It was Tuesday night, just past 10 in New York City. Juan Manuel Lopez was relaxing in his hotel room in Manhattan, four days shy of his challenge to featherweight world champion Steven Luevano on Saturday at Madison Square Garden.
Several subjects were broached, including Lopez’s 4-year-old son, Juanmita.
“He is the one who has always been in the gym with me,” Lopez said to BoxingScene.com. “He tries to do everything I do in the gym. If he wants to do that (become a fighter), I will back him on it.”
Perhaps in 15 years someone will ask Juanmita who his idol is and he will say his dad. But Juanmita Lopez will be hard-pressed to idolize his dad as much as his dad does Felix “Tito” Trinidad, arguably Puerto Rico’s most popular fighter ever.
“There are a lot of fighters I like, but no one like ‘Tito’ Trinidad,” Lopez said via telephone. “I grew up liking a lot of fighters, like Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao. But there are no other fighters like ‘Tito.’ He is always going to be my idol.”
It will be difficult for Lopez or any other future Puerto Rican to match the popularity of Trinidad. Even Miguel Cotto hasn’t been able to do that. Lopez can only hope he gets close.
“I will be very proud if kids grow up thinking of me that way,” said Lopez, 26. “I took ‘Tito’ as my guide to follow and if someone wants to think of me that way, that would be great. But I can’t think of myself as being as great as he is. I just have to think of my career and being the best I can.”
Lopez Could Get Close To Trinidad’s Popularity, If …
There is one thing no Puerto Rican has ever done – win titles in four weight classes. That is Lopez’s ultimate goal and if he achieves it, his celebrity on the island would likely rise to tremendous heights.
“When I started fighting professionally, I thought to myself that I would like to win titles in four different weight classes,” said Lopez, who was a junior featherweight champion and will be moving up in weight to take on Luevano. “If I win Saturday that will be two, and that will be halfway. I know at 126 there are some great fighters like (Yuriorkis) Gamboa, (Rafael) Marquez and (Israel) Vazquez.
“But my goal is to win four titles in four weight classes. I would be the first Puerto Rican to do it.”
Getting No. 2 against Luevano (37-1-1, 15 KOs) won’t be easy, however. In the mind of Luevano’s trainer, Robert Garcia, “Lopez has never fought a guy like Steven.”
No doubt, Luevano is a terrific fighter. Bob Arum, promoter of both, said last week that Luevano is probably the better boxer. Lopez (27-0, 24 KOs) doesn’t necessarily dispute that. Then again, Lopez believes Luevano might be in uncharted waters as well.
“I know how good and technically sound he is,” Lopez said. “I study him real well. I follow him. I’ve seen him fight, so I know how good he is. But I don’t think he has ever fought a guy like me, either. A guy who is aggressive, who hits this hard. We are in for a tough fight, both of us.”
Arum labeled this a 50-50, pick-em fight.
Pacquiao’s Mental State
Tuesday’s news conference at Cowboys Stadium promoting the March 13 welterweight title fight there between champion Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey had just ended. It was a scenario in which the fighters donned Cowboys jerseys and Pacquiao was allowed to wear one of Dallas owner Jerry Jones’ Super Bowl rings during the proceedings.
Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach, was waiting to do a satellite interview when he took the telephone.
“It was so great, unbelievable,” Roach said of the stadium.
But how is Pacquiao’s head? Roach was asked. After all, Pacquiao – who has never failed a drug test – has just spent weeks listening to accusations and innuendo regarding performance-enhancing drugs. To know Pacquiao is to realize he cares about what people think – especially Filipinos, who idolize him.
Today, there are no doubt fans out there who wonder whether Pacquiao is dirty. There might even be some Filipinos who want to know why Pacquiao didn’t agree to the Olympic-style testing requested by Floyd Mayweather Jr. that ultimately killed their fight, which was supposed to be March 13 in Las Vegas.
It might not seem fair, but human nature means that when a seed is planted, we contemplate it. Even if there is no proof, only insinuation. Roach, however, doesn’t believe any of this has damaged the psyche of Pacquiao, who typically is supremely confident and tremendously focused.
“Not at all because we know we are clean,” Roach said. “Any time you have great success in sports there are going to be people who think something’s wrong, but we know we are clean. Mayweather keeps talking, and we’re going to take care of this in the lawsuit.”
Roach said he is also not concerned that Pacquiao has gone from mentally preparing for Mayweather to now getting ready for Clottey, a fighter with a very different style.
“It’s really not a problem because we hadn’t started training for Mayweather yet,” Roach said. “I have an idea how to beat this guy. He is an action guy like Manny. He comes to fight, he punches hard.”
Vazquez-Lopez a Possibility
Frank Espinoza, Vazquez’s manager, said that if Vazquez gets past Marquez in their fourth fight May 22 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, he would indeed like Lopez to be Vazquez’s next opponent.
“I think that would be a good fight,” Espinoza said. “I would even consider it after the Marquez fight if everything works out as planned and Vazquez wins the fight against Marquez, which I think he will. That, to me, would be the next good fight for Vazquez.”
