This past Monday afternoon a conference call was held to formally announce The Contender’s No Turning Back, which will take place on October 16th at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Headlining the event will be Alfonso Gomez, who will fight Ben Tackie. Their fight will air as a live event, and will be episode seven of the Contender series.
“This fight will be heavily promoted in previous episodes,” Jeff Wald, promoter and one of the executive producers of The Contender, said. He also reminded us that Gomez scored a huge win over Arturo Gatti in Atlantic City.
Besides Gomez, Freddie Curiel and Sergio Mora will have fights as well. Curiel is also coming off very big win. Curiel is coming off his knockout victory over Ross Minter with 30 seconds left in the fight. Mora has been off for 13 months, but was ready to go. His big fight with Kassim Ouma was cancelled due to no fault of either fighter, and this battle with Elvin Ayala is a replacement fight of sorts.
Sugar Ray Leonard is thrilled about these opportunities. “I just get excited when I see these young men get to showcase their talents,” he said. “Alfonso without question came off a huge win, and will face another tough cookie in Ben Tackie. Freddie Curiel, as Jeff said earlier, just an impressive knockout victory over Minter. Sergio Mora, without question, people love him because he’s The Latin Snake.
“We have an assortment of different styles and different motivations, and I’m excited myself.”
“The one thing that all these guys have in common,” Wald reminded us, “is that they all come to fight. There’s not a lot of dancing, running, holding; these guys go toe to toe, and it’s action-packed, all of their fights.”
Franklin McNeil of The Star-Ledger asked Gomez, now that he has performed really well and people have seen what he can do on a national level, and that he is going in as the guy to beat and not the underdog, does he have a different approach now.
“Before that fight with Gatti there were a lot of doubters,” Gomez replied. “Even after I beat him there were a lot of excuses, like ‘I was the bigger guy,’ this and that. So this is going to be a perfect opportunity to capitalize on that victory, and having another great performance against Ben Tackie I think will make the people that doubt actually believe in my abilities.
“I’m really looking forward to this fight,” he continued. “Definitely having a victory here will make people that doubt believe in my abilities and actually believe that I’m ready for bigger and better things.”
ESPN’s Dan Rafael asked Mora to talk about the ups and downs and disappointments of having the fight with Kassim called off, not knowing if he was going to fight, then getting this fight – what is that like?
“When I first found out I wasn’t fighting I felt like I was punched in the gut, to be honest with you. I was really, really prepared for the fight, it was the most physical camp I’ve ever had in my life, even my trainers agreed. When Jeff gave me the bad news I was very, very, very depressed. But I took a couple of days off and now I’m back to sparring and I’m concentrating on my next opponent, and I’m not looking past anything else.
“This is just another bump on the road and this is what I’ve got to do. It was definitely sad, because I was fighting at the MGM, on HBO, on a big weekend, versus a fighter that was supposed to beat me. I probably wanted to do what Alfonso did, and prove a lot of people wrong, so, next time.”
The fact that Ayala is not the same caliber as Ouma was is not really the issue. Mora said that it is more mental, and he just has to switch his mind to another fighter.
There is something big as far as the Mora/Ayala fight. This will be the first time ever that a live fight will be televised on ESPN Classic, so Sergio is still making history here. “Obviously I care about this,” Mora said. “Anytime you get to do something for the first time it’s important. I have to do my job for one, but also to do it impressively. Only classic fights are on ESPN Classic, so it’s something I have to measure up to. I’ll do my part and I’m sure Elvin will do his part, and we’re going to show up and have a great fight.”
I asked Jeff Wald if No Turning Back was made to make up for the September fights that did not go. He told me no, that they knew after Gomez beat Gatti they wanted to find another fight for him, and they wanted it to be in a situation that they totally controlled.
“We always knew we were going to do a live fight on the seventh episode of the show – the show was designed with that in mind. Coming off that big fight, Alfonso was the natural choice.
“As far as the cancellation, we were very grateful and lucky that Ron Wechsler and ESPN saw this as an opportunity for all of us, for Sergio, for The Contender, and for ESPN. We have two great opportunities to showcase two great fighters. Alfonso Gomez has been the underdog in almost every fight he’s had. He was the underdog in the first season when he chose to fight Peter Manfredo, who was picked to win the whole thing by some of the experts. Obviously an underdog with Gatti. It’s just a lot of fun watching the underdog continually win. And I know he’s enjoying it.
