`Pound for Pound with John Scott - Georges Laraque 

Brilliant, candid conversation. I love that these legendary tough guys are also brave enough to speak about their feelings.

As a staunch Edmonton Oiler fan I had the pleasure watching him from a raw rookie to the King of the hill……one of the nicest, politest, kindest and toughest guy you could meet…..

George kept saying how scared he was. I bet his opponents were even more scared to fight him. Lol

Mr Scott, Nice job developing this series. Please reach out to the guys from the 60's and 70's while we still have them. And Mr. Laraque, you were a great interview and warrior.

People remember Georges as a fighter but honestly he was a very serviceable fourth liner. I loved having him as part of the 2008 Penguins team that went to the Stanley Cup final and did not want him to leave the following season.

What a great pair of guys. The more I watch the tough guy interviews, the more I realize they have a lot more going on than their reputations imply. The honesty about the nerves belies the calm exterior on the ice. Great interview John, Georges.

Outstanding job John and George! So much respect for the two of you being so candid about the fear that goes in to the role of enforcer. Outstanding.

Awesome interview John.....love hearing these hockey stories from you guys....true legends of the game.......when it was a man's game. Cheers 🍻

This is the greatest 36 minutes I've seen on youtube. Thanks guys!

Awesome interview...John is a natural at this...two class acts just being honest about the whole fight game much respect for these guys.

Man this is just awesome, great job John! My wish list: Twist, Paul Laus, Dave Brown, Dan Kordic and Nicky Fotiu. Keep up the good work :)

This series is nothing short of amazing.

George is an awesome guy. He’s still loved here in Edmonton. He’s on the radio once a week and he’s always great and sometimes he’ll get on a roll and he’s hysterically funny. Very big heart too with all the charities and so on and he always pumps up the guy he’s talking to and tries to make a positive impression. I love this interview show, I’m glad I clicked on it.

This is brilliant, so interesting, I love this channel. John Scott is a superb interviewer, making it all about the guest and not himself. George’s Laraque is such a likeable, funny, honest guy in telling it like it really was, with all the fear involved. It’s a bonus he’s also a Vegan! ❤️

“ I was hoping to get sick, get pneumonia, get run over by a bus…“ LOL!!!!

Fantastic insight! BGL is a legend ..... John, you do a great job.

That was a great conversation. Totally enjoyed it. Interesting, personal, humorous , that’s an interview.

GL is probably the toughest dude to put on a pair of skates. It's a lucky thing for many of opponents that he is a nice guy at heart. Many times he had a player in a vulnerable position at the end of a fight and he let up, Very honorable player/fighter.

Perhaps 1 of the greatest interviews i have ever watched of these NHL gladiators !! Tyvm Scott.

I will always remember the clip of him asking a guy to fight and then wishing him good luck and then Darren pang loling.

Brilliant training strategy by Georges.

I’ve listened to 5 minutes so far and I hav to pause and say this is gold. This is catering to fans like me that loved this era and loved and appreciated the enforcers. As a fan I have been shunned by the NHL. I’d rather see roughness than fancy stick handling/speed.

Seriously this show is brilliant!

Miss you in Edmonton, Big Georges!! One of the best fighters we ever saw here.. in the same league as Semenko, Brown, and MacIntyre. Just a dominant fighter, but also a great person too. I love his story about how he trained on the ice too. Very smart.. surprising other guys (or few guys, if any) were doing it at that time. Wonder if it's any different today.

Love these John .. Keep this going it's great for us older fans who remember what you guys did .. Utmost of respect for the tough guys of Hockey ..

Georges scored 13 goals in a season...he could play the game. Not bad for a guy as big as sasquatch!

2:54 I visited Oduya's grave a couple of summers ago. Nice touch by Laraque to speak so well of him.

MR Laraques hat trick was amazing. I am no Oilers fan. Far from it. But I remember watching that game and it was amazing to see him earn that Hatty!!! Respect to Mr Laraque for years and years of highlights growing up. Great interview Mr Scott.

