Chris Mannix: Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson Been In The Works

He's bad. He's beautiful. He's crazy. It's Rich Eisen. But we start this program today. This is the Rich Eisen Show with two words.

Question fatigue. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. You got a good Taylor Swift story for me?

She makes a mean homemade pop. Earlier on the show, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero. Coming up, Bucks general manager Jason Light. Sports Illustrated senior writer Chris Mannix. Co-host of ABC's Live with Kelly and Mark. Mark Consuelos. And now it's Rich Eisen. Our number two of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. We're about to hear from the general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jason Light.

And then we're going to throw open the in-studio doors for Chris Mannix. Talking about the NBA and everything that went down last night. Everything that's going down with about a month to go before the playoffs, right? Playoff spots up for grabs. We've got playing tournament games up for grabs and things of that nature. So we'll talk to Chris Mannix about it. Mark Consuelos is in studio.

Our number three. Lots to talk about with him. He's got a son in the Michigan wrestling program.

So we'll have a little bit of Go Blue chat right there. And he's in town with his wife, Kelly Ripa. They're doing an After the Oscars special on Monday on ABC.

Next month is his first year anniversary since joining Live with Kelly and Mark. And so we're going to be talking Oscars later on. Love it. So you want to do a weather report for Sunday here in Los Angeles, Mike?

I actually, it should be easy. One of the hottest days I ever had in my life was at the Oscars. You have to wear a tux when you do the red carpet show. I know that, Mike. I'm aware. Did you wear a tux that time that you went twice for the pond? Yes. Okay.

First year, I rented both years, obviously. I don't own a tux. Okay. First year I wore dress shoes.

Okay. Big mistake. Big mistake. Next year, went with the low top, all white Converse. First time I ever covered spring training in the Great Fruit League in Florida for sports center. I was so excited. I wore a full on suit and tie to the, one of the, name one of the hottest places in the state of Florida.

I did that. And, and, and, and there were all, all the baseball writers like, what the hell is the matter with you? And they were standing there in their shorts and their Hawaiian shirts. And I'm like, I got to do a standup. They're like, then bring your suit, change and do it. Next day.

I was just there in shorts and then put on a suit just from the waist up. That's it. Exactly.

So I'm with you. It's hot. Yeah.

Someone who knows all about the heat in the state of, the state of Florida is the general manager, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers kind enough to join us here in a very busy time. Jason Light. Good to see you, Jason. How are you? Good.

How are you doing? Well, I heard part of your press conference, even though I'm sitting here on this set, you were with who when you learned Mike Evans signed, resigned with your team, who were you with Jason? What? So John Cooper, the head coach of lightning here in town has become good friends with, uh, he and his wife with me and my wife, phenomenal guy.

And he had a charity event Sunday night, um, rooftop of a hotel downtown. So Blair and I snuck at my wife and I snuck out and, uh, we're still kind of ongoing here with Mike and his representatives on the contract. And as I was standing at the bar with Wayne Gretzky in between Wayne Gretzky and David Wells of all people. And it was, and, and I listened to them tell stories, uh, about their in their prime. It's, you know, I let's just say I probably could have hung with them for a couple of days, but maybe not a couple of weeks, but they, uh, I had to go outside, take the phone call, got conferenced in. We agreed to terms with, um, with Mike and I came back in and, uh, fist pumping and hugging my wife. And they said, what's going on? I said, well, I just, you know, agreed to terms with Mike Evans and, and the great one said, oh, that's a great one. Huh?

Okay. You knew that already, but to get it from the great one, I mean, that's, that's the ultimate. It's pretty surreal. I've never met. I've never met Wayne Gretzky before I've run into David Wells a few times here in town, but, uh, that was, it was pretty cool.

Yeah, I bet. So, and by the way, uh, obviously if you wanted to have a cold one and to celebrate something like Mike Evans resigning, I cannot imagine David Wells being a better individual to, uh, you know, crack one open with, you know, we had a few, we had a few pre and then so, uh, congratulations on that. Obviously you, everyone knows, uh, how good Mike Evans is, but what he means to you and your community and your, in your organization as well.

So, uh, why do you, I'll let you give the, uh, take the floor as to why that was so important for you to make sure that Mike stays with your team. Well, you know, he's such a extraordinary player. He's done some unprecedented things. He does every game, but every year, 10 straight years with thousand yards, it's amazing.

And it doesn't seem, seems like down here in Tampa a little bit, um, because of the market, we're a little bit, um, get forgotten about. Um, and it wasn't until this year, I think that, you know, for doing it 10 straight years, it finally, it finally hit kind of went global and everybody realized how good Mike is. And so in as good of a grain of a player is he's even better off the field, him and his wife, Ashley with their foundation and, and what he means to so many kids, he's such a role model. It's, it's just the, it's the first domino that needed to fall. And in this year building our team.

So, um, it was very important to us and he's just means so much to me personally as well, but that's, that's beside the point of what he means to the fan base and to the organization is what's important. Well, I mean, the next domino that everyone assumes that you needed to set up to tumble into that domino with the Mike Evans signing is of course Baker Mayfield. That was the general assumption of, okay, that's one way to, uh, suggest to the guy who came in and you gave the opportunity to, and boy did he knock the door through that you, that you mean business to keep everything, uh, on the up and up.

Uh, is that a safe assumption? Well, it certainly helps. We definitely want Baker back. Um, we're working through things right now. Um, you know, the player always has an option too, so it's got to work out for him and want to give him the respect of making decision what's best for him too. So, but, um, I know he wants to be here.

