David Benavidez Says Canelo Passed Him The Torch: “It’s My Era Now, I’m the Face of Boxing”

Jake Paul is out here by the file, Anthony Joshua. Honestly, I'm not even lying right now. That gave me more confidence from myself too, because I'm thinking like, bro, that's a super dangerous fight and he had no fear. If that man does not have fear in his boxing career, how am I gonna be scared of anything in his boxing career? I've been boxing for 27 years. What's up guys? Mystic Zach here. Welcome back to episode 18 of Double Coverage. Today, I'm honored to be joined by the most avoided man in boxing, the Mexican monster, Mr. David Benavidez. How are you doing? I'm doing great, my brother. Thank you guys for inviting me here, and I just feel blessed to be here for about like 10 days out for the fight. So I'm just very excited. Yeah, you seem switched on. Yeah. Now, yeah, I've been locked in for since January. It's about to be five months, and I've been working extremely hard. You know, this is a very big, pivotal moment in my career and in my life. And I think after this fight, this is why I passed that threshold and to finally become the face of boxing. You know, but first things first, we're gonna go in there and give a great performance, give the people what they want to see and, you know, come back home with two more titles. That's exactly what I was gonna say. It seems like this weekend signifies a passing of the torch, right? For the Mexican people, Sinclair DeMile Weekend, you're the main Mexican fighter headline this weekend. It's a big deal. Yeah, no, yeah, it's been a long time coming, bro. I've been I've been professional for 13 years. The first time I won my first world championship, I was 20 years old. I'm 29 years old now. So it's my first time fighting on Sinclair DeMile Weekend. So it definitely is. It definitely feels like the passing of the torch, you know, but like I said, I don't want to get ahead of myself too much, you know, first first things first, go in there, get the job done and get the fans what they want to see. No, this is your toughest challenge yet. I mean, you guys have a combined record of 79 and one. How ridiculous is that? And then Zerto is a guy. First of all, you're moving up a weight class and it's the biggest jump out of any weight class. It's 25 whole pounds. So you're really challenging yourself and you already had this fight set up. You announced it after your last fight. Yeah, I think it's been apparent that I've been trying to make the biggest and best fights happen. Some things have happened that I haven't got those opportunities, you know, but still we we we make the best of what we have. You know, obviously we wanted a Canella fight. That fight didn't happen. Also, I won the belt, the WBC title. I was next in line to fight for all the belts to unify the belts against Demetri Bevil. That didn't happen either. So instead of me just staying around in light, heavy weight and saying, you know what, I'm going to just do a regular title defense. I said, no, let me challenge myself. You know, this is something we've been working on behind the scenes for like about two years now. And I know through the Ramirez really well, I've been worked with him since I was 17 years old. And I said, if there was an opportunity that I could get that fight, I'm shooting right up right away. And, you know, the opportunity presented itself and it could have it couldn't possibly be on a better date. You know, two Mexican fighters. This is the first time there's going to be a Cruiserweight championship fight with two Mexicans and it's on Cinco de Mayo. So, you know, there's a lot of heat on this. Normally Mexican fighters are not as big as you. Yeah, yeah. So this is this is something different. You know, there's no this is the biggest as in size and weight wise. This is the biggest Mexican championship fight there's ever been. You know what I mean? So going up to Cruiserweight, you know what I mean? And I'm very excited. I'm very excited to showcase my skills and I'm 100 percent ready. And it seems like you're also targeting that outside media to get you that push to become the face of boxing. We see what magazine covers. We see you on people's streams. You're running with Damien Lillard. How has that transition been from not being the guy that only the hardcore fans know about and tout but being someone that everyone knows and really become in that star? Yeah, so it's definitely putting in the work, you know, getting the right people around me to put me in a position to do this. You know, shout to my PR, you know, Irma, our company, they've been working really hard. They've been getting me these these photo covers. And, you know, I've been doing my part as well, you know, doing a lot of interviews, you know, English and in Spanish. And, you know, just putting myself out there, just trying to work on the other side of boxing. You know, at the end of the day, it's not just about the physical and just training. Now it's about, you know, doing these interviews, doing these interactions, doing these collapse, doing the streams, you know, I did one with oblivion, doing Ryan Garcia, neon, you know, I met up with Damien Lillard. I've been meeting up with a lot of people. So I've just been doing the other part of this job that's going to give me past that threshold. When you're with the Hall of Famer like Damien Lillard, are you picking his brain about kind of things that he goes through in his life? So no, not really me