By Joseph Herron – On December 11th, 2009, a young 23 year old Dominican fighter with a 15-2 record received the opportunity of a lifetime when he was offered to fight former WBC Champion Oleg Maskaev in Sacramento, CA. Aguilera was originally thought to be a simple tune-up for “The Big O”, en route to an eventual rematch with hard punching Nigerian Sam Peter.
With just a little over a minute left in the first round of their scheduled 10 round fight, Nagy cracked Maskaev with a perfectly timed left hook, forever ending “The Big O’s” hopes of ever regaining the world heavyweight championship.
Aguilera had arrived on the heavyweight scene with a resounding bang by way of a crushing left hook to the chin of the former World Champion.
Unfortunately, the New York based fighter has done very little since his 2009 fight with Maskaev to capture the imagination of the boxing universe; losing 4 of his last 5 fights, including a disappointing loss to journeyman Maurice Harris.
Last night, two weeks before his 25th birthday, Aguilera received another opportunity to shock the world when he faced big punching Cristobal Arreola on the undercard of the Andre Ward/Arthur Abraham super middleweight battle at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA.
Unlike the bout with Maskaev, Aguilera failed to make the most of his opportunity and was stopped in the third round by the hard punching fighter from Escondido. Referee Raul Caiz Jr. called a halt to the bout 1:58 into the third round after Aguilera was caught on the ropes taking a non-stop barrage of punches from the “Nightmare”.
After losing to Peter, Tarver, Harris, and now Arreola almost consecutively, where does the young 16-6 Dominican fighter go from here?
Nagy’s counterpart in last night’s fight was faced with the same career decisions recently. After suffering a disappointing loss to current WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko in 2009 and losing to former light heavyweight champion Tomasz Adamek last year, Arreola was left scratching his head, pondering questions concerning the future of his prizefighting career.
Arreola showed the heart of a champion by rededicating his life to boxing and getting into the best shape of his life for his fight versus Aguilera on Saturday night.
“The main thing with being 30 years old is you only have a little window of opportunity and it’s time for me to do it,” stated the 32-2 heavyweight contender. “I let everyone down when I showed a lack of dedication to the sport and I look forward to showing myself again…I’m 20 or 30 pounds ahead of the game, so I’m not worried about weight anymore.”
Although Nagy’s fight career is currently experiencing its darkest hour, only the 24 year old pugilist can decide how its final chapter will be written.
When you consider the age of the current heavyweight tag-team champion, time is still on Aguilera’s side.
The Klitschko brothers are 35 and 39, and both continue to dominate the entire division. But both men are consummate professionals who stay in chiseled shape and perfect condition 365 days out of the year.
Nagy Aguilera’s friend and promoter, Lou Savarese comments about his fighter’s current situation.
“Nagy is probably one of the best agile fighters I’ve ever seen in the ring, but he needs to back up those skills with 100% dedication to the sport.” states Big Lou. “I don’t know if we will ever get to see the version of Nagy who gives 100% of himself to the sport of boxing. It’s entirely up to him.”
Perhaps with his huge victory over a faded Maskaev, the boxing universe expected too much too soon from the young heavyweight? Perhaps a more deliberate and measured pace is more appropriate for the 24 year old heavyweight? Perhaps slimming down and fighting at cruiserweight would be a better fit for the young Aguilera?
Before the final curtain falls, Nagy Aguilera has to decide whether or not he has what it takes to be a champion in the “hurt business”.
Ironically, the former champion whom Aguilera knocked out in 2009 faced the exact same scenario back in 2002.
In a span of two years, “The Big O” had lost 3 out of five consecutive fights and had been brutally KO’d by Kirk Johnson, Lance Whitaker, and Corey “T-Rex” Sanders. The future looked incredibly bleak for the Russian born fighter.
But, with a renewed sense of purpose and a new found love for boxing, Oleg rededicated himself to the sport and put together a winning streak of 11 consecutive fights, winning the WBC Heavyweight Championship.
Does Nagy have that “Big O” characteristic in him? Does he have what it takes to become another Cinderella Man?
Only Nagy Aguilera can answer that question.
Henry Ford once said, “There are two kinds of people: those who think they can, and those who think they can’t, and they’re both right.”