SERGIO ESPINOZA READY FOR TITLE RUN

PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 07 Jul 2009

In trying to escape wild baseballs, flyweight Sergio Espinoza of San
Diego, CA, took a strange road as he chose a sport that consisted of
him getting punched in the face. The "San Diego Sensation" is in the
co-feature bout of "Havoc at the Hard Rock II: No Mercy" this Friday,
July 10th at the open air Woodstock Terrace at the Hard Rock Hotel
in downtown San Diego, CA.

"To be honest, I ran in by mistake. I used to play baseball back in
L.A. for like three years and when I got to San Diego I used to see
these guys pitch the baseball real fast and I got scared because I
got him a couple of times before," Espinoza says laughing "Where I
used to live in some apartments there was a kid that used to box in
Mexicali and he asked me if I wanted to go to the gym, I wasn’t sure
at first but I decided to give it a try."

The at the time thirteen year old Espinoza definitely gave it try
and although it took some time to show his talent, eventually the
"San Diego Sensation" showed himself and his coach, Robert Coons,
that he was something special.

"Sergio was about thirteen, fourteen years old, he came in here with
about seven other kids," Coach Coons states fondly. "I couldn’t have
picked him out from the group, as a matter of fact, there was another
kid that stuck with it as an amateur but he eventually went back to
the streets. Sergio just stayed with it and ended up winning almost
everything as an amateur. For him to be around since he was fourteen,
tells you a lot about his character."

"I was in the gym for four or five months and coach said I was
going to compete. I said ‘what do you mean compete?’" Espinoza says
chuckling. "I had never seen boxing in my life and I didn’t know there
were competitions. I decided to try it and then I competed in the
jr. Olympics. I went against these kid that was like 38-1, Eddie Cruz,
I remember his name. We fought in the championship and he ended up
winning, of course, but he never thought that was my first fight, he
thought I gave him a run for his money so I showed him my pass book."

Espinoza stayed with it and ended up amassing an impressive amateur
record of 73-12 on his way of becoming the first San Diego amateur
fighter to capture all of the major amateur titles, the Junior
Nationals, the National PAL title, the National Gold Gloves and the
USA Nationals.

"I won my first tournament when I was 17. That was against
17-18 year old guys. The winner would represent USA in the world
championships. That was my first major tournament, Espinoza says
proudly. "I feel good, I thank God for giving me the will, the strength
and the determination to doing it. I first I never knew that I was
the first to win all those major tournaments. When I came back and I
was seventeen and fought the big boys, that is when it really counts
because a lot kids when the tournament when they are young and then
they can’t win anything so it made me feel better winning with the
big boys."

At 22, the now father of two joined the punch for bucks ranks in a
four rounder where he defeated future NABO super flyweight champion
Kahren Harutyunyan at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in north San Diego.

"I remember I had about fifteen opponents change and in different
weight classes. To be honest, I should of stayed amateur until 2004
but I was so anxious to jump in the pro ranks, I wasn’t thinking about
the money," Espinoza remembers. "I remember I fought a 2-0 undefeated
Armenian guy and he became a NABO champion. That morning I had to go
up to 120 lbs. from 115 lbs. to fight. It was a tough fight but we
beat him."

Espinoza kept fighting, mostly in his adopted town of San Diego,
cultivating a fan base that had followed him since the amateurs but
not surprisingly the politics of boxing reared their ugly heads in
the direction of the affable Espinoza.

Coach Coons remembers the circumstances.

There is a whole story of why he hasn’t fought in San Diego. Sergio
was an extremely popular athlete when he was an amateur. He used to
bring 200-300 fans as an amateur. Once he went pro, he used to bring
the same amount of fans to the shows. Promoters here in San Diego
started using his name with no intention of using him," Coons states
choosing his words carefully. "Fans go to 5-6 different competitions
and they would tell him ‘Why is your name on the thing? I went to
the show and you didn’t even box.’ The people stated blaming him and
we decided to not fight in San Diego anymore because the promoters
started killing his reputation."

After three years of fighting consistently, Espinoza began to have
trouble finding fights and began to feel the burn of overtraining
but not having the opportunity to show his skills.