I know we want him. It's just a matter of us trying to work through things. We always have to prepare for both scenarios. Um, hopefully we're not preparing. We're not, uh, going down, you know, behind door number two. Hopefully we keep it him with door number one, but you know, I don't want to take anything for granted with him.

He's got to make a decision and as, as, as, as well as we do. So you know, there are other teams in on him right now, Jason? I'm not saying that. Uh, I mean, I'm sure he's a good player. I'm sure there's other teams. I'm sure there's other teams that would like to have his services. Um, you know, I mean, we're, we pride ourselves here being pretty good evaluators, but we're not, I don't think we're the only ones that think he's a good player.

So, um, I'm sure there's other teams that would, would want his, would want him to play quarterback as well. And obviously, listen, I don't want you to reveal, uh, anything you, you you're uncomfortable revealing and, and of course, give away negotiating positions and things of that nature, Jason, but what's your timeline. You want to do it before windows open up for everybody on Monday. You want to do it over the weekend.

What do you, what do you need? What are you thinking for yourself? Would you like, ideally like to do it before, um, things open up on Monday, but I mean, if we, if it has to go to there, um, it doesn't necessarily mean that he's, he's gone.

Um, I'd like to hope at least not. Um, but we'd like to, we'd like to, um, we're not gonna press the panic button and, you know, and neither are they, I'm sure on their end to rush anything right now. What do you think worked so well from your end last year for him to come in and the circumstances in which he arrived, and then obviously put you in a position to maybe knock out the Detroit lions. So close in that divisional playoff game, Jason, I think his whole persona and his, that giant fricking ship he's got on his shoulder at all times meshed perfectly with our team. Um, and just the general consensus feeling that our team had is being, uh, forgotten about, um, like the word kind of in witness protection down here sometimes. And people felt like, uh, forgot about us and didn't pay attention to us and didn't realize that we actually do have a pretty good team and good coaching and great organization. And I think that his, uh, his chip and our team's chip, uh, meshed well together. And I think that's kind of what, uh, what did it, what made us stay together?

Yeah. I mean, it takes a special guy to always be the guy after the guy, certainly when the previous guy was named Tom Brady for crying out loud, you know, and that's not an easy role to step into and succeed in. Uh, that's now twice though, in this interview, you've been mentioning that you're not mentioned enough or, or, or less shouldn't put it that way. You're not mentioned with the respect you deserve down in Tampa. Uh, what do you, what do you mean by that, Jason? No, I just think, um, you know, we've got some great players down here, Mike, we talked about Mike, um, we've got Lavonte David.

Hopefully he's remains a buck. Uh, we're trying to work through that too. Um, um, and I think in, in some other markets, they would be well, a little bit more, um, uh, well known and would get the notoriety that they deserve. So it's, this is, I love it the way it is. It's, uh, you know, it gives, like I said, that chip comes out in you, um, and, um, you, uh, the lower expectations sometimes work in your favor. So, um, we got a phenomenal fan base and living in Tampa is a, is a dream.

I don't, I can't see myself living in any other city. So it's nothing against Tampa. I just think sometimes we just get forgotten about. Yeah. Did I see you call out, uh, one of the NFL media colleagues, Connor or at the combine for how he predicted you finished. Did you go, are you taking notes? Do you have, do you have like lists in your, in that office there, Jason, are you right now names? You know, I, I have a family that is really into it and I think that's, uh, very important in this business. And, um, they're out there, they're taking notes, including myself. Uh, we, we have, we had a receipt box at home. Um, he, um, Connor, um, predicted us to win two games last year and that one kind of stood out.

I picked it up on my, uh, my wall here in the office. Is SAP out there helping you with the receipt department? Cause that seems to be his forte SAP would be one of those guys. Well, he's, he definitely, he's the phone call away. I can say that Jason light here, uh, on the rich eyes and show you mentioned Lavonte David who else from, uh, the champion ship years of recent memory, are you trying to stick half stick and stay with this team right now? Who else from your fan base that, that won it all with these players that you you'd like to stick around that you're working on that you're willing to share Jason? Well, we, we franchised, um, Antoine Winfield, who I think is a phenomenal player in this league.

Um, one of the better defensive players yet alone safeties in the league. And that's what the intent to get a deal long-term deal done. So we started to work on one. We just kind of ran out of time up until the deadline. So we'd like to continue to work on that and have him here long-term. Um, we'd like to work on a long-term deal with Tristan worse, who's one of the best tackles in the league. Um, we're we would like to get Lavonte back. Um, so we've got a number of players. I'm forgetting about some right now, but we'd like to have back.

And I just feel like, you know, they'll get their due. Um, it's once these deals get done, if we, if they get done that, you know, people realize we've got pretty good players down here and we've got pretty good staff and coaches and scouts and front office that have done a nice job putting this team together. Couple minutes left with Jason, like Tampa Bay Buccaneers, general manager drafting 26th overall. How does, how does one plan to draft in the bottom third of an NFL draft order, Jason?

Well, fortunately I was just, we were just meeting about it again the other day, um, going through the scenarios of what could be there. And I think this is a really good draft this year. I think there's a lot of good players.

I know you hear that. That's kind of general manager cliche, but this year I feel like it's kind of the same as it was last year. We started to get excited.

What's going to be there at the bottom of one and the bottom of two. So, um, you know, fortunately there's a lot of players that we have a lot of needs on our team, so we'll be able to go best available. Um, we've talked about some scenarios of moving back and collecting picks. We've talked about one or two guys that we'd love to go up and get to. So still early in this process, we've, we've, uh, we've got some holes to fill. We know that, but that's kind of the exciting part about it. As far as we made it this last year, that we still know that we've got some holes that we need to fill.

