PBD Podcast - "America Needs Help" - Oscar De La Hoya on Fighting, Donald Trump And The State Of America

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Starting point is 00:00:57 Nobody knows this, but it's in the cops. When I won the gold, I mean, the experience is the best moment I've ever had. And right there and then I knew my life is going to be different. It's not going to be the gold. I mean, the experience is the best moment I've ever had. And right there and then I knew my life is gonna be different. It's not gonna be the same. America needs help. And right now with our current president, I just feel that it's not getting the help necessary to make this country what it is.

Starting point is 00:01:17 And that's great. What was your first experience with Trump? Meeting him. Oh my gosh. I golfed with Trump. So that story came out. So Trump calls me two minutes after that. I had an experience with Trump, meeting him. Oh my gosh. I golfed with Trump. So that story came out, so Trump calls me two minutes after that. I'm not coming. I'm not coming, why?

Starting point is 00:01:32 I've gotten hit by fighters who have taken testosterone, whether it's a man or a female, it feels like getting hit with a baseball bat. Has there ever been a boxer that went to UFC or no? No, we're not that stupid. He was my childhood idol and I ended up fighting him. I hit rock bottom not once but several times. When I realized that I cannot perform, I started to convince myself that I wasn't worthy of anything. At seven years old you signed you're gonna win the gold medal in 1992.

Starting point is 00:02:10 Is this any work? Is this? Oh I have that poster. So obviously when you're doing a podcast with Oscar you got to talk to him about a lot of different things. Ryan Garcia we talked about today had some interesting things to say about Ryan Askew, when was the last time you and Ryan spoke and how he feels about the whole thing with permanently being banned from, he'll give you the detail. We talked about Canelo, we talked about the Mayweather fight

Starting point is 00:02:36 and he told me something I had never heard before because most of the time when you hear about his fight with Mayweather, even Ryan said, well, Oscar knew how to better negotiate the contract that he was able to get the things, the terms to be on his favor, but there's one thing he missed out and he'll tell you, which caused Mayweather to retire for one year and one day. And there's a reason for that never spoken about.

Starting point is 00:02:59 He tells that story. I asked him about Trump and he said many years ago he asked Trump to come to his fight that he was having with Kahn versus Canelo. And he was having this fight in May of 2016 and he calls Trump in 2015 and say I want you to come to the fight. And they get on a phone call together and Trump says great I'm going to come to the fight because I'll be in Vegas but But let me check my calendar. And then Oscar had leaked something he said to the AP that Trump found out about. He says, I'm not coming to the fight.

Starting point is 00:03:33 But then I asked him a question today, which he was uncomfortable. You'll feel it as well. And I said, if you were to vote for Trump today, would you consider the vote? I'll let you know. Watch it for yourself to see what his answer is. We talked family. We talked decision-making We talked Bob Aron. We talked promoters We talked about boxing potentially going away fully to the Middle East because you know on the other side Turkey has the money that these guys can't pay

Starting point is 00:03:59 There's a lot of things that was talked about but I think at the end of the day You're gonna enjoy this especially with today being the Olympics and him talking openly about the Algerian boxer when he won the gold medal in 1992 and he told a story about Michael Jordan and these guys that you just have to again if you're a sports guy you like competition you're following a boxing story you're going to love today's podcast with Oscar De La Hoya. Here's some stats for you to consider. He's won 10 different titles, six different weight classes.

Starting point is 00:04:56 Today's the Olympics, right? This guy won the gold medal in 1992 at the age of 19, the same year that the great dream team was playing. Michael Jordan, Barclay, he was telling me stories. I said Oscar, I don't want to hear the stories. I want to hear the stories on the screen is what I want to hear. And then at the same time I was pulling up another stat. We're in the next door. My kids are over here. We're in Vegas at our annual conference. And I asked Dylan, I said, Dylan, Sean, Dylan's 10 years old and Sean, my nephew is turning 15 I think tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:05:26 Sean, Dylan's 10 years old and Sean, my nephew is turning 15 I think tomorrow. And I said, so how much you think Oscar De La Roya's career earnings was in boxing? And Dylan, he doesn't follow boxing a lot, but he knows. He says, well, $20 million. I said, $20 million. He says, Sean, what do you think? Sean says, $153 million. I said, try $700 million. Try being the 27th highest paid athlete in the world. We're not talking boxing only.

Starting point is 00:05:51 So there's obviously, there's a lot of, some people love Oscar. Some people don't like Oscar. This is the world he's in. He's got his personality. He has a reputation. He's been around the block for, he's been a famous celebrity for many, many years,

Starting point is 00:06:04 three decades plus, but you cannot sit there and not respect the numbers that he's at around the block for he's been a famous celebrity for many many years three decades plus But you cannot sit there and not respect the numbers that he's had in the space and what he's done And then we had a chance to do business to get on a deal on an insurance deal together I think seven eight years ago with Gabriel Brenner and the former owner. He was one of the owners of a Houston Dynamo He got an involved very early. I won't give the numbers, but let's just say it was a beautiful exit form. Oscar, it's great to have you on the podcast. Thank you, thank you, good to see you. So congratulations. Thank you.

Starting point is 00:06:29 It was interesting how it happened because one of our guys, Greg Scherr, we meet at an event through another guy named David Finnamore, and then Greg says, I'm looking for some insurance deals, and then Greg gets ahold of Tom, they talk, they come in, they want to raise 10 million. He brings Gabriel Brenner,

Starting point is 00:06:46 Gabriel Brenner, you know, the first Mexican born professional sports owner in America. This is a guy that sold the Disney home he owned. He had 74 million dollars a couple of years ago. So he's made a couple of dollars. And then they said, hey, what do you think about Oscar? And what if this is a, I think Oscar Hispanic, our agency 54% ended up working out for everybody.

Starting point is 00:07:05 So okay, couple things, Olympics going on right now, right? And there's a lot of different stories. And when you think about Olympic gold medalists, like if we were to say the top 10, 20 famous Olympic gold medalists that people tell the story, you're one of them, your story always comes up. Whether people follow boxing or not, they know, right? They know, hey Oscar De La Hoya, young, 19 years old,

Starting point is 00:07:27 you were doing what you were doing. When you went in, controversy comes up with this Algerian boxer that I'm sure you followed. I mean, I think you commented on it. You said a couple words about it, right? The main Cali, if I'm butchering the name, forgive me, Algerian. At first, everybody's saying, you know,

Starting point is 00:07:42 male boxer, all this stuff. In 2023, I think she failed a gender eligibility test for the world championships according to the IBM when they asked what it was they said they found something but they never said anything. In 92 when you went in to the Olympics represent America what tests do they do on you? What backgrounds do they get on you? What is it? Just blood? What kind of testing did you guys do? I don't remember any testing. I don't remember any blood work, any urine tests that they do. I don't remember that. And back then in 92, it was more about, I guess people respected you

Starting point is 00:08:22 more. They had confidence in you that you were not gonna take any type of supplements or any enhancing type of, you know, drugs that are gonna help you win gold medals. So it really wasn't popular at the time, I don't think. Maybe randomly once a year, they would test you, or once every six months. But yeah, I don't remember getting any tests done in Barcelona. So when you, when you saw the story about this Iman Khalif,

Starting point is 00:08:54 you know, the story that we're hearing about and you watch her boxing and the Italian boxer quits, I think after 46 seconds, some certain, some number like that. And she says, I've never been hit like this before. And then at first everybody posts sir transgender this is that and a story comes out she was born a female here's a picture with the dad when she was a kid but then they're going back and chromosome this testosterone this she didn't pass this you're in the world you're in the space what are your friends what are you guys talking about

Starting point is 00:09:22 right now right well I was watching with my partner and it's dangerous. Any type of high level testosterone that any athlete might have, whether it's a man or female, it's just dangerous, especially when you're in a sport where you're not throwing a football, you're not kicking a where you're not throwing a football, you're not kicking a ball, you're literally hitting somebody's head in. So I just felt that, look, I mean, you look at the body of the person and my gosh, it looks stronger than the opponents, than the women opponents that she's fighting. than the women opponents that she's fighting. And so when I start reading, you know, X, Y, chromosome and this and that, and God, you know, she got suspended prior to the Olympics,

Starting point is 00:10:13 I believe in the world championship. You know, you start thinking to yourself, my gosh, what is the IOC thinking? What is the Aeba thinking? The governing bodies of boxing. And you know, they have to literally get their their shit straight basically because it's been going on for a long time. Boxing is a sport that is very fragmented.

Starting point is 00:10:35 Boxing is a sport that is really not universally organized, you know, like other sports. You have the NBA, you have, you know, you have soccer, you have major league soccer, all that. Boxing is just so fragmented that we don't have people who are, who are literally policing every single move and making sure that things like this don't happen. Got it. So, so you, you, you, there's two topics that I want to go to. The fragmented part, which is very brilliantly explained. Like in UFC it's easy, Dana makes the decision,

Starting point is 00:11:07 but in boxing you got bomb, bomb, button, bomb, every step. For these guys, who do those guys, you got the promoters, you got the contractors, you got pay-per-view. There's so much politics in boxing where there's not that much politics in maybe UFC. But let's go back to Olympics.

Starting point is 00:11:20 Based on what you've looked at with this, I mean, you're in boxing, so you're gonna follow some of the boxing events that's going on. But are the conversations behind closures amongst peers where it's like, look, I thought maybe she was a guy, but okay, now they're saying she's a girl, fine, but she must be on something.

Starting point is 00:11:37 She must be on testosterone, she must be on some P&E. Is that kind of where you're at now? Absolutely. I mean, look, testosterone levels in boxing are dangerous because you're punching somebody's head in. That's the bottom line. And there's a strong argument you can make either way. So the bottom line is that whatever they're gonna decide,

Starting point is 00:11:56 the IOC is what people have to go with. They have to believe. So I just feel personally, because I'm a fighter, I'm a boxer. I've been there in the ring. I've gotten hit by fighters who have taken testosterone. And let me tell you, you don't want to be in the ring. It feels like getting hit with a baseball bat. It really does. And it changes your body. It changes your physical inside and you become stronger, whether you're a man or a woman. And so that testosterone level is, yeah,

Starting point is 00:12:30 it's dangerous, like I said. Got it. So, but you think there was something going on, like you think there's something very weird about the situation you're going on. And what happens now, like, because when I'm asking you in the 1992 Olympics, when you won the gold medal,

Starting point is 00:12:41 you were saying they didn't do any testing on you back then. It was just kind of like, hey, you're representing America, come on in. So I wonder, do you know if they're testing now or is it just kind of like you're representing and come in? Yeah, no, no, the testing is most likely every single day. Basically.

