MENDEZ SEES ‘THE FIGHT ZONE’ AS ‘A PLATFORM TO GROW’
Former International Boxing Association middleweight champion Paul Mendez of Salinas, 加利福尼亚州。, has signed a multi-year agreement with International Championship Boxing, promoter of the revolutionary and exciting new combat sport that features boxing in a cage.
“Our first former world
champion has joined ICB, and I have every confidence he won’t be the last,”
says Jack Fulton, founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Virginia-based
ICB.
这位29岁的,
6-foot-1-inch Mendez has a record of 19-3-2 九击倒, including a
mark of 12-1-1 for his past 14 结束.
门德斯, nicknamed “El
Gallo Negro” (“The Black Rooster”), won the IBA middleweight championship
during 2015 by beating Ernesto Berrospe on a card co-promoted by the late,
great Don Chargin, acknowledged industry-wide as one of the best judges of
boxing talent ever.
“I am gratified by the
number of boxers, mixed martial artists and kickboxers who are reaching out to
us,” says Fulton.
“And it’s not just
boxers and fighters from North America,” says Fulton. “We’re getting calls and
emails from fighters in Europe and Asia who are eager to compete in the ICB.“
Mendez was never
dethroned; 代替, he retired during 2016 in order to spend time during the
early formative years of his baby daughter, named Love.
“I wanted to be around
my daughter at the beginning,” says Mendez. “But she’s three now, and I’m
entering my prime years.”
And Mendez learned an
important lesson, thanks to his daughter.
“She’s my driving force,
my passion,” says Mendez. “So I had to learn to be an adult with adult
responsibilities. Thanks to my daughter I’ve grown as a man and I’ve grown in
the boxing process.
“I’ve been boxing since
I was 10 and it’s always been a game to me, a sport, not a job,” says Mendez.
“But now that I have a daughter I think of boxing as a business; it’s a serious
work.
“I’ve sparred with ‘3G’
(根纳季·戈洛夫金) 几次,” says Mendez, “and he says, ‘Boxing is not a
game.’ When I sparred with Andre Ward he always said to be ruthless in the
ring.
I’m not scared or
nervous of anyone,” says Mendez. “I don’t care if it’s King Kong. I’m ready to
fight anyone, and now I’ll do it in the cage.
“When ICB came along I
immediately saw it was a good fit for me,” says Mendez. “I’m a fighter, not a
pitty-pat, and when I impose my size on opponents, this will be perfect for me.
“This is an opportunity
for a fighter like me,” says Mendez. “I can and will use this as a platform to grow.
I’m excited about it.”
Mendez offers specifics
why the ICB cage, a 24-foot hexagon trademarked “The Fight Zone,” is to his
liking.
“Six corners, not just
four, is to my advantage,” says Mendez. “There’s more places to trap people.
The ‘Fight Zone’ is all about angles and cutting off the cage.”
It took Fulton almost
two years to get the cage designed, 建成, patented and approved by boxing and
athletic commissions within the United States, including the state of Nevada.
An 18-year veteran
promoter of the sport, 富尔顿, through the years, began to realize the sport
needed something new, something fresh. And in 2016 he did something about it.
“The Fight Zone” has red
and blue entry points with two opposing neutral corners. Boxers compete under
Association of Boxing Commissions rules: no clinching, no grappling and no
kicking allowed.