On September 18th, 2010, Sergio Mora faced Shane Mosley at the Staples Center in perhaps the
biggest opportunity of his professional life. Sure, it was notable that he won
the inaugural season of “The Contender” and had captured the WBC junior
middleweight title by besting Vernon Forrest but to face a future Hall-of-Famer
as the headlining performer on a pay-per-view card in his home city, well, that
was something else.
It also turned out to be the
worst night of his career.
Mora, who faces Grzegorz
Proksa at the Veteran’s Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida on this week’s
edition of ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights,” says, “If I could take back time,
believe me; I would get more aggressive. I wouldn't rely on winning. My whole
career, my strategy is just to win by any means necessary. It wasn't to
entertain and I think times have changed. The networks have changed. The
promoters have changed and now, the exciting fighters are the ones getting the
opportunity. If I could take back time, I would get aggressive, I wouldn't rely
on the lead and I would definitely just throw much punches to knock a guy who
has never been KO’ed.”
Here's the funny thing about
his outing with Mosley - he didn't actually lose that fight. After 12 rather
dreary rounds, it was ruled a draw. But while Mosley was somehow able to parlay
that into a fight with Manny Pacquiao, Mora was basically cast aside after this
fight.
“I thought it was going to
lead to something,” said Mora, at his Montebello, California, gym on Monday
afternoon. “Even though it was a chess match and it was a draw. It was his
first draw. Shane Mosley's a legend. I thought for sure it would open up doors.”
Instead, they were slammed
on him. He was given his release by his then-manager, Cameron Dunkin, and that
was soon followed by Golden Boy Promotions letting him go. While Mosley went on
to meet the “Pac-Man,” Mora was forced to meet Brian Vera in his next fight on
ESPN2 where he was promptly upset by the rugged Texan.
After a bounce-back win against
the aged Shibata Flores in November of 2011, he faced Vera again on enemy turf last
August in San Antonio and was on the short end of a dubious verdict. If you go
back to that broadcast, Vera's trainer, Ronnie Shields, could clearly be heard
admitting they were losing that fight in the late rounds.
But what's the saying? Don't mess with Texas?
And that certainly applied
with Mora, who had no problems blasting what he believed was a political
decision in the “Lone Star State” during his interview with Claudio Trejos.
In looking back, Mora laughs
and, referencing this past weekend’s Showtime broadcast, says, “Well, I won’t
go and bust a Paulie Malignaggi and say a bunch of stuff even though Paulie's
my boy and you know what? He made a lot of sense. I actually tweeted: ‘When
keeping it real goes wrong - Dave Chappelle.’ Because [Malignaggi] just let it
out too much. But he's right; he's absolutely right and I think in Texas that's
a dose of what I got and I let it out myself in Spanish and now that the
politics are not on my side, on our side, the promoters are not really
interested in using us as the A-side of the card, more the ‘name,’ the former
champion and put him in with a young gun. Now we gotta take care of ourselves
and speak up.”
Currently, the “Latin Snake”
is self-promoted and he admitted it's “very difficult because even when I get
the opportunities to fight on television, I'm fighting in the guy’s hometown.
Like for instance, this fight with Proksa, I'm fighting not in his hometown
because he's from Poland but I'm fighting on his promoter’s card, his promoter’s
date.”
And he's clearly the B-side
in this equation.
“That's the way they might
see it, for me, I'm the A-side. I've been on ESPN five times. Proksa hasn't
been on ESPN. So as long as I'm on television and I'm on ESPN commentating, I'm
not afraid of being the B-side,” he reasons.
There was a time when Mora
was on the other side of the tracks. He was with “The Contender” and parlayed
that into some major showcases and lucrative paydays. Then he had a stretch
with Golden Boy Promotions. He's been at the Big Show now. He's like that
independent minor league franchise.
“Patience and matchmaking” is
how he has persevered through it all, he states.”Dean [Campos] isn't only my strength
trainer and conditioner and everything else but he's also my matchmaker. You've
got to know what fights to accept and what fights not to accept and match the
risk with the record. We've been able to turn down the right fights, accept the
right ones and in 17 years, I've never taken a beating. I've never remotely
come close to being outclassed or losing badly. That's due to great
matchmaking. Now I'm at a point in my career where I want another title shot at
middleweight and I'm not going to it unless I start taking some chances.