When do you usually get a phone ringing from a colleague of yours or you ring another colleague's phone to talk about these trades? And, uh, are we still too early right now? We're still way too early. So sometimes they don't come until Thursday morning or Thursday afternoon of the draft. That's wild.

That's wild. I mean, a lot of people wonder what you're doing on draft. It's like Thursday, you know, the haze in the barn per se.

So on Thursday morning, last year, I was, uh, had a leaf blower out blowing leaves from my pool deck and, uh, walking the dog. So that's, it wasn't like the movie draft day where I was, uh, doing last minute, uh, recon finding out that a player didn't have anybody show up at his birthday party. But, but the rest of that movie was pretty good. I like it. I like it. Did you have that in your pocket, Tristan, worse, no matter what couple of years ago, did you have that Jason? Yeah. You know what?

No, I did not, but I did have Mike Evans no matter what that first year. I bet. I bet.

No doubt about that. Okay. And so, um, before I let you go so much conversation going on about kickoffs and what's going to be going on with maybe onside kicks or, or, or having a different, I guess what, um, uh, spring league versions of kickoffs, where do you stand on this subject matter, Jason? You know, I'm not educated enough on it right now to really have a real true opinion on it.

I just want to know what is it going to be number one, and then what do we have to do to take advantage of it and the best that we can. So I would like to see, um, if, if it's, if it's across the board at level playing field and everybody it's, we're forced to return kicks. I think that's great. And, um, let's try to go out and get the best person available to, to take advantage of it. Okay. Then, then let me ask you about it this way.

You could wave a wand and have the competition committee place in front of membership and have membership approved. The rule would be what, Jason, you could make it happen. Put me on the spot here.

What do you got? Come on. You got to have one worried about.

I'm just, I'm worried about signing my, my, my player back here right now. I'll let, I'll leave that up to the special teams coaches. Okay. All right.

Just, I'm just talking about just any rule in general. I was just trying to go on that front. No. Okay. Good enough.

Uh, just see Baker get in the, in the cage with the Aaron judge. Did you see that one? Jason? I heard about it. I did. I did. Okay. That hasn't been part of there. I didn't see it.

How do you fare? Oh, uh, look, I mean, look at the, look at the stance. I mean, look at that. Did you know he's a lefty?

He hits lefty. Did you know that? Nope.

No, I did not know that. Look at that elbow. Look at that perfect 90 degree angle right there. Oh, yeah. I mean, and well, the Yankees are down there in, uh, in Tampa, right?

I don't know if the right across the street from you. So I don't know. Is that again, I don't reveal in negotiations. Is he threatening to be like Dion Bo Jackson? Is that, is that what's happening right now? Is that part of it? That hasn't come up yet.

That hasn't come up yet. We're across that bridge. We can confirm that. Very good. Uh, Jason, thanks for the time, man. It's always a pleasure.

Always running into you and having you on the show. Thanks for the time. Appreciate it. Likewise. Best of luck. Get best of luck being present as a, as a dad and a husband over the next 90 hours. Jason. Good luck.

Appreciate it. You got a brother that's Jason light, the GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right here on the rich acid show. And he's negotiating with my boy right now.

I mean, stick. I mean, that's, that's the win, honestly. I I'm sure part of this as well. Like he, I'm sure he doesn't want to be sitting in these draft meetings going 26 overall, which quarterbacks can be like, he doesn't trade up to no, no, no. Baker is the guy. Like they, they, you saw what you saw. And I kind of did Doug. What he said is that Baker's chip matches their chip. Cause after they got the chip with Brady and then Brady leaves, everybody's like, well, that's been a nice run down there and they win the division, albeit, you know, last couple of weeks, didn't like the house on fire, but they won and done the Eagles convincingly and then showed up to Detroit and said, okay, we know you got a chip on your shoulder and you're biting kneecaps, but we, we got some teeth here too.

So running it back with Baker's the win. Is Chris Maddox here? Did he arrive here on the Rich Eisen show? So, uh, I hope so.

Cause he's next. Let's take a break. We're back here on the Rich Eisen show in a matter of moments, talking some association with Chris. Named one of the best personal finance podcasts.

The stacking Benjamin show with Joe and his friends makes financial literacy fun. I got an email today from the Len Penso.com HR department. I find it really interesting. I'm an employee of one at this company. So, but somebody from the HR department sent me an email telling me that I had a raise, but I just opened the attachment.

I could see how much my raise was. Make sure you click on the links that are in there too. Oh, absolutely.

Yeah. I can't wait. This is I'm excited. Find out more by searching the stacking Benjamin's podcast, wherever you listen. Welcome to talk about the ultimate smallville rewatch podcast.

Title transference aired October 27, 2004 director James Marshall, writers, Todd Slatkin, Darren swimmer. I really liked this episode and I'm surprised that you don't like it as much as you thought you did. I actually respect your opinion more than I respect my own in general. When you say things are good and I check them out, they are. Jump in now or catch up on any of the past seasons of talkville on YouTube or wherever you listen. Back here on the Rich Eisen show, the radio audience will return in less than two minutes time. So first of two times, I say hello once again to our great friend from sports illustrated to zone. Good to see you, Chris Mannix. How are you brother?

I'm good. My goal in this appearance, Rich, is to not put my foot in my mouth as I've done in recent appearances. I think it was last year I called the Denver Nuggets boring here and I got roasted for months on social media. Last time I was here, I was making the point about how Caitlin Clark can be a star, you know, can do that three-point shootout next year in the WNBA.

