There are certain websites out there who list Miguel Espino – who faces middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik on the campus of Youngstown State tonight – as high as a 12-to-1 underdog (for entertainment purposes only, of course). And that’s the precise reason why Espino was tabbed by the brass at Top Rank and Pavlik’s management to face ’the Ghost’ in his long-awaited return to the ring.
You don’t have to tell Espino. He knows the score.
“They looked at the top ten, they looked at my knockout ratio, they looked at ’the Contender’, this, that and they looked at me as an easy opponent to continue in the winning column to defend his titles,” said Espino, via cell-phone from Youngstown this past Thursday afternoon. The 29-year old from North Hollywood, California, has a mark of 20-2 with nine stoppages to his credit.”Definitely, I know that.”
The former reality show contestant got the call while serving as a sparring partner to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
“I was in Culiacan, Mexico, eating some tacos and just chilling and helping out Chavez Jr. for his upcoming fight on the Pacquiao undercard and Bob Arum and Fernando Beltran called me and said,’Hey, would you want to fight Kelly Pavlik on the 19th.’ I was like,’Are you guys serious?’ Bob said, ’Yes. Do you want the fight or not, Miguel?. I guess they were serious. Next thing you know, I’m in Ohio.”
He considers this an early Christmas gift. With this six-figure payday it’ll be a merrier holiday season in the Espino household. But for him, this is really about the opportunity to win the middleweight championship. And yeah, this is a bigger opportunity than appearing on the first season of ’the Contender’ on NBC back in 2005.
“Hands down, this,” said Espino, who fought alongside Sergio Mora, Peter Manfredo Jr. and Ishe Smith during the initial season of that show.” Fighting for the real deal legitimate middleweight championship of the world against THE middleweight champion, it’s just a win-win situation and I’ll go out there and do my thing and more big fights are going to come up, big paydays. It’s a big thing.”
Unlike guys like Mora, Espino, wasn’t able really parlay his ’Contender’ experience into any long-term success. But for awhile, he did live it up, admittedly.” Honestly, I think it spoiled all of us because we were on a weekly salary, we got paid pretty well. We all thought we were going to hit super-stardom and this and that. We all got a little big-headed but it was a humbling experience. After the smoke cleared from that I was fighting in Mexico in a 1,000 seat arena, which was maybe 30-percent full, small paydays, just kept grinding like an old-school fighter. Thank God I got this opportunity.”
’the Contender’ is similar in this respect to ’American Idol’, for every Kelly Clarkson, there are a multitude of other contestants, who, when their 15 minutes of fame runs out, go back to the harsh realities of the real world.
“After the money ran dry, I had to get a cool, little part-time job at a gym,” explained Espino.”I wasn’t laying brick or nothing, I had to do what I had to do pay the bills and train and work like most fighters. Like real deal fighters did back in the day and it was all good, though. I don’t regret it. It is, what it is.”
While he got this opportunity on relatively short notice, Espino comes into the contest fully prepared having already been in Chavez’s training camp. His trainer John Bray adds,”It’s not only being in camp, Miguel’s always in the gym. He might take a few days off here and there but he’s always in the gym. That’s it.”
In what is a pretty revealing statement about Chavez Jr., Espino said,” The Chavez camp was pretty laid back, I never sparred more than three rounds. The kid is still young, he needs to be schooled a little bit and he needs a real deal trainer. But yeah, I came back home, we headed right into our own camp. I was already training so it was an easy transition.”
They would’ve taken this fight on five days notice.
” Absolutely,” said Bray,” opportunities like this come once in a lifetime. He knows that. There was no hesitation, we were jumping on it.” The strategy is simple.” We’re going to go in there and be first and push him back and keep him off-balance and bang,” said the trainer.” It’s going to be a war, two trains colliding, December 19Th. No ones backing up in this fight.”
While most expect this fight to end early( with Pavlik coming out victorious), Espino believes he can get an equitable call in Youngstown, where has enjoyed his stay, thus far.
“I’m going to say I’m surprised, the people have been real hospitable and everyone has been real nice,” he says.” As far as the judges are concerned, I mean, I think I can get a fair shake. But you never know, it’s a hometown, it’s Kelly Pavlik’s. It’ll be difficult but I honestly believe I will be able to get a fair shake.”
COURAGE
I got to see the rematch between WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal and Adrian Diaconu that took place last week in Montreal, Canada. It was a very good fight( won by Pascal) that was much closer than the scorecards indicated. But what really stood out was the toughness and grit of Pascal who from the third round on had problems with his right shoulder, which obviously hampered his offensive attack.
While he threw a number of hooks and uppercuts with his right-hand, he seemed to experience much more pain and agony when he threw punches over the top. After the tenth, it seemed like his corner had to pop his shoulder back in. He gutted out the last two frames to cement his victory. On my personal scorecard, he won the fight 115-113, by winning rounds 11 and 12.
It was reported that he will be out till June after undergoing successful surgery. His mandatory challenger is Chad Dawson, who won the interim title by defeating Glen Johnson back in November. I’m told that Gary Shaw had hoped to put that fight on in Montreal on June 12Th, only to be told by HBO that that date is being saved for Top Rank for their traditional Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend fight at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
So the search is on for a new date. And if one can’t be found on HBO, could Showtime be back in the Dawson business?
FRIDAY NIGHT FLURRIES
Speaking of ’Contender’ alumni, Sergio Mora will face Jason Naugler in his Golden Boy Promotions debut on Jan. 30Th on the Mosley-Berto undercard….The day before that at the Mohegan Sun, Peter Manfredo will take on Matt Vanda….Anyone really surprised that Lawrence Phillips has turned out the way he did?….Say this about ’the General’, Robert Montgomery Knight, he always says what’s on his mind….This weeks edition of ’the Main Event’ features Calvin Watkins of ESPN Dallas and our very own, Tom Hauser…..You can email me at [email protected]…..Twitter.com/stevemaxboxing…..
