There was a litany of names thrown at Rios’ management for this date.
When
asked to recall them, his manager, Frank Espinoza, chuckled and said,
“If I could remember all the names, I know there’s quite a few. There
was Jesus ‘Pollo’ Hernandez; he was one. Aaron Garcia from San Diego was
two. The guy that fought Chris Martin that Gary Shaw has [Chris Avalos]
and there was Alejandro Perez. He was also one of them and there were a
few other ones. So it’s been a long process. About six or seven guys
had fallen out.”
The
manager wanted to begin the process of escalating Rios’ level of
opposition going forward. “We want to step it up and we want to start
getting tougher opponents and I think it’s going to make him a better
fighter when he comes down to fight for a world title.” Sanchez has a
record of 13-5-1 (5) and is on a three-fight losing streak. That said,
in his last two fights, he has been competitive, losing a ten-round
verdict to the 15-0 Mark Davis and a close decision to Edner Cherry in
his most recent fight, flooring Cherry early before dropping an
eight-rounder.
“A
lot of managers don’t want to put their fighters in with Ronny because
of his abilities but we’re going to keep moving along,” said Espinoza.
Sanchez is a southpaw, which can throw a monkey wrench into the best-laid plans.
This
doesn’t seem to faze Rios. “I actually have quite a lot of experience.
As you know, my fellow comrade, Luis Ramos, is a southpaw and I’ve
sparred with him countless rounds and I’ve sparred a lot with ‘Joser,’
which is Jose Correa. He’s a southpaw too and I sparred many, many
rounds with Daniel Ponce de Leon, not just this camp but several camps.”
Rios admits he doesn’t know much about Sanchez; in fact, he’s never
seen him box. “In all honesty, I don’t look at any tapes of anyone.
Coach [Hector Lopez] does that. He does all the looking, all the
spectating and he tells me what to do.”
There
was a time when managers and promoters wouldn’t ever let their boxers
in the ring with left-handers. Currently, it’s almost impossible and
because of this, it’s prudent to get the experience against them. The
reality is, you can’t avoid them forever.
“Nowadays,
there’s so many lefties you gotta give [your orthodox fighters] a lefty
early on in their career, so they can see them, a different style of
lefty- not just a guy who’s going to be right there in front of them-
someone who can box a little bit and move,” said Golden Boy matchmaker
Eric Gomez, who believes that Rios is on the verge of graduating to a
“ShoBox” showcase and fighting for a minor title in the very near
future. “One of the pound-for-pound guys is Manny Pacquiao. So nowadays,
there’s more and more lefties.”
Back on February 4th at the Phoenix Club, Rios impressively halted Jeremy McLaurin in four.
“To
be honest, it wasn’t all that,” said the tough-to-please self-critic
Rios. “I wasn’t impressed with myself. I still think I had a few
mistakes. We only took a week off, came back to work on the mistakes and
that’s why it doesn’t bother me if it’s a right-hander or southpaw
because, either way, we practice for any type of opponent.”
DONE DEAL
Main Events officially announced on Thursday that the June 16th edition of “Fight Night” on NBC Sports Network will feature a
fascinating heavyweight contest between Tomasz Adamek and Eddie Chambers
from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Getting
this fight is not just a home run for this series and Main Events but a
grand slam. Please, no more talk of being worried about this being an
exclusive output deal; to her credit, Kathy Duva isn’t just putting
money in her purse but acting in a manner that suggests she wants to
build something that lasts for the long haul. She’s kept her promise of
competitive and interesting fights, placed in the appropriate settings
(and from what I’m told, the ratings have been strong for the first two
editions of “Fight Night”).
Main
Events was entrusted with a great responsibility in getting this
series. Boxing needs as many outlets as possible and has too many times
bungled its opportunities (Tye Fields, anyone?). Thus far, Duva and
Company are more than keeping up their end of the bargain.
INTO THE CHAMBERS
I
spoke to Chambers for a few minutes on Thursday. He is very excited
about this opportunity to get back into the mix in the heavyweight
division. I jokingly said to him- since I will be flying in for this
fight (Newark, here I come!)- that if he has to put himself together
with Super Glue and duct tape to get to this fight, it’s something he
should seriously consider.
He responded, “Hey, don’t worry about it. I can’t afford to drop out of another fight.”
So there you have it; see you at “The Rock.”
ALI
Anyone
else get an uneasy feeling seeing Muhammad Ali trotted out by the Miami
Marlins during their opening day? Honestly, I hate to see him in this
state and at this point, I’m starting to think that those using him for
these purposes are just exploiting him (and yes, I know he gets paid for
these appearances). Personally, I have a certain image of “The
Greatest.” I’d rather not see him like this.
I’ve
felt for awhile that Ali’s contribution to the opening ceremonies of
the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta was the pinnacle. From that point on,
it’s been downhill and the public has borne witness to his physical
decline.
When is enough enough?
FRIDAY FLURRIES
I
don’t know about you guys but “Face Off with Max Kellerman” has always
felt a bit uncomfortable and contrived (especially that ominous music)
and I haven’t watched that many of them but the most recent installment
featuring Floyd Mayweather and Miguel Cotto was probably its low
point. It’s another failed Ross Greenburg boxing creation. At least
Miguel Cotto learned about the point spread...Yeah, and those who say
they like fighters playing “mind games”, uh, get real. That stuff
rarely- if ever- comes into play...Is it just me or does Dwight Howard
come off like a schmuck more and then some? And you thought Andrew Bynum
and Mike Brown had problems...
