23.08.04 – “El Gallo” Jose Antonio Rivera (37-3-1, 24 KOs) — is a true working class world champion in every sense of the phrase. As the World Boxing Association welterweight champion prepares for his first title defense October 2 against No. 1 mandatory contender Thomas “Lionheart” Damgaard (34-0, 26 KOs), at Madison Square Garden in New York City on the Don King-promoted Trinidad-Mayorga card, Rivera continues working fulltime as a court officer at the Massachusetts Trial Courts in Worcester (MA).
During training his busy daily routine starts at 5:30 a.m. with an hour of running or other cardiovascular exercise, after which he works 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. as a court officer, and then goes to his nearby private gym for 2-2 ½ hours of intensive training. There he rigorously works out and spars under the watchful eyes of co-head trainers Carlos Garcia & Luis “Chico” Lopez, advisor Frank Rahacik, manager “Steven “Tank” Tankanow, and friend Isaac “Rocky” Gonzalez. Upon completion he quickly showers, eats, and returns home to spend some quality time with his son, Anthonee.
Fighting on a card headlined by Puerto Rican boxing icon Felix Trinidad’s well documented comeback against Ricardo Mayorga, whose scheduled April 17 title challenge against Rivera was cancelled when Mayorga weighed in 6 ½ pounds over the limit, as well as the venue’s relatively close proximity to Puerto Rican descendant Rivera’s hometown in Worcester (MA), guarantees “El Gallo” will have many, many more fans in MSG than Damgaard, who has never fought outside of his native Denmark.
“None of that will really matter when the bell rings and it’s just me against Damgaard,” Jose concluded. “I won the title in Berlin against a German, (Michel) Trabant. But I do intend to make a statement on the biggest stage in boxing – Madison Square Garden and HBO pay-per-view – against the undefeated No. 1 contender. I’m going to say: ‘Here I am!’ A lot of boxing fans haven’t seen me fight. I want them to watch and realize that I’m one of the best welterweights in the world along with (Cory) Spinks, (Zab) Judah and (Antonio) Margarito.”
Rivera will use his remaining vacation and personal time for the year to take time off from work the final three weeks before the fight. “I haven’t had a real vacation in so long I can’t remember,” he said. “It’s one of the sacrifices I’ve made to be world champion. Everybody at work has been very supportive of me when I need time to prepare for a fight the last few weeks before a fight to just train. They’re all in my corner.”