keep your dream. Don't let promoters or nobody else put in your mouth what you need to do. I mean, sometimes there are great opportunities that you can't really pass up, but that was not one of those opportunities. It wasn't nobody that would break it down the door to see Chad challenge Andre at 168. No. Now, if Andre would have later on said, you know what?

8:55Since Chad demanded 75 or 30 years, I'm going to go up and fight Chad Dawson, we'd have looked at that a whole different way. Because now we're saying, whoa, can't Andre do this at this next weight up? That's a whole different animal. But you're going to challenge a man that's just won a Super 6 to prove he's the best 168 pounder in the world. You're 175 pounder. Common sense tells us it's going to probably weaken you to come to 68. You understand me? So why would you even agree to something like that? You understand? I guess not just a part of - Part of his reasoning, though, one thing I always heard about Chad was even though he had a tall stature and a big frame, they always said he was a blown up light heavyweight, right?

9:33So I'm like, okay, he don't look like one. He said, one of the reasons I agreed today, he said, I would leave the gym sometimes at 170. Okay. So I'm like, when he say that, I'm like, okay, I can understand. He was like, I just thought two more pounds ain't no big deal. It ain't if you ain't fighting a great Andre Ward. If you fight this regular fighter, it ain't a big deal. But when you fight the best fighter in the weight class, come on, bro. What you mean ain't no big deal? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that situation, man. Man, I didn't really expect to get that emotional about it because, but I was telling my wife after, I said, man, that's such the odd thing about a fighter, right?

10:15Like, I can cry about what I did to you and what happened, but once you call my name, I can switch gears on you. Like, I didn't feel so bad that I couldn't do my job, but I did my job and I hated I had to do my job. And that's one thing that always struck me about you, right? I seen you do that in the ring. Brother, you did Vinny Pazianza dirty, right? As you were supposed to. He trying to knock you out. He talking crazy. You did Montel Griffin dirty in the second fight. And it's almost like you were aware of your powers, but you didn't want to have to tap into that all the time. And I remember looking at the screen and you said, see, I ain't going to have to do that to him, but y 'all made me do that y 'all brought rj out i didn't want to bring rj out and i remember thinking like man this dude almost got like control over these gears that he can go to and i told my wife i was like it's so crazy like i'm i'm emotional about what i had to do but i did what i had to do and i wasn't gonna not do it once you called my name and i got past that initial like shock and that like being hurt a little bit like bro i rock with you that went away in about 60 seconds next thing i'm on the phone saying lock in lock in jay we got to lock in and hold him to everything you said.

11:29That's what boxing is. That's what boxing is supposed to be. That's how it's supposed to happen. But the beautiful part of it about you is, but the beautiful part about you is that you had the humility, just like I did after the past ends of the fight, just like I did after a few of the fights. I had the humility to say, you know what? That's not really what I want to do. That's not really who I am. That's not really what I'm trying to, you understand me? That's called humility and respect for the other fighters. You hear me? We weren't trying to do it to people like that. You know what I mean?

11:54It was like, I mean, it's just, it's humility. You know, we like, I wasn't trying to punish nobody. I got mad at the referee because I told him, man, start the fight. Yeah, you looked at the referee, man, come on. And then you hit him with crazy three-piece uppercut. Yeah, but then I got to look at the referee and said, now you see what you made me do? I didn't have to do that. You saw he was dead. He was gone already. Why would you make me do that? You understand me? Come on, bro. This is a sport. It's not death. It's a sport. You feel me? Right. It's like, the only thing I don't like about the UFC is guys get knocked unconscious and a guy can jump down there and power him two or three more times before the referee gets to him while he's unconscious.

