We had a wholly different episode planned for you. But when big news breaks that interests boxing fans on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, there are few better to break it all down than American fight writer David Greisman and British broadcaster and analyst Darren Rees.
Right before we sat down to record, the seven-fight February 22 extravaganza was announced with the rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol in the main event, supported by six more matches that could themselves be headliners on their own shows: Daniel Dubois defending his heavyweight title against Joseph Parker, Vergil Ortiz vs. Israil Madrimov in a battle of 154-pound contenders, Carlos Adames defending his middleweight title against rising contender Hamzah Sheeraz, a clash between heavyweights Zhilei Zhang and Agit Kabayal, Shakur Stevenson defending his lightweight world title against prospect Floyd Schofield, and a crossroads fight at light heavyweight between Joshua Buatsi and Callum Smith.
We also pay tribute to Israel Vazquez, the great warrior who sadly passed away this week at the age of 46. Plus we cover Galal Yafai's win over Sunny Edwards and what's next for both, the controversial scores for Gavin Gwynne vs. Cameron Vuong, Jaron "Boots" Ennis, Conor Benn, Josh Taylor potentially going to Matchroom, and Adam Azim vs. Sergey Lipinets.
Oh, and we preview this weekend's upcoming action, including two title fight rematches — Emanuel Navarrete vs. Oscar Valdez and Rafael Espinoza vs. Robeisy Ramirez — and a match between Brad Pauls and Denzel Bentley that will land the winner in a middleweight title fight.
United Boxing Podcast comes out every Tuesday. Follow Darren @DarrenRees_, David @FightingWords2, and the show itself on X at @UnitedBoxingPod