Starting point is 00:12:56 After you compete, before you compete, they're always testing you every single day. So if that is the case, wouldn't they know if the Algerian boxer is using PDs or not or is there still a way for her to get away with it? There's still ways I mean as you know you know as soon as they come up with something there's always or some kind of steroid or high testosterone or whatever you want to call it, they'll create a test for it. They'll create a test for it.

Starting point is 00:13:26 Some kind of masking mechanism over here. So it's always evolving, it's always changing. So you just never know. 92, you're in there, 19 years old, you're going in. In the history of NBA basketball, there's never been a more exciting team that was ever put together. Even Magic Johnson, there's this one four minute clip

Starting point is 00:13:50 on YouTube that I've watched probably 100 times where Magic says, hey, the best game ever played at the Olympics in 1992 wasn't the game. It was us against each other. What Michael said, I'm the captain, you pick your, he picks Larry, he starts putting the team together and Michael decides to destroy him and Magic is talking shit to Michael and then Larry eventually tells Magic and says look it's officially his league, leave it alone. And then Michael comes in

Starting point is 00:14:14 and the world says oh my god, Michael Jordan, you're coming up in boxing, like at this point you're Oscar De La Hoya but you're not yet Oscar De La Hoya, right? You're 19, you're Oscar Golden. So are they coming to your fight? Are you going to their game? Is there any interaction? Are you seeing Michael? Are you seeing these guys? What is that like?

Starting point is 00:14:33 Finally, sorry, the whole team would go to every single fight. They would literally have this, I think the fifth row for them cleared off. And so to make sure they watched the fights, but Michael would be at the mic. Michael would be there. The Magic Johnson school, Barkley, everybody would be there and they would leave them alone. Like as if they weren't famous. It was, it was pretty odd. It was crazy, but they love boxing. They love the sport. And you can tell,

Starting point is 00:15:00 I believe it was Magic Johnson who was more into the boxing. He would just stay there and just, I mean, you couldn't, you couldn't talk to him. You couldn't say anything to him. And you were just, you're noticing this while you're in the ring. You're in between rounds. You're watching these guys like, wow, Michael Jordan just said, just wave to me.

Starting point is 00:15:17 Yeah. Yeah. It was pretty distracting, but at the same time motivating. But at this point, you're not famous yet, right? No, no. This is the first fame you experience. Yes. How does it like 19 year old, you're not famous yet, right? No, no, this is the first fame you experience. Yes. How does it like 19 year old,

Starting point is 00:15:27 you're like Michael's rooting for me. Right, it's a surreal moment. I mean, you don't believe it. You think you're dreaming, right? It put added pressure to me to win the gold. Yeah. I mean, first of all, I had the pressure of winning it for my mother,

Starting point is 00:15:43 who passed away from breast cancer a year prior to the Olympics. So that pressure from America because the media now is making me the darting of the Olympics. You know Oscar De La Hoya winning the gold for his mother. Can he do it? His dying mother from breast cancer. And so that pressure for a young kid I mean imagine yeah and then on top of that having my dream team you know when you've had two I mean wow it was it was a pretty yeah surreal moment did you have like when you won like who was it was there a moment when you got the gold

Starting point is 00:16:17 some guys come in congratulating was there moments where the challenge everything together behind closed door everybody yeah we have do you have any stories of oh yeah no, well first of all, when I won the gold, I mean, the experience is the best moment I've ever had. That's your best ever? On top of the podium, listening to the national anthem of America,

Starting point is 00:16:37 and plus thinking about your mom who just passed away, I mean, you can, I mean. I get chills now. It was just incredible. And yeah, the world just fell in love with me after that. I became the golden boy. That is, and now obviously golden boy, you got the promotional company, all this stuff that you're doing.

Starting point is 00:16:56 So, okay, so that's going on. You're coming back from that moment of coming back into the fight scene. What was the level of fame from there? What happened next? moment of coming back into the fight scene, you know, what was the level of fame from there? What happened next? What was the next thing that happened for you? I mean, obviously, before the Olympic Games, I did have some kind of like fame, local fame in my neighborhood, you know, the young kid coming up

Starting point is 00:17:19 from East LA, winning gold. But when I landed in the US and LAX, and this is when the, the public airports, they would let people in all the way into the gate. You didn't have to go through security. There's no 2001. Right. That's right. That's a good point. So the stewardess opens the door to the plane and I'm right there standing and there's a sea of a thousand people just chanting Oscar. And I'm thinking, who are they chanting for? I asked the stewardess and they're like, my gosh, they're here for you. And right there and then I knew my life is going to be different. It's going to change. It's going to be, it's not going to be the same.

Starting point is 00:18:03 How'd you handle fame at that time? Because fame is when I watch a lot of guys at a smaller level, you know, we're running an insurance company, we got 10,000 guys at MGM right now, conference, and I'll notice you get up on stage and you edify one of the guys in front of thousands of people, all of a sudden they get like this, some of the guys you do they're like, oh my god, I'm humbled, I don't like it, I'm uncomfortable. How do you manage and handle fame at a, at a 19 year, uh, at that age? Yeah, I, I always felt I had an angel on my shoulder, you know, and that's my mother that was looking out for me. That was kind of guiding me and telling me what to say at every moment,

Starting point is 00:18:38 you know? And, um, I, I handled it, staying humble. I handled it, the fame was a little overwhelming at first, with women coming at you and taking pictures and wanting to hear your autographs. And it was a little difficult for me because I'm a shy kid, right, at the time. But in terms of winning big purses professionally and handling my money and then handling all these people who are coming at me from

Starting point is 00:19:16 all sorts of walks of life, I handled it pretty good. At that time. Yeah at that time at 19 years old. Were you always a womanizer? Like what Shukrashane mostly talks about what it was, like he says, when we were, you know, the amateur fights, we would always go to Alabama or Michigan or this or that, and we'd go to different places and we'd fight and then we'd have a chance to go out and party and the girls and he would always, you know, he would tell stories about how it was. Were you always pretty good with girls? Was that like, no, no, no, I no. I was, I was the size kid ever.

Starting point is 00:19:47 I was, you know, and ironically, I was so focused on my training, on my boxing, that all that came afterwards. You know, when I started getting fame, when I started getting money, I became a little reckless, you know, after, after all that fame a bit. But, uh, in the beginning, no, I was just, I was a super shy kid.

Starting point is 00:20:11 When did the recklessness show up? What was the recklessness? I think it was after, it might've been after I retired from boxing. First, what was that? Yeah. That I was 30, I believe I was like 38 years old. So Oscar, so you're saying from 19 to 38, no drugs, no hardcore party, nothing? Zero, no. Zero from 19 to 38?

Starting point is 00:20:33 No, no, not at all. Literally. I was super focused. Okay, so. It started happening, it started happening, I started feeling empty in my last fight against Pacquiao. Yeah. When I knew that my skill level was diminishing,

Starting point is 00:20:51 when I knew that I wasn't the same fighter, when I started boxing. 38. At 38 years old. I was a hard worker. I was the first one to be in the gym. I was the last one to get out. I was always the one waking everybody up

Starting point is 00:21:09 at four in the morning to go run. So I put my body and my mind through, basically through hell for all those years. I dedicated my life. I had people in my life that were great for me that I just, you know, shoot away because I was so focused and I lost a lot of friends, a lot of family because of the sport. But once, once I retired, once I knew that my body wasn't the same anymore, my mind wasn't the same anymore.

Starting point is 00:21:41 I mean, when you're sleeping in silk pajamas, it's hard to wake up in the morning now, right? Um, after so many years of, of that. Yeah. And you know, whether it's an, it's in bodybuilding, whether it's in military, whether it's in a NBA professional sports, they'll say when an athlete that's competing at the highest level, meaning you're a champion, and then there's the sudden retirement, marriage doesn't work out, recklessness comes up,

Starting point is 00:22:10 you don't know how to handle stuff, you kind of lose some of the people around you because you went from such, like I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Heart Locker, where he goes, he comes back, he just can't wait for the next bomb to work on, and it's like, it's too peaceful, it's too this. So you can't handle the chaos coming back. Do you kind of feel like that was it?

Starting point is 00:22:28 Where it was the chaos was so much when it stopped. Now you have to create chaos. Well, yeah, I was so disciplined in my craft for so many years since I was six years old, that when I realized that I cannot perform anymore, any longer, inside the ring, I started to convince myself that I wasn't worthy of anything. 38. At 38 years old, it was incredible. It was a time of my life that was the lowest moment of my life. A lot of things happened that I regret, but at the same time, I use everything

Starting point is 00:23:15 that I've done, everything that's happened to me in my life. I use it as motivation. That's the bottom line. So let's go back to, let's go to 18. You're training, you're young, you're innocent, you're hungry, you feel like you got something. You're Mexican, you know, and you know, your community wants to see the next guy coming up, the next Chavez. There's always been a good boxer. Was the vision gold medal? Was the vision champion? was the vision being the chavis, the face, what was your vision as the A-team? You were pre-winning anything big. My vision since I was nine years old actually

Starting point is 00:23:52 was to win the Olympic gold medal. Yeah, that's your number one. That was my number one. Why since nine Olympic gold? Back in 84 I believe it was, a fighter by the name of Paul Gonzalez from East LA won the gold medal as well. And so as a kid, I was like, my gosh, I want to be like this guy.

Starting point is 00:24:11 I want to be a superhero. I was already involved in boxing and training for fights since I was five. So I was already immersed into that world, into that sport. So I said, you know what? Might as well reach the pinnacle of the amateur boxing, you know? And so when 1992 came around, that was my goal for many years.

Starting point is 00:24:36 In your room, you know, as a kid, like if you came to my army barracks when I was 18 years old, and you looked around, you would see a bunch of supermodels and you would see a bunch of bodybuilders. I wanted to be Mr. Olympia, so we'd see Ronnie, Lee Haney, Dorian Yates, Kevin LeVrone, you would see all these bodybuilders on the wall.

