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PMNM: Jack-DeGale Preview NFL and NBA Talk

The first Pay Me No Mind podcast… okay, Pay Me No Mind Sports & Entertainment Show of 2017 was put together to level the show up officially. I’ll get to the crazy guest list in just a sec.

The monologue features the usual shadow boxing. I get into some thoughts on the CFB Playoff committee’s flagrant disregard for the B1G Conference 2016 champions, the Penn State Nittany Lions, and how they gave me the offensively challenged Ohio State Buckeyes for a National Title Semi-final. Okay, Franklin squandered the opportunity for OT versus USC. I also drop some thoughts on Denzel Washington’s wonderful new movie Fences, the new Run The Jewels LP RTJ3 which is sort of released. I go into why I’ve taken RTJ3 to the lab, but haven’t heard 4 Your Eyez Only or the latest LOX joint. I close with a NFL announcement or two.

The guests.

Sports writers Matthew Garrett (at 22:01 mark) of GoingFor2 and Colby Giacubeno (at 36:20 mark) of SixteenWinsARing joined the show to discuss NFL and NBA topics, respectively. Garrett runs down what’s possibly his final Four Down Territory column for the season – the league’s likely MVP and the Raiders Michael “Tuck Ya Chain” Crabtree. Giacubeno hadn’t been on PMNM in a while, but called in to discuss his new writing home, and takes a shot at diagnosing the Detroit Pistons’ rough start. He also dispels the notion that James Harden IS the Houston Rockets by saying that he does everything for the Rockets. Eric Gordon mentions!

Dayton, Ohio southpaw welterweight Jeff “The Nightmare” Camp (at 46:52) returns to discuss his recovery from a serious injury he sustained to his power hand. The incident caused him to miss a couple of dates, and he also explains that he missed out on participating on a recent Cincinnati card that featured crafty Philly veteran lightweight Hank Lundy. The Nightmare reveals his game plan for his fight next Friday night at Steele and Neil Promotions’ Bang Bang 4. Camp expects to extend his KO streak which left off with a vicious KO of Agustin Cicero back in August.

Next up, a pair of veteran Motor City boxers called in to discuss their upcoming bouts in Detroit, Michigan. Lanardo “The Pain Server” Tyner (30-10-2, 19 KOs) expressed his happiness in headlining a card in his hometown, Detroit Brawl, January 22nd at the Masonic Temple. Tyner (at 109:40) talked about his February 2014 Premier Boxing Champions series appearance, and how he had to accept some awkward requests ahead of his Facebook-streamed sparring session with Shawn Porter last year. Tyner intends to shake off any rust he accumulated since last entering the ring in August of 2014, and to live up to his nickname in convincing fashion.

The final boxer to call in was two-time IBF World junior middleweight champion Cornelius “K9” Bundrage (34-6, 19 KOs). Bundrage (at 55:40) hasn’t fought since his round three TKO loss to Jermell Charlo back in September of 2015, but he’s back in action January 7th on a deep card. The one-time The Contender participant alluded to the fact that he will likely be moving to a new weight division after this return bout. He also discusses how, as a 43-year old, he plans to utilize his strengths to offset any advantages gained by the youthfulness of his potential opponents.

The featured guest, Mike Leanardi, made his first visit to the PMNM podcast (at 118:35) to provide some insight on Premier Boxing Champions series’ super middleweight unification fight between Badou Jack (20-1-2, 12 KOs) and  James DeGale (23-1, 14 KOs). The fight happens Jan. 14th at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center and will be televised on Showtime Championship Boxing live at 9:30 PM EST.

Leanardi acts as a second for WBC World champion Jack, and also one of the closest members of Team Jack according to a September FightHype piece. The Chicago native opened up the segment with his reaction to his beloved Chicago Cubs’ amazing championship winning-performance in this past season’s Fall Classic. We spent quite a few minutes on the Cubbies before Leanardi addressed Vegas’ belief that his fighter is a 3-1 underdog to the United Kingdom’s DeGale. Before moving on we discussed common opponents such as Rogelio “Porky” Medina, George Groves, Lucian Bute, and the fact that each man defeated one of the Dirrell brothers.

Leanardi believes the showdown is no less than a 50-50 fight, and emphatically stated that over the final weeks of training camp at the Mayweather Boxing Club the most common observation regarding Jack’s readiness is… Well, the audio speaks for itself.

The Jack-DeGale fight kicks off world-class caliber boxing for fight fans in 2017, but the event’s intriguing co-main features undefeated IBF World super featherweight champion Jose Pedraza (22-0, 12 KOs) versus Gervonta Davis(16-0, 15 KOs). Davis is immensely talented and arguably one of the cornerstones of the future of Mayweather Promotions, but Leanardi shared some candid thoughts on the serious challenges Pedraza presents young Tank.

Lastly, another role of Leanardi is a managerial role – and founding member – with industry upstart Victory Sports and Entertainment, LLC (@VSportsEnt on Twitter) which launched in June 2014. We didn’t get to delve into all that’s going on with VSE, but Leanardi did respond to some questions about a pair of the outfit’s boxers who recently fought on the free portion of November’s Sergey Kovalev-Andre Ward light heavyweight unifier. The fighters are undefeated Toledo, Ohio prospects Sonny Fredrickson  and Tyler McCreary – both are important members of the Roc Nation Sports roster.

Both fighters have been covered on the show in the past, but Leanardi expressed his thoughts on the maturation process for each of the two young performers – as well as their trainer Coach Ali. Ali was the featured guest on the final PMNM podcast for 2016.

Well, this was a diverse podcast for PMNM, I hope it’s enjoyed by as many as possible. Be on the lookout for some recaps of the aforementioned action – I’ll definitely be in the house for the Bang Bang 4 event. Also, check out some footage (at the Pay Me No Mind Show YouTube channel) from the Hank Lundy-John Delperdang UBF World lightweight title fight. Can a brother get some thumbs ups and subscriptions to start the new year?

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yx1cL9NBCg[/embedyt] [wysija_form id=”10″]

 

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