Rojas-Espadas: The Last Chance For Guty's Title Run

By James Blears

Guty Espadas has one final chance on February 20th to win back the WBC Featherweight title, which he first won almost ten years ago.

Guty who’s a spritely thirty five challenges Champion Elio Rojas from the Dominican Republic, who’s eight years younger, at the beginning of Mexico’s bi-centenary celebrations in the Kukulcan Battle in Merida-the city where he was born. The promotion which is being done by Cancun business and newspaper tycoon Pepe Gomez also features NABF Lightweight Champion Jose Emilio Perea, National Flyweight Champion Wilberth “Huracan” Uicab, and KO king  Sergio “Yeyo” Thompson who’s Hispanic Featherweight Champion.

Guty who’s always trim, has been training for three months, to hone the slick boxing skills and the speed which are his trademark assets. He acknowledged the doubters but suggested: “My training has gone marvelously and I’m motivated. Come to this event and you can have a photo of me with my belt again.”

Guty’s Trainer the wily and hugely experienced Rudy Perez confided: “It’s been a very good preparation. But I’m a bit worried because Rojas is a difficult elusive complicated style, with an Olympic background. So we’ve been working with two similar type sparring partners from Panama and the United States. Guty is a Mayan warrior. He’s got to give it absolutely everything, because there won’t be another chance.”

Espadas means sword in Spanish and three double handed razor sharp ones were produced for a photo opportunity. But even combined, and with not a fountain pen in sight, they didn’t prove mightier than the booming voice of Don King, who’s co promoter.

He arrived late, but with his voice preceding him down the corridors of the JW Marriott, on  Reforma Avenue, Mexico City. Extolling the historic virtues of Mexico’s Benito Juarez, and…the lesser known Benito Suarez,  Mr King swept aside the old Guty factor, by declaring the age bar has been pushed skywards by George Foreman’s remarkable achievements.

He stated: “Guty has the spirit! It’s going to be a great fight! I would not say who’s going to win. But the people will win, after they see the combat an irresistible force against an immovable object. Something has to give. And give it will!

Wielding his own verbal battleaxe Mr. King also held court, extolling his views about the right royal empass, which prevented Manny and Floyd doing combat. He suggested:

“They didn’t know how to negotiate it. I have to say Arum is my would be nemesis. We’ve been competing a long time. But I think we (my team) would have closed that deal IMEDIAMENTE! I wasn’t  there to do it, so it fell apart.”

Mr King has a catchword of advice as an enabling factor to get the Manny vs. Floyd road show back on the tracks. He says: “R E S P E C T! The hell I went through with the Rumble in the Jungle with five million a piece. These guys would have jumped on me for forty million a piece. Respect…that’s what it is! That’s negotiation one on one!”