Errol Spence Jr. vs. Lamont Peterson final press conference live stream

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Prescient. What're tomorrow's lotto #'s?

 

We going live now btw.

 

Lou DB up there hustling.

 

Lou introduces Barclays Center director and CEO Brett Yormark, saying he is responsible for revitalizing boxing in NYC.

 

Yormark is pleased to welcome back Adam Kownacki, who is making his seventh appearance in eight fights in one of Yormark's buildings (his group also owns the Coliseum), sixth @ Barclay's specifically. Has kind of become a "home turf" fighter there.

 

Dibbles introduces Ring Mag "trainer of the year" Derrick James (coach of Errol Spence) without inviting him up to the podium, just gesturing to where he is seated on the panel, and continues hyping the event.

 

Stephen Espinoza is up, and first off also extends his congrats to Derrick James.

He says he loves his job, bc:

He gets to work with lots of young men (bruh) of great character. He says you won't find better than Barry Hunter and Derrick James. He says it's a cliche but it's true - you can't "play boxing". He says in the NBA & NFL you can slide a bit and it's fine but you need to be always focused & "on" in boxing. He says there's too much televised boxing (bruh). He says that not all boxing is of equal caliber just because it's all televised (well no ****), and that what we have on Saturday is special, because you don't have to Google their names or wonder where they're from. Spence and Peterson are top-10 guys that everybody knows. Peterson is making his eighth appearance on Showtime which apparently means something (three on ShoBox, now 5 on Showtime Championship Boxing). Easter Jr. vs. Fortuna is also two top ten guys. He reiterates that not all TV boxing is the same. Showtime is "special" because it's the cream of the crop. He says the Kownacki fight could be a main event on almost any other network but by Showtime's standards it only makes the free stream at 7pm. That's how special this special guy thinks his special program is. Oh by the way, special.

Then Lou DiBella comes up and says the word special like five more times.

 

Some dude on the podium now says the last time Easter Jr. lwas in with a "crafty lefty", Denis Shafikov, it was an entertaining ride. He asks what he's thinking heading into another such match-up.

Easter remains seated and says he isn't worried about Fortuna's pedigree and didn't realize he was a 2-time champ. He says "I'm a champion and these people know what I'm about in the fight game. I'm not shy. I'm coming in to not leave w/o my strap".

Fortuna is asked about comments he made that Easter made a mistake taking the fight against him. Fortuna says through a translator that it is too late for Easter to be assessing his credentials as an opponent or finding things out about him.

Easter responds "he got mad talking form but he ain't gonna have mad fighting form".

Fortuna says that beating Easter Jr. would be great for his country, career, fans, family.

The emcee asks Easter what he wants in 2018. He wants to unify the belts. He wants all the champs, and to stay healthy and on top of his game, and go into 2019 still undefeated.

 

I'm going to hazard a guess that yes, they are related, considering that Jay-Z is the main man behind both Roc and (formerly) Barclays.

 

Emcee dude asks if this will be a dog-fight. Spence is like "nah". J/k he actually says "...I think so" but with a long pause. So basically he wants no part of banging on the inside swapping body shots. Expect him to box from outside. He acknowledges it will be a tough fight and Peterson will be workmanlike, and that in the late rounds it will get raw. He says by a certain point his opponents have to either flee or stand and fight, and he expects Peterson to stand and fight. He says this will be fan-friendly.

Peterson is asked if he is hoping to stay healthy & injury-free to rebuild some momentum. He says that yes his preference would be to fight every month, even at this same level against guys like Spence. This is a jumping off point for him to rekindle his career. The emcee rudely asks how he responds to criticisms that he always loses in his biggest steps up. He says there's nothing he can say to that, it's all in the history books and soon so will this one be.