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04/22/2004 Archived Entry: "Al “Speedy” Gonzales Wants Malignaggi, Ebo Elder"
Al “Speedy” Gonzales Wants Malignaggi, Ebo Elder in the Ring and Steward or Roach in His Corner
By Juan C. Ayllon
(Highland Park, Illinois): On April 21, 2004, a day after tornados roared through several south suburbs and less than a week after Al “Speedy” Gonzales’ scintillating, unanimous decision victory over Rafael Ortiz, Al’s manager, Pat Doljanin, spoke briefly with the Cyber Boxing Zone about potential opponents and new trainers.
The first thing on the agenda was addressing a “secret” that Gonzales’ camp alluded to following Friday night’s victory. During our previous, post-fight interview, one of Gonzales’ handlers hinted about a secret revelation to come this week.
Photo Edward Zajac
Elaborating on the secret revelation, Patrick Doljanin said that it revolved around the opening fight on Telemundo’s May 1st boxing show against one Norberto Bravo (17-8-1, 11 KOs). Carl Moretti offered them the fight. However, the offer was time sensitive. Doljanin planned to accept the offer following the fight, assuming Gonzales was not cut or hurt. Unfortunately, Moretti and the television network could not bank on a contingency. Thus, they matched Bravo against someone else.
Now, the near-term focus is on securing a fight versus the undefeated New York prospect, Paul Malignaggi. Doljanin said, “We’ll see what happens with Rocky’s fight.” The veteran Chicagoan fighter, Rocky Martinez, will be fighting Malignaggi this Friday. Assuming Malignaggi wins, Doljanin said, “[8 Count Productions promoter] Dominic Pesoli will press those guys to sign for a fight.”
Commenting on the apparent reticence of Malignaggi’s people to sign a fight versus Gonzales, Patrick said that he doesn’t think it’s a matter of Malignaggi not wanting to fight “Speedy,” adding, “I think Paul will take the fight. After all, he’s a fighter, and most fighters will take any fight, whether it’s good for them or not! It’s more a handlers or matchmaker’s interest. They want to protect his undefeated record.”
As Malignaggi already has a “ShowBox” date secured, Patrick Doljanin has sent the network concern a letter extolling the benefits of pitting Al Gonzales against Paul Malignaggi. As Doljanin said, “This would be the best of the best…” from the current crop of young rising stars.
Should a bout versus Malignaggi fall through, Pat said, “We would be interested in fighting Ebo Elder (18-1-0, 11 KO’s) or someone in that area, that level.” He said “Originally, we wanted to fight Oscar Diaz (17-1-0, 10 KO’s), but now that he [Oscar Diaz] lost to Ebo Elder, it’s back to the drawing board [for him].”
Gonzales’ team is also considering fighting Joaquin Gallardo (16-2-1, 5 KO’s), who just fought on NBC and Telemundo. According to Doljanin, Gallardo “…lost to [fellow Chicago prospect and former Olympian] David Diaz last year and gave him a very tough fight.”
Either way, for their next fight, Doljanin said, “We are looking to move Al out of Chicago for training, away from all the distractions.”
Moreover, they are looking to employ the services of a world-class trainer like Freddy Roach or Emmanuel Steward. Pat said, “If we can get them interested, we would like to work with either one of them…because of Freddy’s temperament, we think he would work very well with Al.” He added that “Emmanuel has his legacy and Freddy is building his.” What made both Steward and Roach especially attractive, Pat said was that they both were effective and soft-spoken, qualities they were looking for in a prospective new trainer.
