JAIME MUNGUIA AND ALBERTO ‘EXPLOSIVO’ MACHADO LOS ANGELES MEDIA WORKOUT QUOTES
LOS ANGELES (July 11, 2018): *Jaime Munguia *(29-0, 25 KOs), the
newly-crowned WBO Junior Middleweight World Champion of Tijuana, Baja
California, Mexico, hosted a media workout today at the *Westside Boxing
Club* ahead of the first defense of his title against former world
champion *Liam “Beefy”
Smith* (26-1-1, 14 KOs) in a 12-round main event Saturday, July 21 at The
Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas. The fight will be
televised live on HBO Boxing After Dark beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
*Alberto “Explosivo” Machado* (19-0, 16 KOs), who will put his WBA Super
Featherweight World Title on the line as he faces undefeated No. 1
Contender *Rafael “Sweet Pea” Mensah* (31-0, 23 KOs) in the 12-round
co-main event, also participated in the workout.
Here’s what Munguia and Machado had to say during today’s media workout:
*JAIME MUNGUIA**, WBO Junior Middleweight World Champion:*
“We had a sensational training camp. We have a great team, so I feel very
good. The potential fight against Gennady Golovkin really got my name out
there. It allowed me to get the opportunity to fight for a world title. I’m
grateful for that. I’m also grateful that the NSAC didn’t allow me to fight
against Golovkin because it lead to this world title.
I’m always 100% ready. I got the call to fight Sadam Ali with only two
weeks notice. The only struggle was to lose the weight, but other than that
I was ready. I knew my advantage was my reach and my power. I knew that he
was a smaller fighter. Those were the keys to my victory.
I feel very motivated now that I am a world champion. Everyone is going to
talk about to me after this fight. This will open up more opportunities,
and people will mention my name with the likes of Canelo Alvarez and
Gennady Golovkin.
I think that the only advantage that Liam Smith has is that he’s fought in
big events before. But I have many fights under my belt. I have a lot of
experience. I had over 100 fights as an amateur. All this experience gives
me a lot of confidence when I step into the ring. Also, Smith might say
that he’s a natural 154-pounder, but I want to tell him that I’m a natural
160-pounder who drops down. I’m very happy with the training camp we had
and very confident about this fight.”
*ALBERTO “EXPLOSIVO” MACHADO**, WBA Super Featherweight World Champion:*
“It’s been about 10 months since my last fight. But it served me well. It
allowed me to get some rest and to work on some technical details I needed
to work on. I had been boxing for 15 years straight, so it was a necessary
rest.
Fighting on HBO for the first time was a dream come true. I used to gather
with my friends to watch Miguel Cotto, Ivan Calderon and Felix Trinidad on
HBO, so this was definitely a dream come true. The fight against Jezreel
Corrales was very tough. At first, he didn’t event make weight. I knew he
had a lot more experience than I did too. But I brought out the spirit that
characterizes us a boxers to walk away with the victory.
For this camp, I worked on strategy and technique. I had more time to
travel to Los Angeles and work with Freddie Roach. During this camp, I
really got to see why he is a Hall of Fame trainer. I got to see why he’s
had so many world champions. On July 21, you will definitely see a new and
improved Alberto Machado.”
