Big Dog Lukie Boxing Podcast

This week was a holiday treat for fight fans.

We start with the Netflix card. Anthony Joshua knocked out Jake Paul. Paul suffered injuries from the fight. What did we learn?

In the co-main event, Alycia Baumgardner defeated Leila Beaudoin, and Jahmal Harvey stood out as a star. Three notable undercard fights: Cherneka Johnson won a close fight against Amanda Galle, Yokasta Valle defeated Yadira Bustillos in a wild one, and Avious Griffin returned from a loss, stopping Justin Cardona.

Earlier in the week, Giorgio Visioli looked like a top lightweight prospect. If you haven't seen him, watch him. Let's also add Tiah Mai Ayton to that list.

ProBox TV's last card of the year ruled. Ramon Cardenas knocked out Erik Robles, middleweight Joeshon James survived a double-knockdown to beat Yojanler Martinez, and Marlon Harrington knocked out a prospect Bryan Polaco.

On Saturday, Craig Richards knocked out Dan Azeez, and Kaye Scott won the unified vacant women's middleweight titles over Olivia Curry in a rematch.

We have two fight cards this week, as Naoya Inoue will put his undefeated junior featherweight title on the line against Alan David Picasso.

In the co-feature, Junto Nakatani will face Sebastian Hernandez Reyes.

If Inoue and Nakatani both win, do we see them fight in 2026? Also, any fear in double-booking fights?

Willibaldo Garcia, the IBF junior bantamweight champ, will face Kenshiro Teraji.

Also in Japan, Masamichi Yabuki will put his IBF flyweight title on the line against Felix Alvarado.

Plus your questions....

Dakota's story is here: Link (https://itrboxing.com/2025/12/21/3-takeaways-from-anthony-joshua-vs-jake-paul/)

Timestamps
0:00 Anthony Joshua-Jake Paul recap 
14:00 Baumgardner, Harvey, and undercard
18:30 Giorgio Visoli
20:34 Tim Tszyu
25:05 Seiya Tsutsumi-Nonito Donaire
31:15 ProBox TV
36:16 WBC Grand Prix
40:37 Amado Vargas, Chase Demoor-Andrew Tate 
44:20 Craig Richards stops Dan Azeez
46:30 Kaye Scott beats Olivia Curry
01:01:40 Naoya Inoue-Alan David Picasso 

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My take on Naoya Inoue-Alan Picasso coming up this week. 

To hear about the full card go to my blog at http://lukieboxing.substack.com

In this episode, Lukie and Dakota talk about Matchroom Boxing's card in Stockton, California. Lukie was ringside covering the bout, and he talks about his insight on Diego Pacheco's win over Kevin Sadjo, Joe Cordina's stunning win over local favorite Gabriel Flores Jr, Ernesto "Tito" Mercado stops Antonio Moran, and Skye Nicolson ends an emotional year with the best win of her career. Lukie shares his insight of undercard fights as well.

Then we briefly touch on Noel Mikaelian winning the WBC cruiserweight title over Badou Jack in Los Angeles. Last week's guest, Brook Sibrin also won on the undercard. Also, Jose Salas is the new IBF bantamweight titleholder. 

This week, Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul will fight in a heavyweight main event. We talk about the intrigue and what makes the fight appealing? 
The co-feature is also an interesting bout as Alycia Baumgardner will put her three 130lbs titles on the line against Leila Beaudoin. A cruiserweight bout between MMA fighters Anderson Silva and Tyron Woodley will occur. Top stand-out Jahmal Harvey is featured on the undercard, and a way too much fun fight between Cherneka Johnson vs. Amanda Galle,

Also, the MVP debuts of two world champions, as recent signee Caroline Dubois will defend her WBC title on the card, and Yokasta Valle will fight Yadira Bustillos. Welterweight Avious Griffin will look to bounce back from his first loss in his career as he faces Justin Cardona.

On Tuesday, MVP will have a three-fight card spotlighting up-and-comers. On Wednesday, threee different marquee fight cards will occur as Seiya Tsutsumi will face Nonito Donaire with the WBA bantamweight title on the line, and Tim Tszyu will return against Anthony Velazquez. Top prospect Giorgio Visoli will face Joe Howarth on DAZN in Europe that day. 