Starting point is 00:24:53 And then you would see Angel Tevez, Amy Fadali, you would see all these, you know, Monica, all these girls that were on the wall and all the, and then you would also see John Travolta on the wall. It was a given, because for me, staying alive, Saturday night fever, I was like the middle eastern Tony Manero, who I was in Tennessee, and by the way, you know, whether, what is why, you know, the bell bottom

Starting point is 00:25:11 is the whole shirts from, the shirts that you couldn't afford to buy, you would cut off and have to buy from the, what is it, Goodwill store, because of the shoes, but what would your room, if somebody went back and looked at your room right now, at 16 years old, what posters were on the wall? Fight posters. I had nothing but fight posters.

Starting point is 00:25:31 Like Salvador Sanchez, old school, like Azuma Nelson, Julio Cesar Chavez when he was coming up. He was my childhood idol and I ended up fighting him. Crazy. Yeah, that was 97 and 98. Yeah, that was a crazy moment. But yeah, Muhammad Ali was a big one. I remember I received some kind of poster.

Starting point is 00:25:55 I believe it was 1980 poster. Somebody gave it to me, a family member. And I actually gave myself my first autograph to myself. Like this two Oscar Olympic gold medalist. Get out of here. 1992, I still have that poster that I signed for myself. How long before the Olympics? Oh, that was, I was like, I was like seven years old.

Starting point is 00:26:16 Yeah, so. Wait, wait, wait, yeah. At seven years old, you said you're gonna win the gold medal in 1992? Yeah, yeah. Is this anywhere, is this, oh, I have that poster. Yeah. Are you joking? No, no. At seven years old, you signed, you're going to win the gold. I'm going to win the gold medal in 1992. Yeah. Who knows this story?

Starting point is 00:26:34 Was this in the documentary? Oh yeah. Well, there's another story of the documentary where I was in kindergarten, I believe I was, and a teacher gave us an essay to write and homework, whatever. And one of the questions was, what do you wanna do when you grow up? And I wrote, I wanna be an Olympic gold medalist. So at the end of the class, the teacher calls me up,

Starting point is 00:27:00 and I'm a kid reading my paper, you know, and my homework. And I say, okay, what do you want to be when you grow up? Olympic boxing gold medalist, champion. And not the students, but the teacher starts laughing at me. And right there and then, I didn't, I didn't, I started tearing up just a bit, but right there and then I told myself, you know what? I am going to work as hard as I can to prove you wrong,

Starting point is 00:27:32 to prove the teacher wrong. That's when my motivation like was just amped up 1000%. Yeah. I had to win that gold. That's it. I wrote a book last year titled, Choose Your Enemies Wisely, right? And I talked about this word,

Starting point is 00:27:49 people that make it to the highest level and become champions or winners in business, they typically have three people in common. They have somebody that gave them unconditional love. You did anything wrong, that person still loved you. Typically it's a mom, right? Number two is somebody that no matter what you ever did, you would never please or win over never was never enough

Starting point is 00:28:06 Yeah, either laugh from the teacher or something like that And the last one is they chose their enemies wisely Michael, you know political leaders business owners, Elon Musk Okay, they typically go through it. So it's interesting you're telling that story about so, okay, so it was gold medal You win the gold medal since seven seven years old, signature, 92, you're gonna win this. 19 years old. Then four years later, at 23, you're fighting a 34-year-old Chavez, which I believe at the time,

Starting point is 00:28:36 his record was 97-1-1, or 99-1-1, 99, 99-1-1. He was going for his 100th win. He was going for his 100th win against you was going for his 100th win against you. That's right. So 90. So he's fighting you. And by the way, just to give context here, when I was going through it today, I had no

Starting point is 00:28:51 idea when I went through this. This is the comparison I made. So you're 23, fighting a 34-year-old Chavez. And in boxing, what would you say is prime? 31, 32, 33. 31, 32. Okay. So he's 34. A little bit past that.

Starting point is 00:29:07 A little bit past. Okay, and then, you know, I also looked up when the first time Canelo fought Mayweather. Canelo was 23. And Mayweather was 36. So the comparison of 23, 34, 23-36 was kind of interesting when you see those dynamics.

Starting point is 00:29:28 So the first one you guys fight, I think it's a TK, is it seventh round, eighth round? Would he stop? Fourth round. Yeah, he didn't come out for the fifth. He didn't come out for the fifth. And they're like, well, you know, we need to do it again.

Starting point is 00:29:38 And then you fight him again. At this point, I think he's one-on-one. He's had a couple more fights, 100, 101. He fought a lot. And then you beat him again either so what was first how do you feel about it the first time you beat him but second time Iran how did the Mexican community feel about you did they hate you were you know like I can't believe you have Chavez who the hell you think you are yeah what are you still I

Starting point is 00:30:01 mean oh that's great with your father saying, prime, prime Chavez would have beaten you that whole part of his drop, right? Exactly. How do you, how was that all experienced for you? I mean, including a couple of uncles till this day tell me, why did you beat our hero? I'm your nephew here, come on, like, just give me some credit, right? But I know it was interesting because think about it. I win the Olympic gold medal. The world loves me. I can do no wrong.

Starting point is 00:30:29 I'm the golden boy, right? Everything I touch, I turn to gold or whatever. Everybody loves me. And I fight Julio Cesar Chavez. And now the whole world is against me. I didn't understand it. I didn't know how to handle it at first. I would bark back at people,

Starting point is 00:30:50 hey, what are you talking about? I am Mexican, my parents are Mexican and I was born here. What is the criticism they're telling you? Well, you're not Mexican enough. You're a gringo, you're born in the US, you're not full Mexican. You know, just childish things, I guess, you know. But things that would irritate me.

Starting point is 00:31:14 And so I remember facing my hero, I remember walking up to the ring, outdoor Caesar's Palace, sold out. You see Jack Nicholson in the front with Dustin Hoffman and everybody there, and Bruce Willis, I can see him there sitting down going for Chavez. Going for Chavez? Oh yeah, oh yeah, he was the one that was rooting for, he would always root for me actually, Bruce Willis.

Starting point is 00:31:42 When I was fighting Pernod Whittaker, I can see him in one of the rounds where Pernod Whittaker hits me, and I can see Bruce Willis. When I was fighting Pernod Whitaker, I can see him in one of the rounds where Pernod Whitaker hits me and I can see Bruce Willis standing up and just cheering, oh yes. He chewed against you. Against me. Okay got it. And this is at the time he's got his big movie so he's the face of Molly Wood. Absolutely. And I saw him the other day, a couple of years ago I saw him at one of my fights I was doing at the Garden in New York that I was promoting. And he was the super nicest guy to me.

Starting point is 00:32:08 I'm pretty sure he was just super nice to me. Yeah, it was pretty cool. It was pretty cool. Good times, you know? So Chop, so you win first time, you win the second time. When you're in there and you're watching, because there's gotta be an element of guys that remember, right? Because to me when you hear stories about a guy that oh you're against me, you're gonna root

Starting point is 00:32:32 against me, no problem. I'm gonna remember you for the rest of my life. Are you also as a fighter looking around to see who's rooting for you? Are you catching those small little things or you're so focused in the fight that you're not seeing any of that? At the moment when you're in the fight that you're not seeing any of that? At the moment, when you're in the fight like for instance when I fought Chavez I can walk up the ring I scope the people out

Starting point is 00:32:56 then once you step foot inside the ropes it's game on. You're laser focused you're just completely in tune with your opponent. There's nothing else that exists. You just wanna win and knock out your opponent. Did anybody when you win, so you win, okay? Typically it's like, hey, you know, it's your birthday. You get the most random text message.

Starting point is 00:33:18 Oh shit, those guys, my family didn't wish me happy birthday. But that's kinda cool, okay. Hey, you got a Christmas card from these guys? Yeah, no shit, get him Christmas card. Okay, cool, take it, that's nice. And then, you know, after fights, you're winning, there's a big victory you have. Some people will call you and say,

Starting point is 00:33:35 hey, someone tell you man, great fight, love what you did, and you're like, wow, I didn't know you were a fan of mine. When you meet Chavez, who were some weird people that called you, who rooted for you? Famous celebrities that we would know, where you're like, really, you rooted for me against Chavez, who were some weird people that called you, who rooted for you? Famous celebrities that we would know where you're like, Brinkley, you rooted for me against Chavez. Against Chavez, oh my gosh.

Starting point is 00:33:51 Probably every single Mexican celebrity you can think of. Oh, so the Mexican celebrities were calling you? Oh yeah. Why were they happy that you meet him? From presidents like President Salinas de Gortari. He was, I mean, he's Mexican, right? From Mexico. Oh, absolutely.

Starting point is 00:34:11 But are they saying something like, look, you know I like Chavez, but I just wondered if that kind of a, got it, diplomatic answer to give. Diplomatic, absolutely. But was anybody that called and says, look bro, I'm glad you beat him. I'm glad you beat him. A lot of people called me.

Starting point is 00:34:26 That you don't want to give their names? That I don't want to give their names out, so yeah. Would we know? Oh yeah. Okay. Oh yeah. So let me ask you, how, like right now, my wife and I, we go to Argentina, we're having nice little steak at the steakhouse.

Starting point is 00:34:40 Everywhere we went in Argentina, I asked everybody the same question, okay? The question is, hey, Maradona or Messi? Oh, you can't ask that question. Or some people would take it offense. How could you ask a question like that? Of course it's Maradona. You're talking about Maradona. Messi.

Starting point is 00:34:57 Messi's not like Maradona. And they would be almost a little bit annoyed with a, how could you ask a stupid question like that, right? But then some people will be like, ah, you know, it's like having two kids, you know, you have to love both of them. I love both of them, that's what. Is that kind of your thing when you go to Mexico? Do they say stuff like that to you?

Starting point is 00:35:15 Or, you know, what, what vibe you get now? People, I get a lot of whispers from Mexican nationals who tell me, you beat Chavez, great job, we respect you, but we love Chavez, we're Mexican. And they whisper it in my ear, they don't wanna say it out loud. And it's simply because he was born in Mexico,

Starting point is 00:35:39 you're born in East LA, right? And he's the hero, he's the messiah, he's like, he's God in Mexico, right? I wonder if it's kind of like Maradona and that's exactly why. Yeah. So I'm pulling up lists. Okay. I'm just trying to see what lists say the greatest Mexican boxers of all time. I got a rels. Most of these writers are older people. So the writers are not going to be writer number 12. This one list has Rodolfo baby Casanova at 12. Then you have 11 Marco Antonio Barrera.