and Damien Lillard. We're like we're friends from a long time ago. I met him because he's a massive boxing fan. When I moved out to Oregon, you know, if I'm a little embarrassed to say, you know, I first seen him at the gym, he was training my friends, Jim Semeran. He's my straight to conditioning trainer over there. I didn't know who he was. I mean, I don't watch basketball. But what I really respected about Damien Lillard is, you know, he gave me the respect and the attention like he was really into what I was talking to, you know, without even knowing me. You know, he gave me the respect. And he was already Damien Lillard. You know what I mean? This was like 2019. So he was already at the height of his career. So for him giving me the respect and listening to me like that, and it just made me feel good about myself, you know, after I left, I'm like, who is that guy? Damien Lillard. And I looked him up and I was like, Oh, this guy is big. He's one of the greatest basketball players of all time. So that just made that just spoke volumes about him and his character. And, you know, ever since then, I've seen him. I see him here and there and he comes just like the other day. We want to go run Mount Charleston. He's a great dude, man. He's a great competitor. He's one of the greatest NBA players of all time. And I want to obviously, honestly, I want to see him in the celebrity boxing match because he trains harder than everybody. So I thought he has hands. So I want to see him knock a celebrity out. But he's a great dude. Would you work his corner? Walk him out. I would. I would do that. I definitely do that. But, you know, when he comes when he comes in stuff, we just talk boxing and stuff. You know, we talk about his stuff too. So he's a he's a great dude, man. He's a he's a he's a he's a good friend. No, he's an absolute legend and he's been putting in work for 15 plus years now in the NBA. I mean, he's headed into, I don't know, year 16. That's the kid that came out of Weber State. Have you thought about how long you're going to be fighting for or when you would be satisfied with your career? To be honest with you, bro, I look at my career. I've been professional 13 years already. I say, let's do another 15. You know what I mean? At the end of the day, I really, I really thought about this a couple of years ago. I'm like, what would I do if I stopped boxing? I would still have to work. I still have to make money to pay my bills and pay all this and that. So I thought, why would I try to go into another job when I could just maximize myself in my position in boxing, make sure I'm always training, make sure I'm at my best and I can maximize my career for another 15 years. You know what I mean? I love boxing every day as a blessing. I wake up, I run, I train with my people. You know, we're here at the gym. We're having fun. I beat people up. You know what I mean? I'm training. I'm teaching my son how to box. You know what I mean? So my whole family and my next generation, my kids coming up, you know, they're going to definitely be in boxing. So that's why I'm just trying to I'm just trying to prolong this for as long as I can. You know what I mean? Even when I'm done retired boxing, I'm going to be in boxing in one way or another. So from my career, I think I have another 15 years left. So what does that put me at? He 44. 44. And but that now 44 is young because now you see boxes retiring at 50 or 50. Pacquiao just fought for World Title 47. And you got to remember the bigger you are, right? The more longevity that you have. And he's arguably won that fight. They rolled in a draw. Exactly. So I mean, I think the life of a boxer is prolonged a lot now because of just know the hyperbaric chamber. There's stem cell recovery. There is red light there. There's so much stuff to make sure that your body stays performing at its highest possible at the highest of the highest level. You know what I mean? So I'm really taking that into accountability. And now I'm just, you know, I know I could do another 15 years. No. And when I speak to like, Gerardo works with you, he says, David's the hardest worker that I've been around the sport. He's a beast. He's a monster. Yeah, man, because at the end of the day, what I've always learned or what I've learned in my whole career is that nobody's coming to save you. You have to put in the work and at the most of the time, you have to work harder than everybody else because, bro, there's a lot of there's a lot of good fighters out here. There's a lot of fighters that are working hard. So how do I surpass these fighters are working hard? I work even harder, you know what I mean? So every day I say the fights are one in the training camps. We've been training since January. It's five months. Nobody does that. You know what I mean? And I'm everything is good. And so I just I try to work everybody. And like how Gerardo told you, there's nobody works harder than me. And I definitely I believe that 100 percent of my soul that nobody works as hard as me. And that's the key to getting the top of box. There's a lot of guys with talent, but not everyone has that work ethic. Yeah, it's honestly it's the overtime and it's not even about boxing either. You if you put an overtime in your job, you're going to be better than the majority of the. Yeah, it's really just how much how far are you willing to push yourself? How much how far are you willing to follow your dream? To you know, to make you work as hard as you