Arreola's Trainer Talks Aguilera Bout, Adamek, More

By Ryan Burton

 

BoxingScene.com spoke to trainer Henry Ramirez after he finished up another day at the gym in Southern California.  Ramirez trains heavyweight contender Chris Arreola (30-2) and junior welterweight contender Josesito Lopez (29-3) amongst others.

 

Arreola is currently riding a two fight winning streak and faces Nagy Aguilera (16-5) on May 14th on the undercard of the Super Six semi final bout between Andre Ward and Arthur Abraham.  The fight takes place at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

 

 Lopez has put together a seven fight winning streak, upsetting the at the time once beaten Marvin Cordova and the undefeated Mike Dallas in the process.  He faces Steve Chambers (23-1) on May 27th in Reno, Nevada.  

 

Ramirez talks about Arreola's new focus on training and conditioning, his loss to Adamek and more in this exclusive interview found only on BoxingScene.com

 

BoxingScene:  We are about 3 weeks away from Chris's next fight.  How is training camp going?

 

Henry Ramirez:  Yes the fight is 3 weeks away.  Training camp is going great.  It is going real good and we are working hard in camp.

 

BoxingScene:  The last time we saw Chris in the ring the fight lasted about 2 minutes when he destroyed Joey Abell in the first round.  Give us your thoughts on that fight?

 

Henry Ramirez:  Like you said he went right through Joey Abell.  When we can get a first round knockout we will take it.  It is less wear and tear on him.  After that fight I think he might have taken a week off and then he went right back in the gym.  He has been pretty active and training hard.

 

BoxingScene:  He was in better shape for that fight than we have seen him the past couple years.  Is he taking training more seriously or what is the difference?

 

Henry Ramirez:  He is taking everything much more seriously you know.  The difference is that you go from HBO to ESPN.  If that doesn't open your eyes then I don't think anything will.  You know, Chris also used to let personal things in his life get in front of training.  He wasn't necessarily putting the sport first where as now he has more stability in his life and when he comes to the gym you can see that he really wants to be there.  He trains with energy just like he should have been all along.

 

BoxingScene:  Do you think part of it is that Chris has matured as a person?

 

Henry Ramirez:  Probably.  Like I said he just hit 30.  That plus with what I just said about him having much more stability in his personal life has been great.  There have been no disappearing acts and no half assing it in the gym.  I haven't complained about anything in this training camp at all.

 

BoxingScene:  I know you are concentrating on the Aguilera fight but after that fight is the plan to get back in a big fight?

 

Henry Ramirez:  That is the plan but you would have to ask me on May 15th. (The day after the Aguilera fight)

 

BoxingScene:  Let's talk about Aguilera for a minute.  His signature win was his first round knockout of Oleg Maskaev but since then he has lost 3 of his past 4 fights including his last fight versus Antonio Tarver.  What does Chris have to watch out for when he steps in the ring with Aguilera?

 

Henry Ramirez:  Aguilera has a nice right hand and he can box a little bit.  I am sure he is probably thinking that Chris is his opportunity to get himself back on track and get him back to some type of meaningful fight.  I am not really worried so much about anything that Nagy Aguilera has.  To be honest, with the way Chris is training right now it is just a different Chris.  It is just a completely different guy.

 

BoxingScene:  With that said I assume the plan is to get Aguilera out of there early and look spectacular in the process so that you guys have a shot at being back on HBO or Showtime this fall?

 

Henry Ramirez:  That is the plan.  Maybe even as early as late summer.  Now come on you gotta ask me about the weight (laughing).  That is always the question that is going to be asked.

 

BoxingScene:  I was going to get to that at the end of our conversation. Since you brought it up it he must have his weight going in the right direction (laughing).

 

Henry Ramirez:  He weighed 244 this morning when we got out of the gym.

 

BoxingScene:  Wow. sounds like he is really working hard.

 

Henry Ramirez:  Fight night he will be down to the mid to low 230s without a doubt.

 

BoxingScene:  Having that extra 30 or so pounds off that he has carried in his past few fights will make him a lot faster.  It could make all the difference when he is trying to get inside versus bigger guys like when he fought Vitali Kltischko.

 

Henry Ramirez:  He is much quicker right now.  We had Travis Kauffman here.  Had it not been for a little injury he would still be here.  He has been with us for 6 camps now.  He told me right before he left last week, "Man I have been with you guys for 6 camps and I have never seen Chris train like this.  Never has he hit me as hard.  Never has he been so fast.  This is just a different Chris."

 

BoxingScene: I know you mentioned going from HBO to ESPN and getting past his personal problems.  Do you think part of the renewed focus is that he misses headlining cards close to home at Staples Center in L.A. and at Citizens Bank in Ontario?

 

Henry Ramirez:  That and well losing to (Vitali) Klitschko there is no shame in that but to be honest he gift wrapped the victory to (Tomasz) Adamek by missing half of the training camp.  He had so much turmoil going on in his life at that time that at that point in time I don't think the fight was that important to him anymore.  He went in there and fought his heart out but to be honest that was Chris at only 60%.  Not to take anything away from Adamek.  He fought a good fight and the best of luck to him in his fight versus Klitschko.  I know that is the one fight that definitely eats at Chris.

 

BoxingScene:  I know you don't want to say too much about Chris's personal issues but what can you say?  Was it family problems?

 

Henry Ramirez:  He had a lot of turmoil and now he has much more stability.  That is as far as I am going to get into that.

 

BoxingScene:  What is going on with your other fighters?

 

Henry Ramirez:  Josesito Lopez will be headlining on May 27th in Reno.  He will be fighting Steven Chambers who is the younger brother of Eddie Chambers.  Josesito Lopez is on a good little run right now with the big win over Marvin Cordova and then obviously the stoppage win over Mike Dallas on Chris's undercard in January. Things are on the upswing for him also.  I have a bantamweight prospect, Jonathan Arrellano (7-01) fighting this Friday night at the Doubletree in Ontario.  I am keeping busy.  I have 3 other guys that are turning pro in June as well.

 

BoxingScene:  Do you have a message for the fans?

 

Henry Ramirez:  Just for the people that will continue to doubt Chris they will always find a reason to criticize him or even me but we are working hard.  Hopefully this is a complete transformation of Chris and me in the future that gets us back to that elite status and we will try to fight some of the top guys either for a title or that will get us a title shot in the future.