BIG BEAR LAKE, California \u2013 It\u2019s one thing to enter professional boxing with the allure of an Olympic medal, the backing of a leading promoter or the support of a powerful manager.<\/p>\n
For the others, it\u2019s a matter of creating sweat equity with little to no fanfare, performing on the undercards of small casino or hotel convention rooms, accepting higher-risk bouts than the more glamorous prospects and pressing forward when those presiding over the business base every decision on the bottom line.<\/p>\n
This is the tale of Southern California\u2019s Arnold Barboza Jnr, who arrives at his long-awaited (or long-denied) title fight against WBO 140lbs champion Teofimo Lopez Jnr 21-1 (13 KOs) Friday night in New York\u2019s Times Square after paying every due and then some to reach this dream bout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I don\u2019t think I can get broken in the ring,\u201d the 33-year-old Barboza 32-0 (11 KOs) told BoxingScene in a recent exclusive interview. \u201cI don\u2019t even care what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, this is my fight. Like [Juan Manuel] Marquez when he fought [Manny] Pacquiao for the fourth time. I want to beat him so bad, I can\u2019t see past it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of that has to do with the imbalanced treatment Barboza received in comparison with Lopez by promoter Top Rank. While Barboza says he harbors no resentment toward promoter Bob Arum and Hall of Fame matchmakers Brad Goodman and Bruce Trampler, he opted to leave the company after eight years of remaining unbeaten without a title shot.<\/p>\n
Barboza reached Top Rank only after closing his high school football career \u2013 beefing up to 215 pounds as a fullback\/linebacker \u2013 and deciding to return to boxing after he \u201clost my childhood doing it\u201d before turning to football.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wondered what I was going to do with my life,\u201d Barboza said. \u201cI already had a kid \u2013 two by the time I was 22 years old \u2013 and I wanted something bigger, didn\u2019t want to work a typical job in a warehouse and just get by.\u201d<\/p>\n
He signed a minor deal with late promoter Gary Shaw and took three club-show bouts before going out of the ring for 1 \u00bd years because he lacked a promoter.<\/p>\n
During the lull, Barboza took a full-time, graveyard-hours job doing the backbreaking work of distributing alcohol for a Southern California company.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d walk on modules, like 12 to 13 miles a night, throwing cases \u2026 it was such hard work. I wish I had someone make a video of it,\u201d Barboza said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d get done at 8 in the morning, maybe later \u2026 get out of there with my big old boots on because it was a hard-labor job and I\u2019d go to the park, sleep in my car for 30 minutes, change my boots and get into sweats, and go run.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, I\u2019d go home, eat my breakfast, go to sleep for three-fours, go to the boxing gym, then change and go to work again. It made me so weak. Your body\u2019s meant to sleep. And I would have to manage my diet. That job supported me, but my dad [and trainer] said, \u2018It\u2019s either work or boxing.\u2019 I could\u2019ve accepted the job, it paid well.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I decided to roll the dice instead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barboza was invited to spar former 140lbs champion Mike Alvarado as Alvarado prepared for a bout against Marquez, and Alvarado was so impressed he recommended Barboza to Top Rank\u2019s Goodman.<\/p>\n
Thanks to a new fight series, Top Rank was in search of fighters who could sell tickets. Barboza could do that both with his fighting style and his interest in marketing himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d get family to go and call people on the phone, \u2018Hey, you want to go to the fight?\u2019\u201d Barboza said. \u201cBy the week of the fight, I was really hustling, bringing about 300 people. I always have good support, got about 2,000 to my first fight at Staples Center. My fans have always been like that \u2013 very loyal, more than just social-media followers.\u201d<\/p>\n
It became clear to Top Rank that the company had a bona-fide talent on its hands, but Barboza didn\u2019t come with the hype of being placed on high-profile cards as Lopez was as he moved up.<\/p>\n
Instead, Barboza was tasked with meeting accomplished foes in lesser-noticed spots \u2013 Mike Reed on a Carson undercard, Alvarado on a Staples Center support bout, Alex Saucedo in The Bubble during the COVID era.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t notice in his first Top Rank contract that the company had the right to extend the deal two more years, which it did.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was frustrating, and I\u2019d wonder, \u2018Why am I fighting? I\u2019m not getting the big fights. No one wants to fight me.\u2019\u201d Barboza said.<\/p>\n
When those five years were up, he asked how much longer he\u2019d need to wait for a title shot.<\/p>\n
He recalls being told, \u201cWe\u2019ve got all the top 140lbs fighters, so there\u2019s a big possibility we\u2019ll get you a title fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Lopez fight never materialized.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was obvious they couldn\u2019t do any more for me. I love Top Rank, we left on good terms, I said thank you,\u201d Barboza said.<\/p>\n
With Golden Boy, he\u2019s accepted more rugged non-title work, barely avoiding an upset by Sean McComb in April 2024, then defeating former unified 140lbs champion Jose Ramirez in November before venturing to the U.K. to edge England\u2019s Jack Catterall by split-decision in February.<\/p>\n
That boxed in Lopez, establishing Barboza as the WBO\u2019s interim champion and moving Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh to make the lucrative bout that opens a three-fight Friday DAZN card that also includes Devin Haney versus Ramirez and Ryan Garcia versus Rolly Romero for the WBA secondary welterweight title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI literally put his back to the wall,\u201d Barboza said of Lopez, who slapped Barboza\u2019s face at the Los Angeles news conference hyping the card. \u201cHe has to fight me. We will get the best Teofimo because I\u2019m his toughest fight to date.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although he also promotes Garcia and Ramirez, Oscar De La Hoya predicts the best fight of the three will be Barboza-Lopez.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur fight has the highest stakes. It\u2019s for a belt and bad blood,\u201d Barboza said. \u201cI\u2019ve obviously wanted this fight for a long time. I\u2019m excited to get in there and win.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing can take me out of my game plan mentally in boxing. I\u2019ve already been through so much. It\u2019s why I train here. If 15,000 [British] fans booing me can\u2019t take me out of my game plan, what\u2019s some trash talking going to do? I have a job to do and I plan on executing my game plan.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Everything has been a grind for Barboza. He carries to Friday\u2019s ring the varied experiences of never being coddled, knowing nothing in the sport has been gifted to him. Because no short-cuts existed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe beat a former Olympian and unified champion [in Ramirez], went to England for Catterall and now I\u2019m taking on a world champion \u2026 my confidence is high coming off these wins and my activity has been non-stop,\u201d Barboza said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just can\u2019t wait for the whole world to see who I am. I\u2019ve just got to go perform.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BIG BEAR LAKE, California \u2013 It\u2019s one thing to enter professional boxing with the allure of an Olympic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[31950,1935,79,31951,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-61964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-arnold-barboza","9":"tag-boxing","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-teofimo-lopez","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114424948016460784","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}