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Maidana vs. Lopez Final Press
Conference
By Barbara Pinnella
Today was the final press conference to promote the giant
Golden Boy Promotions’ fight card at the Home Depot Center
in Carson, CA on Saturday, June 8. Golden Boy’s Richard
Schaefer told us that the ticket sales were great and that
they were expecting a sell-out crowd for this event. The
only other time there had been a sell-out at the Home Depot
was when Antonio Margarito fought there, and that was back
in 2007. There are 11 fights scheduled for this card.
Several of the fighters that will display their skills this
weekend were on hand for the conference. They were all
pretty short-winded, but here are quotes from the afternoon.
The SHOWTIME fights will have a triple feature. Of course
the main event is Marcos “El Chino” Maidana (33-3, 30 KOs)
against Josesito Lopez (30-5, 18 KOs), and will be for the
WBA Inter-Continental welterweight title. After saying that
this fight is exactly what fight fans want to see, because
you just don’t know what will happen, Schaefer said, “These
two will disagree with me, but it’s the kind of fight, it
doesn’t really matter who wins the fight. There are only
gonna be winners. And the biggest winners of all are the
fans. This is the kind of event you will be talking about
for a long time.”
Richard introduced Ken Thompson of Thompson Boxing
Promotions, co-promoter (with Dan Goossen) of Lopez.
“We have nothing but the very best for this fight. But when
the two greatest fighters in the world enter the ring,
Josesito Lopez and Marcos Maidana, they will light up this
city. There will be no need for judges in this fight. One
man will be on the canvas and one man will have his hand
raised high, and that one man will be Josesito Lopez! Let me
introduce him now ladies and gentlemen, the future
welterweight champion of the world, Josesito Lopez.”
“I want to thank the media and everybody who came out.”
Josesito said. “Saturday is a big fight, a tough fight. I
know I’m fighting one of the most dangerous fighters in the
welterweight division. For that reason I’ve prepared well,
and I think knowing I’m going to fight a great, dangerous
fighter, that brings out the best in me. I worked 10 hard
years to get to the point I’m at right now and I’ve got to
prove myself.
“As a boxing fan I’m excited for this fight. Even before
this was even brought up I thought this would be a great
match-up, one of those fights. Unfortunately, I have to be
on the receiving end but I’m excited and there’s a great
card coming out. We’re definitely gonna light up the city!”
Schaefer then introduced Maidana by saying that he is the
one guy who is going to steal the show.
Maidana spoke through an interpreter. “Good afternoon
everyone. I want to thank my team, Golden Boy, and SHOWTIME
for this opportunity. I come very well prepared. I’ve been
three months in Oxnard with Robert training very hard, and
come Saturday night we’re gonna work on what we worked on in
camp, see how everything goes.
“This gentleman to my left says I’m going to be laid out and
Josesito’s going to have his hand raised. It’s not that
easy. Words are easy to say, but doing it’s not that easy.
We’re gonna do it. (This said in English by Marcos, with a
smile.) It looks very easy, but how come he doesn’t get up
in there? Thank you.”
Don’t read too much into this ending. Maidana was laughing
and patting Thompson on the back. Marcos seemed to be
getting a kick out of it.
The fight between Erislandy Lara (17-1-2, 11 KOs) and
Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo (22-2, 18 KOs) will be for the
interim WBA World light middleweight title. Richard
explained that the title is ‘interim’ because the super
championship is held by Floyd Mayweather at that weight
division, and the regular title is held by Canelo Alvarez.
Since Mayweather and Alvarez are fighting each other, the
regular title becomes vacant, so this becomes the interim
title.
“I’m excited for this fight, two extremely talented
fighters; both of them in their own way bring excitement to
the ring.” Richard then asked for Lara to come up.
Lara made his way to the microphone. Through an interpreter
he said, “I’m very happy to be in this fight, and I want to
thank America for giving me the opportunity to fight this
Saturday. I’m ready. My team and I, we’ve done tremendous
work. The conditioning is there. There are no more words to
say, we’re ready to fight, and we’re ready for Saturday.”
Schaefer said, “Angulo is one of those fighters who is just
not capable of being in a bad fight. Whenever Angulo fights
you want to make sure you’re in your seat, because you just
never know what might happen. Alfredo has been waiting for
this moment – to fight for a world title again – for a long
time. And here it is.”
Angulo stepped up. “Thank you everybody, I see all the
media, thank you. Thank you to SHOWTIME for the opportunity.
I won’t speak too much, only that we’ve put in a lot of hard
work for this fight. We had a great camp. Lara is a great
fighter. I’ll see you in the ring. Are you coming for the
fight or are you coming for a run? Thank you.”
When Angulo repeated what he had said in Spanish, and got to
the part about coming to fight or coming to run, Erislandy
started laughing.