I didn’t know who Georges Laraque was until a couple months ago randomly finding him on Instagram, but damn I love this dude. Awesome video

Awesome interview! 👊👊👊💪💪 miss the 90s and 00s. Hearing the stories is incredible

What an amazing human. Great respect for the honesty from perhaps the toughest guy to ever lace em up

Thank you!!! AWSOME interview

As a former player, just school-boy hockey and some college stuff, I just want to say how much I respect these "tough guys" who obviously are thinking men, too. They are asked to do a very tough and dangerous job, and some pay a heavy price for it - Derek Boogaard comes to mind - so it is great to see/hear the men behind the image. The enlightened types want hockey to do away with fighting entirely, but it wouldn't be the same sport without it. And just because guys fight, doesn't mean they don't respect each other down the line. If you honor the code of the game, you'll win respect. And it looks like these guys did just that. Hey John Scott - Hawks fan here... still miss seeing you in the Indian Head sweater. Hope life after hockey is treating you and yours OK. That year at the All-Star Game was the coolest thing .... I'll never forget it, and I know darned sure you won't!

What a great conversation! Even some of the old school guys (my youth) 70s and 80s were so down to earth and real when meeting them. Georges man, what a great guy. Big John... loved seeing you in the ASG! :-)

That was awesome! True legends. John Scott you keep it going. You have a gift at interviewing and bringing the best out of the tough guys of the game.

Very nice interview!George is a nice guy,always smiling and giving back to the community,we like him very much around here...

Great interview! Two character guys! Thanks!

Amazing interview. How come I have missed this. Two great guys.

Thanks for that Scott! That was aw3esome. I didn't expect anything less out of Georges. What a great guy.

Thank you for doing this, buddy seems like a good guy

Laraque is in the top 5 of all time...and he could play. Not just a tough guy...but what sets him apart from most known sports stars is his genuineness...his humility. Always wished he could of worn the orange and black... I guess the FLYERS felt different?

Georges Laraque is a genuinely nice guy. Unless he needed to beat you down in a game. Then......well.....he was a very, very dangerous nice guy.

Wow, I have much more respect for Big George (and for Big John) after watching this. Great insight to what it’s like to be a fighter in the NHL. Looking forward to listening to other vids (can you interview other favs like The Grim Reaper and Marty?) ;-)

These guys are so awesome. LOVE the stories ❤❤

Outstanding

Excellent interview John… great insight from one of the very best to ever drop the gloves. Interesting to hear George’s strategy of getting a death grip and pulling the fighter in and straightening his opponents up right in front of him by leaning on them with his 250lbs. While making it easer to hit his opponents. It was always evident he had great leg strength and makes sense with his core now to. Don’t recall anyone ever wrestling him off of his skates. He always won the takedowns. Got him ranked in top 5 all-time.

both u guys are legends two of the best ever thanks for all the good ones

This podcast is so good ! I wish these episodes would be longer though

Georges, one of the toughest guys ever! That story about him and Louie DeBrusk scared to look at Dave Brown was hilarious. Dave Brown was a straight up assassin and literally looked like he was going for manslaughter every fight.

john your the man! i didnt know your had a podcast! newest subscriber!

fantastic interview! hilarious! and that's a sweet Ed Belfour poster in the background

This was a lot of fun to watch.

Oh, this is great!!

Great stuff

I could listen to Jon and George talk all day

Love the insight interview. Hi George, glad to see you beat Covid too. I have one of your game jerseys from when you played here in Edmonton. Would like to have you autograph it sometime. Thanks

You gotta love big George what a class act and a great guy!

The way he handled Ray was beyond impressive...his raw strength and balance is second to maybe only Simon. And then he beat up Simon....and he seem like such a nice person. Who wouldn't want Laraque on their team?

Nice to hear an athlete, especially a "goon" communicate so eloquently. I'm impressed by this fellow.

Great interview Bravo! Behn Wilson, please

There's not enough good meat and potatoes guys like you in the league now!!! Great content as ever!

This guy is one of my favorites because of his gentle nature

One of the greats who also has a great attitude . Much respect to Geaorges

Having myself crowned Laraque and Probert in my previous post don't forget about one of the more originals (John Ferguson Sr. Montreal Canadiens)

Great interview! I think Ken Baumgartner would be an interesting guy to interview. He played during the toughest era and is a complete dichotomy from his role as an enforcer.

Brilliant training strategy by Laraque. He was a master grappler and shut the best of em down. Appreciate his honesty and vulnerability in this interview.

Laraque is legend! I would rather have anyone punch me in the face than Georges.. One of the most feared and best to throw hands, hands down.

