Big Dog Lukie Boxing Podcast

Abraham Gonzalez of FightsATW.com joins the show to preview the card

Hollywood Fight Nights Returns for 2025

HOW TO WATCH: Friday, January 17, 6 PM PST, on UFC Fight Pass

Omar Trinidad vs. Mike Plania

Featherweight Trinidad holds a smaller form a WBC belt. Plania has pulled off upsets before, but probably won’t here. A solid main event, but one Trinidad holds the advantages. 

Mizuki Hiruta vs. Maribel Ramirez

Hiruta, the WBO junior bantamweight women’s champion has star qualities. This is her debut with Tom Loeffler’s 360 Promotions, I would expect something special.

Ali Akhmedov vs. Malcolm Jones

Super middleweight Akhmedov, a former Gennadiy Golovkin training partner will be back in action. His last fight was a struggle, but this looks like a manageable fight.

Gloria Munguilla vs. Brook Sibrian

Both junior flyweights lost this year and they are both in their 30s. Both have world title potential, but this is a sink-or-swim bout for each. Sibrian lost her last fight in Mexico. Munguilla lost in Puerto Rico in March to Krystal Rosado.

Iyana Verduzco vs. Lindsey Ellis

“Right Hook Roxy” has star potential and is signed with 360 Promotions.

A little recap for those who don’t want to listen to the audio.

Jai Opetaia KO4 David Nyika

Opetaia made a statement. Now, we need to see him fight Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez.

Justis Huni KO2 Shaun Potgieter

Huni is a fast heavyweight, who was too much for Potgieter.

Shauna Browne SD10 Taylah Gentzen

Browne has fringe star potential.

Runqi Zhou UD8 Tony Ingram

Zhou upsets the undefeated Ingram in an early prelim bout.

In today’s audio episode, Anthony Cooks of Ring Magazine joins the show to preview the fight.

Jai Opetaia vs. David Nyika

How To Watch: Wednesday, midnight PST, DAZN

Opetaia, the IBF titleholder, is considered the best cruiserweight along with Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez. He will face undefeated 2020 Bronze medal Olympian Nyika on Wednesday. Opetaia will look to make his fifth title defense, even though the way that fifth defense came about was a bit odd. Opetaia vacated the IBF title to face Ellis Zorro in 2023. He won the title back in his next fight because the IBF belt had been vacated when he opted to fight Zorro over his mandatory contender Mairis Briedis. He defeated Zorro in a rematch in 2024 to become a two-time IBF titleholder. 

Opetaia was originally set to face Huseyin Cinkara, but an injury forced him out. Nyika will be taking it on short notice but is a promising prospect, who sparred Opetaia in the past.

Undercard bouts of note:

Justis Huni vs. Shaun Potgieter

Huni is a heavyweight that Europeans and Australians believe in. He is also managed by Mick Francis, who manages Opetaia. 

Teremoana Jnr vs. Osasu Otobo

I see Teremoana Jr as a George Forman type of fighter. He’s a big puncher with skills. This is a stay-busy fight for him after a knockout win in December. 

Other Notable Bouts 

Boxxer card

How To Watch: Saturday, unsure start time, Peacock

Callum Simpson vs. Steed Woodall

A regional super middleweight fight.

Caroline Dubois vs. Jessica Camara

Dubois might be a Hall-of-Fame level women’s boxer and Camara is one of the most underrated of her era. This should be a very good fight. 

Toro Promotions Fight Card Friday Night in Tacoma, Washington

How To Watch: Unsure

Kingsley Ibeh vs Scott Alexander

Ibeh was a spoiler during his days in the Top Rank Bubble, but ran into Jared Anderson in 2021,

which saw him get stopped. Anderson’s hype skyrocketed to the moon after that. He is now on a winning streak and just stopped Jack May in October in one round. Alexander is a former Thompson

Boxing fighter, who has seen better days, but he can be a tricky fighter. 

Austin Brooks vs Rosalindo Morales

Junior lightweight Brooks is good enough to contend but is coming off a June draw to Aram Avagyan. Morales serves as another tricky test.

The Debut of Dedrick Crocklem

According to Boxrec, Top Rank’s recent signee, Crockelm, will turn pro on this card. Crocklem won the Olympic trials in 2023 and he is someone to keep a watchful eye on.

We breakdown this week's fight with Australian boxing writer Anthony Cocks. 