can. And you know, I thought that was the thing I've I've seen that personally and because at the end of the day, nothing I do besides training matters in that ring on that night. So if I underwork and I'm tired or I don't have this, I don't have that in the ring. It's my own fault. I can't blame my dad. I can't blame my trainer. I can't blame nobody. It all falls on me. So, you know, I got to put my big boy pants on. I make sure I work harder than everybody. And, you know, I mean, it's worked for me so far. So I'm going to keep doing that. I know your one track mind did were only 10 days out. But talk to me about your life outside of boxing. What type of things do you like to do for fun? To be honest with you, bro, my life, my fun is my kids. Just, you know, just playing around with my kids, taking care of them, making them happy. Honestly, it's not even about me no more. I work extremely hard in the gym. So make sure that my kids have everything they need so they could be successful in their life and they could be happy in their life. And, you know, that's that's how I find my peace and my joy and my happiness, you know. But just being around my kids, being with my wife and giving them the time that I wasn't able to give them when I'm in training camp. Because when I'm in training camp, like I told you, I'm training for five months. So that whole five months, it's not that I'm isolated, but I'm just in a different mindset because I'm working so hard. So after boxing, I give all my time to my kids and my wife. Talk to me about the difference in this training camp, moving up to cruiserweight versus the camp at SuperMiddleweight or a light heavy weight. Yeah. So to be honest with you, there's really no difference. The only difference is that now I don't do got to do a weight cut because I've been I've been on weight for like, you know, since last week. I'm in uncharted territory because that's never happened to me because usually the last the last week, I'm losing like trying to shed like 13 pounds. And now that I don't have to do that, now I could just, you know, I could just focus on recovering my body, resting a little bit more. And all that energy is definitely going to it's definitely going to show in the fight. Have you tried to bulk up and add some strength at all? Or are you worried about maybe doing that and having to move back down? Or how do you balance that? No, so with me, I was already like at 200. I started at 210. So I'm already a bigger guy, bro. So I don't really have to bulk up like that because in boxing, it's not about the muscles when what it is about is about the combinations, punch, placement, head movement, defense. And you always have to react. You have to have to react to the opponent's action. So if I add muscle, yes, it's going to make me hit a little bit harder. And we have added muscle, but we added the right muscle. So it's more lean muscle. I'm working a lot of my combinations. You know, I was blessed with speed. You know, God bless me with speed. So what I've noticed now from my last, my past couple of fights, it's not the one single shot that hurts you. It's the punches and bunches and combination that hurts you. You know what I mean? So in this guy, there's a lot of opportunity to hit him with a lot of combinations because he's slower. You know what I mean? He's bigger and I just don't think his my speed, my movement, my defense is going to be too much for him. And I'm definitely going to overwhelm him and drown him with pressure and volume. That's your signature. Obviously the blistering hand speed, the combinations, the volume punching. This guy, Zerto, he's a huge guy too, like you, but he's used to fighting the bigger slower guys. Do you think that plays into an advantage for you as well? Yeah, definitely, because there's no boxer that he's never faced. His face, he's sparring me before, but he's never faced nobody like me in the ring. And what I noticed this camp, I was sparring bigger guys. The beginning of the camp, I'll sparring heavyweights. He's too easy. He's very easy. It's very, I'm not saying, and I don't want to take them context and have people say that, oh, yeah, all the heavyweights. He's not all of them are easy, but the ones I was working with that kind of had the same speed as Zerto. It was way easier for me, you know, just for me, from my IQ and the way I see punches and the way I see defense, you know, I was able to get away from all that, throw all my combinations in there and hurt these guys. So I'm expecting that. But also, you know, you also got to expect unexpected just to be prepared for anything. Did that give you confidence this camp to be like, OK, I can be like Roy Jones, Jr. and eventually challenge at heavyweight? Yeah, I mean, I wasn't thinking about heavyweight. To be honest with you, I was in the sense of thinking of Roy Jones. I was thinking of that because I have combinations and I'm going to be able to display speed like that. But I'm not thinking about heavyweight at all. You know, it's been a topic. We were talking about it, but right now I just got my my sights on Cruiserweight and then I have unfinished business that I like heavyweight to handle. Yeah, I mean, obviously, there's a couple of savages down there. One that for one reason or another, the fight didn't get made. But another one you called out, Arter, better be of in Dimitri Bivald. How do you think that's all going to play out with you? I mean, they're going to have to come see me eventually, you