Starting point is 00:36:07 Then you have 10 Eric Morales, fun to watch. Ricardo Lopez, Miguel Cantor. Then you have Vicente Saldivar. Then you have Alberto Baby Arismendi. One Manuel Marquez. I was at the fight when he knocked out Pacquiao and I was sitting next to his wife, his wife was gone. Four they have Carlos Zarate.

Starting point is 00:36:32 And then they have Ruben Oliveras and then they have Hugh Chavez and then Salvador Sanchez. When you look at some of these lists, right? The greatest Mexican, now some of them say, well, he's not a Mexican born, so you're American, so on that list, it's really this, it should be Oscar. But if you put in some of the lists that's greatest boxers of all time for that weight,

Starting point is 00:36:53 you're ahead of what Chavez did. But some of the guys, old school guys, will get so annoyed if anybody says that. Sure, no, I would say that, yeah, take me off that list because there's been so many great, great champions that hail from Mexico who are Mexican nationals. I'm Mexican American. I was born in the U.S. I happen to have Mexican parents and you know, and my blood is Mexican. And you speak fluent Spanish. I speak fluent Spanish. Right. Because Ryan gets the criticism

Starting point is 00:37:25 Garcia but he doesn't speak Spanish so he gets your criticism but a little bit more. So how can you speak our language? You're like when I was when I asked my guys you know our company 54% Hispanic a lot of guys from Chihuahua a lot of guys from you know Oaxaca or more Sinaloa or Zacatecas and they're so proud, that they're from all these different places and my dad speaks fluent Spanish and I'll say, so tell me about Chavez, Oscar and Ryan. And they'll say, well listen, Mexican, Mexican?

Starting point is 00:37:56 Chavez, thanks. He says, but Ryan, at least, he spoke our language, he was with us, I mean Oscar. And I said, but Ryan doesn't speak Spanish. And for whatever reason, anybody I ask, they always give my heart down, but I think Ryan, if you're watching this, go on Hope Down Phonics, learn how to speak Spanish. Stop this criticism they're giving you, bro. I mean, you know, my wife is learning Spanish right now. I'm sure you can get a good tutor.

Starting point is 00:38:17 Well, it's funny because, so with me, I win the gold medal for the US, right? And if you notice when I lifted the flags at the end, winning the gold medal round against Germany, Marco Rudolph, I lifted both flags, the Mexican and the American flag. So it's funny because, and I call him a friend, Salinas de Gortari, Mexico's president, at the time I believe in 92, yes, he calls me and invites me to the White House, which is called Los Pinos in Mexico.

Starting point is 00:38:53 So you have the Mexican president calling me, you have, I believe it was Bush, senior, who was president at the time, 41, calling me as well. So there's a famous little film back when I went to the White House, I believe it was, when the president invites you to the White House. And so Bush talks about me and how I did it for my mother. It was very inspiring story, by the way.

Starting point is 00:39:24 But I go on to the Jay Leno show back in the time when he was the guy. The Tonight Show, he was the guy. He was the guy. It was my first time ever. And I told him, so I come out with my gold medal with my red, white and blue jumpsuit. You're 19?

Starting point is 00:39:39 I'm 19 years old. He introduces me as the golden boy from East LA. Everybody's going crazy. And he tells me, so Oscar, Jay Leno asked me, so Oscar, I hear you went to the White House. And so I tell him this story. Oh, yeah, I did go to the White House. And I was roaming around with my gold medal, my red, white and blue suit. And I found the restroom.

Starting point is 00:40:02 So I sat down and I was thinking to myself wow so this is where George Bush you know has his best ideas on this throne here and the people just went crazy and that's where the golden boy was born right there on the jail and oh wow okay and did you think about saying that or no off the cut it just came on okay it's a one like well you know that's cool yeah that makes it it was just so innocent that people just loved it. 19 years old. I'm sure they cut this clip and put it somewhere on TikTok

Starting point is 00:40:30 with that clip being there with the flag. But so, so, okay. So after winning and you're at this phase, we're still on this topic with Chavez and all these other guys. Do you consider yourself like for me, my mom's Armenian, my dad's a Syrian, I'm born in Iran, but I'm kind of made in America, and I'm an American, right?

Starting point is 00:40:49 So people ask me, what do you think you are? I'm an American, right? Because what I see myself. For you, what do you think of yourself? I'm American. You're American? Yeah, I was born in the US. Oh, you're yourself American,

Starting point is 00:41:00 but proud of your Mexican heritage. It's very interesting because back then, it was rough when you talk about races and nationalities. Like for instance, I was the gringo. I was like, oh, you're not Mexican enough and you're not one of us. You don't have Mexican blood. I was criticized left and right.

Starting point is 00:41:24 But I stuck to my guns and my message was always, I'm born in the USA. I love this country. It's my gosh. Especially back then, the US was better off, right? But I'm saying Biden, Kamala haven't done a great job. I'm not saying anything. I'm a little offended by that.

Starting point is 00:41:41 I'm not saying anything. Oscar. Let's not saying anything. I'm a little offended by that. I'm not saying anything. Oscar. You see. Let's not go there. But it was rough, especially when I fought Julio Cesar Chavez, because now I'm fighting a real Mexican. So now I'm the outsider. I'm like the villain here, you know, against all of Mexico. So it was, yeah, some challenging times,

Starting point is 00:42:06 but I stuck to my guns. I'm proud. I, I'm U S I was born, you know, won the gold medal for the U S, but my roots are Mexican and I love my Mexican people. I'm all my family's Mexican. You can't do anything about this. It's not because now all those people that were against me. Yeah. Okay. Back then when I fought Chavez, all those people that were against me, okay, back then when I fought Chavez, all those people that were against me, so now they have kids that were born in the US, now in my position, right? So now they understand and respect me for that, you know?

Starting point is 00:42:38 It took a generation maybe for that to happen. It took a generation for that to happen. Let me ask this question. So is there, again, for me, I followed this purely from a fan standpoint. My friend Saul Lopez, who's now with us at Bedivic Consulting, he used to live in Sylmar. You know Sylmar. So he was in Sylmar, and they would always go and watch the matches, and we wouldn't.

Starting point is 00:42:57 One time we're at their place, they're making carne asada, everybody's there, these guys are full-blown Mexicans. I'm talking Mexicans superstitious. I mean, Mexicans are very superstitious. Like, no, are full blown Mexicans. I'm talking Mexican superstitious, you know how Mexicans are very superstitious, like no you can't do that, when he did that last time he lost the fight, I want you to do this, all these weird things, right? And it's always fun when you're around Mexicans

Starting point is 00:43:15 who are superstitious because you can have a lot more fun with them. But we're watching the, is it Vargas against Tito? I think it's Vargas Tito, that was a good fight, right? They knock each other out, that was a good fight. You know, they're proud to have somebody that's a Mexican born. So would you say still Canelo's love comes from people because he is born in Mexico? Is that kind of where the pride comes from? Absolutely. Or he is a Chavez type because he's born in Mexico and you and Ryan are American but your family came from Mexico. Yeah it's different. It's totally different and

Starting point is 00:43:51 you know I happen to have a fan base that is global because of the Olympics, because of Barcelona, because of my mother's story, winning the gold for her, died of breast cancer, impacted a lot of people all over the world. So I don't think people will ever forget that. Whether they like me or not, that's a whole different story. But yeah, the fact that you're born in Mexico, like Chavez, like Canelo,

Starting point is 00:44:16 and the fact that Canelo took up English and now connects with the American public, it's a plus, it's great for his career. He's, you can see it in his pay-per-view numbers, for instance. I remember, cause I promoted Canelo for many years throughout his whole career. I was with him for, you know, since the beginning.

Starting point is 00:44:39 And I would tell Canelo, speak English. It's very important that you speak in it. even if you just say a few words and have a connection with the American public. And sure enough, I mean, it did wonders for his career. In these uncertain times, if there's anything we need is we need people to believe the future looks bright. So you, if you've heard about me saying this mission to you, we're on a mission to get a million people to wear this gear.

Starting point is 00:45:03 And this is what we're doing. If you buy one of these hats, there's a category of buying one hat, getting the second one free. If you haven't yet worn this gear publicly, go ahead and test it out. Buy some of the gear, wear it in public, and see how many people will stop by and say, you also watch the value timing? You also follow PBD Podcast? I do, too.

Starting point is 00:45:22 Place your order. Go to vtmerch.com, click on the link above or below, place your order, and represent the VT and the PBD Podcast here. It's wild you're saying this. You know how my son came here and met you, my nephew, and we're talking soccer, right? And I say, hey, these guys are this,

Starting point is 00:45:37 and Messi, Ronaldo, which one are you? And they're kinda giving their argument. It's like Messi doesn't do interviews in English. Sure. Right? Ronaldo does. So that allows him to have a wider range where maybe statistically for championship, world cup, Messi has more, but because he doesn't do

Starting point is 00:45:52 a lot of English speaking, many would say they don't really fully know Messi that well. They know Ronaldo a lot better. So that's a good point with Canelo speaking to kids. There's more of a connection. You feel closer to that person who's speaking your language. There's an element of thank you for taking the time to learn our language. We respect you.

Starting point is 00:46:11 We're willing to give you loyalty. That's a good point. Let's go back to boxing. Trump for many years was a, you know, Jersey, all that stuff, boxing. You hear Dana talk about Trump, what he did with him, right? Open it up for him and the loyalty and the relationship that the two of them have. What was your first experience with Trump meeting him? Oh my gosh, it was actually pleasant playing golf and this is a hilarious story. So I was promoting

Starting point is 00:46:40 Canelo versus Amir Khan and Amir Khan is Muslim and Canelo is Mexican. Then you remember at the time when I believe Trump stated to the country you know all Muslims must... Wow. Is this 16? Oh my gosh was it 16? Oh my god if it's the peak. I know it was right at the peak. This was before he was gonna run. This was before he even... I remember this. I talked to whole picks and things just happened. There were whiskers that he was gonna run. This was before he even. I remember this. I talked the whole picture. There were whiskers that he was gonna run for office, whatever. So I have this political person on my team, right?

