Mikkel LesPierre’s skepticism misguided him when the COVID-19 pandemic began three months ago.
The veteran junior welterweight wondered whether government officials were being overly cautious by ordering Americans into quarantine. It wasn’t until LesPierre, a New York City hospital employee for 13 years, was transferred to work on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis that he realized the surreal severity of the situation.
When he was deployed by Mount Sinai Hospital from his front desk job at its ear, nose and throat facility in Manhattan to a nearby nursing unit, LesPierre experienced everything terrifying about this pandemic up close and personal. The longtime Brooklyn resident saw it all once his office was closed in mid-March and he was transferred to assist with an array of COVID-related issues in one of Mount Sinai’s nearby nursing administration departments.
LesPierre’s wife worried that he would bring home the potentially deadly virus to her and their 1-year-old daughter, but he was as precautious as humanly possible.
“It was crazy,” LesPierre told BoxingScene.com. “In the beginning, I can admit I was a little naïve. I was like, ‘All right, this is probably some type of government propaganda and so forth.’ But to be in the heart of it, to see that it actually is real and to take that naïve sense that I had about it out of my brain, to see that people are being affected by it and it is having an impact on the current state of New York, that it wasn’t just something happening in China, it was something that really humbled me and put things into perspective. I saw patients sick, some on ventilators, some being transferred from different units, ICU units. I saw dead bodies get rolled out through the loading dock, to vans and trucks that were placed out front.
“It put into perspective what’s important on my end, to make sure that I do whatever’s necessary to make sure that my family practices safe hygiene and takes full responsibility to do everything that they say – practice social distancing, wearing a mask, washing your hands, just putting more emphasis on that. To see how everyday people were affected by it was kind of scary. It was like, ‘Damn, I could get this.’ ”
LesPierre spent more than two months assisting nurses, but because the pandemic caused a decrease in the overall flow of patient care he was able to utilize a workshare program and take vacation days that enabled him to focus more on training in recent weeks for his televised fight Thursday night against Jose Pedraza. The 35-year-old LesPierre (22-1-1, 10 KOs), who is promoted by Lou DiBella, will oppose Puerto Rico’s Pedraza (26-3, 13 KOs), a two-weight world champion, in a 10-round main event ESPN will broadcast from MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).
The 31-year-old Pedraza lost his last fight to Jose Zepeda (31-2, 25 KOs, 1 NC), who beat the former 130-pound and 135-pound champion by unanimous decision in his 140-pound debut September 14 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“He’s a great fighter,” LesPierre said. “He’s a two-time world champion. It’s a great experience to share the ring with a fighter like that. But I believe that I have the better skill set. I don’t think he’s been impressive in his fights. I think he’s just been getting by in them. And the ones that he do really come across the elite fighters, he hasn’t really done anything. He’s lost.
“In his last fight against Zepeda – not to take anything away from Zepeda, he’s a tough fighter – but with his class and experience [Pedraza] was supposed to win the fight. He didn’t. He got caught with a lot of sloppy shots, a lot of shots you would think a former two-time world champion wouldn’t get caught with. With that being said, I just feel like this is my opportunity to show the world what I’m capable of, as far as my skill set and what I can bring to the table at 140.”
Pedraza is listed as a 5-1 favorite to beat LesPierre, a skillful southpaw who has lost only to former WBO junior welterweight champion Maurice Hooker.
Dallas’ Hooker (27-1-3, 18 KOs) dropped LesPierre with a left hook to the body in the ninth round and easily out-pointed him in their 12-round fight for Hooker’s 140-pound crown 15 months ago in Verona, New York. Hooker beat LesPierre by large margins on all three scorecards in their March 2019 bout at Turning Stone Resort Casino (120-107, 119-108, 118-109).
LesPierre’s preparation for this fight has been better than when he challenged Hooker because the Trinidad and Tobago native made former three-division champion Joan Guzman his head trainer before his only bout between the Hooker and Pedraza fights. He is confident Guzman’s unconventional training methods will help him pull off an upset versus Pedraza.
“Success comes when preparation meets opportunity,” LesPierre said. “I had the opportunity [against Hooker], and the preparation wasn’t up to par. I feel I had the wrong game plan going in. I didn’t utilize my attributes. My name is ‘Slikk Mikk.’ I’m a slick, counter-punching boxer. That’s what I’m supposed to do. I didn’t utilize any of that. You know what I’m saying? I tried to come forward and apply pressure, knowing that’s not my forte. Maybe if I would’ve sat back on my back leg and used my jab a little bit more, or if I would’ve been a little bit more conscious of playing the counter-puncher, I might’ve had a little bit more success.
“Who knows if I would’ve won the fight? But I definitely would not have lost a shutout. I was trying to push him around, when he’s the bigger guy. It’s not like I’m some big 40-pounder that’s aggressive like that. I’m naturally a boxer. I trained hard, but it was just the wrong game plan.”
Apart from approximately 40 rounds of sparring in private gyms in the Bronx, LesPierre trained outdoors for this high-profile fight because Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn has been closed since the pandemic began. An unusual training regimen and taking this fight on five weeks’ notice still hasn’t left LesPierre feeling as though he is at a disadvantage.
“I feel like this is my time,” LesPierre said. “When I win this fight, I’ll have both feet in the door and the opportunities that’ll be presented to me will be endless.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.