know what I mean? So it's this boxing game. You have to have a lot of patience. You know, if the fights don't happen now, it doesn't mean that they're not going to happen. It just means that you have to give it a little bit more time. But also, like I said, bro, like you get to a certain point. Where just regular fights is not enough for you out to take calculated risks. And it's like in life, anything sometimes when you're at a level, you have to take a risk to get to that next step. And this was my risk. You know, I mean, these are these calculated risks and the risks are risk because they're not 100 percent certain that it might go your way. You know, I mean, what makes what you can make 100 percent certain is your thought process and how much belief you have in yourself. But I want to set myself apart from all these other fighters. And the way I do that is taking out the savages, taking out the monsters. You know, I'm the monster, but I'm the monster hunter as well. And I mean, it's not no easy task for me. I'm talking about, you know, going, beating to be bold and beating better be it than be whoever after that. I really in my heart believe I could beat them, but it's going to be a tough task. Beating Zerto. Yeah. I mean, all the all the hardcore guys, guys are really in support. They call me that fuck I made. Like, I don't know, he might have been up more than he can chew with this one. But that's the thing too, is that that's how you measure your greatness. You know what I mean? I'm going against a unified champion. I have no fear in this. You know what I mean? I'm 100 percent. I have supreme confidence in myself. And that's how it's going to have to be. You know, that's that's how I'm going to show people my greatness. And I got sure though, after that, I'm getting below after I'm getting better. Be even there's no other people. There's no other guys that you hear calling out the biggest fights like this. And I'm not only calling them mom, I'm going to make this happen. No, nobody else is calling out guys like that. I mean, they're trying to get the biggest names for the most amount of money with the least challenge, right? And that's the same pattern you see with all those guys, but not you. And I think you've also learned, hey, these guys are going to avoid me. I'm going to have to force my way in there. Yeah. And also what happened with me is I never like in my head, I was never after a big money fight. You know, I was never after a big money fight because I knew once you get your job done and you clear clear the way of all the great fighters, the money's going to come after. You know what I mean? You don't have to always worry about the money. Um, that being said, what I was worried about, not worried, but what I was focusing more on is beating the best competition. Once you beat the best competition, there's no more fear in there, bro. And you have extreme confidence in yourself. So once I beat all these other guys, OK, it's smooth sailing for the next couple fights. All I got to do is get through these hard fights, you know, when everything else is, you know, I mean, it's going to take care of itself. So that's the way I see it. I see it like as I I'm going to have to do it eventually. Let me do it now. I'm my prime and I have the most spirit and the most confidence in myself right now. And let me get through these guys and then we'll see what comes after on the other side. But imagine, bro, once you get the biggest fights, even if you don't get the money, the biggest money, then then in there, you do the performance, the performance speaks to itself and your stock is just going to keep. Absolutely. And I spoke to a legend. He was my last boxing interview, Mike Tyson. He dubbed your nickname the Mexican monster, huh? He was the piece. He gave me the honor of getting a nickname by Mike Tyson. And that's I'm always going to think of it. You know, Mike Tyson, he's so special for me and so much for so much reasons, because he was he used to train at the gym that I trained at when I was a little kid in Central Boxing. I used to see Mike Tyson and I took a picture with him a little kid when I was a little kid. And then I had a podcast with him and he told me that he was a fan of me. And then he gave me the name of the Mexican monster. So he was always going to have a special place in my heart. And yeah, I'm just very excited to have the support from Mike Tyson. And also it's crazy how it happened because I've always been a Mexican monster. Since I was a little kid, I've always fought like that, always fought like that. But just forgetting this name by Mike Tyson, it feels like us. It came organically. This is exactly what I am. And I'm just I'm just continue to make Mike Tyson proud and live up to that name. No, there's nothing more organic than Mike Tyson, naming boxing, you know? We spoke about the fight. He was excited. We're just chatting it up last month in Vegas. Yeah. No, yeah, he's I'm very excited for him. I think he said he's going to come and I'm just very excited just to just to have him the support of a legend like that. No, it doesn't get any better than that. And then to be able to get that confidence from Mike Tyson, nicknaming you that, that's got to like fuel you too. Oh, yeah, it definitely does fuel me. And it in your brain and your thought process, you have to have to make goals for yourself. And then you have to check off the boxes of all those goals, look and how it feels. And with Mike Tyson