The opening bout on SHOWTIME will be Jermell Charlo (20-0,
10 KOs) going against the nephew of Bernard, Demetrius
Hopkins (33-2-1, 13 KOs) in a scheduled 12 rounder in the
light middleweight division, and will be for the USBA light
middleweight title.
Schaefer pointed out that this is a very meaningful fight
for both of these fighters.
Charlo came up first. “I want to thank my manager who made
it happen for me, and my trainer Ron Shields who’s been
aggressive every day. It has been an honor to work with my
twin brother, in three years I’ve never sparred with my
brother, so a thank you to him. Other than that, I want to
thank everybody who supports Team Charlo and the Charlo
brothers.
“Come Saturday I’m gonna do what I do, show aggression, box,
whatever it takes to win. I’m coming for the knockout, or we
can go the distance, I’ll be ready. Be on the lookout for
me. Thank you.”
Next up was Hopkins. “I feel good. At this moment, and at
this stage in my career, this is a do or die situation. I’m
willing to die to work for my spot, and I’m pretty much
ready. You’re gonna see the best of Demetrius Hopkins. Thank
you.”
We got into the fighters who would be appearing on the SHO
EXTREME broadcast. Schaefer started this off by saying that,
being a big USC fan, when he heard that a former USC
football player was going to be a boxer, he just knew he
would be a great fighter. “Sure enough, he is. Gerald
Washington is 7-0 with 5 KOs. He will face off against
Sherman Williams, a man with almost 50 fights, so it’s going
to be a big test for Washington.”
Gerald then took the podium and thanked everyone. “I’m very
excited to be fighting and debuting on my first television
bout. I’m looking forward to the future and I’m just going
to keep working hard.”
Washington then spoke in Spanish, afterwards saying that he
was nervous, that it was hard, and that this was his first
time doing so. His fight with Williams will be for a
scheduled eight rounds in the heavyweight division.
Japan’s Yoshihiro Kamegai (22-0-1, 19 KOs) will go up
against former world champion Johan Perez (16-1-1, 12 KOs)
in a welterweight fight that is scheduled for 10 rounds.
This fight is for the vacant WBA International welterweight
title.
Through an interpreter, Kamegai thanked GBP and everyone
else who made the fight possible. “I have been training in
Las Vegas for the last five weeks. I’ve had a great camp and
am making the final adjustments, and I’m looking forward to
putting on the best performance that I can. Even though I’m
Japanese I hope you guys will root for me. Thank you and
gracias,” he said with a smile.
Perez made his way up. He too used an interpreter. “Good
afternoon to everyone. Thank you all for being here. I just
want to tell you that I’m very excited. I’m very well
prepared, and I will get the victory. I don’t know too much
about my opponent, but I hope he’s well prepared, because
the most important thing is to give you, the fans, a
spectacular fight. That’s what it’s all about. I’m very
short on words; no more to say. I’m gonna take that victory
home. I’ll see you all on Saturday. Thank you.”
If time permits on the telecast, viewers will get to see
2012 Olympian Joseph Diaz (4-0, 2 KOs) facing off against
Rigoberto Casillas (8-11, 6 KOs) in a super bantamweight
fight scheduled for six rounds.
Diaz said, “I want to thank Golden Boy Promotions. We’re
ready and prepared for this fight. We know that Rigoberto
Casillas is a really great fighter; he has a lot of
experience in the ring. We know that he’ll come ready and
prepared. I know that he has a lot of knockouts and he’ll be
very strong, but I’m just gonna outbox him and do what I do
best, and be victorious. We’re ready for the fight and ready
to give you guys a great show. Thank you guys.”
Maidana vs. Lopez, a 12-round fight for Maidana’s WBA
Intercontinental Championship, is promoted by Golden Boy
Promotions and sponsored by Corona and AT&T. The
tripleheader will take place on Saturday, June 8 at The Home
Depot Center in Carson, CA and will be televised live on
SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00
p.m. PT. The event can be heard in Spanish using secondary
audio programming (SAP). Maidana vs. Lopez is presented in
association with Goossen Tutor Promotions and Thompson
Boxing Promotions. Also featured will be a 12-round showdown
between all-action warrior Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo and top
rated super welterweight contender Erislandy Lara for the
vacant WBA Interim Super Welterweight World Championship
which is presented in association with Blue Wave Group and a
12-round fight between veteran Demetrius Hopkins and
unbeaten phenom Jermell Charlo for Hopkins’ USBA Junior
Middleweight Championship and Charlo’s WBC Continental
Americas Super Welterweight Championship. Preliminary fights
will air on SHOWTIME EXTREME at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.
Be safe and God Bless,
Viva La Raza,
Barb.
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