If the ring is where a boxer comes face to face with his opponent, the changing room is where he struggles with his emotions.
Prior to the fight, usually between one and two hours before, he arrives with his entourage, consisting of his trainer, trainer’s assistant, cut man, and perhaps a friend or two. Unless he’s the main event, he’ll be sharing the changing room with three or four other fighters appearing on the same bill.
Many hearts across Mexico were left broken on September 14. When Saul “Canelo” Alvarez suffered a lopsided unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather, Jr., the same had happened to Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. almost one year to the day. Chavez, Jr. lost a one-sided yet almost unforgettable twelve round decision to middleweight king Sergio Martinez on September 15, 2012. The two respective losses for what many saw as Mexico’s future torchbearers behind Juan Manuel Marquez left many questions answered, yet perhaps many more to be asked of each.
In regard to Chavez, Jr., (46(32)-1-1) the son of Mexico’s greatest fighter ever, his day back in the sun (literally) will come this Saturday evening at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Standing in the way of the Culiacan, MX native is the ring hardened Brian “The Warrior” Vera of Austin, TX. Vera (23(14)-6(2) has had an interesting career in the sport. He’s experienced a stint on the reality series “The Contender” and has victories over such names as Andy Lee, Sergio Mora and Serhiy Dzinziruk.
WBA/WBO super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (12-0, 8 KO’s) will have his next fight televised on HBO on either December 7th or December14th, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Rigondeaux recently beat Nonito Donaire by a 12 round unanimous decision, but instead of HBO choosing to televise Rigondeaux’s fights, they chose to televise the lower of the fight Donaire.
Javier R. (Ontario, CA): Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. recently had some critical comments about Canelo. I know the problem between Goldenboy Promotions and Top Rank will prevent us from seeing this fight, but if it were to happen, who do you see winning?
Vivek W. (ESB): Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez currently fights at 154lbs and Chavez has struggled to make weight at 160. I wouldn’t rule out a move to 160lbs at some point for Canelo, but will that move come before Chavez Jr. is forced to move up in weight? I think it’s really tough to say. Focusing on the question itself, if the stars do align and these two men somehow square off, personally, I don’t think it’s a very easy night for Canelo. I know that all the Mayweather detractors will suddenly try to take away from his ability and say that he’s “young” and “untested”, or “not as good as the media made him out to be”. But the reality is that the kid simply loss to not only the best in this era, but arguably the best in any era.
Former IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud (24-1, 19 KO’s) is going to test whether WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (21-, 18 KO’s) is for real or not this Saturday in their fight in their fight at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Stevenson, 36, has proven to be a devastating puncher in last 9 fights in which he’s scored 9 consecutive knockouts.
David Haye (26-2, 24 KO’s) says he’s close to arranging a rescheduled date for him and unbeaten Tyson Fury (21-0. 15 KO’s) to fight. Haye was cut above his left eye in sparring this past week making it necessary for him to postpone his scheduled September 28th fight against the 6’9” Fury.
Miguel Cotto’s new trainer Freddie Roach is bringing the 32-year-old Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) back to the basics to beat #4 WBA, #9 WBO, #11 WBC, Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KO’s) on October 5th at the Amway Center, in Orlando, Florida, USA. Roach thinks that if only Cotto starts throwing more body shots, it’ll enable him to get past Rodriguez and start winning more of his fights.
The truth is Cotto can probably easily beat Rodriguez even if chooses not to throw one body shot the entire. Rodriguez is not on Cotto’s level, and he’s pretty much just the sacrificial lamb being brought in to end Cotto’s 2-fight losing streak. The worry here is that if Cotto can’t even beat Rodriguez or can’t beat him in a convincing manner, then Cotto and Roach are going to have to face some hard truths about where he can go from here.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) may have lost his last fight against Sergio Martinez by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision, but he’s back on HBO this Saturday in a fight at 168 against middleweight contender Brian Vera (23-6, 14 KO’s) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
HBO no doubt is hoping that Chavez Jr. will put in an exciting fight against Vera, but it’s just too bad that they didn’t press for Chavez Jr. to fight an actual super middleweight for this fight instead of a smaller, lighter middleweight.
Former three-division world champion and the Pride of Puerto Rico Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KOs), of Caguas, Puerto Rico, is in his final weeks of training with Hall of Famer Freddie Roach at Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif. Cotto is preparing for his 12-round super welterweight battle with Top-10 contender and two-time world title challenger Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KOs), of the Dominican Republic. Cotto vs. Rodriguez will take place Saturday, October 5, at the home of the Orlando Magic, Amway Center, in Orlando, Fla. Cotto’s Florida debut will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.
Lomachenko’s arrival at the LAX airport in LA a couple of days ago marked his arrival at the professional scene. He is expected make a splash with his debut as he is jumping at the deep end choosing to fight for 10 rounds in his first fight. He will fight Jose Luis Ramirez on Oct.12, 2013 on the under card of Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley.
Ramirez is ranked at featherweight and his ranking is targeted by Vasyl who plans to fight for a championship on his second fight. That is if he wins his debut and he may not need 10 rounds to do it although he needs the experience.