giving me the name, the nickname for what I've had a plan for myself and I'm checking out the boxes like this is exactly where I'm going to the way I when I thought of this one as a little kid, how it's looking, Mike Tyson, giving me a nickname all that. I'm exactly what I have to be out in my life. And I'm just going to keep driving and keep working hard until I accomplish more. Have you ever gotten recognized or DMed by someone that you would never expect to be a boxing fan? I, um, Odell Beckham, Jr. came to my last meet and greet in Phoenix, Arizona. And I've always been a big fan of Odell Beckham, Jr. He's a great football player and that that really caught me off guard. You know, it came, you knew everything about me and he was being like extremely cool. But yeah, other than that, the past couple of years, I think since I fought Kayla plan, I've had a lot of people, countless celebrities, countless athletes. And they just extended their hands showing love. And it just makes me feel really good. No, it's always like surprises. So you would never expect that are keeping an eye on you and they know everything. Right. They've been keeping up with the team. Yeah, it definitely is a trip. But like I said, it's also it's just it's more fuel to my flame. And you know, just motivates me out much more. Yes. Since we last spoke, we've had some other big fights. We spoke about Jake Paul. You showed your support and kind of the ways he's able to promote. And then he went out there and fought Anthony Joshua. How much is your opinion of him change that he was willing to accept that fight and get in there? Because that's I mean, that was insane. I'm like, dude, what are you doing? But he went out there, he walked the walk. So honestly, and then I'm not even lying right now, that gave me more confidence from myself too, because I'm thinking like, bro, Jake Paul is out here by the fire. Anthony Joshua, like that's a super dangerous fight. And he had no fear. If he is, if that man does not have fear in his boxing career, how am I going to be scared of anything in his boxing career? I've been boxing for 27 years. You know what I mean? So I respected a lot from Jake Paul. You know, I've always respected him. He's a great dude and just a smart guy, a smart businessman. That right there, he earned way more respect from me and from a lot of people in boxing too, because he went in there and he fought a pretty good fight. You know what I mean? He was catching Joshua. You know, you won a round. You won a couple of rounds. Obviously, Joshua, him being who he's being, took him out. Yeah. But what do you expect? That's Joshua. But for him to last all those rounds, it really surprised me and I gave him a lot of respect. I've been with Jake since the beginning of his boxing journey and I always told everyone the difference between him and everyone else is his toughness, right? His resilience. And he told me after the, before the Chavez fight, he's like, yeah, after this, I want Joshua. Like, yeah, let's work on some other names, Jake. And he's like, no, no, I want Joshua. It's David vs. Goliath. And I'm like, dude, Jake, we were just in the backyard five years ago, and I had to fight Joshua. And then I saw him in training and sparring and he was doing great with these heavyweights. He's through Clash's Chaney and some English guys and some huge guys and he's moving around and making a mess. I'm like, oh, wait, he can do something here. Well, you know what it is about that? I respect that a lot because I go through the same thing and this is what you have to do to make it to the top and whatever it is you're doing, you have to sometimes be delusional and you have to believe your own delusion. You know what I mean? I've seen Jake Paul, he does affirmations every day. That thing he does prayers and I was watching his stuff. And that's exactly what you need to do because everybody, whatever it is that you try to do, if you say something crazy, everybody's like, oh, you can't do that, you can't do this. But if you really believe in your soul, that you could do something, what everybody else says does not matter. It only matters about how much you believe in yourself and also how much you work. Also, it has to be like that. One without the other is just too much delusion. You know, if he's just delusion and no training, no, you're done. But he's been putting in that work and he's turned himself into a professional boxer. And I respect that's why I've never said anything about him because I respect his work ethic. He works harder than some professional boxers. So everything that Jake Paul is about, I respect. You know what I mean? I didn't have no disrespect for that guy. He's a great guy. He believes in himself 100% like every man should. And I think a lot of people can learn a lot from him. He's a dog and you're right. He works on the mental as much as physical when my best friends Marcel Klein is his hypnotist. He literally goes- That stuff works. Yeah. That stuff works. That's a self delusion too. If you have somebody come- Because I've worked with hypnotists too. Shout out to Russ, or self Russ. And sometimes you- Bro, you need every ounce of belief that you can put into yourself. You need that. Especially when you go, when you're doing these big things like this. And sometimes the favor might swing in your way. You know what I mean? But like I said, it's a big shout out to Jake Paul, man. Every man needs to have that belief and sometimes that self delusion in himself like that to get to where he's at. And how much did he make his last fight? 