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By Steve Kim - This Saturday afternoon, Juan Lazcano goes into the lion’s den to face Ricky Hatton in his hometown at the City of Manchester Stadium, more than one year after his last bout - a 12 round loss to Vivian Harris in February of 2006 that he believed had ended his career.
A few months after the loss to Harris, I saw him at the weigh-in for the initial encounter between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. As I ran into Lazcano - who I had gotten to know well over the years from his days at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California - I asked him his future plans. Surprisingly, he said he had made up his mind to retire.
Well, obviously, like many others before him, he changed his mind.
"There wasn't anything else," he would explain via cell-phone from Houston, Texas, just a day before he would travel to England. "After that performance, I just felt that wasn't the fight I wanted, that wasn't the way I wanted to go. That's the path that I took, but it was more business than anything. I took it because it was a good business opportunity, it was a good purse in the end. I didn't have the passion. I was tired and everything and I just didn't stretch myself. I said, 'If that's the way it's going to be, then I don't want it. I don't want to look at boxing like a job. I'd rather do something else. So that's what it was." [details]
A few months after the loss to Harris, I saw him at the weigh-in for the initial encounter between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. As I ran into Lazcano - who I had gotten to know well over the years from his days at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, California - I asked him his future plans. Surprisingly, he said he had made up his mind to retire.
Well, obviously, like many others before him, he changed his mind.
"There wasn't anything else," he would explain via cell-phone from Houston, Texas, just a day before he would travel to England. "After that performance, I just felt that wasn't the fight I wanted, that wasn't the way I wanted to go. That's the path that I took, but it was more business than anything. I took it because it was a good business opportunity, it was a good purse in the end. I didn't have the passion. I was tired and everything and I just didn't stretch myself. I said, 'If that's the way it's going to be, then I don't want it. I don't want to look at boxing like a job. I'd rather do something else. So that's what it was." [details]
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