I called her Caitlin Cooper, who is this great writer in Indiana who I was reading earlier in the day. So if I escape this without making a major gaffe, I'm going to call it a win. Okay, so should we turn Chris Brockman, if you will, into the stat boy for lack of a better phrase? Keep track here. Yep.

Let me grab a pen. You know, so he'll keep track to make sure. Fact check. Do you want it immediate or do you want it after?

After. Okay, so we got an errors and omissions segment. Yes. Got it. All right. Okay, great.

Because we can do it in real time for you. You prefer to just keep going. I think that might rough up my flow there a little bit, you know.

I don't know why that caught me. Okay, so let's not... Chris, can you be... Yeah, I got a Mannix E slash O. I got it ready to go. Okay. Errors and omissions.

Ready to go. Yeah, because the Nuggets aren't boring. No. Okay, so that's a correction. That's correct.

If you were bored by last night's game... We got a problem. How is Kaitlyn Cooper's jumper? Do we know? I don't know. It's not as smooth?

It's not as splashy? I know she is a terrific X and O's journalist. Okay, good.

Out of Indiana. Then let's see if Kaitlyn Clark could do that. Can Kaitlyn Clark write? That's the question. Let's find out. Okay, we're off to a roaring start. Back on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, furnished by Grainger.

With supplies and solutions for every industry, Grainger has the right product for you. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Our favorite from Sports Illustrated and The Zone talking hoops and boxing with our friend Chris Mannix here on the Rich Eisen Show. You know, I know the Celtics and the Nuggets played last night. Anthony Edwards was awesome as well, but based certainly on the conversation we just had off the air, we got to start with the fact that Jake Paul and Mike Tyson are fighting. Wow. On Netflix? Shocking. This is... Where the hell did this come from?

I mean, it's been the works for some time now. Jake Paul, just this past weekend, beat a guy named Ryan Borland, who is a oil rigger in North Dakota. So Jake was on... He's running out of people to fight?

Exactly. Jake, the last couple of fights has been going down this traditional boxing path. Now he is making the hard pivot back to celebrity boxing, and he's doing it against arguably the biggest star in modern boxing history in Mike Tyson. I was taken aback by this, Rich, because I knew that Jake had been on the hunt for a big name. I just figured it was going to be someone like Conor McGregor, who has expressed interest in fighting Jake in the past. A rematch with Tommy Fury, who Jake fought last year. I didn't think a Tyson fight was going to happen, but here we are with the biggest or one of the biggest social media stars ever, biggest or one of the biggest boxing stars ever, fighting on perhaps the biggest global platform ever.

I think this is going to be an event unlike any other. So anybody who gets Netflix will just be able to just watch that like you're watching the latest Adam Sandler movie? Is that basically what it is?

There's a couple of details still scant. One is, well, it's not going to be pay-per-view. It is going to be on Netflix, so it's going to be streamed. You just have to pay for Netflix.

That's about it. Exactly. And because of that, I think this has the potential to be the most viewed boxing event ever. I mean, there have been some widely watched boxing events.

If you go back to the 70s and 80s, when this was on basic television, ABC fights, those put up huge numbers. This one, though, I could easily see this fight attracting a hundred million viewers because globally, Tyson has a name. Amongst a young audience, Jake Paul has a huge name. So I think regardless of what you think of what this fight is in the ring, and we can get into that, that the audience for this is going to be absolutely massive.

Massive. So what is a 58-year-old Tyson going to look like against, how old is Jake Paul again? Jake Paul is 27. So a 31-year age gap between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. Jake Paul has been an active fighter. He fought four times in basically one calendar year. Mike Tyson has not been in the ring since that Roy Jones exhibition four years ago.

I know people have kind of pointed to Mike's social media pad work, but Mike himself has come out and said like every time he does one of those mid sessions, he needs like a week to rest and take time off and let his body recover. So you've got the once styled baddest man on the planet who perhaps can muster 30 good seconds of power punching against a YouTuber turned boxer who has become, in my estimation, a pretty good boxer. So that's a long way of saying I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to see in the ring on July 20th.

Which is maybe its greatest selling point from the Netflix point of view or Jake Paul and Tyson. But on a real note though, Rich, like I do wonder what the state of Texas is going to do there. Now, this was billed in the press release as a boxing mega event. They didn't say like a sanctioned 10 round fight.

And that's probably because Texas has to figure out what they're going to do with it, right? If they make it a exhibition like we had with Roy Jones and Mike Tyson, shorter rounds, six rounds, that's one thing. If they allow it to be a traditional fight, which I really can't fathom, like how can you sanction Mike Tyson at 58?

He was using a cane a couple of weeks or months ago. The craziness of all this against a 27 year old guy in Jake Paul who said what you want about him. He can punch. He really can punch.

That's the great unknown in all this. Oh my God. Well, when was Tyson here? Eight years ago? Seven years ago?

Just quickly look it up. Because he was sitting in that chair. It's the one time he's been here in the studio. And I've told this story before.

So for those who are out there listening who, okay, March, 2015. Okay. So we used to have a radio clock where I would have to take a 60 second break right around now, middle of the hour at some point. It was at my discretion and I didn't really like it because again, in the same way that you just mentioned, like, you know, busting up a flow, a conversation's going well. I knew I would have to stop it in the middle for a 60 second break.

I wasn't a big fan of it sitting from this chair. Certainly when Tyson's coming here, I wanted to get a conversation going. So that said, I asked Tyson right around now in the hour, hey, how many rounds can you give me right now? And so this was 2015.

