By Thomas Gerbasi

When it comes to practically anything in life, if you do something long enough, it will start to become routine. This is especially true in boxing, where the top-level fighters lace up the gloves when they’re barely into grade school, and soon 10 amateur fights become 50, 50 becomes 100, and in the case of the Dominican Republic’s Argenis Mendez, 100 becomes 250.

Mendez reportedly won 238 of those 250 bouts, eventually making it to the 2004 Olympics, and what had been a part of his life since the age of 12 was just going to continue. Now, a check came along with each fight and each victory, and through his first 12 pro fights, everything kept going as smoothly as they always did.

Then came the night of October 3, 2008, and all of a sudden things weren’t routine anymore. Well, let me clarify that – for the first round against 14-3 Jaime Sandoval, it was business as usual for Mendez, who dropped and almost finished Sandoval before the bell intervened.

But from round two on, it was a fight, and one that Mendez wasn’t going to win. When it was all over, Mendez has lost the bout via scores of 76-75 twice, with one judge seeing it his way at 77-74. Now he was 12-1 and about to lose his promotional deal with Top Rank.

That’s when the alarm clock went off.

“It definitely woke him up,” said manager Jose Nunez. “At the time he took that loss, Top Rank dropped him, and everybody turned their back on him except me, and I knew he was a lot better than he showed that day. It had a lot to do with the climate and altitude in Denver, but he knocked the kid down in the first round, and then he didn’t do enough. He was hurting the guy every time he was connecting, but he didn’t do enough to win on the judges’ scorecards. He learned that you can’t wait there in the defensive mode. You’ve got to throw back, and don’t always look for a knockout shot. He learned a lot from that fight.”

The fighter agrees.

“I don’t see it as a loss,” he said through a translator. “I see it more as a learning experience because I saw another side of boxing that I had never seen before. I train hard and better now, and I don’t want to feel like that again.”

He hasn’t had to. Since his lone pro loss, the 23-year old junior lightweight has won three in a row, signed a new promotional deal with DiBella Entertainment, and this Saturday he will have the opportunity to take that next step in his career when he takes on veteran Martin Honorio in the co-featured bout on the Paul Williams vs Kermit Cintron card in Carson, California.

“It’s gonna be a good fight,” said Mendez. “I’ve trained well and hard for it, and he’s a good fighter; Honorio is strong and smart, but I’m faster, I’m ready and I will win this fight.”

The former amateur star certainly has the talent; it’s the other question marks which bear looking at.

First, can an east coast-based 130 pounder (Mendez now makes his home in Brooklyn) make it in this game while remaining in New York?

Answer, probably not, so Nunez, who also manages Dominican star Joan Guzman, sent Mendez out west to train with former world champion Robert Garcia, who actually trained him for two fights earlier in his career.

“Garcia has always been a good trainer and a good person and he trained Mendez in the past for two fights,” said Nunez. “He (Mendez) gets great sparring out there, and I thought it would be a good match to go back with him. Plus, it became real, real tough on the east coast, and I had no choice but to send him out west. There was no one who wanted to fight him out here; everyone claims injuries and it was kinda tough to get him prepared for this fight on the east coast.”

Yet while Mendez got in good work with the likes of Brandon Rios and Garcia’s younger brother Mikey in this camp, the former world champion won’t be in his corner come Saturday night, as he’ll be in Mexico working with former welterweight champ Antonio Margarito. Stepping in will be Guzman – so how will that work out for the young prospect?

“I know that Garcia’s not gonna be there in the corner, but mentally he’ll be there,” said Mendez, “and Guzman will be in the corner that night, so I feel good. This is a big opportunity for me now, and I’m going to take advantage of it. I’m coming prepared and I’ve got a great team.”

Two questions down, one to go, and this may be the biggie. Honorio may have fallen short in big fights with Roberto Guerrero and William Abelyan over the years, but he’s currently riding a four fight winning streak that includes back to back wins over 18-0 John Molina and 12-0-1 Wilton Hilario. If it’s prospect hunting season, Honorio’s packing the biggest rifle in the forest. So one trip up or a second’s lack of focus, and Mendez could be looking at a second, and even more damaging, pro loss.

Not gonna happen, says Nunez.

“We watched all of Honorio’s fight tapes. We saw what he did to Molina and what he did to the Dominican kid also, and we know he’s on a winning streak. We see that he doesn’t get tired, he keeps coming, and Mendez knows that he’s got to be in tip-top shape and at his best. We know that he’s not going to be an easy task.”

But it’s a winnable one, and at this point, that’s all Team Mendez asks for. It could have been a perfect road to the top, but who likes perfect? It’s more interesting when you see a fighter navigate the sport’s ups and downs and emerge better, stronger, and more determined. That’s where Argenis Mendez stands right now. His boxing life is far from routine, and he’s ready to shake things up even more by the end of the year.

“He’s very determined to become a champion this year,” said Nunez. “I think the experience he had in the amateur years has made him adapt to the professional level a lot quicker, he’s been working hard and I see him going far.”