Legend and often forgotten - found some of the greatest... GL is a top 20

As a young Oilers fan I always thought there wasn't anyone or anything that Big George Laraque was scared of.... Toughest dude I ever saw... Most memorable George moment was obviously his hatty against LA... Most memorable fight was against Colton Orr (Rangers) and he buckled his knees three times.... Grew up watching Colton fight in Winnipeg with the South Blues.... Seeing him get his ass handed to him was astonishing

Awesome discussion Gentleman. I always had a feeling that Big George must have trained different (MMA etc)? or something in the off season because his balance(core strength) was so Superior to others. Size/Muscle on Skates vs Strength and Balance... And what George said about the MVP thing John put alot of Faith that was lost back in the Game from the Fans Perspective. It was like you single handedly took the game back and handed it us?? Bless you both...

love the George Laraque hat trick: 3 goals and a fight! I think Jim Mckenzie had one of those against the Kings when he was in Phoenix. not 100% sure but I think he did.

I’m back to say this was absolutely incredible. I hung on every word. Hearing candid commentary on some classic fighting moments was throughly entertaining. It’s a genius concept. I will also say I like Laraque a lot more now. He has a great personality and he’s humble and honest.

Awesome

George Laraque is freakin the best wow. Dude is such a honest and genuine dude. Edit: I wish you guys talked about fighting the goat Bob Probert and go into the Brashear fights. Dang missed opportunity hopefully next time. That is to me the pinnacle of Larague's fights.

Great clip George was a genuine top heavyweight

This is a great series, love to hear the real person that you don't get when they play. My personal opinion is that big George was top 3 all time

Looking forward to reffing you at Hockey for the Homeless in Winnipeg!

Georges is correct, back then tough guys would probably have to fight at least once every game. that's totally different from today's game. such a tough job.

It would be interesting to have Tony Twist on and have John just straight up ask him about steroids. There's no way you get from his Nordiques physique to his dominant monster body with the Blues without some pharmaceuticals.

This is so interesting ☺👌

Boogaard seemed to have trouble with the strong southpaws: Laraque, Brashear, Simon.

"We all worry" then there's Tony Twist who said in a documentary that he loved fighting and wanted to hurt people lol

I never saw anyone beat Laraque and you can’t say that about many tough guys in the NHL. He never even looked angry while the battle was going on like most guys do. He often just intimidated his opponents by his calm demeanor during the fights. One time he even wished his opponent good luck before a fight and still gave the guy a beatdown.

He's such a gentleman.

Tremendous

Great interview! I was never a big fan of Laraque as a fighter because so many of his fights were just him overpowering guys and throwing them to the ice, but hearing how much thought he put into how he trained gives me a lot more respect for his style. He may not have been the most exciting fighter but he was clearly one of the most intelligent, and there is no denying how effective he was.

Brilliant interview it would be good to get Colton Orr on John!!

Can you do an episode on Darren Langdon please? Such an underated enforcer

Awesome interview! "I had the worst pre-game nap, I think I peed my bed..." HAHAHAAA!!! George is the best, love and miss chatting with you forever George, at of all places...Canadian Tire...(twice!! lol ). Top three king heavyweights of all time with 'Cement-head' Semenko, Brownie (MacIntyre as well...all Oilers :) Probert, Dave Schultz, Bouregard with honorable mention right up there as well. Hockey has become so pansy now unfortunately :(

Please don’t stop making these

Georges Laraque is the undisputed #1 enforcer of alltime. So much control in fights thats his heart rate wouldn't even go up. He could play hockey! Can you imagine BGL playing with no instigator rule? Great career !

34:10 Mick Vukota Natural Hat Trick in 5 minutes in the first period and then fought Alan May in the 2nd period.

George is a great man! I wouldn't want to piss him off!

john scott reminds me of will farrell's sidekick in the movie Step Brothers

interesting... i heard an interview with Dave Brown on Chris Nilan's podcast...he said the same thing...going to the American League helped him become a better fighter...he said he couldn't make the jump as a fighter direct from Junior straight to the NHL

I didnt know Georges was cousins with Jean Luc Grand Pierre

Georges, come back and protect Cole Caufield.

Great interview, John.

In my top 5 toughest of all time Laroque is number 3 behind Probert and McSorley. 4 is Schultz and 5 Simon.

Georges is just like my ex wife...."I always says yes"! Beauty!