12:28I don't like that. So when I see a guy about to be when I see a guy about to be in that situation I'm like, ref, don't you see he's done? Nah, go ahead. I say, alright. That's what I said with Vinny Pazzo I hit my head I say, alright, nah y 'all making me do this that's what I was basically saying. I don't want to do it but y 'all making me do so I gotta go do what I gotta go do. You know what I'm saying? But I don't mean that. And then you did it. But I had to because they weren't gonna let me out. If I go out, they're going to say, okay, you lost. So I got to go through that. You feel me? But the humility part of it is if you have a heart, if you have a soul, if you're a person, if you're a man of God like you are and like I am, then you have to have that compassion in your heart.

13:05We boxers, we fight the shit we want to win, and everybody, really everybody that's near our weight class is possible opposition. And we got to know that. We can't get it. And you and me both stood on that. But now today, they don't stand on that like that. Yeah, it's different today. It's a little bit different today. Yeah, it was still that day. But one thing about me, Roy, is, and I'm grateful for this, I'm a gentle warrior, man. Like you said, I'm not here to bully nobody. You know, I really wasn't in a call-out game. You know, Kat's calling my name. I think it's two people that ever called my name, and it didn't go well.

13:43Sergey Kovalev and Chad Dawson. Right? and I'm not sure I ever called anybody's name. I think when I was young and, you know, I was a young pup, they started getting in my ear, you know, about Jeff Lacey. I wasn't ready for no Jeff Lacey. I had like seven, eight fights, but I remember like he was, you know, I was creeping up to the super middleweight division. He was the guy. So, you know, somebody threw a camera in my face. Who am I? Jeff Lacey. I was young, but that's probably the only time you'll see me calling somebody. I just minded my business. And because I'm a guy that don't like to waste my words.

14:16I want it when I speak. I want it to mean something and I don't say anything. I'm not going to stand on. So if I say your name, this ain't publicity. This ain't to try to get get the blogs talking and the websites talking. Brother, I mean that. So I'm grateful that I do have that switch, Roy, because that's not a given. Some guys are just just they'll fight, but they're not mean. I'm in the ring. Once I saw this, this is what it is like you. You really you targeted me. I gotta flip that switch and I had one of the best camps because I had to and I told Chad that I got ready bro out of respect not out of fear I got ready out of respect because I knew how you could fight and I knew I had to deal with a lot and I think that was probably really one of my favorite interviews man I hope you get a chance to check it out but your boy shared some tears in there man and this game is something else bro if you was crying like a baby, you know, I got to go see that.

15:15Every time I see Andre break down and cry, you know, I got to go back and watch that. I did. There's no way I cannot go back and watch that. But I'm going to tell you something, there's something that you just said that I want to point out to people too. What you just said was a very, very powerful thing to me. If you say it, you mean it. A lot of people don't understand that after I lost some 25 pounds of muscle, I said I was going to go back down and regain the light heavyweight title and I was going to call it a dick. I went back down and did that because I knew what my body was going through, and I wanted to call it a day.

15:45But people are like, man, he gave you, it was a close fight, he gave you a hard time. Yeah, because I lost 25 pounds of muscle. Of course he did. So, but when they started talking about it, it's like, wait a minute now, this ain't the dude that I don't run, duck, and dodge, nothing. You understand me? I don't care, even though I'm not myself right now, I don't care, I don't run, duck, and dodge, nothing. If I say I'll do it, I'll do it. So when they challenged me again, and he wanted a rematch, come on. And the third time, it's like, what Earl's going through now? He was what Earl just went through.

16:12He's like, if you get knocked out or you get beat like that, you be like, okay, I did, but that's not who I am. You understand me? I'm going back and going out on my feet. So I came back the third time. I went out. I didn't lose. I didn't go out. I went out. The fight ended in a decision, which is I need to prove to myself that I can still go 12 rounds with anybody. You understand me? Whether it got me the last time or not, I need to prove to myself that I still can go 12 rounds with anybody. And that's what Earl wanted to prove. not just anybody, but to a guy that has a name that people know.