93 million dollars. Yeah. That's the reported number. That's crazy. That would be nice, right? That's crazy. But he knew he was gonna do that. I mean, and he got himself to that point. Not only did he give himself to that point, but his promotion company. You know, he did that himself. You know what I mean? So he's smart all the way around. I respect him. And they just set you right job. Now Netflix has tabbed them to promote this mixed martial arts event. Yeah. This coming month. So that's what I like also. I like a lot of things about Jake Paul. He's just, he does a lot of cool stuff, bro. I think he's doing this stuff from women's boxing. He's doing that stuff like you just mentioned right now. He's just, he's a good advocate just for fighting in general. You know what I mean? He does a lot for a lot of fighters, a lot of athletes. So he's good for the sports, honestly. I heard you want to get into the promoter game. Is that true? Yeah. Well, like after it's smart for whoever it is watching, right? If you're a boxer and you're signed with a promoter, you get to a level, sometimes you have to put the work in too. And they say, you have value that you call your own shots. You make your own promotion company. And you start to co-work with the promotion company. Obviously that's because you get a bigger bag. You know what I mean? You're more involved with the business side of things. And for you to want to get to that next level, you have to do it. So that's, you know, my contracts are almost over. And that's the next level. And I'm getting this ready. And not only for myself, but for my sons in the future. You know what I mean? I want to have, I want to handle everything. You know, I want to be the promoter still in their fights. I want to be doing this. I want to be doing that. And this is going to be a learning experience for the next 15 years. So when it's time for my kids to go, I already know how to do everything. I love it. And when I was with Mike, it was at the amateur boxing tournament and the same thing that inspired him is the next generation of the youth, the young kids coming up. And also, I feel like this is how I can get back to the community of boxing. You know, I have a eye for good talent in boxing. And sometimes if you could be a great boxer, but if you don't have somebody to take you there or finance your stuff in the beginning, you're never going to become world champion. You know, I mean, you know, Talit can only take you so far and you need to work with the right people. Or just, you know, learn everything yourself. You know what I mean? So I've got all my guys here. I've got a couple of fighters here I train with. And you know, this is all for us. You know, at the end of the day, this is a family. We're really family oriented. And I really care about all the guys I work with. And you know, they're not my fighters. They're my family. No, boxing is like any industry. Like you got to get discovered by someone to be someone right like Drake and Lil Wayne or Eminem 50 Cent and Mayweather and Tank. Like there's always that predecessor. And then also, I've been blessed enough to, you know, to make a lot of money in boxing and I've signed the right contracts and we've done the right negotiations. And I feel like with this, I could give my people the right piece of what they deserve. Because boxing is a dirty game, but you're not always going to get what you deserve. Oh, dirty. You don't have somebody in there that cares about you. You get ripped off really bad. And a lot of the fighters, they don't know how to read the contracts. They don't even have a lawyer to go over the contract. They just see the price of how much they're going to get. If they're going to give them, was it in advance or something like that? And they sign for so much. And then later, when they try to look at the contract, then when the million dollars comes, they go, I only end up with this, how? You signed the fucking contract. This is the fault. I mean, there's court battles right now. And Mayweather's in court right now. It's showtime. That just came out. But it's just not even with boxing either, just with contracts. You know what I mean? If you don't have some, if you don't know what you're doing with contracts, bro, they can't even make or break you. They can't break you. So you have to be really careful. And you also had your brother to look at, right? And his boxing career and kind of as a role model coming up, right? Yeah, my brother's always been a role model to me since a little kid, even just like his character. I've always liked this character. He's always a tough guy, punked everybody. You know what I mean? So I'm looking at the, oh, that's cool. I'm going to be like that. You know what I mean? And I use that to give me this energy in this character of built in boxing. Because at the end of the day, I want to be a good man, respectful man, but I also want to be the man that don't play with me. You know what I mean? Cause it could go really bad for you. So you have to kind of forge your character and build this. Sometimes, my brother used to make me fight a lot when I was a little kid, just for fun. That's cool. You know what I mean? So that turned me into a savage, turned me into a dog. But at the end of the day, every man has to have that switch where you need to protect yourself. And it's not good to let people talk to you any type of way they