"I wasn’t getting any fights, I had six fights postpone in like six
months. I was training and training and not getting any fights so I
was getting burned out. These people would tell me that I was going to
fight, knowing that I wasn’t and wait until two days before to tell
me that I wasn’t fighting," Espinoza then made a difficult decision
professional but an even more important one personally.

"I told coach that I was going to take some time off, I had just
gotten engaged, so I just worked and saved up to get married. I just
wanted to come back and hopefully everything that was going on with
these people goes away and we can start all over again."

Now Espinoza has been married for six years and holds a full time
job in the hotel industry.

After a year and a half, Sergio felt the itch to lace up the gloves
again and fight.

"After my layoff, I fought this kid from L.A. and they made it a six
rounder because they knew I was a front runner and that I would get
tired, it should of been a four rounder. I dropped him in the second
round with an overhand right and I thought ‘please God, keep him on
the floor’," Espinoza says chuckling. "I was already tired but he
got up and I lost that fight. That was my fault and coach’s fault but
after I went on a winning streak beating everybody that they put in
front of us regardless of weight class."

Because of the winning streak, Espinoza signed with his first promoter,
the once defunct but coming back Guilty Boxing out of Las Vegas,
which was a well received experience for Espinoza.

"I was with them for two years, they kept me busy in Vegas and I
didn’t have to fight in San Diego. I didn’t want to be part of the
politics but it never bothered me because I knew what had to be done."

After his promoter Guilty Boxing folded, Espinoza kept fighting
sporadically and then an opportunity arose.

"Some time later we fought a guy that (Marco Antonio) Barrera had,
his name is Juan Alberto Rosas, he was ranked #9 by the IBF. Golden
Boy said ‘we are going to give you an opportunity’. They said they
were going to sign the winner but it didn’t matter to me because I
knew I could beat him. I want to fight the best fighters so I can
become a better fighter. Nobody thought I was going to beat him but
I knew that my experience, my talent and the skills that I have and
I beat him unanimous for ten rounds."

Golden Boy did not offer him a contract but Espinoza was undeterred
even after suffering a tough loss to journey man Benji Garcia and
then another to world ranked Luis "Titi" Maldonado in ’07 although
Espinoza is of a different opinion regarding that loss.

In that fight I beat him for twelve rounds, cut him, busted him up
and I lost a unanimous decision. It broke my heart because even in
their corner, they knew they lost, everybody knew he lost."

Despite the loss, Ontario’s Thompson Boxing became Espinoza’s second
promoter of his career when he signed with them in early 2008. In his
first fight with the local promotional company, Espinoza was matched
up tough but shone through with the challenge.

"I fought a tough guy Wilbert Uicab, he was ranked #8 by the WBC and
I beat him unanimously in eight rounds. After that I was ranked #9
by the WBC and #14 by the IBF."

A month later, Espinoza became a test for Manny Roman, whose career
is manned by 2007’s manager of the year Frank Espinoza. Espinoza lost
a majority decision that was for the vacant WBC Continental Americas
Flyweight title. With the loss, Espinoza was dropped from the world
rankings by both organizations and his contract with Thompson Boxing.

At 31 years of age, Espinoza knows that time is running out for his
dream to become a world champion and is ready to make that run towards
a coveted title.

"I am just thinking of an opportunity. Like I told Roberto Diaz,
my co-manager, bring on anybody, bring on Donaire, I even will go
to Argentina to fight that Navaez guy, I don’t care, as long as I
get one opportunity, that is all it takes to prove the world wrong,
that I am still become a world champion regardless of my record,
I still got what it takes."

Espinoza is clearly excited in fighting in his hometown once again
in front of the fans that showed him their support in the beginning
his career.

"It makes me feel good, having other promoters, new promoters here
in San Diego and they picking the right guy that is really willing
to fight anybody and to just prove my name out there and to prove to
everybody that I can become a world champion," Espinoza concludes. "I
am staying active but I do want tougher fights and fighters that
are ranked so I can get that opportunity against any of the world
champions in my weight class."