16:44So his way of doing it with a top-notch guy is going to a guy's home country and doing it with Tim Zoo. My way of doing it was fighting this dude, the dude that did knock me out, I'm coming back to tell you that I can go back with him and do what I got to do. You understand, man? That's how that works. In Florida. Exactly. So when you say that, it's like that's a man of your word. People don't cherish their word like we used to back then. I was a man of my word. Even though I knew I was half-assed because of the weight loss, I still was a man of my word. And I'm still a man of my word today. You understand me?

17:15And if money came right, we could do it again today because that's just who I am. If they brought the right money, you damn right. I'm going to get back in shape and we can go get it again right now. I'm not that dude that's ducking nothing. So, you know, I'm always a man of my word.

17:29Roy, I believe you. I believe you. It's the truth. It's the truth. And that's who you've always been. That's who you've always been. I want to pivot just a second to the Madison Square Garden card on Sunday. Main event, Edgar Belanga, Stephen Butler. But I want to give a shout out to Jaleel Hackett. Young, up and coming middleweight. He fought the veteran, Sergei Derevachenko. Derevachenko, man, it's so interesting seeing an older fighter lay them traps. And they can't keep the pace. But what they can't keep in pace, they make up the difference with the wisdom and the efficiency and i just man he was he was trying man he was catching hackett with right hands over the top then i would listen in between rounds and the corner was saying man you got you you landed that right hand man keep on and you know to hack his credit he took the shot and then there was times when he made adjustments and he got away from the shot but derevachenko man for his age and the layoffs that he's had man he fought as good of a fight as he could he was cut from both eyes, didn't even acknowledge the cuts, man.

18:32Just a real fighter. So I want to give a shout-out to the OG, Derevchenko, man, and how he performed. But I want to give a shout-out specifically to Hackett because, man, he's got a lot of potential, man. He's got a great team behind him from D.C. And, bro, I just want to tell you, man, you did a great job. You made some good adjustments. You gave an honest assessment after the fight of your performance of what you needed to work on. You gave yourself an honest grade, man. and you boxed the right way. Hackett is a guy, Roy, who he loves to toe the line. He said, I just love breaking guys down.

19:07Hackett, I'm going to tell you something. The way you fought early in this fight, you boxed and you set the table. And then at a certain point, coach said, now I'm going to let you go hunt. And you went to go hunt. You beat Derivachenko in stages. That patience that you showed, the thoughtfulness and the IQ that you showed, that's what's going to keep you around for a long time. You just don't want to be a bang, bang, rah, rah guy all the time. You will not last. Keep working on them other elements of your game. Keep deepening your bag. Keep perfecting that jab. Keep perfecting it, setting up your fight game where, hey, I'm going to box you and give you angles and go away.

19:46Then I'm going to jump you and maul you for the next round or two. And then I'm going to go back to box. Keep working on your game, Hacker, because you got a lot there, bro. You can be a world champion. Keep working on your game, man. I just want to shout you out, man, for the adjustments you made, for the way you approached this fight. Because if you didn't approach that fight like that, I don't know. DeVachenko, he that crafty. He's that good. And you might have had – it may have been a different fight if you didn't fight the way you fought. So shout out to Team Hackett. Shout out to D.C., Maryland, that whole area, that DMV, man.

20:17I just want to shout you out. And I want to shout out Edgar Belanga as well because he had to have this one, Roy. He had to have this one. He got stopped in his last fight. and then a few fights before that he lost to Canelo. Canelo, yeah. And the guy Stephen Butler from Canada, you know, he's been calling for the Belanga fight for a few years now and, you know, a contender guy who's, you know, he's had some knockout losses but he moved up to 168, has been a lot sturdier since he moved up and it was bad blood between these two and it's a fight that you know is not going to go to distance. There's too much firepower, too much punching power and Berlanga got dropped at the end of the second round, more of a flash knockdown.