want to talk to you. So you have to learn to defend yourself, physically, verbally, mentally. And you know, my brother has always been a strong character, strong role model for me in my life. My dad has also been a strong character for me in my life. And yeah, man, I have a good support system, really good support system. That's exactly what Boston us for people did it for me as well. And you see it in the gym growing up. Also, that's why I love that Mike was getting into it, because he's such a great ambassador to get people that wouldn't even think about boxing and start boxing and gain that confidence and Jake with boxing bullies. I mean, there's so many great opportunities that come from starting the sport of boxing. So I feel like boxing is also like a representation of life because no matter what way you look at it, you have to put in the work. You have to put in the OT, you have to work hard and everybody. Sometimes in all of our careers, we get to the point where it's like playoffs or championships and sometimes there might be a person outperforming you. So you know, you got to have this little rival with him that makes sure you get him out the way. But if you take the lessons that you learn from boxing, not everything, you won't get good over one day, over one week, over one month, over one year. It takes time and patience, 10 years, 20 years. But in other careers, in one year, nothing's gonna change. Whatever it is that you do, whatever industry you do, sometimes you have to put 10, 20, 25 years until you get that big break, you know what I mean? And that's what boxing has taught me and I feel like everybody, that's why a lot of people fall in love with boxing because it's a representation of so much things outside of boxing. You know, you got to fight for you, your beliefs, what you want to be. Not only do you got to fight for your beliefs, you got to show everybody that you're that, you know what I mean? And I think that this goes a long ways in every category in life, career, love life, whatever it is that you're trying to do, you know what I mean? It's always, everything is a battle and you're not to put 100% of yourself and get lost in your work for you to achieve what you're trying to achieve. Absolutely. Who are you watching in camp on film? Are there any specific go-tos you've always gone to since your early days? I could tell you specific fights. The goal, one of my go-to favorite fights is Prince Lassim Hamed versus Aguis Sanchez. It's one of the best fights, and it was one of my favorite fights in the fourth round, but it was just a war back and forth. But I like to watch Prince Lassim Hamed, Roy Jones Jr., James Tony, all these fighters I watch, they all have different elements of the game. So one fighter will be like, I'm very specific. If I want to learn how to do a body shot, I'll watch Julio Cesar Chavez, or I'll watch Gennady Golovkin. If I want to see how you throw combinations, punches and bunches, and actually have them be effective, is Manny Pacquiao, Roy Jones Jr. If I just want to watch somebody who has a lot of heart, you know, tremendous heart and a lot of power, Mike Tyson, you know what I mean? So I've been watching boxing my whole life. So I know the fighters I like, I know what type of fight, and that's why you guys see my style so versatile. I do so much stuff because I watch so much different types of fighters. But also, in boxing, I made it my homework to, every day I got to watch at least two fights because sometimes that's how your mind stays learning. You don't even have to try or work anything. You watch, if you watch it for so long, the body's gonna pick it up on its own, and it's gonna be like muscle memory, you're gonna do it like that. And that's why I give myself all this work. So like besides training six hours a day, I'm spending another six hours a day. Six hours a day, I do three workouts a day. Break that down. Morning run, boxing, and then strength and conditioning. And then also, not even the time I use for recovery too. So this is a job all day. So it's physical recovery and then mental for just watching the boxing. And then also a mental game when my kids are there at the house crying, you're being annoying. So it's just, it's a, it's a, it's all, this is full day of work. It's a full day of work. Yeah, when you were describing the fighters you like to watch, one name caught my eye. You said Gennady Golovkin, and then my mind jumped to, if you could fight any fighter in history, just to have the honor to share the ring with them, who would it be? Yeah, I sparred Gennady Golovkin as a little kid. I think as, as, out of every fighter, I probably would want to fight Gennady Golovkin. That would be a great fight only because of what Gennady Golovkin represented. And you know, it's closer to my time period. So it was a little bit more realistic. Yeah. So I think that would, that would be my all time dream fight, me versus Gennady Golovkin. No, when he said that name, my mind like, I was like, whoa, that would be a sick ass fight. If we got to see it. It was a sick ass fight. It was, cause I sparred him a lot. It was. Any tape? No, it was real tape. All those trade, all those sparring sessions I had with them, it actually allowed me to elevate my game and get to a different level because Gennady Golovkin was a killer. Dude was trying to kill me every single round. So for me, not to get killed, I had to defend myself. And how old were you? I was the first time I sparred him, I