Starting point is 00:47:13 He's like my PR guy at the time. And I had played golf with Trump two weeks prior. And it was the funniest, most hilarious golf game I've ever had because this man hits the ball and I think he has like three balls in his pocket, right? And with a hole in it. So he hits a ball out of bounds and he'll say, oh, it's right next to the pin. It's right next to the, and we know that he's like lying. We know he's cheating, right? So, front forward, we were in Las Vegas, I'm promoting Canelo and Amir Khan, and my PR guy tells me, you know, we have to sell the

Starting point is 00:47:54 fight. It's really not picking up, you know? So I tell him, why don't we invite Trump, President Trump to the fight? You know? He said these controversial comments about Muslims and Mexicans building the border and they're bad people. And so that would create a lot of hype and noise and we can sell more tickets. So I get a hold of this person that knows Trump. Long story short, Trump is on the phone. I'm inviting him to the fight and he's like, yeah, I'll consider it. I'm actually going to be in Las Vegas that weekend.

Starting point is 00:48:29 So let me call you back in about five minutes so I can find out from my team. So we hang up. Two minutes after that phone call, an AP story breaks because I told the AP that I golfed with Trump and that he cheats. So that story came out. So Trump calls me two minutes after that. I'm not coming. I'm not coming by. Game over. That's it, game over. That simple little experience. Now here's what's weird about it. You two, and by the way I looked at the dates, the comments he made was December 6th or 7th of 15. Okay.

Starting point is 00:49:05 And the fight I just looked up was May 7th of 16, so six months right after the comments making when he gives, that's interesting. What I'm saying is the fact that the timing of it, but you said something a few months ago, I just looked this up myself when I went Twitter, I think you said something about who wants Trump for president, question mark. The reason why I say this is because America sucks right now. So are you, even though maybe you made those comments about him back then and you even talked about in 2018, you thought about running for president in 2020.

Starting point is 00:49:40 Whether that was marketing or whatever it was, it was all marketing. It was all marketing. Thank God. So when you make, I mean, you see some people say that, but some people, a guy said that and he actually became a president. I thought it was marketing. Right. Has your position about Trump changed where you're at today? Where I'm at today, I just feel literally that our country needs help. It really needs help. I mean, look, I was born in California in Los Angeles. Taxes are through the roof right now. I'm walking my streets. I have a place in Beverly Hills and even there you see the homelessness, just the situation is just, it's getting worse.

Starting point is 00:50:21 And so I'm not sure if it's this party's fault or that party's fault, but America needs help. And right now with our current president, I just feel that it's not getting the help necessary to make this country, to make this country what it is. And that's great. Our country is great. It should be great, right? Better than any country in the world. I just personally feel it's great. Our country is great, it should be great, better than any country in the world. I just personally feel it's not. Do you think when, you know, I lived in California 20 some years, right? And Elon Musk, who voted for everybody on the left, for the most part, California,

Starting point is 00:50:58 right? Living in San Francisco, he leaves. Joe Rogan, let's legalize marijuana. I'm going to vote for Bernie Sanders. The vaccine is a good thing. He even said it on a special. He used to say things like that. He leaves California, goes. Since 1851, the first time ever California had a net migration, which means more people leaving your state than coming in. 2000, 2001, 2000 to 2003, 2000, first ever where back to back to back net migration of people leaving. Numbers came out during COVID, those four year period, two states Oscar lost a trillion dollars

Starting point is 00:51:35 of asset under management. So for example, you live in California, let's just say you have, I'm gonna make up a number. Let's say you have $300 million of assets under management and your guys from Morgan Stanley or Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan or Goldman, whatever the money is, right? You leave from California to Nevada. California just lost that $300 million

Starting point is 00:51:53 among their management to leave. Two states lost a trillion dollars. We have California, a trillion left, some of them went to Vegas, some Arizona, a lot of it went to Texas. New York lost a trillion dollars of management. Some of them went to Vegas, some Arizona, a lot of them went to Texas. New York lost a trillion dollars of management. Some of them went to Tennessee, a lot of them went to Florida, right?

Starting point is 00:52:12 So one could say, you know, where, forget anything but policies. The policies on the left loses job creators, those who wanna build a business, those who wanna make money, and they're business, those who want to make money, and they're leaving blue states to go to red states, you know, New York to red state. Right.

Starting point is 00:52:31 Would you say like looking at that, some of the bad policies of California on the left is what's pushed you out of California? Is that fair to say? Yeah, it's fair to say. Okay, got it. It's fair to say, and you know, I'm really not political.

Starting point is 00:52:43 I just want somebody to do a great job, you know? Do you think the four years that Trump was in office, you felt safer, you felt better about the economy, you felt safer about going and making money? I actually did. You did? I actually did, yeah. In my world, I felt safer.

Starting point is 00:53:00 Yes. And this is on a personal level. Of course, I totally get that, but you know, it's so many people, like the stories that are coming out right now where it's kind of like, I never thought I would say this, but you know, I would actually consider right now to do this.

Starting point is 00:53:14 Would you actually consider, even though that AP story happened in 2015, would you actually consider voting for Trump in 2024? I would consider it. You would consider it. I literally would consider it. I have to tell you a little secret here is I actually just purchased the Donald Trump shoes.

Starting point is 00:53:32 Yeah, I did. Seriously. I just got them in the mail two days ago. Are you joking? I'm not joking. Seriously. I'm probably gonna wear them for the way and then win them my fights.

Starting point is 00:53:39 Get out of here. Yeah, I don't really know what's this. Nobody knows it, I'm really considering it. So look, whether it's Trump or somebody else, our country needs help. Yeah. It just needs help. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:53:51 That's the bottom line. I don't know exactly what the policies are and where we can get help from and what we can change, but our country needs help. Well, I appreciate you talking about that. I just kind of thought about what you were saying with us. So let's go to boxing. You said something earlier.

Starting point is 00:54:08 You said boxing is fragmented, right? That's the word you use. And for me, when I look at NBA, I would see there's a commissioner, boom, they call the shots, then you have the players association, you have the owners association, and then there's a collective bargaining agreement.

Starting point is 00:54:24 But for the most part, the NBA is going from, and then there's a collective bargaining agreement. But for the most part, you know, the NBA is going from the top and there's a decision being made. When you look at boxing, you see the WBA, right? Which is what? The World Boxing Association. Yeah, the organizations, the belts. You got the WBC, World Boxing Council,

Starting point is 00:54:41 you got the IBF International Boxing Federation, you got the WBO, World Boxing Council, you got the IBF International Boxing Federation, you got the WBO World Boxing Organization, then you have the promoters, Yu, Karn, Aron, the Alao Shiek guy, who's doing his thing. Who is the shotcaller in boxing? Is there anybody that is a shotcaller in boxing or no? There is no shotcaller.

Starting point is 00:55:03 You can argue maybe the commissions, like for instance, if you fight in Vegas, the commissioner rules. The commissioner is the one who calls the shots because he can basically give you a license or not license you to fight in his state in Nevada. So they own the most power? Would you say they can bully? to fight in his state in Nevada. And every- So they own the most power? Would you say that they can bully?

Starting point is 00:55:28 I say they would have the most power, the most influence. Got it. Las Vegas, Nevada, the Mecca of boxing. This is where all the big major fights have happened. A lot of history here. So there's a lot of experience here in Nevada when it comes to boxing and the commissions. But like I mentioned, boxing is so fragmented.

Starting point is 00:55:48 Well, every state has a commissioner. So every state is making their own rules, is making their own decisions. So basically there's, I mean, it's kind of like the wild, wild west basically, where if you go to Nevada, you have different rules than New York I mean, it's kind of like the wild wild west basically, where if you go to Nevada, you have different rules than New York or New Mexico.

Starting point is 00:56:11 Who has the best rules? Who has the rules that you're like, you know? The enforceable rules are here in Nevada. Yeah. Okay. They enforce them. Who feels safest here? Promoters, fighters, or, you know, the media platform that make the money?

Starting point is 00:56:23 I think all of the above. All of them, feel safe. Nevada has figured it out. Nevada has figured out okay we need network, we need promoters, we need the fighters. Let's take care of everybody and be fair. So one would say I don't know if you can play this card but let's see if you could or not. Being a devil's advocate, okay? And saying, hey Oscar, but look at UFC, look at what they're doing, look how they've grown, look how there is no politics, Dana, like it's the only thing where if the referees get it wrong,

Starting point is 00:56:56 he'll chew out the referee and be like, I can't believe, well, what was he thinking? What is that all about? While in NBA, they're so diplomatic, no, when you can say something like that, fine 50,000 they're so diplomatic, no, when you can't say something like that, fine 50,000, fine Mark Cuban, fine because he said something, but in UFC I think it's the only sport where the commissioner running it calls out the referees who get it wrong. You don't see that in any

Starting point is 00:57:19 other sport. I don't even think you see it in boxing. In boxing, sometimes you know the criticism with boxing is the fact that I think for every three fight that goes into decision, one of them people gonna be like, it's fixed, I don't trust it, there's bullshit, it's the mop, it's the da-da-da-da-da-da, like all this stuff. Zero things like that sit with UFC.

Starting point is 00:57:41 Why do you think UFC has been able to grow the way it has where a lot of people say, maybe one day it'll take over boxing? Why do you think UFC has been able to grow the way it has where a lot of people say, maybe one day it'll take over boxing? Why do you think they have done that? First of all, the UFC will never take over boxing. I think it's two separate sports and there's room for all of us. The UFC, when Dana White and the Fertitta brothers

Starting point is 00:58:02 bought UFC, it was a distressed asset. I believe they bought it for like $2 million. And that space, that combat space was never developed. There was no other league. It's not like boxing where you have history and years and years, hundreds of years where boxing existed, right? And so our system was already in place,

Starting point is 00:58:29 our distress system was already in place for boxing. With the UFC, they built from scratch, they built it from the start. So they made up their own rules, they consolidated everything under one roof, and they were able to build a monster. How much of that would you say is because money back in? How much of that you think is because Dana's a great operator.