20:57But Edgar Berlanga showed some new wrinkles in his game. We know you got the power. We know you had the knockout streak. But Roy, he boxed a lot more. He used his jab a lot more and he set the table and he did get into the slug match at a certain point. But I appreciate the adjustments he made. He ended up stopping Butler in spectacular fashion, man, in the seventh round. And I just want to shout Berlanga out, man, for putting on a great performance. You had the fans on your feet and you showed some new wrinkles, bro. And you showed some things that's going to keep you in the game for a long time.

21:32Man, I want to get to the main portion of this, man. I want to get to the big card in Australia between Errol Spence and Tim Zhu. I'm going to start off by saying again, Charlo wasn't able to make it for the visa situation. And I want you to weigh in on this and then I'm going to come and get my opinion on this. Stephen Fulton missed weight. Roy, he continues to have issues with his weight. He came in six and a half pounds over after he had a second agreement to go from 130 to 133. The original contract was 130. The week of the fight, he said, can we move it to 133? And then he ends up coming in ultimately six and a half pounds over.

22:17Missed opportunity. again missed training camp you spent money you sacrificed long flight across the world and then that's an even longer flight coming back Stephen Fulton is leaving millions of dollars on the table he's burning bridges because people are not going to want to take the risk on him and there's this window that you have as a fighter to be the best you can be right because of your age or where you're at in your career. You got that window of youth and, you know, earning power. And the mistake that a lot of fighters make is they think that that window's going to be there as long as they want it to be there.

22:58Roy, what do you make of Stephen Fulton going to Australia and coming in six and a half pounds over and not being able to fight? Well, let me ask you a question. Is this his second time doing that though? Yes. Okay. Second time having weight issues. Okay, so that being said, it's apparent that it's time for you to either move up in weight or get out of boxing. Because with today's knowledge, with the way they do things today in today's time, with the UFC guys showing you how to do whatever's necessary to make weight now, there's no way that nobody that's capable of making a certain weight class should not be able to make that weight.

23:37All right? I've seen, and I'm going to just tell you the truth, I don't call this name, but I took 16 pounds off of a guy in 12 hours overseas because he came to me. He asked for the fight. I gave him the fight. He got to the fight, 16 pounds overweight. So you're not going to make me look bad. We're going to make weight. We got 16 pounds off of him and we made weight. Now he got stopped, but we made weight. So it's like if you sign a contract and say you're going to do that, you're obligated as a professional to make that weight. If you can't make that weight, it's time for you to move up to another weight that you can make.

24:16You understand? Because either you gotta weigh your options. Am I good enough to fight the next weight up? If I'm not, then maybe I shouldn't be fighting. But it's like, to me, you saw what I did in my career. Weight didn't make no difference going up. You understand? So if you can do it at this weight, you should be able to do it the next weight up. Especially if you're having a hard time making it. You understand? So I feel like folding is really letting destroyed his own career. If he don't tighten up, he's going to ruin his own career. And he has a great career because everybody want to see him still.

24:44But you do this two times, it gets pretty hard. And if you remember, one of my favorite fighters coming up too for the left liver shot was Edmund Stauffer Muhammad. He was the first person I saw not make weight in a fight. And his career kind of went downhill after that. And he only did it once. You done did it now twice. You understand me? So you got to look at yourself and you gotta check the history of the game because when people see you don't make weight they feel like you're not you're not invested in your own self exactly yeah you're unreliable and I'm gonna say this to Foden and I say this with the utmost love and respect but I'm gonna do it over the airwaves bro that not only wasn't a good look man but Scooter you taking money out your family's mouth and out their pockets and Scooter, you're going to need that money, bro.

25:36In retirement, you're going to need that money because right now, I don't know what your lifestyle is and I don't want to pretend to know, but you're going to try to sustain that or sustain somewhere around this lifestyle that you're living now when the fight checks are not coming in. And I understand investments and different things like that, but this is your moment to earn this money. You're only going to be this age. You're only going to have this amount of youthfulness. right now at this time in your life. Next year, you're going to be a little bit older. Next year, you're going to be a little bit older.