On Saturday night from the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas, Peter Manfredo Jr. gets his opportunity to win the WBC middleweight title when he faces Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. For the former contestant on ?The Contender,? who parlayed his participation on NBC?s inaugural boxing reality program back in 2005 into some significant opportunities, this is most likely his last big shot in this sport.
?Exactly, this is it for me,? Manfredo said on Monday from his cell phone, while on a layover in Charlotte, North Carolina en route to the Lone Star State. ?This is do-or-die for me. Obviously, it?s my last shot, my last opportunity because I want it to be. I just want to go in there and leave it in the ring that night. I?m in the airport now, getting ready to catch my second flight in about an hour. I?m very comfortable. I?m very happy with where I?m at. Training went well for this camp. I?m very humbled and excited that I got this opportunity. I?m going to make the best of it.?
It?s often said that when boxers contemplate retirement, they are already retired. But you have to deal in hard reality. Unlike other sports, boxers don?t receive pensions and when the fighting stops, so do the paychecks. Manfredo is still just 30 years old but he began preparing for life outside of the sport last year as he embarked on his quest to become a firefighter. He began taking EMT courses in 2010.
?I didn?t pass the national registry yet. I took it once. I failed it. I gotta take it again,? he said, candidly ?but I haven?t taken it again because I?ve been training for this fight and just concentrating on this right now. So I?ll go back to that when this is all said and done and over.? adding, ?I don?t have a time frame. I?d like to do it for the future, to make better pay for the family. But right now, I?m happy. I?m a local laborer too. I work for Local 271 as a laborer and I don?t mind that work either. It?s just when it?s available. Sometimes you can work, then you?re collecting all this other stuff but I got life pretty much figured out with work and all that.?
In a bit of irony, Manfredo?s role as a laborer had him doing work at the very same Dunkin Donuts Center he once headlined in. While that circumstance would be humbling for many others, to Manfredo, there is no shame in making ends meet for his family with good ol? fashioned hard work. There is a certain blue-collar-ness about him that is admirable.
Unlike his young opponent who is the heir of boxing royalty, Manfredo is literally that guy who puts on a hard hat, packs a sack lunch and goes to work.
?If the firefighter thing comes my way, I?ll take it,? he says. ?If it doesn?t, I?ll continue being a laborer. There?s always going to be a way to make money. I got three kids. There?s no sitting around waiting around. You gotta go and get it, so that?s what I?m doing now.?
But in the lead-up to this contest, ?The Pride of Providence? was nothing but a professional prizefighter.
?When I found out I had this fight, I put everything aside for this fight because obviously it?s the biggest fight in my life right now. So if I can win this fight, this will change everything. This will pay off my house. This will put me in a great place. So I put everything aside, which being a laborer, I can do that and I finished school in July. So it was actually perfect timing for me but these are the things you have to do when you have a family and things like that,? said Manfredo, who seems to have his priorities in order. ?You?re the breadwinner and you gotta take care of your family. You gotta figure it out. Only the strong survive. It?s easy to quit but you gotta keep going and you got a family. You gotta figure it out and do it and get it because nobody is going to give you anything in life. If you want something badly enough, you?ll get it.?
Before he starts punching a clock full-time, Manfredo?s got one last shot for glory. You ask former fighters what they really miss and they?ll tell you it?s not just the money or fame. What?s really intoxicating are those moments when you have the nervous energy flowing throughout your body as you step into the squared circle before doing battle, all eyes on you and nobody else. Running into a burning building is certainly more dangerous but performing in front of thousands is the height of exhilaration.
Manfredo, who has a career mark of 37-6 with 20 stoppages to his credit, says, ?This fight?s definitely going to cap it off. This is everything I ever wanted. This is the biggest title you can win, the WBC, and it?s not against a [Joe]Calzaghe or a [Sakio] Bika, where I didn?t belong. This is actually a fight I can win. I trained extremely hard for it and I?m excited about it. Right after this fight, I?ll be satisfied. Whatever happens, I?ll be at peace with myself and my career.?
There?s a reason why Chavez?s promoter, Top Rank, chose Manfredo. Every time he?s been at the upper echelon of the sport, he?s been vanquished. That said, what gives Manfredo hope is that Chavez Jr. is no Chavez Sr. While he has the WBC strap, Jr.?s a far cry from the legitimate middleweight champion of the world, Sergio Martinez. ?I think he?s a tough, tough fighter. He hasn?t lost, so he doesn?t know how to lose yet but I just don?t think he?s a superstar yet,? Manfredo says of Chavez Jr. ?He hasn?t fought the caliber I?ve been in there with. It doesn?t make him a bad fighter but he just hasn?t had the experience I?ve had. That?s what gives me a great shot to win this fight. I know it?s going to be a tough fight. It?s going to be tough to win but I?m going out there and give it a shot and leave it all in the ring that night.?
Houston will be hostile territory but don?t tell Manfredo about how tough it will be to win a decision this weekend. He ain?t hearing it.
?I?m not thinking about that. If I?m thinking about that, I shouldn?t have even come out here and fight,? he says. ?I?m just going to go in there and do what I?ve been training to do and box this kid, run him into shots and break him down and eventually, if I don?t stop him- I don?t stop him- but I can?t worry about getting robbed or whatever like that. I just gotta go in there and give it my 100 percent.?
Manfredo says the viewing public might ultimately be the true arbiters of his fight.
?Obviously it will be on HBO. They rob me, everybody in the world will see it, so I?m not worried about that. I gotta go in there and do my job.?
Manfredo will just go to work. After all, that?s what he does.
?I expect a good fight. He?s going to come. I?m going to come. I?m not going to stop. I wanna win so bad. He doesn?t want to lose. I?m hoping it?s like a Micky Ward-Arturo Gatti fight, to be honest with you. That?s what every fighter dreams about having?at least I know I do. I dream about having a fight like that one and hopefully, this is the one.?
FINAL AFTERMATH
Here are some of the emails I received in the past day or so in the aftermath of the bout between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez:
?Steve, not sure what all the fuss is about. I flew in from the great state of AK to watch pac/marq fight, had great seats, and thought it was a great show. I suspect you let the overwhelming Mexican/Spanish crowd sway you. You were there, it was easily filled with 50+% mexicans. These were the only ones I seen upset. Had it been the same crowd that attended the cotto fight, and were even on supporters of pacman and his opponent there wouldn?t be much fuss. Much like all 3 fights, it was close. Fight could have gone either way, depending on what you look for. It was clear to me that Marquez had the cleaner looking shots. However PAC had volume, and made the fight. Without PAC making fight, Marquez does nothing. I?m biased towards pacman, and was nervous b4 cards were read; but after watching it again I like the decision.
You want boxing to go mainstream, quit rewarding fighters for never pressing action, and pot shotting. You complain about mayweather being boring, but score this one for Marquez, despite him fighting like maywether. That was his plan. This wasn?t the same action fighter we seen against the baby bull or katsidis. He had a plan to pot shoot, and not get knocked out; which took from what could have been a great fight. It?s any wonder UFC has a following. Not saying Marquez is boring, far from it, but on this night his game plan looked just like maywether (who?s all excitement till he gets in the ring)
