The world's greatest steeplechase you're a senior national disciple. But it's like school's expert. Chris Robinson Alan Oldroyd to head the breakfast in an alibi 1st round up at this week's boxing knees with Mike Castello and Steve Bunce this is a prerecorded programmes to Please don't text or call. 5. Welcome to 5 Live boxing with Costello and bounce Lots to get into day including Katie Taylor picking up another world title last Friday night in Philadelphia an impressive performance from another London 2012 starring Luke Campbell on the same bill and Shirley Edwards defending his flyweight world title this coming weekend in London but 1st stave we experienced a different kind of fight night on Saturday just gone at the O 2 Arena for U.F.C. London don't knock it Mike don't look you know what's interesting is the amount of tweets I got an amount of people on the night that made a comment to me about Castello would be upset now that you're not at your B.M.I. Go respond that I said no and that she did say boy Mike's CHIEF CORRESPONDENT I'm just in charge of T.V. That's we dilute every poll in every now and again yes we did go to see the U.F.C. At the weekend we were guests of the U.F.C. To get that straight we didn't pay 225 pounds but I will tell you it was enjoyable from the very 1st 2nd if it is enjoyable from the moment we got there apart from the fact that our tickets weren't there when we went to get them and I was worried about you put in a chokehold on the games or that you have seats all going to standing what was what about you getting upset about that people weren't happy that I suggested that the fighter should come out to the famous song from the 70s everybody was coming from fighting and I'll tell you what economy Gregor doesn't use that next I'm a Dutchman I loved every I loved every bit of it OK some of it some of the whistling grappling the jujitsu is a little bit esoteric and I've got to be honest here it's a little bit boring those 5 minute rounds can be bored but the crowd love it because they know what's out there but knockouts good I think the sportsmanship. Was fantastic awful in and out so the rings were brutal for a full down hard if we did a great job interview and people are real he was brilliant but they're not he was brilliant interviewing people in the ring A really did and his simple question what we call a certain aficionados of the mixed martial brand in the U.F.C. Set up but what didn't you like about it what did you leave there and go call it was orrible Yeah there were 100 points I was thinking of cheering the night but that the one thing that lost me was I just didn't know enough about what I was watching but it did strike me Steve that's the 1st time in a long time that I've been to an arena of that size with a crowd of that size for a big fight night event in my case boxing and it just reminds you of how privileged we are to be even close as we really rather those people yeah even closer than we were on Saturday night but I thought that the seamless nature of the show was really impressive once a fight was finished Dan Hardy did his interview marched out of the ring and then up on the screens on the screen 6 around the arena so wherever you were sat there was information and straight away on came the video profiles highlights reels and interviews with the 2 fighters who were about to come into the ring and by the way they came into the ring straight away so you had that kind of seamless feel but I did sense there were there were many levels I mean at one stage without really wanting to listen I heard 3 different conversations going on around him behind me by people who clearly weren't interested in what I was seeing in front of them but maybe that's that's the nature of a sport I just don't understand also it was the nature of the night because without trying to sound like an expert I picked the brains of the young expert next to me a kid that used to work for the U.F.C. About 2324 he was there his friend really noticed the mixed martial arts you have seen earlier boxing as well picked his brains and that was good a fight not a fight night OK Don't look at me like that generally be U.F.C. 237 or 2 on the next the next one to be 236 if you needed to win it so that wasn't a pay per view and. That was a way for younger fighters guys earn in their way for men and women if it was a bit of history because Molly McCann Molly McCann That's and I'm from Liverpool couldn't if you're off those Michel she had to damage and she was being attended to by some medics she wants to become the 1st English will ever win a U.F.C. Fight so there was in a bit of history there were 13 fights my last is now OK and this is leading up to the count Michael Bay's been through on the in the good old ways and I'm going all the way so there were there were 13 fights and there were 13 British fighters and that's all down to Michael Bisping it was announced on the night he got 5 minutes down innovation which was moving he was genuinely moved by is announce he is going to be inducted into the U.F.C. Hall of Fame in the summer in Las Vegas he did a fantastic show March around the octagon and then he went off to do some interviews he came into the sport in April 2007 a sorries 1st fight but by blood by Charles has got there I'm not making out I'm an expert end up being at that show for some reason but what's really interesting Mike is that without him then the U.F.C. In this country and this came from several people not just the U.F.C. People trying to sell me their line the guy next to me said the same thing and it basically the quote is something along without base spin there's no US I know you have seen the U.K. Are not the same he's revolutionized and change the face the 1st Brit to ever win a U.F.C. World title and if you think I'm reading here I'm not this is because up in Dublin absorbing a cent and anybody to ignores Michael Bisping contribution to British ball you've been a full if you will moment opinion another of the notes that I'm a slave and we will go on to talk about aero Spence and the rest very shortly because I realize that if people want information about U.F.C. And M.M.A. Then they've got their own polkas but I'm just I'm just working on this and extending the stay because I'm looking at and was all the time on Saturday night looking at ways for boxing to took to copy the best elements of what we saw on Saturday night and I mentioned earlier that the smooth operation issues went from fight to fight to fight but it also struck me that watching some of those. Yes and I was told that Nathaniel would one of the youngsters on