This is nine years ago. Okay. So just as he's about to turn 50, I'm like, how many rounds can you give me right now? He goes, I don't want to answer that. And I said, you know why? He said, because anytime I think about, you know, getting back in the ring or anything associated with the boxing, it puts me in a very dark place. At which point I'm like, well, let's take that break right now.

And I was happy to take a break. He says, it puts me in a dark place. So maybe he gets out there. That's like, what are we going to see? What will we see if he really, the old Tyson potentially just shows up even for a flash?

You know what I mean? Tyson, when he fought Roy back in 2020 actually looked pretty good. And there were times during that fight that I thought to myself watching, I'm like, if Mike turns it on and really lets his hands go, he's going to knock Roy out.

I mean, Roy, another long since faded former great. I think he was even more punchy at that point. And Roy was a smaller fighter coming up in weight to fight Mike Tyson. But I remember watching that fight thinking like, if Tyson wanted to, he could dial it back, land a big left hook and this fight could be over. So I still think that's in Mike Tyson's repertoire. That's why like the first round of this fight against Jake Paul, if Mike wants to make it interesting, it could get really interesting.

If it goes beyond that, I can remember when Mike retired in 2005, he was bad, right? He got knocked out by Kevin McBride. He had no passion for the game. Didn't want to be in boxing anymore.

Was only there for the paycheck. Then went on and did, I think one or two of those exhibition fights that were weird with head gear. But if he wants to just turn back the clock for a very brief period of time, I think he can still do it. That's why I think the first round, if he decides to, if he becomes, go back to when he fought Peter McNeely, Peter McNeely, remember that fight came just bull in a china shop, rushing Mike Tyson, which was insane because then he got his clock cleaned right after that adrenaline rush left him. If Mike comes out and goes right at Jake Paul, I don't know what can happen.

I don't know what can happen. You're saying there's a chance though. I think, look, but again, it's not even a round, forget that like 30 to 40 seconds, because after 30, 40 seconds, he becomes a nearly senior citizen in the ring. And look, it's different because Evander Holyfield was not the puncher that Mike Tyson was. And Evander Holyfield fought a guy named Vidor Belfort, who is big, strong, and a little bit crazy. But if you watch what happens to an old man in the ring when they're in with a young strong guy, Evander Holyfield, when he fought in Florida a few years ago, he got a beating like, and that was tough to watch because all at some point you're watching and going, all right, this isn't fun anymore. I don't want to see 55 year old Evander Holyfield getting his head caved in by a younger guy.

Similarly, I don't want to see Mike Tyson getting carved up by a 27 year old Jake Paul. I remember just, and then we'll move to the NBA in a second with you, Chris, that I'm back in the day when I really just got started on ESPN. Peter McNeely, that the name brings up this memory. I was making fun of Peter McNeely on SportsCenter.

I was having a good time. And I remember looking down at the old computer system that we had, I think it was called Basis or something like that back in the day. And you would get a top line message from somebody, a coworker. And I remember I got a top line message from a producer named Billy Fairweather. It was a big, you know, New England guy, Billy Fairweather.

And he just wrote me, careful making fun of Peter McNeely. And then the next one came in, his brother is a producer here at ESPN. And he, and he ran out of space. And then the next one came back as, and the words were, is big.

Three messages came in, they kept flashing. And I go, oh, oh. Do you like that? And he, what is he? Is big. Okay.

Got it. That Tyson McNeely fight was one of the very first fights I can remember watching back in, what was it, 92, 93, right after Tyson got to jail. And I'll never forget sitting there watching it and seeing Peter McNeely from my neck of the woods, from the Boston area, face to face with Mike Tyson. And Peter's got this smile on his face and he's bobbing left and right. And Mike Tyson's not moving. His eyes are though.

His eyes are going left to right, left to right with Peter McNeely. And I remember even as a teenager, sitting there thinking like, that guy's dead. But that was every Tyson fight.

August 95. That was essentially every Tyson fight. Can I tell you a real quick Tyson story? Buddy McGirt, hall of fame, boxer, trainer.

He told me once, he trained Clifford Etienne, who fought Mike Tyson back in the nineties. And he was in the locker room with Etienne and Cliff was like, he was motivated. He was ready.

He was good to go. He's telling Buddy's like, I'm going to win this fight. I'm going to win this fight.

I'm ready. I'm going to knock this guy out. Gets in the ring. He's the first one to go in the ring. Next up, lights go out, the DMX music or whatever it is, plays. Here comes Mike Tyson, got that half cut towel over his neck, takes it off, throws it on the ground, glares at Cliff.

And Buddy goes, in that moment, I could literally see Cliff's spirit leave his body. Just, and that was it. First round, Clifford Etienne gets knocked out. I mean, you name it, every, every, even media types. I remember Jeremy Shapp told me a story once about how Tyson was at a press conference where, an old school one, where people were saying who they were before their question and saying who they were affiliated with. And somebody introduced themselves as being with UPI and he refused to answer the question. And the guy's like, what, why won't you answer my question? And Tyson said, because you messed up the delivery of my package.

That actually happened. I mean, we could go on and on here. Let's, you know, let's do this. Let's take a break. And if you don't mind, we'll come back. We'll reset and we'll come to the top of the hour and we'll talk some NBA, some great fun stuff about that. Tyson, when is this?

What's the date on July 20th? Just, I mean, what a perfect time, right? I mean, right before NFL training camps.

