Dan Rafael chat wrap 5/29:
- Floyd vs. Thurman next? Believes Floyd fights next on 9/12, because Thurman fights 7/11 he likely won't be ready. Khan if he wins tomorrow is the most obvious choice.
- Calzaghe vs. Froch? Froch's overall resume is better. He fought more and better opponents, but he also has two losses. Believes Joe was the better fighter overall at his peak. Both have had superb careers and expects Froch to join Calzaghe in the HOF. If they fought, he would pick Calzaghe.
- Selby vs. Gradovich? Both are not big punchers so it has distance fight written all over it. Can see Selby scoring a mild upset on points.
- Nicholas Walters main promoter is Top Rank and Warriors has a piece and is a co-promoter.
- If Algieri gets out of his cage can he beat Khan and then get a Mayweather fight? Doubtful.
- Picks Khan on points rather easily.
- Fortuna - Vasquez is a very even matchup. He is picking Fortuna because of his speed advantage.
- Linares vs. Mitchell? Linares by KO.
- Whoever wins the Selby vs. Gradovich and Linares vs. Mitchell fights wouldn't be huge upsets. They are pretty even.
- Eddie Hearn is working on US TV for Linares vs. Mitchell. It will not be on HBO or Showtime. He has spoken with ESPN, but they would do stream only. Possible it could show up on Wealth TV.
- Tomorrow's London card would have been perfect for Showtime International, but Showtime says that Hearn approached them late in the game and they couldn't make it work on such short notice.
- Lara is talented, but he doesn't enjoy watching him fight. Same opinion on Rigo.
- No idea what PBC is doing for advertising, only seems they really have Corona locked in. Fights cards have generally been good, more good than bad. Give their overall rating a B.
- Povetkin vs. Wilder is a very good matchup. He would give the edge to Povetkin because he has much more experience and a good chin.
- He believes Povetkin is the 2nd best HW. Klitschko is just that good.
- Believes Errol Spence Jr. has what it takes to be a champion and top fighter in the division he is in.
- Excited for Walters-Marriaga. Marriaga beat him in the amateurs. Verdejo-Najera is a good undercard.
- Khan has said that Ramadan won't affect a Floyd fight.
- Hearing Danny Garcia may be in the main event of the 2nd PBC card to be on ESPN, August 1.
- Would like to see Garcia fight the Broner-Porter winner on Aug. 1, but doesn't think either guy would be ready that soon. Would love to see Garcia take a Khan rematch.
- No news on Lamont Peterson.
- For PBC the NBC commentating crew is troublesome, Spike crew is excellent.
- Could Mayweather steal Cotto for a fall fight from Canelo? No. HBO would not put this Cotto fight on without a firm commitment from Cotto for his next fight.
- Numbers for Mayweather Pacquiao still in excess of 4.4 million PPV buys. Pacquiao made more than $100 million and Mayweather more than $200 million.
- Mosley vs. Malignaggi? Unlikely a fight would happen. Pointless fight nobody would care much about.
- Prime Mosley vs. Mayweather? A fight at 135 would have been legendary. Mosley in his prime had a great shot of beating Floyd.
- No news on Lucas Matthysse.
- A Garcia-Matthysse rematch will not be happening. Garcia is with PBC and Matthysse with GB/HBO.
- Kevin Johnson has been talking a lot lately about how great his camp was. Doesn't put much stock into it as he is not much of a fighter anymore.
- Does not have any issues with belts like the NABA. They are regional titles, not hailed as world titles.
- Has been told that JCC July 18 fight will be on Showtime.
- No news on Ward-Smith undercard.
- JCC blaming Joe Goosen (one of the best trainers) is dumb. JCC could have Eddie Futch, Freddie Roach, and Emmanuel Steward in his corner and it wouldn't mean anything if he didn't take boxing seriously and fight in a heigher weight class than he should be in.
- N'Dam's promoter Michael King died last night. He poured millions into boxing. Well known for his work with the Oprah Winfrey Show, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune. He was a good man.
- Lomachenko is not under an exclusive contract to HBO.
- Some great warrior fights: Cotto-Torres, Toney-Jirov, Pavlik-Taylor 1, Freitas-Barrios, Somsak-Monshipour, Parsawan-Yaegashi, and Rodriguez-Takayama.
- Ever met ODH's wife? Yes and she is a lovely woman. Could not be nicer.
- Has met boxer's wives before that are nightmares to deal with.
- The ref's decision to stop the Edwin Rodriguez fight was horrible. The ref was not fined in any way.
- Most amazing fighter he witnessed in his prime? RJJ.
- Bradley vs. Vargas is an interesting fight. Bradley may have slipped a little, Vargas has been more interesting recently. StubHub tends to bring the best out of fighters.
- Khan-Algieri Miami Vice photo? That was a little weird.
- Al Bernstein's comments on the exclusion of mentioning Top Rank on the last broadcast of FNF? The job was to commemorate FNF, not all the fights that have taken place on ESPN.
- Thought the last show of FNF was good and ended the way it should have.
- Floyd has not officially vacated his belts yet.
- Thought Adams would win the Boxcino finals, Thompson looked good and it was a good win.
- Roc Nation does have other dates scheduled with BET, but have not announced any details yet.
- TruTV replays their fights later that night and Spike will replay the fight immediately after the live broadcast ends.
- Very skeptical GGG-Froch happens.
- Jack vs. Groves has been made. Favors Groves if the fight were to take place in the UK (no official location announced).
- FS1's contract with GB runs out this year and PBC will take over broadcast rights.
- Klitschko vs. Fury? Klitschko's camp says they continue to negotiate a deal.
- Has seen Hopkins a lot recently and gets the vibe that he is done fighting. He may get lured back in if he gets a great opportunity.
- Cotto is being unfairly criticized for not fighting GGG yet. Geale is a legit opponent and Canelo is a mega fight. After that let's see what happens.
- ODH says Lemiuex-N'Dam will be shown on US TV. No outlet named yet (will not be HBO).
- Sadam Ali is the mandatory for the Bradley-Vargas winner. Imagines that fight will happen later this year.
- Kovalev-Mohammedi is on July 25th, not the 18th as BoxRec says.
- Question: What is Frankie Gomez up to? Answer: About 160?