Boxing

New world champion Jose Rivera returns home

16.09 - WORCESTER, Mass. - Somewhat lost in the hype and controversy surrounding last Saturday night's Shane Mosley-Oscar De La Hoya fight was the championship performance turned in halfway around the world that same evening by "El Gallo" Jose Antonio Rivera, who captured the vacant World Boxing Association welterweight title with a 12-round majority decision (116-111, 116-114, 114-114) against previously unbeaten German boxer Michel Trabant (38-0, 18 KOs) at the Estrel Convention Center in Berlin.

"It feels great to be one of the major World Champions," Rivera said upon his return home to Worcester (MA). "It honestly hasn't hit me, yet. I guess I'm waiting for my title belt to arrive later this week. I really wasn't worried about the decision in his hometown because the WBA did such a good job of making sure there was some neutrality in picking the judges and ref. Going to Germany worrying about that may have hampered my performance.

"The difference was my determination. He fought hard, but I let him know early that he was going to be in a war if he wanted that. I wore him down in the later rounds and that's where my determination really came in. I refused to let my mind, body or spirit become tired. My heart and conditioning is what enabled me to finish the fight so strong."

The WBA mandated that the Rivera-Trabant winner must fight No. 1 rated Thomas Daamgard within 120 days.

"This all seems like a dream," Jose's longtime manager Steven "Tank" Tankanow remarked. "Jose had never been as focused - mentally, physically and spiritually - on destroying an opponent. We were not going to leave it in the hands of the judges. Jose manhandled Trabant from the first bell and a German reporter told me German fans would have been very upset if Jose had not been given the decision. Even they couldn't figure out the one judge who scored it even. Trabant congratulated Jose after the fought and told him he was a great champion. Jose and Team Rivera won the respect of German boxing fans and the promoter, Universum."

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