Perez-Mares Talks Taking Place
Espinoza also manages highly touted bantamweight Abner Mares (19-0, 12 KOs). He said a fight is being worked on that would have Mares challenge Yonnhy Perez for his world title on the undercard of Vazquez-Marquez IV.
Perez took the title from Joseph Agbeko via unanimous decision last Halloween at Treasure Island in Las Vegas.
“Golden Boy came and asked us if we would be willing to take the fight with Perez and we said yes,” Espinoza said. “That would be a great fight. It looks like it’s a go, but nothing’s final. As far as we’re concerned, we’ll take the fight.”
Mares is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, Perez is co-promoted by Gary Shaw and Thompson Boxing Promotions. Alex Camponovo, general manager and matchmaker for Thompson, confirmed the fight is in the works.
“We have been talking about it for the last few days, Gary Shaw and myself, and I know the guys at Golden Boy are interested,” Camponovo said. “I think it will be a great matchup, a very good fight. … I think we’re very close. Everybody is on board, pretty much.”
Camponovo said Perez and Mares fought each other two or three times in the amateurs, but he wasn’t sure of the results. He also said the two are friends and that Perez lived with Mares and his family for a few months in the Los Angeles area while the two were still amateurs.
Showtime, which televised the first three Marquez-Vazquez fights, will televise Marquez-Vazquez IV as well. Espinoza said Mares-Perez would be a terrific semi-main event. It would also give Showtime a heck of a one-two punch that night.
Perez is from Colombia, but when he’s training for a fight he lives in the Los Angeles suberb of Santa Fe Springs with his trainer, Danny Zamora. Perez has gotten heavily involved with that city, even helping local officials with political campaigns and the like.
Having Perez defend his title in Los Angeles on that undercard would likely add a couple of thousand fans as well as a lot of oomph.
Luevano’s Next Career?
Luevano, 28, was asked how much longer he wants to fight. He has already had 39 pro fights. He had a very long amateur career, with well over 100 bouts.
“I haven’t really talked it over (with his wife, Marina), but right now I’m just going to go as far as it could possibly take me,” Luevano said. “I’m not going to be one of those people where I’m going to be fighting to put my name out there for some kid that is coming up. I don’t want to be an opponent. That, I’m not going to be.”
When he’s done, he wants to be a police officer.
“That is something I always wanted to do since I was small,” said Luevano, of the Los Angeles suburb of La Puente. “I always wanted to be a cop. But they have an age limit where you can’t go (through the academy) anymore. My uncle was a police officer and he always used to tell me, ‘If you want to, just let me know.’ “
That craving was further enhanced recently when his stablemate, featherweight prospect Mikey Garcia, graduated from the Ventura County (about 50 miles from L.A.) Police Academy. Garcia is the younger brother of former super featherweight champion Robert Garcia, who trains Luevano; Robert Garcia also co-trains his younger brother along with their father, Eduardo.
Tremblay Award
In 2006 yours truly came up with the Donald Tremblay Award, given to the person who – in this mind – was the year’s top publicist.
Picking the winner for 2009 was more difficult than picking the first three winners – Tremblay, Fred Sternburg and Bill Caplan – because so many of the men and women doing this job have taken to heart one of the main reasons this award was conceived. That is that Tremblay, without any encouragement from us on press row, protected us after the main event better than anyone at the time of the award’s inception.
Trying to write a story in 15 minutes is no easy task, and it is made much more arduous when TV guys are breaking down tables around you, pulling out the power at the same time. Tremblay was tougher than anyone on those TV crews. Today, we have more protection than ever.
It is not just about that. Every part of a publicist’s job figures into this equation. If a publicist is good, he or she will be able to hook us up with a fighter on a moment’s notice – or at least the day the request is made.
A good publicist will also make sure that those on press row are behaving themselves. If some rookie/wannabe reporter – and there are many – cheer on press row, they should be scolded, and then removed, if they do it again.
John Beyrooty will get in the face of that sort quicker than anyone. And he won’t have to be told or asked to do it. He can be a bit mean about it, too, but that is a good thing in this kind of scenario.
That is one of the reasons Beyrooty is this year’s Tremblay winner, also because of something that happened at the Chris Arreola-Vitali Klitschko fight in September at Staples Center. A guy affiliated with an international television feed was drinking rather heavily, which should not be taking place on press row. Beyrooty not only chewed him out big-time for that, he chastised the guy because he kept standing up and taking pictures and getting in everyone’s way.
Pictures are not to be snapped on press row. Beyrooty was on the guy. All the while, there was a smile on this face.
Beyrooty grew up in Downey, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles. He got his start in the business as the publicist during the Forum Boxing Inc. days. Currently, he works for Brener, Zwikel and Associates.
Beyrooty was good friends with the late Lou Filippo, the Hall of Fame referee featured in the “Rocky” films who died in November. Beyrooty was out of town working when Filippo’s services were held, and Beyrooty was deeply saddened he could not attend.
We know, who cares about the publicists and the writers, right?
Hey, if it weren’t for guys like Beyrooty and the rest, readers would not get what they get from us.
