By Thomas Gerbasi (photo by Tom Hogan/Golden Boy)
The first time Vicente Escobedo fought in Mexico in 2004, they threw bottles. A little over six years to the day, he returned to fight in the country where his parents came from, and for a while, it was almost déjà vu.
“I had a feeling there were gonna be some boos,” said Escobedo, who was taking on 66-fight veteran Carlos Urias in Mexico City on March 26th. “So they announced me as a 2004 Olympian who represented the United States and they started booing me. My opponent is from Sinaloa, Mexico and they started cheering for him, which made sense, and I expected that.”
While the fight progressed, Escobedo, with new trainer Joel Diaz in his corner, began speaking English to each other so ringsiders wouldn’t hear what they were talking about. In response, Team Escobedo was on the receiving end of some language you wouldn’t exactly hear at church on Sunday. But then a funny thing happened after Escobedo halted Urias in the third round.
“As soon as I knocked the guy out, they started cheering for me,” he said. “People started coming up to me, wanting to take pictures and get autographs, and overall I got a good response and I was happy with everything.”
What a difference six years can make. Back when Escobedo fought Francisco Vargas in an amateur qualifying tournament in Tijuana, he was the next Golden Boy, a fresh faced, polite kid who drew more than a few comparisons to the last man to wear that nickname, Oscar De La Hoya. Today, the 28-year old may be just a contender – not yet golden – but he’s certainly not a boy, and he’s earned his stripes and his respect, both here and in Mexico.
“It feels really good,” he said. “I was born here in the United States and I’m Mexican-American, but my parents were born in Mexico and I come from Mexican blood and I have that in me and I want the Mexican people behind me. I’ve got a lot of Mexican fans as well as American fans and I want to build a fan base all over the world.”
On Saturday, November 6th, he gets his next big shot to take his career to the next level when he faces Golden Boy Promotions stablemate Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero in a pivotal HBO-televised bout that is a make or break bout for him in a lot of ways.
“This is a really big fight,” he admits. “We’ve got two young guys in the middle of their careers and Robert and I know that we can’t afford to lose this fight. It’s very important for me as it’s important for him. My training and preparation has gone well, I’m sharp, and I can fight tomorrow if I had to. I can’t wait.”
It’s what you want to hear from a fighter before he steps into the ring, and there’s no question that at this level of the sport, every fight is an important one. But unfortunately, in this day and age, a fighter like Escobedo is in one of those do or die situations because he wears the scarlet letter of having two losses. To premium cable outlets, that’s a no no. Back in the ‘good ol’ days’ (and to prove I’m not that old I’ll say my formative boxing years in the 80’s) pristine records built on stiffs were nice, but not a prerequisite for moving up the ranks if you could fight and put on a good show. These days, a couple losses could cripple a career, and the classy Escobedo knows what the score is two fights removed from a split decision defeat to Michael Katsidis in their interim WBO lightweight title bout in September of 2009.
“It doesn’t upset me,” said Escobedo. “I had high expectations and so did other people, but things didn’t work out the way they did. You move on from it and I think I thrive off that and I never doubt myself. To this day I do not doubt myself, and my time is gonna come. Maybe my career moved a little slower coming back from the losses and from what happened, but I’m true believer in myself and I still believe I have what it takes to become one of the top fighters up there. And this is one of the moments. Fighting Guerrero is one of the moments where I can prove myself and I think on November 6th, people are going to see a different Vicente. I’m better and more experienced now after fighting Katsidis, I think I’ve finally got the experience and finally corrected my mistakes and it just took time. It took longer than I expected to learn these fundamentals, but we corrected the mistakes that I made and now I’m ready to go out there and show the talent that everyone’s been waiting for.”
And to be honest, this is the time when Escobedo should be hitting his prime – both physically and mentally – as a fighter. He’s got the amateur experience down, he’s taken on all different levels and styles of opponents, he’s showed resilience in coming back from adversity, he’s been the 12 round championship distance, and he’s learned some much needed fundamentals at the foot of one of the greats – Nacho Beristain. Now it’s time for him to put all those lessons to use against Guerrero, and leading him to that next step is the underrated Diaz, one of the renowned fighting family that produced standouts like Antonio and Julio Diaz. Joel fought for a championship himself, losing a 12 round decision to Philip Holiday in 1996, and it’s this experience that Escobedo is relying on to push him even further.
“I made that decision (to bring in Diaz after the Katsidis fight) because I felt that I needed more one-on-one time and a hands on type of trainer,” said Escobedo, 22-2 with 14 KOs. “Nacho is a wonderful, great trainer and obviously one of the best, but I think he had his hands full with Juan Manuel Marquez, and at the time when he had Rafael Marquez. I felt like I needed a little bit more time, more one-on-ones to correct my mistakes. With Joel, I get that every day. I make a mistake and he tells me ‘no, you do it this way,’ and he shows me. And one thing that I love about Joel is that he pushes me. And that’s what I need. I’m a gym rat and I love to work out, and ever since I was a kid I’ve loved working hard. He pushes me to the point where I’m exhausted.”
Diaz’ influence extends beyond the Indio Boxing Club though, and Escobedo may be at a better place mentally than he’s ever been at in his pro career.
“He tells me that everything is possible and it motivates me. That’s very important and I don’t feel like I’ve reached my prime yet. I just stay focused and I think being mature helps you out a lot in the ring in terms of keeping me more focused on what I’ve got to do as far as winning and being more comfortable in the ring. I think boxing and these tough fights have matured me and made me realize what I can do.”
So it goes without saying that he and Guerrero are not the same people or fighters they were when they met multiple times in the amateur ranks. But this is not one of those revenge, bad blood matchups. The two combatants are friendly outside the ring, and will remain so until the bell rings.
“I’ve been to one or two of his fights, I’ve seen him on TV, and I’ve seen him at certain places or at fights and I say hi to him and we keep it cordial,” said Escobedo of his relationship with the former two-division world champion. “He’s a very strong fighter, he comes forward, and he’s aggressive. He has the usual southpaw style and he’s improved in his years as a pro. But I still feel that I’m quicker, faster, and a better boxer than he is.
And I knew one day I would face him. I always had that on my mind. I didn’t think it would be this soon, but the time has come, and it’s nothing personal; it’s just business. We have a history, but he knows and I know that in the ring, you’re nobody’s friend. It’s a fight and you’ve got two guys doing their job as best as they can, and at the end there’s a winner and a loser, but you still remain friends. It’s just business.”
Vicente Escobedo always seemed destined for big things in the prize ring, even as an amateur, and though things haven’t followed a Hollywood script, if you believe in things like fate, the fact that he’s finally gotten the Mexican fans on his side, is fighting an opponent he has always believed he would face, and is doing it with a rock solid team behind him can only point to one thing – the Woodland, California native may be six years late, but he’s finally on time.