In a video interview recorded by Fight Hype, longtime trainer Vergil Hunter reflects on the drama between Errol Spence and his trainer Derrick James, who split over a dispute over trainer salaries, and gives his opinion on why James should be paid appropriately, even without knowing the details of their contract.

“The players understood that if this man was with you from root to fruit, he deserved to be rewarded,” Hunter said. “You don’t let someone come in and say, ‘Well, this isn’t family.’ How many times has the family been there? You don’t allow someone to come and say, “I don’t deserve this, this is enough.” How can you let someone decide how much is enough to pay a guy who has been with you through broad and slender?

“So they realized it was a loss for you. So if you don’t give it to the man who has been with you this whole time, you’ll give it to Uncle Sam for free. So you need to write it down. So you take from the man who was with you, but you still pay Uncle Sam what you should have paid him, and then Derrick could pay taxes on what you paid him.

“If you don’t give it to your trainer and get a transcript for someone who was there for you and helped you, you’re going to give it to Uncle Sam, who has never been to the gym with you, who has never been on a trip with you, who has never been with you didn’t start, who never went to tournaments with you when you were an amateur, who didn’t go to the Olympics with you, and then started with you in the professional rankings, he did it I don’t have my first championship belt with me… but you gave him a substantial one share in what you did.

“So I think if you looked at it from that perspective, players would pay coaches more fairly. Especially when you fail, many people blame the coaches. The coach is the first person to be blamed when you fail.

“With this man’s aid, you can make this kind of money. You can’t say it didn’t happen. He put you in a hard situation; he sweated with you, sacrificed with you and helped you earn that kind of money, you didn’t do it alone.

Almost two months after the first information about Teofimo Lopez’s official title defense. Top Rank announced today that the James L. Knight Center will meet Canadian veteran Steve Claggett on June 29 in Miami, Florida.

It’s worth noting that this ESPN show will almost certainly go head-to-head with Juan Francisco Estrada vs. “Bam” Rodriguez on DAZN.

Claggett (38-7-2, 26 KO), 34, is making his first world title shot almost 16 years after his professional debut. His album isn’t the prettiest, but it’s not the paper tiger type you might expect; he has some solid wins over Yves Ulysse Jr and Petros Ananyan, as well as plenty of mid-level kills, hasn’t been stopped in over a decade, and half of his losses since then have been by split or majority decision.

Still, while it’s nice to see him get this opportunity after putting in the work, he seems to be a much easier opponent for Lopez (20-1, 13 KO) to digest than previous worms Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz.

Lopez said: “I have always wanted to fight in South Florida, where I grew up and developed as a fighter.

“I never thought it would happen, but now, on June 29, I get the chance to do it not only as a world champion, but as a lineal world champion in my division. This has been one of my goals since I became a professional, and I am motivated to showcase my talent there in front of my Honduran fans and the entire Latin community.

“It’s like a Rocky Balboa story for Steve Claggett. I can’t wait to see what style I see. There were no other fighters who were interested in fighting me and I felt like he would give not only me but also the fans a great fight to watch.”

Former WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez (13-2, 8 KO) returns in a joint fight with Brandon Lee Benitez (21-2, 9 KO). Ramirez took a lot of punishment in his December war with Rafael Espinoza, but he’s no stranger to shocking losses in the professional ranks, so there’s a good chance he’ll still be in good shape. Meanwhile, 26-year-old Benitez is 7-0 since a knockout loss to Saul Sanchez in 2019, and two years ago he significantly defeated former champion Xu Can.

All things considered, not a bad rebound opponent.

At the beginning, Nico Ali Walsh (9-1, 5 KO) continues the fight against Sona Akale (9-1, 4 KO). Akale is 36 years antique and this is Cameron Krael’s only win with a current 1-11 skid, which should say something about his chances.

Following his split decision loss to Oleksandr Usyk over the weekend, Tyson Fury appeared at the post-fight press conference to express his reaction to what happened and why he’s not going to complain too much even though he believes he won the fight.

Fury on his reaction to the loss to Usyk

“I always say it’s about making money and having sex, and we did that today,” Fury said. “Thank you Oleksandr for a good fight. It was a tough fight, you know. I believe, I thought I did enough, but I’m not a judge, I can’t judge a fight when I box it.

“If they told me in the last round, ‘You’re losing.’ Come out and try to finish him off.” I would have done it, but everyone in the corner believed we had won. All I had to do was keep boxing and doing what I had to do. But that’s how it was, we won’t cry over spilled milk.

“We won many victories and I gave God the glory. I had one loss in a close fight against a good man like Usyk, and that was it. I gave it my all – I actually had a great time.

When he felt the tide of the fight begin to turn

“I thought for the first six innings he might have hit one of the runs. And looking further, I think I won the last few rounds as well. Let’s say I won five of the first six, and then I won a few in the next six, so listen, it was close. I don’t know. I gave it my all and that’s what it was… I can’t complain about it.