On Thursday, ProBox TV will hold its last event of 2025. Ramon Cardenas will face Erik Robles, Hebert Sousa will face Paul Kroll, and Mykquan Williams will take on Jair Valtiera.

On Saturday, Salita Promotions returns with the rematch between Olivia Curry and Kaye Scott for the unified vacant women's middleweight title. Middleweight Tony Harrison will be the co-feature, and heavyweight Pryce Taylor will face Michael Coffie.

Also, in Africa on Friday, Lawrence Okolie, David Adeleye and Emanuel Odiase will be in action. The following day, Craig Richards will face Dan Azeez. Nishant Dev will also be featured

Timestamps
0:00 Intro
1:00 Diego Pacheco
10:30 Joe Cordina defeats Gabe Flores Jr
16:00 Ernesto Mercado
20:47 Skye Nicolson
24:30 Noel Mikaelian beats Badou Jack
29:57 Anthony Joshua-Jake Paul
45:00 Alycia Baumgardner
48:20 Undercard
52:20 Tim Tszyu’s return
54:00 Giorgio Visoli-Joe Howarth
55:40 ProBox TV card on Thursday
59:30 Craig Richards vs Dan Azeez
01:01:10 Olivia Curry-Kaye Scott II





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In this podcast, we recap a complete weekend of boxing. We are also joined by Brook Sibrian, who will be fighting on Saturday in a rematch. 

Sibrian faces Gloria Munguilla in Los Angeles. The bout is available on PPV.com

We will also talk about Lamont Roach Jr's frustrating year after his draw to Isaac Cruz. We also talk about O'Shaquie Foster outclassing Stephen Fulton Jr, after Fulton missed weight, and how an interim lightweight belt was on the line. 

Other notables, Erislandy Lara keeps winning as he defeats Johan Gonzalez after Janibek was unable to compete, and Jesus Ramos Jr defeats Shane Mosley Jr. Frank Martin got a win on the prelims.

Matchroom had a solid card, Shabaz Masoud defeated Peter McGrail in a fun fight. Elif Turhan announced herself as one of the most fearsome women's boxers as she stopped Beatriz Ferreira to win the IBF lightweight title. Conah Walker also stopped Pat McCormack in the 12th round of a good fight. 

Then, we preview this week's fight. Eye of the Tiger returns with a card on Thursday headlined by Alexandre Gaumont, and the co-feature is Imam Khataev. On Friday, Kubrat Pulev will face Murat Gassiev in a heavyweight title bout of some sort. Saturday on DAZN, Diego Pacheco will face Kevin Lele Sadjo in Stockton, but all eyes are on the co-feature, local favorite Gabriel Flores Jr. vs. Joe Cordina. The bout is a title eliminator. 
Also featured, Skye Nicolson vs. Yuliahn Luna, and opening the card, junior welterweight Ernesto “Tito” Mercado vs. Antonio Moran.

We also breakdown the rematch between Badou Jack vs. Noel Mikaelian

On BoxLab Promotions' YouTube page, Kevin Brown will face Cletus Seldin as well. 

0:00 Brook Sibrian interview 
16:00 Inital thoughts on Lamont Roach-Isaac Cruz
24:36 Crawford WBC
28:02 Roach-Cruz, Lukie’s thoughts
35:54 Shock Foster-Stephen Fulton 
46:30 Erislandy Lara, Jesus Ramos Jr
53:35 Frank Martin
56:31 Elif Turhan
01:01:06 Conah Walker stops Pat McCormack
01:06:00 Diego Pacheco fight week
01:10:56 Gabe Flores-Joe Cordina
01:18:12 Badou Jack


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It was a lull.

Lamont Roach Jr has fought to his second draw in a row. I thought he won, but it doesn’t matter, because the judges didn’t. Now, Roach goes from a titleholder to a fringe star in the sport, without winning a fight in 2025. Isn’t boxing odd?

