Immediately after Marcos Paz stopped Kenneth Agnew in the third round of their fight last month, Paz had to get right back to business.
The 27-year-old from Mineola on New York’s Long Island had almost no time to celebrate moving his record to 5-0 (2 KOs), as he had to cut his hand wraps off, get checked out by the ringside doctor, change his clothes, then grab his adrenaline, cotton swabs and enswell, and head back to the ring three more times that night at Wayne State Fieldhouse in Detroit.
Paz pulled quadruple duty on August 31, opening the card and then working as a cutman for Giovanni Scuderi, Khalid Twaiti and William Jackson. It was a relatively easy night at the office, as none of the boxers he cornered sustained cuts. He hasn’t yet had to patch a devastating cut, like the kind Vitali Klitschko had against Lennox Lewis, or Badou Jack against Marcus Browne, though he says he’s had a couple above the eye that had to be worked on in the past.
“I had spoken in the locker room with the guys that I was working as a cutman for. I told them let me take care of business, confident in my preparation that we can get this guy out,” remembers Paz, 27, who learned how to work cuts from a course offered by Joseph Clifford, a veteran cutman who has worked in boxing and the UFC.
It’s the kind of hustle you have to do when you’re a self-managed (and self-financed) boxer trying to get your career going, and potentially a good way to offset the costs associated with moving your own career.
“That’s if they pay,” Paz says with a smile. “A cutman is one of the most under-appreciated roles in a corner. They’re one of the most crucial guys to have in a corner. There’s an art to it, there’s a type of composure that you gotta have. I would say the most experienced cutmen are able to stay calm under pressure and perform.”
Paz has always been destined to be a boxing lifer. His father, Salvador, introduced him to boxing as soon as he could. Salvador, who still works as his son’s head trainer, became a boxing fan back in his hometown of San Salvadore, El Salvador, where he watched the first Rocky movie in a local theater. When he had a son of his own, he wanted him to pursue his dream.
“My dad, like any other dad in boxing, like Floyd Mayweather, Oscar de la Hoya or Tito Trinidad, they force their sons to do it but I developed a love for the sport and it turned into my full-time profession. Now it’s a decision that I have made,” said Paz.
Paz estimates he had about 90 amateur fights, winning state Junior Olympic titles while boxing against the likes of future pros Josue Vargas and Arnold Gonzalez. He turned pro in 2021 in Mexico, but didn’t fight again until 2024. While he has faced stretches of inactivity due to the economic hurdles of the sport, that hasn’t stopped him from absorbing as much information as possible, taking trips to Las Vegas and Los Angeles to learn from veterans. He’s also a student at Farmingdale State College, where he says he is three classes away from finishing his degree in Sports Management.
Paz says he hopes to one day use that degree, plus the experience he has accrued, into a career in management, and also to own a gym of his own. But for now, his primary focus is his own fighting career.
He says his goal, like most boxers, is to become a world champion. He has a long way to go, as none of his five opponents have yet registered a win prior to facing him. He hopes to step up in competition - and up toward the six-round level - before the end of the year.
“My goal is to retire from the sport and not let the sport retire me. I look up to Andre Ward for retiring on his own terms,” said Paz. “I would love to be a manager afterwards to be able to help other up and coming boxers that don’t have the help and guidance that me and my father didn’t have. We learned from trial and error.”