“Then Sergio won the Championship and for a variety of reasons has been out of the ring a bit, and he’s got a good opponent in Elvin Ayala who’s going to come to fight; he’s got a terrific record. We don’t look past him either. And it is a kick in the head, and it does take an adjustment to change your head and change your opponent. But it will be an exciting evening of boxing, and that’s what we at The Contender care about. We care that the audience who tunes in or shows up and buys tickets is going to see guys that come to fight.”
I asked Elvin if fighting the undefeated Mora would make him want to change his game plan. “No,” he told us. “I’m just going to give it my all, because this is a great opportunity for me. I appreciate the fact that I was picked to fight Sergio. I’ve seen him fight and he’s a great fighter, and I’m just going to give it my all. I’m not a man of many words but I do love to fight, and that’s what I’m going to do. Any way you look at it, it’s going to be a great show.”
I wanted to know what concerned Sergio most in facing Elvin. “I get concerned facing any fighter, any fighter has two hands and any fighter wants to take your head off,” he explained. “The only thing I get concerned about in camp is to be at my optimum best and be prepared mentally, physically, spiritually, to face anything and anyone. What concerns me is not being ready, and that’s not going to happen.”
Finally, for Alfonso, I wondered how he thought this fight against Tackie would differ from the Gatti fight. “Well, we know that Gatti had been hurt before, he’d been knocked down before and Tackie has fought World Champions and he always comes to fight, so in my mind I’m getting prepared to fight a guy who is pretty much World Champion. Beating him launches me to a World Title within the next year.
“I’ve prepared really well for this fight, and I want to give the fans a pleasing performance, and now knowing that Sergio and Freddie Curiel and myself are on the card they should have billed it All Heart, because Freddie Curiel has more heart and has demonstrated that in The Contender Challenge, and Sergio, every time he comes to fight he hits his chalk like he wants to stand toe to toe with his opponent, and that’s all heart right there. So, I’m really excited to be headlining this card, and I couldn’t do it better than with The Contenders.”
Jeff and the others agreed that they liked Gomez’ name of All Heart. Too late now, I guess, but I agree that it is a good one.
Rafael wanted to know if Ayala felt that Mora was ripe for the taking, so to speak, what with his fight being cancelled and then getting this one, and being off for so long, but Elvin didn’t feel that way.
“I think Sergio is a great fighter, and I think he is physically strong, and spiritually strong and mentally strong, so I think he’s ready for anything. I don’t think he’s sleeping on me. I think he’s ready, and I don’t think there’s a mental block for him.”
Dan also asked about the two fights that Elvin lost, both to David Banks, who is on The Contender this season. He was favored in those fights, and Rafael wanted to know what happened. Ayala was up front and honest when he said he wasn’t ready. He needed the money, and took the first fight and then the re-match for that reason. He also had some problems with his back.
“It wasn’t that disappointing to me. When
I fought in the street and lost nobody cared then either, so it really didn’t bother me much.”
Dan pointed out that nobody paid him in the street, either. Good point! He than thanked him for his forthright answer.
Wald then added that they looked at those fights, and with no preparation and the bad back, he said that they were still close fights. One of those was a split decision. That was why they felt he would make for a good fight with Sergio.
Freddie Curiel said that his training has been going well, and he is looking forward to being able to take things to the next level as an up and coming star. “Even though it’s a little later in my life than what I expected, I just want to show the world that if you have the heart and dedication that I put into the sport…I also have a lot of talent and skill that they haven’t seen.”
Jeff was also quick to mention that people who buy the tickets don’t care about rankings. “They care about tuning in or buying a ticket to see two really fit, well trained athletes, give it their absolute best. At the end of the day sometimes, as Elvin said, it’s not necessarily who wins or loses, it’s who puts on a performance, and who the audience cares about.”
I for one will care, because as Alfonso said, these three guys are all heart. I can’t wait to see this card. It should be a really good night of boxing.
Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.