That's not a bad spot. They're doing an AT&T stadium. They're hoping to get 80,000 people into that building for that fight.

Oh my God. And it could be like an old school Tyson fight where it's over just like that. Or it could be a sloppy mess where a senior citizen is getting beat up. We don't know. We don't know. We don't know.

He can't hit him with the cane, can he? I shouldn't say these things because honestly, I should know better when it comes to Mike Tyson. We'll be back. Talk some association with Chris Maddox's Sports Illustrated and then still to come, Mark Consuelos in hour three, talking Oscars. You want to talk about changing subjects. That's coming up.

Hi there. Sorry for the interruption, but are you enjoying this show on Google podcasts? You should know that the Google podcast app is going away this spring.

That's right. Going away gone as in no longer available. You can still enjoy this show elsewhere though. Try out Spotify or Amazon music, or maybe tune in is more your style, whatever app you switched to. Be sure to follow so you never miss the next episode. And thanks for listening.

Wherever you listen. You ever meet Ali? Yeah. What was that like? I was in 1978 or 77. I'm locked up in Spofford juvenile detention center. And all of a sudden we come down, we watched the movie The Graded and then next thing, you know, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, Ali walks in. Into your detention center? Yes. What was that like?

Pandemonium. And I wasn't, I was only 11. Maybe I didn't really understand that. I heard my mother mentioned, called him clay around the house. I didn't know who he was. As time going, I found out who he was from the show course. And, um, that was good inspiration. I started after that. I got transferred to another place where it was a gentleman, Bobby Stewart, who was a former fighter started teaching me how to fight.

And then he introduced me to the legendary training custom motto. And then I saw Roberta Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard fight. And I wasn't sure what I was going to be a fight.

I was just happy to get out of that place. But when I saw them fight, I knew this is what I want to do in my life. That's what, when you saw Duran and Sugar Ray fight, that's when you said, that's what I want to do. How do you get into the mindset to go ahead and knock somebody like Marvis Frazier out in 30 seconds?

You know, Robert Colle in 37 seconds. It doesn't happen overnight. It happens when you're a kid and you have to be that person before you become that person. What do you mean by that? What do you mean by that?

I think I know what you mean, but I'd love to. It's a lifestyle. You have to live that lifestyle. At a young age, I just lived that lifestyle.

Never had girlfriends. I trained all day. I watched fight films all day. I read fight magazines all day. Every conversation I had with somebody, it was about a fighter or two. They would have won this and that.

Just like guys that love basketball or baseball. Who do you think would have won? Who do you think is the best? Kareem? Willa? Oscar Robinson?

Who do you think is the best? That's all I was. You think he could be him?

You thought he'd be and match the guys with the pass with the guys with the presence and this and that. And that's all I thought about. All right, Jake Paul.

Canvas is yours. Wow. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network with our friend Chris Maddox from Sports Illustrated and his own. Okay, so what do you make of last night's Celtics and Nuggets game? If this was the NFL, we would just be hair on fire. How the Celtics are not going to win at all because in the same way in this that the Cowboys couldn't get past the Niners. That might be a poor analogy, but I don't know if we make anything of this.

Do we? My takeaway is in the Celtics can't beat Denver because I mean Jason Tatum wide open 40 seconds left with a chance to take a lead. He's making that shot eight times out of 10. So the Celtics were right there at the end against Denver. The takeaway though is right now, Denver is the best team in either conference.

I mean Denver doesn't have the most wins in the West, but they are the best team in the West. They're a team that pretty much saw the calendar turn to February, mid-February and was like, okay, let's play now. They've got seven wins since the All-Star break.

They have been rolling along. Nicole Jokic is putting up outstanding numbers. Michael Porter Jr. is putting up outstanding numbers. Their young players are starting to take off again.

Watch Peyton Watson in that game last night. Second year guy. Looks like he's a third or fourth year guy able to play big minutes in the postseason. They are as complete a team as there is in the NBA right now. So Jokic is your MVP? I have said that I want to see how the regular season winds up in the West.

Right now the top two guys on my ballot are Nicole Jokic and Shay Gildas-Alexander. And I saw Shay play in LA a couple of nights ago. Not his best game. Not a great game for the Thunder. But if Oklahoma City, which had zero expectations to be this good coming into the season, if they wind up as the number one seed in the West and Shay, who is putting up the kind of numbers that we haven't seen since Michael Jordan's heyday in the late 80s, early 90s, and haven't seen since Steph Curry's unanimous MVP year. If he's putting up those kind of numbers and they're the number one seed in the West, it's going to be really tough not to vote for him.

Let me throw one out for you here that's kind of crazy. If you keep that standings up for one more second, you're out West. What if the Clippers wind up being the one seed? Nobody's talking about Kawhi. Yeah, and believe me, I get that from Clippers people all the time. Why aren't we talking about him?

Why is he not? They've got 40 wins. They're three games behind the Timberwolves right now. I mean, there's definitely enough time in the next month for the Clippers to just keep winning more than not.

Just two losses? Yeah, I think the only argument against him is perhaps his numbers are not going to be what Jokic, what Shay, what Luka are. But that's not his style, right? It's just everything else that might not show up on a stat sheet or a defensive stop that doesn't show up on a stat sheet. He's the best two-way player in that MVP race right now, though Shay is really good on both ends. And he has been part of the reason the Clippers have been able to seamlessly integrate James Harden. A lot of that credit goes to James Harden. A lot of that credit goes to Russell Westbrook, who's taken on a lesser role this year with Harden in the mix. But the end result is that his numbers are not going to be on the level of some of the other guys he's competing with.