Roach fought Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz to a majority draw on Saturday night. The fight was a tale of two halves. Cruz used his power and aggression to win the first half of the fight. Roach hit the canvas for the first time in his career in the third round. Roach appeared frustrated from the physical elements of Cruz, including headbutts and rough tactics on the inside. Cruz would lose a point for a kidney punch in the seventh round. Roach would win that round and most of the final rounds, outboxing Cruz, who was extremely frustrated. It is the rare fight where neither fighter lost any momentum, but it is hard not to feel for Roach, who should be one of the marquee fighters of the year, yet he didn’t record a win in two fights.

Boxing can be strange.

O’Shaquie Foster might have all-time great potential. Foster outclassed Stephen Fulton Jr, as yet again, Fulton found himself in a 50-50 fight on paper, but it was far from that when the bell rang. Foster established his jab and distance as Fulton, who missed weight by two pounds the day before, struggled to be first, and his reflexes couldn’t match Foster’s ability. On top of that, Foster was setting traps and targeting the body of Fulton. Foster established himself as one of the best fighters in the world, and now Fulton is 0-2 in consequential super-fights.

Middleweight Erislandy Lara won a 12-round unanimious decision over Johan Gonzalez. Lara would drop Gonzalez twice, but couldn’t stop him. Gonzalez took the fight on less than a week’s notice after Janibek Alimkhanuly was unable to compete due to an adverse drug test finding. Lara defended his WBA middleweight title.

In the pay-per-view opener, Jesus Ramos Jr won a unanimous decision over Shane Mosley Jr, to win the interim WBC middleweight title.

Undercard thoughts: Junior welterweight Frank Martin brutally knocked out Rances Barthelemy in the fourth round. The fight was Martin’s first fight at his new weight class. Junior middleweight Isaac Lucero stopped veteran Roberto Valenzuela Jr. Featherweight Luis Nunez won a razor-close unanimous decision over Hector Sosa.

In the main event, Shabaz Masoud won a narrow unanimous decision over Peter McGrail in an exciting 12-round main event. McGrail started strong, and Masoud caught a second wind. Then the last three rounds were awkward. Masoud looks like this might be his ceiling, and McGrail, a former Olympian, now has two losses early in his career.

Elif Turhan stopped Beatriz Ferreira in the fifth round to win the IBF lightweight world title. Turhan is a crude operator, but good luck to anyone who trades with her. Ferreira decided to in round one and went down twice (only once was it ruled a knockdown). Ferreira never seemed to recover. Turhan ends the title run of Ferreira, who was looking to make her fourth title defense. Turhan, more than likely, is women’s boxing story of the year.

Conah Walker upset Pat McCormack. Walker has now won three fights in 2025, with his most recent being a 12th-round stoppage of the 2020 Olympic silver medalist McCormack. Walker is now on a four-fight win streak and is a contender at welterweight. Junior welterweight Sean McComb stopped Hugo Micallef. McComb, who is best known for a controversial loss to Arnold Barboza Jr., called out Richardson Hitchins, the IBF beltholder, after the fight.

Jai Opetaia knocked out unbeaten Huseyin Cinkara in eight rounds. Was it Opetaia’s best? No! Does it matter? No!

Opetaia fought three times this year, with his January bout being the most notable, as he slowly began to fade away from the conversation amongst boxing fans. His latest bout didn’t appear on DAZN. Opetaia was a breakout fighter in 2022 and emerged as a future pound-for-pound type guy in 2024, but has lost a lot of momentum in 2025.

Junior welterweight Jack Wyllie and Paul Flemming fought to a majority draw. Readers of this blog noted this fight would be a good one. Wyllie’s ceiling might have been reached. Former titleholder Jason Moloney got an eighth-round technical knockout over Herlan Gomez, and top heavyweight prospect Teremoana Jr stopped German Garcia Montes in one round. Hopefully, Teremoana makes the leap in opposition next year as he is a top-10 level prospect.

My thoughts on this upcoming fight. 

Read more at http://lukieboxing.substack.com

In this episode, I breakdown all the major fights starting with the Prime Video Pay-Per-View between Isaac Cruz vs Lamont Roach Jr. The bout promoted by Premier Boxing Champions is one of the more notable cards to end the year. We will also breakdown other bouts on such as a junior lightweight bout between champion O'Shaquie Foster vs. Stephen Fulton and a middleweight unification bout between Janibek Alimkhanuly vs. Erislandy Lara. Also, my thoughts on Shabaz Masoud vs Peter McGrail, and Jai Opetaia making a a cruiserweight title defense against Huseyin Cinkara

In this episode, Lukie and Dakota break down the week’s action. 

