After another monotonous morning spent training just south of the District, Mike Reed greeted his errand with enthusiasm. Speaking by phone from the driver?s seat of his car Wednesday, Reed said he had a package to pick up. Inside he would find the matching trunks and boxing gloves he planned to wear Saturday night in front of an early crowd of cheering Nebraskans.
None of them will have paid the price of admission to see the 23-year-old?s 21st professional fight, but winning the crowd with an entertaining performance is as vital to Reed?s burgeoning boxing career as the result of his eight-round, light welterweight match.
Reed (20-0, 12 KO) will face Sidney Siqueira (26-11-1) of Sao Paolo on the HBO World Championship Boxing card before Terence Crawford steps into his hometown ring to defend his WBC and WBO super lightweight titles against John Molina Jr. in the main event.
For Reed, a southpaw who was born in Washington, attended Westlake High in Waldorf and still trains at his father?s gym in Clinton, Md., Saturday night is about continuing to generate the ?buzz? associated with his professional nickname, ?Yes Indeed.? Reed wants boxing bloggers and fight fans on social media to take notice, but most of all, he wants to please the executives at HBO and his promoters at Top Rank, who each influence who boxes when, where and for what.
HBO will air three fights on Saturday?s card. Reed?s won?t be one of them, but it will be live-streamed on Top Rank?s website.
?It?s an opportunity that I?m very excited to have and I plan on taking full advantage of,? Reed said. ?We receive positive feedback from the heads at HBO and the heads at Top Rank and things like that, but I want to be shown on television. I want TV time.?
In his fourth match of the year and the second in eight weeks, Reed would like to replicate the final scene of his latest bout. On Oct. 14 at 23000 Arena in Philadelphia, he caught Aaron Herrera with the first three punches of a four-punch flurry.
Two left jabs interspersed by a right hook had knocked the perspiration off Herrera?s face. The fourth hand flew over Herrera?s head as he was collapsing to one knee for a sixth-round knockdown that gave way to a TKO. When Herrera?s head stayed bowed to the floor and the referee asked for no more, the audience cheered Reed?s name.
Now, Reed hopes to transport that feeling to Omaha, where two years ago, in November 2014, he claims he had the worst fight of his professional career, despite claiming a unanimous decision over Oscar Valenzuela.
?It was closer than we expected,? Reed said. Two years ago, he wasn?t as committed as he should have been. Reed said he wasn?t hanging out in nightclubs, but ?I?d started drinking a little more than I wanted to.?
With redemption for that time in mind, Reed has spent his most recent training camp digging in for a protracted battle with Siqueira, a 5-foot-7 foil who is 13 years older and one inch taller than Reed with a 10-inch advantage in reach, according to BoxRec.com. Exhausting Reed?s legs to improve endurance has been emphasized in camp.
In the leadup to the fight, Reed described Siqueira in boxer?s terms, referencing the Brazilian?s tolerance for punishment in a respectful tone that would sound boastful out of context.
?He will take a beating,? Reed said.
As for his future beyond Saturday, Reed looks to the main draw for inspiration. Both men fight in 140-pound divisions. Four years ago, in his last fight as a relative unknown, ?Bud? Crawford was pitted against the same man Reed will face in Omaha.
Siqueira fell to Crawford via TKO at the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas on Nov. 10, 2012. The following March, Crawford caught the break of a lifetime when he was asked to fill in for super lightweight champ Khabib Allakhverdiev, who injured his elbow weeks ahead of a title fight against Breidis Prescott.
In his first 10-round bout, Crawford upset Prescott in a unanimous decision. The win launched Crawford toward a victory for the WBO title a year later. He?s either won, defended or unified a belt in the six fights since.
?Since that day, he?s been on the up and up,? Reed said. ?I think my opportunity will come like that.?
With an ambition to replicate Crawford?s success in the 140-pound field, Reed knows he has to not only stay unbeaten against Siqueira, but do so in explosive fashion. Of that much, ?Yes Indeed? is confident.