Starting point is 00:58:57 In my opinion, he's the best commissioner in all of sports. I don't think anybody does a better job commissioning than him. How much you think it's him? How much you think it's the money, the marketing, the opportunity to support the Trump or it's the collective? It's collective. It's collective. And we cannot forget about the Fertitta brothers, the brainchilds behind the machine. Dana White has done an incredible job with running the machine, White has done an incredible job with running the machine, but the Fertitta brothers are the ones who had the vision to buy the UFC and literally build it from scratch. See, you didn't have UFC promoters competing when they bought the UFC. You didn't have combat sports promoters at all.

Starting point is 00:59:39 That space was empty. That space was forgotten. Boxing was running a thousand years prior to when they bought the UFC, it was already a mess. And to undo the mess is probably almost impossible. Yeah, I think when you hear the story, it's Dana, this guy who builds the UFC, and his idea is to have sharks swimming around the cage. I don't know if you've seen this or not, but a guy had ideas to have sharks swimming around the cage. I don't know if you've seen this or not, but a guy had ideas of sharks literally swimming

Starting point is 01:00:08 around the cage and we're gonna fight in the middle. And he's like, oh my God, this is crazy. And then Dana brings us up to the brothers and they're like, okay, let's go. And then they split it up, I think equity wise, it wasn't 10%, 90%, whatever the structure was. And Dana ends up making a lot of money with it. But you see that turning into words out right now.

Starting point is 01:00:24 Do you think anything can happen to boxing to fully destroy the sport? Is there any risk boxing has to destroy? Or you think boxing is just getting bigger and bigger and bigger? Because when I look at fights at the highest purse, highest paid fights of all time, right? I think when you fought Mayweather,

Starting point is 01:00:43 you got the payday, right? You got 53 million or 55 million when you fought in it. Yeah, Mayweather plus the pay-per-view. I mean, absolutely. I'm not counting that. I mean, yeah, plus that pay-per-view. You look at, you know, so what year was that when you guys fought?

Starting point is 01:00:57 That was what, 2007 maybe? 2007? Yeah, I believe so. Okay, so 07, 17 years ago, right? Then you have Oscar, yeah, two of you guys, Mayweather Canelo, that's 80 million, Mayweather made, Fury made 100 million, the recent fight, disappointing fight to be as a fan.

Starting point is 01:01:16 I was disappointed. I was expecting a better fight. I was disappointed after Nganu fought Fury. I'm like, what was this all about? Nganu got him with the left. Exactly. And it was kind of like even you know anyways that was a little bit different. A part of that could be political because they definitely didn't want Fury to lose because then the fight couldn't take place. You know where Alexander could do his thing. Then they have

Starting point is 01:01:38 Conor and Mayweather. You know Conor makes the 130. Mayweather makes the 280, then Mayweather to Manny, Mayweather makes the 250, Manny makes the 150. Do you think the best days of boxing are behind us to get that kind of payday or you think that's gonna come up again? Because what is the next big fight like you and Mayweather? Or, you know, It would have to include Canelo currently. I think he's the cash cow, like they say in boxing.

Starting point is 01:02:10 Any type of exhibition, these exhibitions are getting to a point where it's like, why don't we do more? If it's generating so much money, right? Like Jake Paul, for instance, fighting a McGregor or let's say Mayweather having an exhibition with Jake Paul. That can be huge. But those days, yes, you can make an argument that they're over, but they're not until the right fight is made. I strongly feel that in boxing, you can have a dry spell for so many years and then you have this one big bent mega fight that will bring everything back. And that's

Starting point is 01:02:52 probably what's wrong with boxing. We're not having that consistency. Like the UFC, we're not having consistent pay-per-views, main events happening every weekend. It takes time, a lot of negotiating with fighters. Sometimes fighters don't understand negotiating the right way. Sometimes you out price yourself. Like for instance Canelo right now is asking for 200 million dollars to fight Jose Benavides, which would be a huge fight. But when Canelo's asking for $200 million, that's obviously saying that you don't wanna fight. What should he be asking for?

Starting point is 01:03:33 100, I think 100 is a fair number. So you think Canelo's bigger than Fury? That fight can be a huge. No, no, do you think Canelo is a bigger draw than Fury? Yes. Okay, yeah, so Fury got a hundred million. He's probably sitting there saying, if you guys are paying Fury a hundred,

Starting point is 01:03:51 why don't I get 200 million? So he can ask. Yeah, he can ask for it, but he's not gonna get it. You don't think he's gonna get it? No, I've talked to your Excellency and Turkey, and he's like, no, Canelo's outpricing himself. We're not gonna do it. Even they're not gonna do it. Even they're not gonna do it.

Starting point is 01:04:05 Even they're not gonna do it. And they have, money grows on trees. Exactly, they actually have. When they say money grows on trees, it actually does. It literally does. So he's even not willing to do 200 billion. Exactly. Got it.

Starting point is 01:04:17 So are you saying like, you know, he's only saying 200 because he's dodging the fight or are you saying it because he just wants to get paid and that's what it is? It might be both okay but in boxing and over the years when you don't want to fight somebody you out price yourself. Canelo so when when I had Ryan on the first time yeah first time Ryan was talking smack about you and just the kind of like, well you guys are going back and forward.

Starting point is 01:04:46 You know that season, just like a year ago or whatever the season was, right? And then he's like, you know, Oscar is who trained Mayweather on how to negotiate contracts. Like Oscar trained. He says what Oscar was able to do is Oscar was able to negotiate for Mayweather

Starting point is 01:05:04 to get heavier set of gloves than him getting lighter gloves for Mayweather to get heavier set of gloves than him getting lighter gloves and Mayweather eventually learned to be able to negotiate better on the contracts later on in his career because earlier on he didn't know how to do that. How much credibility do you give to the fact that you were the better guy at how to put deals together

Starting point is 01:05:20 that protected you versus maybe Mayweather had to learn that later on? Well, I mean, look, before Mayweather fought me, he was making two, $3 million on my undercards. Before Pacquiao fought me, nobody knew who he was. And so after beating me, Mayweather becomes Money Mayweather, right? And he becomes this global superstar

Starting point is 01:05:47 because he has the platform on pay-per-view. I think we sold 2. something million homes and with Pacquiao as well, a star was born after fighting me. So they got a little taste of how to negotiate better terms for yourself because my negotiations were one sided against them. Because you had the leverage? I had the leverage.

Starting point is 01:06:14 I was the golden boy. I was the ticket seller. Mayweather at the time was not selling out of Reno. Could you say you use bigger gloves than me? You can actually say that in a contract? No, no, you gotta wear, I'm not sure what Ryan was talking about, but yeah, you gotta wear the same size gloves.

Starting point is 01:06:32 You can, let's see, what did we change with the Mayweather negotiations? It was basically, no, it was basically an even negotiation except for the purse. I believe I negotiated a 90 10 for myself. Wait a minute. So you made 53. He made 5 million. I believe he made something like 8 million all said and done. And what did you make all said and done in that?

Starting point is 01:06:57 I had to be closer to 80. So you made 80 million. He made 8 million. So the negotiation was 90 10, 90 90-10, 80-20. That's insane. Staying around there. So, okay, now who is at that time, who is doing, are you technically involved in knowing how to do contracts or you're trusting somebody to do it?

Starting point is 01:07:17 Which one were you? Are you heavily involved in a contract? I'm pretty heavily involved, yeah. Even then? Absolutely, yeah. Okay, so, but who did you learn from? Who screwed you over for you to be realized how to protect yourself? I learned everything from Bob Arum. He was pretty heavily involved. Yeah. Even then. Absolutely, yeah. Okay, so, but who did you learn from? Who screwed you over for you to be realized

Starting point is 01:07:27 how to protect yourself? I learned everything from Bob Arum. Did you get screwed in any contracts or not? I didn't, see, that's the thing is, I didn't get screwed from Bob Arum. What happened was, I'm fighting Trinidad, right? And at the time it was the biggest fight ever, Mexican-Americans against Puerto Rico.

Starting point is 01:07:43 Puerto Rico, right? And we were undefeated, world champions, unification. And so Bob Arum offers me a flat fee of $24 million. Okay. And he tells me, Oscar, do you want the guarantee of 24 or do you want to take the risk and take some pay-per-view money at the backend? I'm like, I want the 24.

Starting point is 01:08:09 I'll take the 24 right now. Big mistake. Bob Arum ended up making more than me in that fight because of the pay-per-view revenue. And I mean, I made a good piece of a good chunk of money, but then I learned to my, I said to myself, you know what, if I take the backend, if I get a smaller guarantee and take the more numbers in the back I can make a lot more money. How much would you have made if you took the back end? I would have made close to 70. So he kept the 70 so he kept that 40. He kept he kept a nice chunk for himself

Starting point is 01:08:39 Okay, but he didn't he didn't Steal from me or rip me off, he just out negotiated. Did you watch the Elvis movie that came out? Have you seen the movie? Yeah. Did you kind of feel like that relationship with Bob Aaron was kind of like the relationship? In a way, you know. So was he straight up, was it kind of like, let's just say I'm Bob, you're Oscar. Now it's public. Everyone knows the 46 that could have gone to you

Starting point is 01:09:06 went to me, let's just say the 70 million, 24 million, whatever, right? We have the meeting and I know you know, and you know I know, is the meeting, is his style to say, Oscar, you chose to take 24 million. You could have chosen to take back end. I know you probably know how much money I make, but that was the risk you took.

Starting point is 01:09:24 Was it kind of like that or was never spoken about it? Were you like know how much money I make, but that was the risk you took. Sure. Was it kind of like that? Yeah. Was never spoken about it? Were you like, you know what I'm saying? It was never spoken about it, but we knew. So you didn't say you made money on this fight. There was not that moment? There was nothing like that. No, we just knew. We would look at each other and we just like, okay. How's your relationship together till today? It's great. How's your relationship with Eddie? Cause it's a, it's a pretty competitive side. It's competitive, but it's, it's so good.

Starting point is 01:09:48 I have no enemies whatsoever. You know, I, I actually literally live my life like a Buddhist now. I really do. You know, I don't wish him any bad. Your life like a Buddhist. Yeah. Yeah. Oscar. Yeah. I'm very just you're in boxing. There is shit. I know. That's what he's saying. You're in a, he's got Red Penelo. He's calling you out. We're signing a contract. Did he do this? Did he do that?

