Luis Arias is making his final stand as a professional boxer while holding a job helping people finance their homes.
Arias faces Lazaro Francisco Lorenzana on Saturday in a 10-round middleweight bout at the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, California.
Arias, 22-5-1 (11 KOs), went to Marquette University for roughly three and a half years but didn’t finish his degree. Before this fight was scheduled, Arias went back to school and got his mortgage license, having been inspired to pursue that path after a friend pursued a similar career.
“The most important thing with a house is, how can you finance it?” Arias told BoxingScene.
Arias took his classes online, opting to be away from a traditional school environment. Now, he is on Zoom meetings and handling real estate matters when he is not in the gym.
“I am helping people get pre-approved for loans and getting them the proper loans, and teaching people how to pay their houses off a lot faster than they think they can,” Arias said. “There are a ton of different loans out there that can really be helpful that people don’t really know about.”
So what is Arias’ motivation? Arias was clear he went back to school as a backup plan for a life after boxing.
“I consistently stay in the gym, and the phone keeps ringing,” Arias said. “I just don’t want to be like, ‘Did I stop [boxing] early?’”
Arias also expressed frustration with his last performance, a unanimous decision loss to Eric Priest in May. Arias believes he had opportunities late in that fight which he didn’t capitalize on, and that motivates him in this bout.
Arias, once a highly regarded prospect, began his career on Mayweather Promotions cards and was featured on various shows up until he lost his unbeaten record to Daniel Jacobs on an HBO Boxing telecast. It was a fight in which Arias stole the show with his pre-fight trash talk of “Down goes Jacobs!” Arias recalls that his inspiration came from Howard Cosell’s call of “Down goes [Joe] Frazier.”
“I must have just [seen that fight] around that time, and I said I am going to say ‘Down goes Jacobs,’” Arias recalled of that rivalry. “I would rather two people that don’t like each other fight. That is a more interesting fight.”
Arias admits against Lorenzana, 18-0 (13 KOs), it is his opponent’s turn to deal with the heavy lifting for the promotion.
“I am older now, so it should be him talking now, but he hasn’t been on any of these stages before,” Arias said. “He has a great record, he is undefeated, but there are some flaws there.”
Lorenzana, 26, lives in Tijuana, Mexico, and although he is undefeated, Arias is not reading much into that.
“I got signed to Floyd Mayweather with zero fights,” Arias said. “He hasn’t been with a top promoter that I can look at. So, that is a red flag to me.”