So if you're looking for the argument against him, it's probably those numbers right at the top. Well, Anthony Edwards had a final 90 seconds last night in a game, obviously, that for four quarters was outstanding as well, where he basically took it over both ends of the floor. And so, you know, Andrew Nembhard's trying to tie the game and Edwards hit his head on the back of the rim.

Is that what happened? I mean, one of the great blocks that we've seen all season long, one of the great blocks we've seen in years. I mean, Karl-Anthony Towns said over All-Star Weekend that Anthony Edwards is going to be the next face of the NBA.

And the more you watch Anthony Edwards, the more you believe that, because he is the complete package, right? He can score, he can rebound, he can distribute. His shooting numbers are really good. And he's a two-way player, as we saw at the end of the game last night. So, you know, it's good that he's getting that type of exposure because he does have face of the NBA type potential. So, when we expect Karl-Anthony Towns back, what do you think for me? I mean, first, can we just say brutal for Minnesota? I know. I had not heard it until Chris told me in the middle of the show yesterday, because I've just been so in the tank with so many other things going on.

It just gutted me, man, to hear that. But is it possible first round of the playoffs he can come back? The way the Wolves are framing it is that they'll evaluate him in about four weeks, which puts you at right around the end of the regular season, maybe a week or so to go. So, it's certainly possible he can be back for the first round of the playoffs, but it's a meniscus tear.

It's a knee. Nobody really knows how his body is going to respond to it. Nobody really knows how long the ramp up is going to be to get him back out there. And look, all that injury certainly shakes up the entire Western Conference landscape, because now if you're one of the play-in teams, and there are some big names in that play-in mix, Golden State's there, the Lakers are there, Phoenix is there. Now you're looking at Minnesota thinking, all right, Town's either going to be out or working his way back in that first round. You want that eight seed. If they're number one, and look, the lock can happen next month, they might drop to three or four.

I mean, it's that close at the top. But I think you're going to start seeing, or you will see towards the end of this month, early next month, teams starting to look at Minnesota saying, all right, how do we get that matchup in the first round if we know Town's is going to be out? Chris Mannix here on the Rich Eisen Show. What about the other injured stars and how to expect their returns over the next three, four weeks for the playoffs? Who else?

Who are we talking about? Julius Randle for the Knicks? Oh, Randle will be back.

Yeah. I mean, look, the Knicks, everybody cheered the Knicks when they made all these deals, right? They get Oji Ananobi, which is a great deal. They get Bodanovic, good deal. They get Alec Burks, good deal. None of that really matters, though, in the playoffs. Depth is the most overrated thing, I believe, in the postseason.

In the postseason, it really comes down to your stars outplaying their stars. So for my money, Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle have to outplay Damian Lillard and Giannis. Have to outplay Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley. Have to outplay Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum. That's been a problem for the Knicks in recent years. Julius Randle, the numbers are there. He has been bad in the postseason. Jalen Brunson's scoring numbers were good last year, but look at his three-point shooting. It went from low 40s to low 30s.

That's got to change. So while I applaud Leon Rose for doing what they did to stretch out the depth, and I think Oji, as a defender, is going to make a big impact, this is going to come down to Brunson and Randle, proving they're a better 1-2 than the other 1-2s out there. Meanwhile, they might have to play an opening round series on the road in Orlando. We had Jamal Mosley on yesterday.

I really enjoyed our conversation when he was on yesterday. How real could this run? You know what I'm saying? I understand we just established the Celtics are the Celtics, and you got the Bucks, and then the Cavs feel destined with the, you know, Struce throwing one in from 60 feet and then coming back on the Celtics like they did. And we're not even, you know, mentioning the Sixers out there until I just said the words. What about some of these teams like the Magic that nobody were talking about? Well, the success for the Magic is winning a first-round series, right?

It's unrealistic to expect a team this young to go into a second-round matchup with Boston or Milwaukee and win. They're just not there yet, but I think they have enough to win a first-round series. Defensively, they're great. They've been great all season long. Offensively, they have really turned a corner over the last 10 games or so. Their efficiency numbers have gone way up. Franz Wagner, very good player, really good player.

Paolo Bongiaro, really good player. Like, they have got some horses there, and while they're an efficient three-point shooting team, they're not a high volume three-point shooting team, so they're looking for the best shots wherever they're coming from, and they're able to cobble together enough offense to get it done that way. So, if you couple that with great defense and good enough offense, it might be enough to beat a Cleveland team in the first round. It might be enough to beat the Knicks in the first round. So, I think they're in play to win a first-round series. Okay, but after that, it'll be, we're back in a pumpkin? To me, it's, you're barreling towards a Milwaukee-Boston conference finals.

And then in the West, what do you got? Denver will be there, no matter what. Put them in a Sharpie in the conference finals. It's tough to not sit here and think the Clippers. Straight up, straight up, you know, and because not only in the same way that you had mentioned, you know, hey, credit to Kawhi, credit to Harden, credit to Russell Westbrook. I mean, Ty Lue is one of the best out there, man. He deserves, he won't get a good look. Coach of the Year is the easiest vote ever.

It's Mark Dagnold in Oklahoma City. Like that might be unanimous, it should be unanimous. I mean, they're the number, close to the number one seed right now. Look, the Clippers, Paul George will show up, I think, in the playoffs. Kawhi will show up in the playoffs. What do we get out of James Harden in the playoffs?

