By Brent Matteo Alderson
On February 22 at the Double Tree hotel in Ontario California, Pavel Miranda is making his professional debut in the United States under the promotional umbrella of Thompson Boxing Promotions. Even though boxrec lists Miranda’s record as 14-1 (8), Alex Camponovo, the matchmaker for Thompson Boxing stated that his actual record is 16-0-1 (10). Camponovo said that they have the bout which is listed as a loss on video and that the actual final result was a draw. Miranda’s representatives are in the process of going through the proper channels in order to clarify Pavel’s record with the commissions.
Regardless of the controversy regarding his ring record, Thompson boxing is thrilled about promoting the young prospect from Tijuana. Camponovo noted, “We are very excited about having the opportunity to see Pavel. For being 20-years old he is very experienced. We really have high hopes for him and feel as though he’s going to be really easy to promote. He’s a good looking kid and he has a lot of ability and power.”
Miranda is handled by Roberto Sandoval who has previously trained former world champs Victor Burgos and Alejandro Garcia. Camponovo feels that Miranda will be more successful than both of those fighters. “We’ve been talking to Pavel’s manager and trainer, Roberto Sandoval, for over two years and now we have a long term contract with Miranda. Some other promoters wanted him and we were lucky to get him!”
It will be interesting to see how just how good Miranda really is.
Even though promoters have a penchant for hyperbole, Thompson boxing has been very successful in pinpointing talented prospects early on and helped develop Timothy Bradley and Chris Arreola into world class contenders. It really does seem as though Miranda has a lot of potential because he possesses a number of attributes that you like to see in young prospects.
Miranda is experienced for being 20 years old He's already fought in a number of ten round fights, he’s 5’11 which is a good height for a junior-welterweight and he's with a trainer who has already worked at the world class level and he’s from the mean streets of Tijuana, a border-town City that regularly produced world class fighters
Notes:
Victor Burgos is still recovering from a blood clot he suffered in his bout with Vic Darchinyan, last year.
The San Ysidro international border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego is the world’s most crossed international border.
I went down to Tijuana to interview Erik Morales in June of 2005 for KO magazine. We met up at a Mexican seafood restaurant and had lunch. At the time Erik was coming off his win over Manny Pacquiao and asked me what I thought about Floyd Mayweather. I told him I thought Mayweather was the best fighter in the world and Erik told be that he’d give Floyd “la pelea más chingada de su vida,” which more or less translates to “the toughest f---in fight of his life.”
Brent Matteo Alderson, a graduate of UCLA, has been part of the staff at BoxingScene.com since 2004. Alderson's published work has appeared in publications such as Ring Magazine, KO, World Boxing, Boxing 2006, and Latin Boxing Magazine. Alderson has also been featured on the ESPN Classic television program “Who’s Number One?” Please e-mail any comments to BoxingAficionado@aol.com