“We switched some things and
I think you'll notice a difference this Friday.”
Mora, at age 32 but with
still less than 30 pro bouts to his credit (in which he has compiled a ledger
of 23-3-2 (7)) believes there is plenty left in the gas tank. But seriously,
can a leopard truly change his spots? Can Mora really become a risk-taking, fan-friendly
fighter?
I mean, c'mon…really?!
“Absolutely, 100 percent,” he
insisted without hesitation. If…if that doesn't happen this Friday, then you can
write all the negative things you can and I'm going to publically tweet about it: Steve Kim is absolutely right about
this.”
He laughs as he says this
but he's dead serious. He states now that he has an emphasis on the quality of
punches and not just the pure quantity. Also, he's made some technical
adjustments with Campos in the way he throws his shots. He points out that a
Bernard Hopkins has gone through several transformations as a fighter. While
he's never been known as an Arturo Gatti-type, his rematch last year with Vera
was an entertaining one.
So yeah, Mora will try and
reinvent himself ala Madonna.
It's all part of the rollercoaster
ride this boxing career has been for him. He admits to being embittered the
past couple of years as his fortunes took a downward turn but he says now he
has let that all go and it's brought him a fresh perspective on his journey.
“Are you kidding me? It's
been an amazing ride. It's been a great ride, a successful ride,” he says.”I've
made really good money; my face has been shown around the world. I won a world
title against a legitimate fighter and I've been in there with Shane Mosley and
some really good competition and I've been overlooked a lot of times but now,
looking back on my career, I'm very happy.”
But it's clear; Mora wants
to write a few more chapters in his story.
“I just want a shot at the
middleweight title, my official weight because that's the weight I'm very
comfortable at. My entire career's been at middleweight, only three fights out
of 28 have been at 154. It takes too much for me to make that weight. If I get
a crack at the middleweights, at [Gennady] Golovkin, at [Felix Sturm], at [Daniel]
Geale, at [Julio] Cesar Chavez Jr., you'll see what I can do at my natural
weight.”
TNR
Here's the latest installment of “The Next Round” with Gabe Montoya and Yours Truly:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thenextround/2013/06/25/the-next-round-episode-436
TIX
As the national press tour for the September 14th showdown between
Floyd Mayweather and Saul Alvarez made its stop in Washington D.C., tickets for
this event went on sale Tuesday afternoon and (like in the past) you heard from
disgruntled fans on Twitter that within minutes - or even a minute - that were shut out. And of course they would be forced
to immediately go to ticket brokers where those coveted tickets are already
being marked up at a steep rate.
(I've written about this issue before: http://www.maxboxing.com/news/max-boxing-news/are-fans-getting-sold-out-of-big-fights.)
This scenario isn't going away anytime soon and when you have a fight like
Mayweather-“Canelo,” where there is a huge demand, well, you may want to refinance
your home to gain entry into this event. Unlike Mayweather's last bout versus
Robert Guerrero back in May, don't expect tickets to dive on the secondary
market this time around. This will be a seller’s market for “The One.”
Let's not be naïve: this isn't just exclusive to the biggest boxing events. Try
and obtain tickets to the Super Bowl and Final Four and you'll be at the mercy
of the ticket brokers. But you'd hope that the fans who consistently support
cards in venues like the Barclays Center and the Home Depot/StubHub Center,
would at least be given a fair opportunity to purchase seats for the sports
marquee events.
But who am I kidding? I'm just a hopeless optimist.
THE ONE FLURRIES
Judging by the turnouts at these public press conferences for Mayweather-“Canelo,”
there's no doubt that this is a blockbuster of a promotion...Robert Marroquin
headlines this week’s edition of “Solo Boxeo” on UniMas from the WinStar World
Casino in Thackerville, OK...The July 19th edition of “FNF” on ESPN2
has Ajose Olusegun face Hank Lundy...The latest installment of “The Fight Game
with Jim Lampley” debuts on late Saturday night (technically Sunday morning) at
12:30 a.m. on HBO...Hard work!...Dedication!.....So when do NFL training camps
begin?...I saw “Zero Dark Thirty” and I have to say I was bored to death...Remember when ESPN had to take “Playmakers” off the
air at the behest of the NFL? Well, isn't this Aaron Hernandez situation like
an episode of that short-lived program?...