That's a big question with them. Harden has been fantastic for that group. When I talk to people inside the Clippers, they bring up how long they've been looking for a distributor. All the point guards they've gone through, Rajon Rondo, John Wall, Russell Westbrook, they have not been able to find anyone to aptly man that position. James Harden has done that. You look at how they've been able to close games.

I think there's something like 32-2 or something like that when leading after the third quarter. A lot of that's a credit to James Harden, who was able to, you know, run the offense effectively late in game. So, if Harden continues this trend, if he can be this guy in the postseason, they've got a chance to get to the conference finals.

I'm not sure anybody's beaten Denver, but if this is the Clipper team that gets into the postseason, the conference finals is definitely there. All right, and what did Barkley say yesterday? What did he say about the Celtics? He said again?

They don't win. It's like, not a choke. He didn't use the word choke.

He used a different word. Big failure, didn't you say that? Yeah, basically just like, they need to win the championship. It's not a failure, I don't think. Look, it's a failure if they don't get to the NBA Finals and if they're not competitive in the NBA Finals.

If they wind up going up against Denver and losing in six or seven games. Total gag job is what he called it. There you go. Okay.

Well, here's the problem. When people get down on Boston, it's when they have three-point shooting nights like they had last night. I forgot the numbers at the top of my head, but it wasn't very good. Every six weeks or so.

Like 11, 37, I think? Yeah. Every six weeks ago, the Celtics have one of these games, right? They just, the shots aren't falling. Sometimes the defense, sometimes themselves, but every six weeks that happens.

Yeah. In the previous games though, they're high percentage, top five in the NBA and three-point shooting. They're high volume. And if you can be a high percentage and high volume from three-point range, you're going to keep chucking them up. How did they get back in this game in the second half? It's because Porzingis came out and nailed back-to-back threes to start the game. How did they close the gap in the fourth quarter?

It's because Drew Holliday made back-to-back threes. They are a three-point shooting team and always will be. They'll live by it.

They'll die by it. And because they have real three-point shooters, more often than not, they're going to be successful. Lakers or Warriors go further? I would say Golden State. They've won what, 14 of their last 18? Draymond triple-doubled, man.

I mean, like that's the old school right there. I worry about Golden State against bigger teams because if you're going to play Draymond that much of the five, bigger team's going to beat you down. And if they wind up with Denver in the first round, that's going to go badly for them. I hear you, but Giannis, they were shutting them down, right? Nonstop. Every single time he was backing down somebody smaller than them, he had to pass it.

He had to get rid of it. They were motivated. They were coming off a 52-point loss. They were motivated coming into that game.

They're back at home. It was a great win, don't get me wrong. But I think against bigger teams, they're going to have a problem. The Lakers though, look, I was here this time last year talking about the Lakers are going to make the NBA Finals.

I bought into the Lakers after all the trades. I'm not there with this team now. I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that they're going to be able to get it together to beat a top-tier team.

They are what they are, Rich. They're middle of the pack offensively. I think they're still middle of the pack defensively. They're a middle of the pack, three-point shooting team.

They're a very average team who have two elite players who can close games for you. But am I buying D'Angelo Russell in the postseason yet? Not really. Am I buying Austin Reeves playing better than he has this season? Not really.

I just don't see enough to make me believe that team can make a run. Thanks for coming, brother. Anytime. I loved it. I had no idea we'd be talking Tyson, Jake Paul as much as we did, but it is fascinating. There's no doubt about it.

Hour number three coming up, you've got what's more likely, right? I've got a top five Saquon Barkley destinations list. Mark Consuelos is in the green room. We'll talk about the Oscars and, of course, Michigan Athletics. His son is a wrestler there, and I appreciate you coming on here.

Let me know anytime you're back in town. You've always got a spot here. That's Chris Maddox right here on the Rich Eisen Show on a busy Friday.

We've got about a minute plus left here on Roku. You mentioned Karl-Anthony in town saying Anthony Edwards is going to be the face of the NBA. Isn't that Scotty Barnes? Didn't I hear that? A lot of face of the NBA.

No, no. I thought that was Coach Darko in his fantastic rant, right? When he had like, what, two free throws to the Lakers, 90 million? Remember that game? Was that that one? You're at that game. He came on these and Scotty Barnes is the face of the NBA.

God, I love that. Good player. Edwards, I think, better chance to be the face. Chris, real quick before you go, can you talk about Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia?

I saw you sitting at that one interview. I don't know what's going on with Ryan Garcia. Ryan Garcia is, it looks like he's in the middle of a nervous breakdown and no one seems to be willing to pull the plug on this fight. I am a huge Ryan Garcia fan, always have been, but he's out there talking about the Illuminati and he's talking about all these conspiracy theories. And look, putting that aside, he's not in the mental, he's in the mental place to be ready for a fight on the level of Devin Haney.

So I have my concerns about Ryan. All right. Well, I appreciate you coming on here, man.

Fantastic. Where are you going next? Lakers, Lakers bucks tonight. Lakers bucks. Lakers.

Lakers. I don't know, man. How do you do?

Errors or no omissions? Nothing. Perfect.

I got no notes. Clean sheet. All right. First time in the one time.

Clean sheet. Wow. Well done. Well done. Somebody on Twitter will find it.

That's true. Back on The Rich House with Joe in a second. Hey, everybody. This is Dan Bespress, host of Fantasy NBA Today, a daily fantasy basketball podcast. We cover every box score from every game every day. Plus bonus shows on Bilo opportunities, players to stash, schedule analysis, and really anything you could need to smash your league into deliciously tiny pieces. Catch the Fantasy NBA Today podcast, part of the Believe Network on YouTube or wherever you listen.