By Thomas Gerbasi (photo by Bryan Crowe/FightWireImages)

Welcome to the world of boxing, circa 2010. It’s a world where a heavyweight like Manny Quezada can do all that’s asked of him for much of his career since turning pro in 2001, bounce back from some up and down early years to put together an 18 fight, nearly five year winning streak, yet get nothing resembling a “big” fight.

But in 2010, his streak gets broken by a split decision loss to journeyman Jason Gavern, and voila, the biggest fight of his career against top contender and former title challenger Chris Arreola materializes.

Huh?

“I don’t understand how that works out,” laughed Quezada. “I win 18 in a row and I don’t get any big fights. Then I lose one and I get a big fight; how does that work? I don’t understand. That’s totally crazy to me.”

That’s boxing. And while those of us who have been around the game for a minute or two recognize that this, unfortunately, is the way things have been going in the sport for years, for fighters like the 32-year old Quezada, the frustration level has got to be more than most of us would ever be able to bear, especially when he watches some of his peers basically fall out of bed and into one title shot or another.

“It was definitely frustrating,” he said. “All these other people who haven’t fought, and then they fight again after a three or five year layoff, and all of a sudden they have a title shot? I don’t get it.”

Yet even with frustration mounting, Quezada kept fighting and kept winning, mixing in victories over boxing’s usual suspects with knockouts of 13-1 Rick Dyer in 2007, 14-1-1 Teke Oruh in 2008, and 31-2-1 Travis Walker in 2009. The first round win over the talented Walker should have been the fight to propel him into the public’s consciousness, and more importantly, into a high-profile bout, but it didn’t happen. Two fights later, he took the bout with Gavern and lost a razor-thin split decision. But close or not, it has become the black mark on Quezada’s record in terms of public perception. And while he won’t say it, it’s hard to believe that the Californian wasn’t distracted by a nearly six month layoff and his lack of movement in the fight game heading into a bout he should have won.

“I’m not gonna take anything away from Gavern,” said Quezada. “He came ready to fight, and I wasn’t at my best, but he deserved to win that night and he did.”

Following the bout, Quezada shook things up by getting new management and a new trainer, former world champion Robert Garcia, and things are looking up for him, considering the August 13th date with Arreola which is definitely the opportunity he’s been looking for.

“I’ve been waiting for this one for a while,” he said. “I had that long winning streak and I was hoping for a big fight – not necessarily against Chris, but anybody at the top – and it finally got here, so we’ve got to go in there and take advantage of it. Chris is a big strong guy, an aggressive guy, and while we’ve sparred together in the past, that’s in the past, and sparring’s sparring, a fight’s a fight. So I expect him to be Chris. He’s coming from a loss and he wants to show people that he’s still Chris.”

That could be a double-edged sword for Riverside’s “Nightmare”. If he’s the Arreola who beat Chazz Witherspoon, Jameel McCline, and Brian Minto, that’s a good thing; if it’s the one who got drubbed by Vitali Klitschko and outhustled by Tomasz Adamek, not so much. But whatever the case may be, Quezada is expecting the best Arreola, and he’s preparing accordingly.

“The people that know me know that I always work out and I’m always ready to go when I fight, except when I fought Gavern of course,” he said. “But with Chris, I’m prepared for the worst and if we’ve got to go the distance then I’m gonna be ready for it. And having a trainer like Robert Garcia really helps. He’s a great trainer, he’s really pushing me and he knows how to get ready for a fight like this. We’re gonna be in shape and ready to go.”

And should he pull off the upset next week, it may be safe to say that Quezada’s ship will have rolled in, as there will definitely be bigger fights on the horizon. But having made the mistake of looking at the horizon instead of in front of him against Gavern, Quezada refuses to pull out his crystal ball.

“I’m not gonna look past Chris,” he said. “Right now we’re just focused on this fight, we’re doing what we can to get ready and be prepared for this fight and after this, if we get past Chris, we’ll go from there.”

One area of his future Quezada will talk about though is his desire to step into the world of mixed martial arts following the Arreola fight while still keeping his boxing career active.

“I’ve been in martial arts my whole life,” he said. “I did Tae Kwon Do when I was a kid and then kickboxing, and I feel real comfortable using my legs and all that. And another reason is that boxing hasn’t been real good to me, to be honest with you. I’ve got a big fight coming up now, but as far as pay wise, it hasn’t really been good to me, so maybe doing M M A will be different for me and maybe it will work out.”

That’s the sad part of the story. Not that Quezada is thinking about a career in MMA, but that he’s been disillusioned by a sport that he loves. When you start out, they tell you to work hard, keep your nose clean, and be a gentleman. But it’s the squeaky wheel that gets oiled, and Quezada has never been that squeaky wheel.

“That’s a good point,” he laughs. “Maybe I should trash talk and be different.”

He pauses.

“Nah, I’m not gonna change who I am. This is who I am inside and outside of the ring. I’ve got to make my family proud. I want to be the kind of person that when my Grandma turns on the TV, she can watch me and be proud of me.”

She should be, and in one way, shape, or form, Manny Quezada will be fighting. Whether it’s in boxing, MMA, or both, he’ll be there, because that’s who he is.

“I love to compete,” he said. “That’s the thing, and as long as my body’s able to do it, I’m gonna do it.”