For Medina, It’s Win or Enlist
By Steve Kim, MaxBoxing (Dec 22, 2011) Doghouse Boxing
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Michael Medina
Michael Medina takes on Grady Brewer on enemy turf tonight at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. At stake is the NABF light middleweight title but for Medina, a whole lifestyle is on the line. He's made it clear that if he wins, he will continue on with his boxing career. If Medina loses, he won't just quit boxing; he'll also enlist in the U.S. Army.

And this is no “Private Benjamin” situation.

“That's not actually my plan A; it's like a plan B,” explained Medina last week at the Wild Card Boxing Club after finishing up his day at the gym, “because I'm at a make-it-or-break-it point in my career where I know that this fight is very important. If I win, I'll be with the top contenders in the world or lose and start to become a fighter that's a journeyman. I'm a young veteran.”

He explains his ultimatum by saying, “One of the major reasons is I'm 25 years old. I'm at a point where I have to start making a path for my future and I really like to do things to the fullest. If I become a great fighter, a good fighter, I will do that to the best of my abilities but I always had the dream since I was a little kid to become part of the U.S. military. I don't know why. It was the training. It was seeing the movies and all this kinda inspired me. It's not something that I would trade for boxing because boxing is my main passion but it's something that's there and it's like a motivator for me.”

Medina was born in Modesto, located in Northern California. As his parents separated when he was nine, he moved to Mexico with his mother, where he stayed through his days in high school.

“But I ended up moving back here for my boxing when I was 20 years old; I moved to Vegas,” he explained. “I lived there for a year; I trained at the Top Rank Gym with a Cuban trainer, Robert Norris. I was backed up by Monterrey Promotions. After that, I went to Monterrey, kept fighting a couple of local fights and then got a couple of opportunities to come fight here in the U.S.”

Medina began his career fighting almost exclusively in Mexico (his pro debut coming in June of 2005, a four-round draw against Miguel Galvan) but for the better part of a year, he has worked out of the noted Wild Card. “The main reason I'm here is because they called me to spar [Julio Cesar] Chavez Jr. and after I saw the training and all the sparring partners that are here in Los Angeles and how good the fighters are that you can get to experience here, I was like, ‘Y’ know what? If I want to do this, I have to be here. I have to be in Rome.”

And he has done as the Romans do, hooking up with trainer Eric Brown, who he says has helped to clean up his technical rough spots, polishing up his overall skills. Medina has a record of 24-3-2 with 19 knockouts to his credit. He lost to the likes of Vanes Martirosyan and John Duddy in step-up opportunities and his last and only fight in 2011 was a second-round stoppage at the hands of Saul Roman in late January.

It's tough enough carving out a living in this business if you don't have a major world title. It's almost impossible if you can't even get a fight. Dreams die hard in this sport; reality hits even harder. It's why Medina has put this edict to himself. But would he have considered joining the armed forces five years ago as the conflicts overseas showed no signs of ending?

Medina thinks about this question before stating, “I honestly think that right now, it's not as heated as before but it's something that can always happen. Also, I haven't been in my country for a long time. I kinda feel like I need to give something back to my country. To feel like I'm adopting the culture again. I have all the Mexican culture because I grew up over there. So doing this is basically something that will help me to gather my American culture back. Like I will feel more patriotic with my country.”

Later he would admit, “To be honest with you, what I want to do is box and I want to be a champion. That's my dream.”

So what was the reaction of his family and loved ones?

“Well, I've been talking to my mom and my brothers and they think it's a very radical decision. My mother, obviously, she's not 100 percent supportive of the idea but I know that eventually whatever I choose, she will always be there for me,” said Medina. “She will actually be very proud of me in the case that it happens. I was almost about to do that earlier this year because I suffered an injury, so I didn't know where my career was going to. So I even went to a recruiter, talked to him, everything was set but I decided to give it one more opportunity on this because I've already spent six years of my life in boxing, so I'm going to go at it, follow my dream.”

It won't be an easy night at the office. For once, Brewer is not only the A-side of the equation but he has the home-canvas advantage. “I think it's a tough fight for the reason that he's a veteran fighter,” stated Medina. “He's a very savvy fighter. He has an awkward style; he hits pretty hard, so he's a dangerous fighter all the time. He can always land the punch that can knock you out, so I think the fact I'm going to his hometown is something that won’t be an advantage for him- but it will be tough. I will have to really win. I will have to prove a really good level of superiority if I want to win that decision in his hometown.

Win and Medina moves on. Lose and soon, he'll be in basic training.

“I will come back. I will probably just have a good Christmas, a good holiday,” explained Medina of his plans moving forward. “I don't know if I will be able to go back to my family. I hope that will be the case but I'm not thinking about anything more than the 22nd. That's a decision that is made. If it happens, it happens but I'm wishing for the best and training for the best.

“I'm going to go there and bring that belt back to L.A.”

EL TERRIBLE GALLBLADDER

Is the bout between WBC junior welterweight titlist Erik Morales and Danny Garcia in Houston, Texas, scheduled for January 28th, in jeopardy. According to this story, it might be: http://www.boxingscene.com/erik-morales-heading-surgery-garcia-fight-doubt--47657

OK, I reached out to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who told me that as of Wednesday, this fight was still on and that “El Terrible” would be undergoing just routine, minor surgery (which brings to mind that old line about surgery being routine and minor as long as it's someone else going through it).

We'll see where this goes. By the end of the week, we should have an answer to whether this fight goes on or not (Hopefully, Morales is fit to fight. I already booked my flight for this card at the Reliant Arena).

HUMP DAY FLURRIES

I'm sure you've heard by now about Floyd Mayweather's sentencing (http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news;_ylt=An88N1vwdmsmrOznSJZrmcc5nYcB?slug=ki-iole_mayweather_jail122211). Anyway, it's just the latest reason why Manny Pacquiao-Mayweather has not come to fruition...A bout between Omar Figueroa and Michael Perez will lead off the January 6th edition of “ShoBox” supporting a main event of Luis Ramos-Ray Beltran. That's a good-looking doubleheader from Golden Boy...An early February bout between two local featherweights, Ronny Rios and Charles Huerta, is being discussed and could end up on “Solo Boxeo” in early February...Now that I got my Miami Hurricanes football and Peanuts 2012 calendars, I'm ready for the upcoming year...
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I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com and I tweet at www.Twitter.com/stevemaxboxing. We also have a Facebook fan page at www.facebook.com/MaxBoxing.

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