was 15. And then the last time I sparred him I was 19. But I was his main sparring partner. So what people don't understand in life, for you to get the best version out of yourself, you have to put yourself under stress. That's, that's the same thing with every category, every work, everywhere. When I mean put myself in stress and boxing, I mean, going up against the best fighter I could possibly go up against because this guy either has more talent than me or as much talent as me. So I'm gonna be getting hit with some shots. Once you get hit with some shots, then that your, your body goes in the fight or flight mode. So that means your body is under stress. So you're trying to make the best decisions. And other things, it's not like kind of as intense as that. But like, let's say you have to deadline to do something. You're like, oh, I want to have a couple of days left. That puts your body in stress. You're like, okay, I don't have no time to waste. We have to get to work. So that's what I'm saying that for you to be the best version of yourself, you have to put your body under some type of stress. And with Gennady Golovkin, he put me under a lot of stress. So I had to learn real fast. But I used that, I carried that through my whole career. And those were the best barring sessions I've ever had in my life. And this helped me be the man I am today. And Neon and I streamed with Justin Gagey last month. And then Gagey was like, we're getting in the ring. I was like, I just fired him a couple of rounds. Gagey is no joke either. Gagey be beating the shit out of people. I know, I know. He wasn't bad though. He really, he bloodied my nose, but he wasn't like stricklin' like. Yeah, I seen stricklin', yeah. He didn't beat up a- Sneeko. Sneeko album. He got him bad, bro. Sometime that was kind of like a little bit unnecessary cause like, what do you get out of that? You know what I mean? I mean, sometimes I get it. You're hitting somebody, getting down with a little body shot, let him feel it. But blooding somebody like that, he must not like Sneeko. Yeah, there must have been a personal thing. That was crazy. He don't see the professional fighters usually. It was, they sort of replay of him in a fight. It was the same exact, he does in the UFC. Like he went 100. Yeah. Yeah. He stayed up. That's what I'm saying. I couldn't believe he didn't go down. I give Sneeko some credit for that cause he beat the shit out of him, but he took it like a man. Yeah, that was crazy. Now imagine what that did for his confidence. So man, even stricklin' couldn't take me out. Yeah. I mean, so I'm sure he's riding high on that confidence, but sometimes it's unnecessary, bro, cause it could get dangerous. We're training to knock people out. We're training to hurt people. You know what I mean? Sneeko does stuff for fun. So he's, I get you trying to beat somebody up, but you can't take it to that extent always. Yeah, no, that was definitely wild. One last thing before we get out of here. What's one thing about you that nobody knows? Oh, I don't know, man. I really, the stuff that nobody knows about me, I really try to keep it private. You know, I'm not really in, I don't like people knowing all my business and stuff like that. I think that people wouldn't expect that you like or any TV shows or movies you're watching or, oh, bro, all my time goes to boxing. Yeah. All my time goes to boxing. Now, from this, it's not going to boxing, it's by me thinking of boxing. But, so I think this was a surprise people. I'm a really, I like techno, techno music. I like raves. So I don't think- That's surprising. Yeah, I wouldn't expect that. I've been a big techno fan for a long, long time. So, you know, I like that type of stuff. You may hit a rave after this fight. Uh, I don't know. I've been, but I've been to Ultra. I've been to Beyond Wonderland. I've been to EDC. I've been everywhere, bro. I love those things. And the thing about, the cool thing about that is like, it's unexpected that people hear me that I'm into that stuff, but the atmosphere there is just so cool, bro. Like everybody's just like, everybody's cool. Everybody's high-fiving each other and stuff like that. So it's, it's, it's some good energy. And that's what I like being around it to because it's some good people. I met some cool, some cool people and stuff. And you know, the energy has been amazing. So I definitely like that stuff. I love it. That's one thing no one would expect. The Mexican monster, the most avoided man, and boxing challenging for two Cruiserweight titles, Saturday, May 2nd. Any last message for the fans, the people? Yeah, I just want to tell everybody, thank you so much for the love and the support. I mean, we're 10 days out. It's going to be a great performance on my end. You know what I mean? It's going to be the best performance for me thus far. And like I said, I just, I don't want people to waste their money. I don't want people to be like, why do what I do is because at the end of the day, the people pay the harder money to cause you a fight. They don't go to see two people running away from each other. They want to see fight. They want to see people knock each other out. And I'm going to give you guys, I'm going to make your monies worth. And I'm going to go in there and I'm going to give you guys exactly what you want to see. May 2nd is going to be a war, but the Mexican monster is going to leave with those two belts. You heard the man May 2nd. Tune in live on pay per view.