by Keith Terceira
Maximino Cuevas,(7-3-1) was born in the Bronx and moved to Florida in search of a new beginning. After a brief stay with family his move landed him along with his wife and five children in a homeless shelter. Rather than taking a short cut and asking for state assistance, Cuevas worked his way onto a construction site, concentrated on his boxing, culminating a hardworking attitude into a short at the WBC Intercontinental Mundo Hispano Title at welterweight.
With strong core beliefs Cuevas did not seek to be a coddled built fighter instead choosing tough fights that would propel him into contention. In February at Iona College, Cuevas upset New York favorite Allen Conyers by way of a 3rd round TKO. A month later he would be facing Figueroa for the mentioned title in Rochester.
Last night we got Max’s take on the confusion in the tenth and final round. Highly disappointed in the way things were handled be the referee (Dick Pakozdi) and Officials at ringside, Cuevas remains positive that the system will do the right thing when it views the tape of the bout.
BoxingScene.com: Max, you have an incredible story to tell. What has given you the strength to succeed despite the tough times.
Max: I just try to live right by what God has given me. Just do my best with what I have.
BoxingScene.com: You have fought some tough fights early in your career, there doesn’t seem to be any attempt to just build you like many others early in your career.
Max: All my fights have been competitive. When I started I had no management, so all my fights have been tough. My manager now is not the type of management that will pay people for wins. I have been trying to fight tough to make a name for myself.
BoxingScene.com: Let’s talk about your bout with Figueroa! How did you see that round !
Max: What I saw happen was we exchanged some punches and he went off to the right around me and to me he just collapsed. I didn’t see a slip, I didn’t see what anything that would cause him to fall. I thought it was just a delayed reaction to a punch. I thought he collapsed from exhaustion.
When the referee sent me to the neutral corner I thought he was going to start counting, but he didn’t. Then I thought the referee is figuring it out. Whether it was a slip or whatnot. He stayed on the canvas for a long time then he turned over and seeing he was on the canvas for such a long time ,there was just confusion. I looked over to the referee and I see the referee looking over to the Commissioner at ringside. They had eye contact going and neither looked as if they knew what step to take even though the rules are clear. They seemed oblivious to the situation.
Francisco got up on one knee , he had been on the CANVAS FOR MORE THAN TEN SECONDS ALREADY. Then the referee starts helping him up and walked him to the neutral corner then he calls a timeout. The bout continued after he was taken to the doctor at ringside.
It was a whole sense of confusion. I feel that he should have been counted out or given and eight count if it was a slip.
I felt that I was cheated in the tenth round, it appeared that he was given special treatment. He was the favorite and preferred there.
BoxingScene.com: Did you hear him say anything to the referee? Complain about a leg injury or motion to his legs?
Max: No, not once did I see that. I didn’t hear him say anything. There was no motion to his legs. I saw him talking to the doctor only. The referee was talking to him when he was on the canvas but I didn't see Frankie respond. There was just a lot of eye contact between the commissioner and the referee, I am waving my hands saying start the count.
BoxingScene.com: What are your thoughts on the tenth round now that you have calmed done?
Max: I think if everyone sits down and looks at the tape that there can be some justice that comes out of it. I feel confident in that because I feel, I know what went on was totally wrong. Something has to give there. At the moment that night I felt cheated, but knowing we are appealing that call, knowing that we are mailing out letters and protesting this, I feel confident we have a good case for overturning something here. If not at least perhaps in making some changes. When something like this happens the referee needs to be on top of this. After the fight is done and over with it’s a loss on my record, the referee can go on to another fight like nothing happened and learn from his mistakes but I have absorbed a loss.
BoxingScene.com: If the best the WBC can offer as a repair is a rematch how do you feel?
Max: I would still feel a little cheated I would take a rematch in a minute. I think in the least it should be declared a draw because I should have gotten a 10-8 round that would have created a draw on one judges scorecard. I really should be the winner if they follow the rules.
BoxingScene.com: Thank you Max for your time tonight and I will stay on top of this. Hopefully BoxingScene can get a copy of the tape that night for the world to judge themselves. Promoter Resnick is a good guy doing great things in Rochester N.Y. so hopefully he will assist in this matter.
Max: Thank you, Keith, and one can only hope.
On a side note, I will be contacting all parties involved today including the New York Athletic Commission after the official protest has been received . We hope that should these accusations be found to have merit that the Commission will fulfill its duty and show the boxing public that mistakes can be corrected, that right rules in New York and not politics. In the least we would like to see the tenth round and be able to judge for ourselves.
Kterceira@boxingscene.com