Podbit · On Purpose with Jay Shetty
Towns arrives four hours before an 11am shootaround, watches film, then deliberately fills his mind with everything except basketball before the game. And when he locks in, he sees nothing — no fans, no celebrities, not even Timothée Chalamet sitting one seat away.
Where this was said
At 56:35 · chapter starts 54:26
Shetty asks what a playoff pre-game day looks like. Towns's answer is a masterclass in preparation: arrive at 7am for an 11am shootaround, work on the body, shoot before and after the team session, go home for pasta and a nap, then arrive at the arena at 4:15pm. From there, the key is to do everything except think about basketball — sports cards, YouTube golf, talking to Jordan about something completely different. [1] — Karl-Anthony Towns "Towns arrives four hours before an 11am shootaround, watches film, then deliberately fills his mind with everything except basketball befor…" 56:35 The focus that builds through this ritual is almost superhuman: Towns describes the court shrinking as the game goes on, shadows replacing faces in the crowd. The story that captures it best involves Timothée Chalamet sitting one seat away from him in San Antonio — in Chrome Heart jeans, screaming his name — for the entire game, completely unnoticed. The segment closes with Towns discussing his pride in representing the Dominican Republic and his dream of taking the national team to the Olympics, calling it one of his greatest possible honors.
Towns arrives at the practice facility four hours before an 11am shootaround, turning on the lights himself and working on his body before anyone else arrives.
Thomas's wife deferred her CrossFit career — she's in the global top 1% of athletes — to put him through law school debt-free. He wants her to chase the dream now; she wants the emergency fund and house down payment first. On a $200K lawyer income with no debt, the opportunity cost is just a few months of slower saving.
Underground calisthenics battles are exactly like UFC meets a rap battle — 150 people crowded around a circle, fighters walking out with masks and chains, nicknames like 'Extra Money' vs 'Calisthenics the Prince,' and people throwing money and betting. The battle set: 100 burpees, 50 muscle-ups, 75 dips, 75 squats with a 65-pound dumbbell. This is the next big spectator sport.
Rico Verhoeven controlled the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion for approximately 10 rounds — and had his appeal upheld when officials admitted the fight was stopped after the bell. The result was never overturned. Rogan calls it either incompetence or corruption, and argues the money behind Usyk made an upset politically inconvenient.
Rogan lays out a blunt case: boxing's 3-judge system is structurally broken, and the judges know who the promoter wants to win. Glory's 5-judge format is the right model. Corruption doesn't have to be conscious — just knowing Usyk is the cash cow is enough to tilt the scales.
With the Usyk-Wilder fight stalling and Fury-Joshua coming too late, the real fight the world wants is the rematch. Rico is a free agent. Usyk vacated his belts. The story is unfinished and both Rogan and Rico know it. His Excellency Turki Alasheikh already called for it ringside — the question is money.
Rico texted Jason Statham during the Canelo-Crawford fight. Statham showed Rico's highlight videos to promoters. Two days later, Rico was on a call about fighting Anthony Joshua. When Joshua pulled out, Rico pitched Usyk himself — Undisputed vs. Undisputed. Usyk said yes in two weeks. The whole thing started with one text.
Every heavyweight who faced Usyk tried to move to the right — straight into his power hand. Rico and Peter Fury identified the obvious solution: move left, away from the left hand, and smother him with size. It sounds simple. Nobody had done it. That one adjustment was the foundation of 10 dominant rounds.
MMA fans boo when fights go to the ground. They love stand-up. Kickboxing is pure stand-up. Yet it barely exists in America while boxing and MMA are enormous. Rogan's diagnosis: no promotion machine. If the UFC got behind kickboxing the way they've built MMA, it would explode. The talent is there — the storytelling machine is not.
A nation of 17 million people gave the world Ramon Deckers, Peter Aerts, Badr Hari, Melvin Manhoef, Rob Kamen, Ernesto Hoost, and Rico Verhoeven. Rico's theory: the country is so small that every gym shares knowledge freely. In the US, you need a flight. In Holland, you drive 40 minutes and spar the national champion.
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