Starting point is 01:10:12 You're there talking shit to him, going back and forth. Yeah. Buddhists don't talk shit like that. Yeah, but at the end of the day, I'm at peace. That's it. 100%? 100%. Yeah. So is that an act then or is that the... It's promoting.

Starting point is 01:10:27 The showmanship. It's our promoting. Okay. So let me ask the leverage with, you know, a lot of conversations are coming up about you said who was the promoter that you called and you said even the $200 million he wouldn't do the fight even if they do have the middle east. Turkey your excellency. Right, Turkey allowed sheep the excellency. 26.2 million followers on Instagram. Okay. And he's got 1.4 you got 1.2. Yeah. Bob Arum's not even on Instagram he's not going out there posting. Yeah, here's what I mean.

Starting point is 01:11:01 On Twitter he's got 93,000 followers. I'm sure he doesn't give a shit because he made a lot of money. He could care less about that. How much of a threat is his excellency to come in and literally dominate the marketplace because they're simply willing to overpay things that maybe you're not going to know about. I'm a Ronaldo winner played over there, right? All these guys are getting contracts. Come, we'll pay 200 million, 300 million, 400 million. Yeah. How do you compete with something like that? You can't, you can't compete. He has the vision. Turkey has the vision. He obviously has the money and, but he loves the sport. And I'm all for it. His plan is actually, his plan is actually smart. He wants to not take over the sport, but he

Starting point is 01:11:48 wants to work with every promoter. And he wants to make the big fights. Do you get that vibe? I get that vibe. You don't get the vibe of coming in saying, hey, where are the Yankees? What do you want to do? You can only pay him 12 million here. Guess what? Pay him 21. There's nothing you can do about it. Come to our team. Because Yankee's been bullying people for the last 40 years.

Starting point is 01:12:09 And they have a bigger ability to do that. And they'll take the loss sometimes. The tax, things that they have to pay. Is there any percentage of risk to say, if this thing goes the way it's going, 20 years from now, 80% of the biggest fights in the world will be in the Middle East and not here. Is there a risk of that happening?

Starting point is 01:12:30 No, there's no risk of that. Look, your Excellency understands that boxing is a global sport and sure, he's going to promote Riyadh season, he's going to promote his country. But he understands that a very smart individual, he understands that boxing is global. You can have a superstar from the UK like Tyson Fury, you can have a Mexican fighter like Canelo, but in order to generate the monies that we're talking about, the big, big purses, you have to fight in Vegas. You have to generate those dollars from the US market. From the US.

Starting point is 01:13:11 You don't think that can change? You don't think that can change and be elsewhere? You don't think he can disrupt it to make the better argument to go over there? I mean, think about Ronaldo, right? It doesn't get bigger than a celebrity status of Ronaldo. Celebrity status of Ronaldo. He had the option to come here,

Starting point is 01:13:28 he had the option to go everywhere. He chose to go play over there, and that was the first moment you're like, oh shit, what's really going on here? A guy like this could go. So you're not at all worried about it. I'm not worried about it, no, because I understand that Turkey is, you know, his vision is not only to stage fights in

Starting point is 01:13:50 Riyadh, but to stage them all over the world. I mean, you talk about the history of boxing and he loves his history. He talks to me about Ali versus Frazier and how fights take place in Zaire and fights take place in Mexico and all over the world. So he's a man with a vision, he's a man with deep pockets and he's a man that loves the sport and there's no worry whatsoever. Let's make these big fights happen. More power to him. Let's go to the fight with you and Mayweather, okay?

Starting point is 01:14:22 So you guys are fighting. Mark Anthony, I believe is singing the national anthem. I intentionally went back and watched the fight again, just to watch the fight, because I watched it when it happened, but then you wanna go back and watch the fight. And he comes out with 50 Cent, this is back when they were still friends together.

Starting point is 01:14:40 Nowadays 50 Cent is always, he's been going after them for a while now, but he comes out with them, 50 50 Cent is always, he's been going after him for a while now, but he comes out with them 50s at his prime, fight starts, tensions high, craziness on, you know, what's gonna be happening. First three rounds, I think you're up two to three on two to one, first three rounds, and then you have moments where at one point,

Starting point is 01:15:03 you're like, oh, I think I got him. I think, and there was some real moments where you go back and look at that. There's many moments like that. Was there anything like after a fight like that where you say, two weeks prior to that, I party too hard. A week prior to that, I was with those three girls.

Starting point is 01:15:19 I should have been, again, I'm just making sure. I'm just telling like, hey, I was, you know, my diet was a little bit off. Do you go back, and like, I remember when Michael lost to the Pistons, right? And you see the last dance, and Michael lost to the Pistons and he went and watched all the tapes, and he says, I'm just not strong enough, these guys are chickening my ass.

Starting point is 01:15:37 Or when Kobe made those two back-to-back airballs and Shaq comes back and says, no, I just realized when I came out in the NBA, I was a rookie, I made those two back-to-back airballs because myq comes back and says, no, I just realized when I came out in the NBA, I was a rookie, I made those two back to back air balls because my legs weren't strong enough because in high school you only played 30 minutes, 32 minutes, NBA's 48. Was there anything where you said,

Starting point is 01:15:52 if I would have done this, I could have beaten? Was there anything like that for you? Nothing like that. I watered my ass off, I trained hard. The only thing that keeps any athlete from greatness is injury. And injury kept me away from literally winning that fight. I believe in the six round, I already had rotator cuff tears on both shoulders.

Starting point is 01:16:18 Is this public? Cause everybody, Oh yeah, this is public. Yeah, this is public. And um, but no, I trained hard, as hard as I can. I was focused. I was laser focused and ready to beat the guy. When the bell, the final bell rang, as a fighter, you know, deep down inside, you know, if you win or you lose, did you know? I felt that I won.

Starting point is 01:16:37 I felt that it can go either way. I didn't feel like a loser, you know? I didn't feel like a loser, especially when Mayweather's father came straight at me and he goes, Oscar, you beat my son. Well, he told you right after the fight? Oh yeah. So he tells you, and by the way,

Starting point is 01:16:55 he didn't even come in your corner because he wanted two million, you wanted to give a half a million plus if you win, another half a million, so you wanted to give a million if you win, he wanted two million up front. Yeah, he did. And he still came to you and told you that you think you won.

Starting point is 01:17:06 That I won. And so again, I didn't feel like the winner. I didn't feel like the loser. I felt it could have gone either way. Yeah. Okay. And funny story about that too. We had a rematch clause in our contract.

Starting point is 01:17:20 This is something I negotiated as well. We had a rematch clause. If he beats me, I get a rematch. It was a one year clause. Guess what he did? He retired for one year and one day. Are you joking? No. True story. Retired for one year and one day. Nobody knows this, but it's in the contract. Well, was when he said he retired for one year and one day Yeah, was that public? I believe so. I believe he I believe he admitted why he retired for a year So

Starting point is 01:17:57 This is it's insane. It's so insane us Freud Mayweather jr. Said he was retiring from boxing after beating Oscar De La Huy on split decision on Saturday. I still plan on retiring, he told reporters after winning the World Boxing. So that- He announced his utter retirement one day after our contract was expired. Wait, let me ask you. In the agreement you wrote, if now you know he did this, had you gone back, The agreement you wrote if now, you know, he did this. Yeah, had you gone back What could you have put in the agreement would you have put in even if you retire you have to fight within a year? Even if you come back After a year, you still have to fight. I would have obviously put that so if you put it you guys would have had the fight Exactly. So so no shit. So how often did you guys?

Starting point is 01:18:44 Try to get another thing going? It was always nope, not interested. No, not interested. Yeah, not interested, not interested. I'm retiring. I'm out of the sport, but sure enough a day after that contract was over he announces his unretirement. Was it like a middle finger to you? Like hey you want to know what you like? Oh yeah, oh absolutely. And you knew it and he knew it. I knew it, he knew it. Okay, and who was representing him back then? Who was he? I'm not sure, I think it was Al Hayman or, yeah, I'm not sure.

Starting point is 01:19:12 So okay, let's go back to that. Let's just say you guys do have another fight and a rematch within that year. And he kept the commitment. The leverage is now on his end, right? Because you can't now do 80, 20 or 90. Right now it's probably 70, 30, or 60, 40, whatever he decides to do.

Starting point is 01:19:28 Probably would have done, yeah, 50, 50. Okay, so let's say it ends up being 50, 50. What's your level of confidence that you found leaks in certain areas that you watched the chain begin that you know you could have beaten the second time? Oh yeah. What were some areas where you all have this? Yeah, jab, jab for me was always my key to win fights

Starting point is 01:19:48 because jab opens the door to everything. And the jab was just landing at will on Mayweather. And, but the fact that I had my rotator cuff injuries, it was just impossible to throw it. After the sixth, seventh round, it was just so flared up and in pain. I couldn't lift it. And so I believe, but even if I had the rematch, I would have lost.

Starting point is 01:20:13 Cause physically I was just, just tearing, tearing down. I was just, even if there was a rematch, I think I would have lost. Oh wow. For you to be able to say that. Okay. So, cause physically I was not the same anymore. How old was he? How old were you when you guys fought? I believe he's like three, four years younger than me,

Starting point is 01:20:32 four years younger than me. But the difference with Mayweather is that he takes care of himself. He eats right. He doesn't party. He doesn't stay out late, whatever. He has his, he's, he's, he's laser focused. And you were, you were at the time. At the time, I started to kind of derail. I started, my mentality was, you know,

Starting point is 01:20:54 I'm kind of getting tired of this. It's almost time to hang up the gloves. So you're 33, you said you're, I believe, I'm not sure exactly how old I was. 33, 34? I'm curious now, now I'm curious to know. But I was an old 33, 34, if that makes sense. Got it, got it. And at this time when you guys are fighting age-wise,

Starting point is 01:21:13 so 07, you're born what, 73, 07, got it, yeah, 34. 34. 34, so got it. So even if there was a rematch, okay, so for yourself, the game within your weight category, when you think about best boxers, where do you put yourself? Do you still, do you internally put Mayweather ahead of you? Yeah, you have to because he's undefeated and he beat me, you know. So naturally I have to. You put yourself ahead of Manny. Even though I don't want to, you know, in my head, I'm very bad,

Starting point is 01:21:45 obviously. Of course. But on paper, yeah, I would put myself, yeah, top 50 in the world of all time, you know, and then you go, anybody can put me anywhere they want, right? But yeah, I would say top 50 in the world. So let's talk Ryan. How do you think Ryan is doing right now? I would say top 50 in the world. So let's talk Ryan. How do you think Ryan is doing right now? Yeah, he's a little lost. I think he needs some good advice. I strongly feel that.