Opetaia-Nyika will take place on Wednesday night in California with the undercard roughly starting at midnight on DAZN.

In this show we are joined by the great boxing coach, John Pullman. The crew talk about the major action of the week

Topics include
- Fernando Martinez-Kazuto Ioka II not happening
- The state of the junior bantamweight division
- Japan losing two big fights in two weeks
- Hayato Tsutsumi vs Rene Alvarado
- Our pound-for-pound list for 2025
- One new year's resolution
- We finish with a brief preview of Jai Opetaia vs. David Nyika

Timestamps
0:00 Fernando Martinez-Kazuto Ioka II
10:20 John Pullman joins the show
20:50 Dakota’s Pound-for-pound list
24:30 conversation about hometown decision
29:00 Great heavyweight debate
37:45 New year’s resolution for boxing
45:00 Who is the Fighter of the Year in 2025
46:30 Jai Opetaia-David Nyika preview 
58:10 Justis Huni, Teremoana Jnr thoughts
01:04:20 Last segment

In this show we are joined by the great boxing coach, John Pullman. The crew talk about the major action of the weekTopics include - Fernando Martinez-Kazuto Ioka II not happening- The state of the junior bantamweight division- Japan losing two big fights in two weeks- Hayato Tsutsumi vs Rene Alvarado- Our pound-for-pound list for 2025- One new year's resolution- We finish with a brief preview of Jai Opetaia vs. David NyikaTimestamps0:00 Fernando Martinez-Kazuto Ioka II10:20 John Pullman joins the show20:50 Dakota’s Pound-for-pound list24:30 conversation about hometown decision29:00 Great heavyweight debate37:45 New year’s resolution for boxing45:00 Who is the Fighter of the Year in 202546:30 Jai Opetaia-David Nyika preview 58:10 Justis Huni, Teremoana Jnr thoughts01:04:20 Last segment

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Martinez-Ioka II…

A weird result –– nothing happened. 

Martinez is the WBA junior bantamweight titleholder. He still is, but he was pulled from thefight Monday morning in Japan and Sunday evening on the west coast. 

So, what happened?

Martinez didn’t attend the media workout or the press conference. Then, the fight was off. 

The big kick in the pants –– Martinez relinquished his IBF title prior. Willibaldo Garcia Perez and Rene Calixto Bibiano fought to a draw for the vacated belt on December 21. 

The junior bantamweight division, outside of Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez holding the WBC title, is in disarray. We will wait to see what Martinez does. Who knows what will happen with the IBF and WBO titleholder. Phumelela Cafu is the odd man in the mix as he upset Kosei Tanaka inOctober. 

This fight was supposed to set up a potential super-fight with “Bam” Rodriguez, but instead it didn’t do much. 

What happened on the card?

Hayato Tsutsumi KO8 Rene Alvarado

Junior lightweight Tsutsumi looks like a real contender as he stopped Alvarado, a former beltholder. 

Joe Shiraishi UD8 Tsuyoshi Sato

Junior bantamweight Shiraishi bounced back from his lone career loss with a win in a close fight.

In this show, Dakota and Lukie go over the following categories as we look back at the year of boxing in 2024.

Brief notes on the awards given

Boxer of the Year 
Women's Boxer of the Year
Fight of the Year
Round of the Year
Contender of the Year
Comeback of the Year
and more....

Timestamps
0:00 intro 
1:00 Naoya Inoue, Ryan Garcia fights off…
4:04 Felix Alvarado vs. Tobias Reyes
7:12 Boxer of the Year
11:55 Why Oleksandr Usyk Won
17:45 Fight of the Year
21:50 Usyk-Fury I 
24:55 Trainer of the Year
26:00 Don Charles
35:20 Comeback of the Year
37:00 Daniel Dubois 
43:30 Round of the Year
46:00 Abdullah Mason-Yohan Vazquez 
51:10 Prospect of the Year
53:00 Moses Itauma
56:50 Upset of the Year
58:00 Jaime Munguia-Bruno Surace
01:02:50 Knockout of the Year
01:05:10 Lucas Bahdi-Ashton Sylve
01:07:30 Keyshawn Davis 
01:10:23 What did we miss?
01:20:13 What is 2025’s outlook for boxing?
01:26:41 Personality driven boxing vs. Achievement driven boxing
01:33:18 Kazuto Ioka-Fernando Martinez II

Thoughts on the fight.

Timestamps 

0:00 Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury II
22:10 undercard