the bill was potentially one of the best ever M.M.A. Artists in this country but those are the types of fighters and that's that we would have crowd that boxing should be embracing and what I like my who also is that the family would be absolutely right I mean the crowd like to the crowd want to we were tipped off about you could see a little bit star quality about him should be robust fine as a welterweight that's the bottom line again I really mean now he's not he's with them you know not look it's not an OS and then he's over there finally mixed martial arts but Mike his record if I'm not mistaken is something like 15 wins free defeats that we would never stand for that and I got to tell you what you made that great point there were 6 televised fights that's 12 boxes in No 6 televised fights only one of them entered the ring unbeaten so 11 of the people had lost some of them multiple not like that one to another loss previous to last one I'm afraid of stats that they are you frightened by the stats that I might know you would have stats. That is like going back to and take boxing because then guys what used to happen here in the days of you know Sugar Ray Robinson 135 before he beat him but generally speaking and unbeaten record wasn't nearly as absolute and in the not too distant past and talking about Sugar Ray Robinson state I can help to go home and do some homework because when Michael Bisping was being on over the weekend up on the screen and I pointed it out to you that he'd spent 6 hours and 5 minutes 3 seconds effort if we said forget it. So you went home and did some homework on mom and Ollie audio and Sugar Ray Robinson go on he. Was 4 did the homework on Ali when I was trying to do was work out exactly how many hours minutes and seconds he spent in the ring as a professional boxer It wasn't easy is it took an awful lot of work but I came up with 26 hours 20 minutes and 25 seconds. 26 hours 20 minutes and 25 seconds don't tell me you did sugary rubbers and you couldn't of thought it might Sugar Ray Robinson was in the ring for 4150 minutes there. About maybe slightly on the slightly over and that works out to $69.00 and a half hours in the ring. Fight time boxing time there is not one minute rest between rounds included that fight time $69.00 and a half hours he's been in the ring suspend times the career that Michael was 63 more hours than base being. The kind of history that boxing has but the kind of history that U.F.C. Is building you know Jack our producer was showing us that the website how they're celebrating 25 years and if you go to bookshops in the United States now you see as many mixed martial arts books as you do boxing bookseller's this history now is underpinning the sport in the way that we used to celebrate Boxing and say that boxing is got the history that M.M.A. And you have seen who have or haven't gone that's been built and just quickly Mike I know you said we touched on the fans the fans were there before us and we got there at 6 o'clock 10 past 6 they were in place and there was that brilliant thing when you see you know we were 56 rows back from the octagon octagon side is a world I invented and introduced into the lexicon sport lexicon and yesterday in the Indy when you sit in an octagon side and you looking around no one's moving about standing up to cheer and now at a boxing show next time your boss is gentlemen aware is whether it's a show you'll call or whether it's the A.V.N. Or whether it's less this weekend or a couple blocks just look at the focus on one position one point anywhere in the arena and we in a minute 60 people move around they sat still they did not move until the bits I had bought a way that they the ended that there until flight was a bitter savage ending they came for it they got it they are known for the best fighting the best and you know there is the the major lesson that boxing can learn from U.F.C. And there is that seamless nature as I say of use that phrase before about being this single entity in charge of the whole operation and we're seeing in boxing how the splintered nature of the sport is denying us the best events so far this year but we did see one on Saturday nights they got home a few hours after they. US a fight in London to watch Errol Spence and his brilliant performance in Beijing Mikey Garcia at Arlington in Texas Spence winning all 12 rounds on 03 score cause a No he was in against the lighter man but coming into 2019 if you'd asked me who would win a showdown between Terrence Crawford and Errol Spence out of Gong Crawford after Saturday night I'm now going Errol Spence because I've seen the way he outboxed a brilliant Boxer and I just think he's a bigger stronger welterweight than Terrence coffee's Crawford's only had 2 fights in the world weight division has got his 3rd coming off against am a context month I just think all round Errol Spence is the better world you know of so don't disagree and we seldom I mean our top 5 in whatever comes up generally about the sign but the one big difference in our top 5 pound for pound stars going into this year I have stuck arrow Spence in and dropped 7 school for the out and got an awful lot of criticism criticism for it I shall be privileged to watch Spence on when we did a lot of those Box Nation shows it was spent on the on the cards fights that no one is saying so what watch to be muted bod sit in a studio and watch him even dismantling guys you news will dismantle so I knew that what we saw the other day was there somewhere not that I predicted it would be much because they are that would beat up the fight where we got to see him at his absolute best there was that there was a patience about him that great far as have Mike you know lots of people can bang a lot people can move people can do certain things off of the shore that for but patience is is something special and good for us and there was a politician's above and when I'm watching Errol Spence I think back to London 2012 and how he failed to figure in the middle stages unlike Katie Taylor and Luke Campbell who were both impressive in winning in Philadelphia 24 hours earlier Katie Taylor now holds 3 of the 4 World title belts lightweight she took the W.B. 0 crown from the Brazilian rose by land hate to add to the W B A and I B F. MICHAELS that Taylor already held the fight was stopped in the 9th round after a clash of heads open a cuts on the land he knows and the referee stepped in from a stay this was Katie Taylor's best win as a pro through some solid body shots more so I thought than than in the past although that has been an important part of her