We begin with a ProBox TV card with lightweight Charlie Sheehy shining on the prelims. We also talk about Karlos Balderas as well as Justin Pauldo’s comeback knockout win over Nike Theran. Adelaida Ruiz became a world champion by defeating Alexas Kubicki. Erik Badillo could be headed toward a title shot with his junior flyweight win over Elwin Soto. Also, is Cristian Cruz the next “Venado” Lopez? We will talk about his draw against Muhammad Yaqubov.

Also, Frazer Clarke suffered a shocking upset loss to Jamie TKV. Francesca Hennessy, a women’s bantamweight, also got a win on the card. 

Ben Whittaker got a first-round knockout over Benjamin Gavazi. Whittaker is a 2020 Olympic silver medalist who has star potential. This was his first fight with Matchroom Boxing. Notable undercard action, Cameron Vuong and Gavin Gwynne fought to a draw. They will probably have a trilogy before it is all said and done. Middleweight Tom Cowling upset Aaron Bowen, and Jimuel Pacquiao’s pro debut against Brendan Lally was scored as a draw. 

The big fight this week is Lamont Roach Jnr taking on Isaac Cruz. We talk about all the scenarios that we see. Also on the undercard a middleweight unification bout between Erislandy Lara vs. Janibek Alimkhanuly, a 130lbs title fight between O’Shaquie Foster and Stephen Fulton Jr. The pay-per-view card starts with Jesus Ramos Jr taking on Shane Mosley Jr. 

Undercard bouts of note, Frank Martin will face Rances Barthelemy, Luis Nunez will return to action, so will Isaac Lucero, Elijah Garcia, Jordan Roach and Robert Guerrero Jr. 

Also “our guy” Jai Opetaia will face Huseyin Cinkara. Opetaia being ducked? We discuss.

In the U.K., Shabaz Masoud will face Peter McGrail in a solid bout. A sneaky great fight will pit IBF women’s lightweight titleholder Beatriz Ferreira against Elif Turhan. Conah Walker will face Pat McCormack, and Sean McComb will face Hugo Micallef. 

0:00 ProBox TV Justin Pauldo thoughts
7:45 Karlos Balderas thoughts
11:25 Charlie Sheehy
14:35 Erik Badillo-Elwin Soto
17:23 Remaining ProBox TV bout
20:50 Ben Whittaker 
30:20 Frazer Clarke’s upset loss
32:40 Lamont Roach Jr-Isaac Cruz 
38:34 Erislandy Lara-Janibek 
43:00 Jesus Ramos Jr-Shane Mosley Jr
46:06 O’Shaquie Foster-Stephen Fulton Jr
52:20 Shabaz Masoud-Peter McGrail
54:50 undercard
56:43 Jai Opetaia
01:02:57 Takuma Inoue upsets Tenshin
01:04:55 Jimuel Pacquiao

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This Saturday at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, California, Elite Underdog Promotions will return for their second professional boxing show. You can purchase tickets here: 

We spoke with Ali Benjamin, the owner of Benjamin’s Boxing, who serves as a co-promoter and matchmaker for Elite Underdog Promotions. 

In this episode, you will hear his excitement about the main event between welterweight Jacob Macalolooy versus Angel Munoz. Also, up-and-coming women’s fighter Tiare Womack against an undefeated Danna Pineda, promising prospect Kumar Prescod and a battle of pro debuts with Ralie Gulley versus Colin Madlangbayan

You can follow Benjamin on IG at https://www.instagram.com/benjaminsboxing/?hl=en and Elite Underdog Promotions at  https://www.instagram.com/eliteunderdogpromotions/?hl=en

Every week I do a mailbag on http://lukieboxing.substack.com. That is my newsletter, by the way. 

It is free. 

For Thanksgiving, I am share this week's episdoe, so you can have a little bit extra for the holiday season.