Boxing Life Stories Tris Dixon

Las Vegas referee Tony Weeks has landed some of the most high profile assignments in boxing in recent years.

Weeks was the third man in the ring the night Diego Corrales stunned Jose Luis Castillo in their first fight, had to set Bernard Hopkins straight against Antwun Echols and he was also the referee the night Leavander Johnson lost his lightweight title – and later his life – against Jesus Chavez.

Here, Weeks talks about the big nights, the risks, the bloody shirt from the Badou Jack-Marcus Browne fight, starring in Hollywood films, and much more.

Joe Mesi retired undefeated, at 36-0, but after issues with a brain scan he found it harder and harder to get licensed until he finally called it a day.

Now Joe still has a links to brains in his current profession, selling medical equipment.

In boxing, he is known as the 'brain fighter' because of the injuries he sustained following his big fight with Vassily Jirov, and it was fascinating to hear about the research he did about whether it would be safe for him to box again.

When the injury occurred, Mesi was being linked to fights with Mike Tyson, Wladimir Klitschko and a rematch with former amateur foe Hasim Rahman. Then everything changed… 

Mesi and podcast host Tris Dixon met in upstate New York recently to talk about Joe's life in and out of the ring, his rise to becoming Buffalo's 'Third Franchise' and much more besides.

Promoter Lou DiBella is one of the most outspoken men in the sport. In his former role at HBO, he worked with the likes of Floyd Mayweather, Lennox Lewis and Pernell Whitaker and as a promoter he's been with Bernard Hopkins, Micky Ward, Sergio Martinez and many others.

He lost a brother to suicide, rescues animals (including a zebra!), was this week inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and here also discusses his relationship with the likes of Eddie Hearn and Al Haymon.

Lou's induction has caused him to be reflective in recent weeks, thinking about the best and worst the sport has to offer, while remaining positive that it is, overall, a force for good.

Promoter Kathy Duva was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2020, but officially goes in this year as no induction ceremonies have taken place since the pandemic.

Kathy's journey includes plenty of star names, and we talk about Arturo Gatti, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, Vinny Pazienza, Andrew Golota, Sergey Kovalev, Tomasz Adamek and many more.

But it's Kathy's own story that hits the hardest. She lost her husband Dan when he was just 44, brought up their three children, went back to university, survived cancer,  has built and rebuilt Main Events several times over and she's been ringside at some of the biggest fights in history. She's also battled institutionalised discrimination on her way to a deserved plaque in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

In 1982, Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney shared a historic night and wonderful 13 rounds in Las Vegas.

Holmes was the experienced champion, Cooney the untested but heavy-hitting contender yet the backdrop of the fight was about race, which made it the biggest money fight in boxing history at the time. 

After the hostilities, however, Holmes and Cooney formed a friendship that endures to this day and they are something of a double act. The bad blood and the animosity has subsided but here they look back on the night they fought, their careers before and afterwards, and their relationship today, while answering some of the myths and stories that surrounded their battle.  

The super-middleweight 'Gorilla' talks about the highs and lows of his career that see him on the cusp of another big fight following a win over American Danny Jacobs.

Ryder talks about the many battles he's faced away from the ring, working with Tony Sims, struggling to make middleweight, big fights with Billy Joe Saunders, Nick Blackwell, Jacobs, Callum Smith and others as well as his stablemates, old and new, including Anthony Joshua, Darren Barker, Ricky Burns, Conor Benn, Felix Cash and many others.