armory and there was I like the way that she she slips the jab either inside or outside and finds some US room so instantly for a counter right hand but very very smart all around performance of is this performance that the we've we know she can do and in fact the one time we saw fell out was because we felt she was a little bit sloppy a little bit lazy on her you know big gung ho and you know trying to impress too much and I remember having a conversation with Katie after a couple of fights and saying look the stoppages will come but if you chase them they won't come even the best bangers in the world don't get stops if you go chasing you've got to take your time pick people about which of course you know she can do she she defied the would like 152 minute rounds and and and but what it also did like is once again she's you know a world title unification a partial unification and she's just head and shoulders streets ahead of the opposition who are perfectly OK and you know that you know Rose well and say could be could go with dozens of 14 she was 140 going in she could fight another 14 women and have been of life and they're there for them title is just operating on a slightly different level is she a victim of a success no she's a victim of a sport that isn't yet fully developed is that simple and I mean that in the nicest possible way and it's not a slug or an up in the Irish papers again she didn't put a foot wrong and she did absolutely have been she could have done. It's just that the that's that's that's the problem if we're going to if we're going to keep on identifying these female Well champions and talk about them in depth we need to just take that bounce Asterix next to them is that there is just a lack of depth. I think there's an element as well Steve read a profile of a brilliant profile of Tiger Woods many years ago and he says how they the best in sport not only dominate they intimidate you and when Tiger Woods took to that say there was this feeling well this is it all right the rest of us are playing for 2nd I get that sense that opponents walk to the ring now with that in mind against the whatever they might say at the press conference is however strong they might look in the stare down at the way in. A sense that she has now this aura around as she's she's now fighting again with that confidence that we saw in the amateur rags for the blip of 2012 because of all the politically involved issues all 26 they now collapse and 2012 was was was you know when she was a blunt pretty pretty much had a peak as an amateur and again as she is now she was close to invincible but she does have that aura and I think the next fight potentially against their fame person the Belgian who holds the one belt that she hasn't got the W.B.C. Title is a step up but I still think it's it's a case of Katie Taylor is is in a world of our own we want to find that their persona formal my tie and kick boxer and various other mixed martial arts not not the ought to conceive of fighting as far as I could make and she's obviously tough as she's got along all seasoned record and she and she's hard she she might end up being uneasy not for Katie because what she isn't is she hasn't for that top international amateur level against the mystery as eries you know women vanished off the scene and come back and suddenly boxing is a way did that come from against slick French women like if they'll Mosley who at some point has got to be screaming and crying and chasing Taylor down the line somewhere and all those are Italians odos of a Russians that Katie Taylor had to be so convincingly to get the decisions in bizarre tournament and bowl game we're Romania Ukraine Kazakstan and was. Becca stone and Katie actually have a dream fight that night Mike because he's not going to get drawn into a center of the ring slugfest that might end up being whatever easier fights and then we've got a bit of a problem I think she's going to have to go to try and work something out with Cecilia brute who she's got about 7 of the bill the belt a few pounds heavier they're going to have to do some sort of catchweight to make a super fight because it's not like in the old days when fighters jumped to a freestyle you know the women being a Jane couch Fighting think and war for whatever all of you know give it away like a stout and a half that that's not going to happen again we're too far advanced now than it was and over just from those 2 names out there were a lot of women jumped a little white by then it's not going to happen now but surely I can see breakers sometime this year and that could be a sleeper for my Because they're both technically gifted OK Taylor boxing as well as at any stage since she won gold at London 2012 and another of the gold medalists at those London Olympics Campbell was on the cards in Philadelphia he was returning to the ring for the 1st time since he appeared on the undercard of Anthony Joshua's contest against Alexander perfect in 6 months ago when Billy stadium Campbell very impressive in stopping Adrian Young in 5 rounds he was so precise against a fighter who was limited but very heavy handed and I think he was pinpoint in what he was doing and at his best you know we saw later on 24 hours later where all Spence I've often said that South horse can be so tasty as to watch but the best of them whether it's a cow sack against lazy or else Spencer guesses are the dossier or Luke Campbell admitted today in a lower company than those 2 have just mentioned but when they flow they are beautiful to watch and he's remembered conference and sang so often about one of his assets was the judgement of distance and and look Campbell on Friday night stated that absolutely brilliant he did and Mike is maturing you know he's the bit of a set back when he had that 1st loss to the Frenchman where there was something wrong . No it was completely Well he's had it had been flying through trainers he'd been flying through his living arrangements then of course in the build up to the Lynn hours fire the problem with his release father which he kept him from everybody and I think what we're seeing now is Luke Campbell into in what we hope will be an untouchable period as as a as a lightweight in Britain you know it's there for him there's all sorts of fights out there as a lightweight you know well it's there for him there's all sorts of fights out there he'll be in but in this year at least one maybe even 2 will top of us that there's going to be a momentum in this year's going to go ballistic Luke I was going to be part of that snowball of fighters Well moving on to next w