Starting point is 01:22:18 Some advice where somebody has been there who has done that, who has all the answers. I've talked to Ryan and every single time I talk to him, he's with it, he's a nice guy, he says all the right things. He wants to fight the big fights. He says he's focused on boxing, but then I go to social media

Starting point is 01:22:41 and then everything just is different. Everything he is just, you know, he's a loose cannon. It's crazy. Who's in his ear? Who do you have in his ear that you think is a good influence to him? I don't think he has good influences at the moment. When you were his age, do you see any similarities

Starting point is 01:23:01 or not at the level he's going? I think it's totally different. Social media has changed everything for everybody. It's like social media, it's its own world. And he believes that world and real life is different. And so I grew up in different times and different eras and you know, my mentality is just different. So I was, I was more in tune with reality,

Starting point is 01:23:34 so to speak. Then where he's at right now, where he's at right now. So him being suspended for the whole, you know, the PD that he had Devin Haney, they take the loss away. And by the way, that was so unfair that the WBC, I guess, banned him for life from fighting for a world title. I thought it was one year. I believe it's for life.

Starting point is 01:23:57 WBC banned him for life. The one year ban was for the controlled substance from boxing for one year after the Devin Haney fight but the WBC I believe banned him for life keeping him from fighting for that world title. Yeah so so has it happened before was it because of the drug or was it because of the comments he made? I think I think it was a little of everything. Yeah. I mean, obviously getting suspended for, for, for, you know, uh, the PDs and, and you know, allegedly, and uh, you know, the comments he made afterwards, you know, his, his behavior is,

Starting point is 01:24:38 and it's, it's out there and nobody can control him by himself. So I literally hope that he does get the help he needs because he is a good kid. I know he's not racist. I know he's not a thousand percent. He is a good kid. He's, it's the perfect example of too young and too much money, you know, quickly.

Starting point is 01:25:02 By the way, when that happens with a fight, does he get paid for the fight or no? Like the Heine fight, does he lose all the money for the fight? No, no, he gets paid for the fight. He still gets paid for the fight. There's a fine that you must pay back, but yeah, he gets most of his points.

Starting point is 01:25:16 So do you think he'll be back in the ring fighting again for championship or no, this is done for him? I believe he will. I believe he will. I believe Ryan Garcia will change his life for the better. I really do. I really think that this was, people say you have to touch the ground

Starting point is 01:25:34 in order to lift yourself back up and become stronger and better. And I think that's what will happen with Ryan. Yeah, I'm hopeful as well. When you're going through it, you're hoping you got the right people in your ear that you're at least listening to while you're going through it.

Starting point is 01:25:50 Because nowadays, how different would your life have been while you're coming up if there was social media? So imagine if the 19 to 23 or the, oh, you're doing what you're doing, and at social, everyday DMs, girls, all this stuff. How different would you have been? It would have been a disaster. It really would.

Starting point is 01:26:06 I mean, I'm lucky I survived what I went through. Because I hit rock bottom not once, but several times. I had so many people trying to take me down. Corporate people, people who have Harvard degrees, people who just wanted to see Golden Boy sink. I had that left and right and how I survived it, sometimes I ask myself, you know what? I was going up against guys who have all these degrees

Starting point is 01:26:37 and they just couldn't take me down for a reason. And that reason is, again, it could be that angel, that shoulder that I was talking about my mom, but it could also be, you know, that I learned along the way. I got scarred early on, you know, in business, in life, but I learned I picked myself up. I was able to pick myself. A lot of people don't survive this.

Starting point is 01:27:01 And so I'm just very fortunate that I'm able to give advice to these young kids who wanted, I'm a phone call away. Ryan, please call me, I'm here. When was the last time you guys spoke? We speak quite frequently, but it's been a second. And he's been off social media for a while now. I don't know if you've noticed, yeah, he's been on social media, which is great.

Starting point is 01:27:22 So I'm really hoping he's getting the help. We're on the same page because the time I've spent with him, he gives me the vibe of a guy that is going through the phase up trying to be famous, girls, partying and all that stuff. But he's got a side to him that's conservative, the attention, do I lose it,

Starting point is 01:27:45 do I go through the Jake Paul route of making money, do I really need boxing, who cares about boxing, let me just go, because the question I asked him is, is there any pride you have to go down as one of the greatest Mexican American boxers of all time, do you want that, do you want that kind of an accolade, or is it just the money? Because the model today with what Jake Paul is doing

Starting point is 01:28:06 is out there. And he could be a guy that could go and say, hey, I wanna fight Conor. I would beat up Conor. You read some of the comments you made about Conor when you fought Conor. He said he wants to fight Conor Bareknuckles or Sean O'Malley and all this stuff.

Starting point is 01:28:17 And who knows? Maybe that pays better than boxing. And if it does, you may lose some of these younger guys that may leave the boxing world. Hopefully not. We'll see what happens. Well, in the history of the sport, if you take a look at where the most money has been generated in any contact sport, it's always boxing.

Starting point is 01:28:36 There's a reason why McGregor fought Mayweather inside a boxing ring. There's a reason why Manny Pacquiao and Mayweather shattered records, historical records, and I think it'll always, there's something about boxing that people love, mano a mano. I mean you were there at the Mayweather fight, Del Ahoy, the electricity in the air is like nothing else. I've been to Super Bowls, I've been to NBA championships, there's nothing like a championship fight. It's incredible. It's something very weird. Last question, we'll wrap up.

Starting point is 01:29:06 So I saw this article the other day. I couldn't believe it. It says the 10 most difficult sports, okay? Number 10, football, soccer. They say it's number 10, okay? And this is by website called WatchMojo and I think the research comes from, whoever the research comes from here.

Starting point is 01:29:24 So then number nine, they put baseball. Okay. Okay. You're shooting a moving ball a hundred miles away to you. Number eight, gymnastics. Interesting. Number seven, tennis. Okay. Number nine, martial art.

Starting point is 01:29:35 Number six, martial art. Number five, wrestling. Number four, basketball. Number three, American football. Number two, hockey. You know what they have as number one? It has to be boxing. Why is boxing, why do they have boxing

Starting point is 01:29:49 as the hardest sport in the world? Most difficult sport in the world. Did they include most dangerous? I'll tell you what they said. The long popular combat sport requires an off the chart level of performance in more ways than one. The length of each round requires a high level of endurance.

Starting point is 01:30:03 While the nature of competition demands peak power and strength. Speed and agility might not need to be quite as crucial as in some other sports discussed today, but depending on boxers fighting style, there's still major factors. Boxing requires comparable durability to American football, but admittedly more nerve and significantly greater hand

Starting point is 01:30:21 to eye coordinate. Why would you, what would you say about boxing? Well, yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's a good argument. I mean, I think, I think that you take a look at MMA fighters who want to transition into boxing, they won't make it. They can't, it's, it's, you might be a champion in the UFC, but you head over to boxing and you're an amateur boxer. That's how difficult it is. The hand-eye coordination, the footwork, the ring generalship, the training is just brutal. It's 24-7, diet, sleep, rest, you know, your training, you're doing weights. It's a 24-hour, seven days a week type of job and

Starting point is 01:31:05 in boxing if you don't start at a young age you will not develop that hand-eye coordination that is required at the highest level that's just the bottom line you know has there ever been a boxer that went to UFC or no as and um we're not that stupid or no? We're not that stupid. Right off the bat, no hesitation. Oscar, this has been great. Thank you. I learned a lot of stuff. I had no idea by the way. Some of the stories you told me, like the one year and one date, are you kidding? Well the funniest story that I haven't told you is, so in 92 I win the gold. Don King called me, Bob Aron called me.

Starting point is 01:31:45 But this gentleman calls me at home in East LA. My father was the manager at the time. And he goes, son, this man wants to take you to Vegas. And he says that you're gonna fight for him. So go with him, whatever. I'm 19, he picks me up in a helicopter, okay? I meet him somewhere, takes me to Vegas. We stopped for gas, takes me to Vegas.

Starting point is 01:32:04 We're hovering over the desert. This to a very we're hovering over the desert This is 1992. We're hovering over the desert here at the strip. There's no hotels whatsoever. It's mr. Kikorian He's telling me son. I want to build you energy and right here. You're kidding me. Yeah, you're kidding me. Mr. Kikorian Wow, and do you know was a huge fan man? He negotiated cut He negotiated to nine. I think he died at 98. And he had a $10 billion net worth, I think, give or take when he died. And he gave a billion dollars to Armenia,

Starting point is 01:32:31 but that guy, he's the business world, a legend. And the Armenian community, he's the goat when it comes down to business, but his name is all over the place. Interesting, I didn't know that. Oh my gosh, I didn't know he started off as a pilot. He used to fly, the man, Segal, and he used to fly all these mobsters back in the day. That was his first business.

Starting point is 01:32:48 That's right, and he turned into an airline, and then boom, he bought all the, what a great story. I've never heard that before, interesting. Well Oscar, great to have you on, this has been a blast. And I'm sure we'll do it again in the future. We will. Appreciate you, man. Thanks, Roger. Take care, buddy.

Starting point is 01:33:00 Thanks. In these uncertain times, if there's anything we need, is we need people to believe the future looks bright. So you, if you've heard about me saying this mission to you, we're on a mission to get a million people to wear this gear. And this is what we're doing. If you buy one of these hats, there's a category of buying one hat, getting the second one

Starting point is 01:33:17 free. If you haven't yet worn this gear publicly, go ahead and test it out. Buy some of the gear, wear it in public, and see how many people will stop by and say, you also watch a value timing? You also follow PBD Podcast? I do, too. Place your order. Go to vtmerch.com, click on the link above or below, place your order, and represent the VT and the PBD Podcast gear.

PBD Podcast - "America Needs Help" - Oscar De La Hoya on Fighting, Donald Trump And The State Of America

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