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06/23/2004 Archived Entry: "New England Chatta"
New England Menudo
By J.D. Vena
You have to admit, we’ve had it pretty good up here in New England. We’ve had Back-to-back-to-back-to-back fights of the year (Ward-Augustus, Ward-Gatti, Toney-Jirov and Pemberton-Sheika II) on our own soil and some overall solid and exciting fighters as well. Even despite the departures of Vinny Paz, “Irish” Micky Ward and the career of “Sucra” Ray Oliveira winding down, there is still much to anticipate. We have Scott “The Sandman” Pemberton waging classic fights, Peter Manfredo, Jr. showing strong signs of world class skill and three WBA champions (John Ruiz of Chelsea, MA, Jose Rivera of Worcester and Travis Simms of New Haven, CT) ready to defend their titles.
Yes, out here in the northeast, we have just about every kind of fighter you’d want to see with the possible exception a couple of good, exciting Mexican fighters. Or do we not?
If you’ve been attending the local fight scene as of late, you may have noticed some promising fighters named “Medina,” making some noise. Since late April, young Jose and his older brother, “Fabulous” Favio Medina, both of whom settled in Tilton, NH with their parents late last year, have been making more noise than a mariachi band in 2004.
On April 23rd, in front of a national television audience on ESPN2, the 23 year old Favio became the first fighter to tarnish the record of unbeaten welterweight prospect Eddie “The Fightin’ Irish” Bishop (then 7-0) of Stoughton. Entering the ring with a record of 4-1 record (with 3 KO’s), Favio used crisp right hands to bash Bishop’s face throughout the close fight until three judges ruled their fight a draw. The Brockton crowd at the Shaw’s Convention Center, which was full of Bishop’s loyal and close fan-base, cheered the thrilling efforts of both fighters.
“I was nervous going in because I heard I was fighting in Bishop’s backyard,” said Favio. “Then later on, I hear that the fight was moved to six rounds and that it was going to be on ESPN2. I was excited about it but very nervous, but eventually, my confidence came back.”
Two weeks later in Concord, NH, another Medina was back and brimming with confidence. In the opening bout at the Douglas Everett Arena in Concord, NH, Favio’s younger brother, Jose “The Stinger” Medina, was merciless in pounding then unbeaten middleweight Gary “The Bone” Bonefant over 6-round, despite being outweighed by some nine pounds. After notching another win the following week in Philadelphia, Jose met Scranton (PA) veteran, Dennis “The Bossman” Burley at the Plymouth Memorial Hall two weeks ago and stopped him in the 4th round. Despite owning several defeats, the experienced Burley had only been stopped once in the last 4 years going into their bout.
Early in the 4th round, Jose stunned Burley with a jolting left-right combination. Rather than admire his work as even some world class fighters might, Medina decided to finish matters as if he were the veteran. A vicious follow-up flurry from Jose almost gave you the impression Marco Antonio Barrera was in the ring or at the very least, enough intuition that the referee made the right call to save Burley from further pummeling.
It was the most impressive win to date for young Jose, now 5-3 with 2 KO’s who, as of Tuesday, can now legally drink in the U.S. But don’t expect any partying from this fierce battler.
Jose, who besides jr. middleweight NH prospect, Jason Le Houllier (13-0) is the busiest fighter in New England this year and on Friday night at the Roxy, will battle Southie’s Jimmy LeBlanc, who was also victorious in Plymouth two weeks ago. It will be Jose’s first television appearance (Fox SportsNet will show a tape delay on Sunday, July 4th).
Things have been quite different for the better for the two Medina’s, who are both incidentally built in a tall, strong mold of another Medina, Manuel Medina of Mexico, a 5-time featherweight champion. Their fine, long, straight punches seem to hint prospects. Jose attributes their recent success and his personal turn around to their work with Concord’s (NH) Dave Gates, a former boxer and trainer, who after a several year hiatus from boxing, has been rejuvenated from the arrival of the Medina family.
“I’ve been with a baking company for 45 years and had been out of boxing for eight years, since after I had cancer,” explains Gates. “I just lost interest in boxing until these guys came around. I was selling Christmas trees and was approached by (Jose and Favio) about the possibility of training them. No one had ever trained them before. All of their experience was from them putting on the gloves against each other and Toughman competitions. They had no amateur experience. They were just very eager to fight since moving over here from Idaho, so I decided to help them.”
As it always seems to be the case, Favio and Jose’s interest in boxing was in their Mexican blood.
“My father use to be a professional soccer player in Mexico but he always loved boxing,” said Jose. “He would always take my brother and I to the fights and we loved it too. Our heroes were (Julio Cesar) Chavez and Salvador Sanchez. We looked up to them. Favio and I use to do Smokers (exhibition fund raisers) in high school but we knew we wanted to be professional fighters. We want to be people that kids can look up to.”
When the two arrived from Idaho, Jose had a record of 2-3 while Favio was 3-1. Out in the mid-west, Jose would take fights on short notice and in spite of not having an experienced boxing coach and manager, was never in fighting shape, on occasion fighting men as heavy as super-middleweights.
“Back when we lived in Idaho, before moving to New Hampshire, we’d get calls asking if we’d be ready to fight in a day or two,” said Favio who recently began working with Mel Peabody from the Haverhill Boxing Club. “We always wanted the fights so we took them. Now we have guys like Dave and Mel working with us which is great.”
“Thanks to Dave, I have been able to learn a lot and get into good shape,” said Jose. “He’s not only teaching me how to box, he’s been getting me good fights so that I can develop properly. It’s been great to have someone push us and get us the proper sparring. On Friday, I sparred with Jason Le Houllier and we did seven good rounds. I owe everything to Dave and wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for him.”
“I’ve really liked how he’s been listening,” said Gates of Jose. “He hurt Burley a few times earlier on and I don’t think he realized it. The next round after he went to the body, he knew he hurt him and jumped all over him to stop him the way he did. I was happy with his performance.”
As mentioned earlier, Jose faces Jimmy Le Blanc at the Roxy in Boston as one of the featured bouts of Rich Cappiello’s next “Mohegan Sun Fight Night.” Favio is slated to face Leroy Fountain of Seaford, DE in a 4-rounder underneath the annual Hampton Beach Casino boxing event promoted by S&L Productions (Sal Lonano), on ESPN2. The Hampton Beach show will be headlined by former USBA jr. welterweight champ, Michael “No Joke” Stewart (36-2-2/ 20 KO’s) of New Castle, DE.
On that same night, in an interesting jr. welterweight match-up, Jeff “The Hellraza” Fraza (15-2/ 8 KO’s) of Haverhill, MA will make his long return to the ring in the co-feature against New Bedford (MA) native Paul Delgado (10-3-1/ 2 KO’s) of Atlanta. Fraza has been back in training over the past three weeks with Micky Ward. For ticket information, phone 603-929-4100.
Friday’s main event at the Roxy features the return of Ian “The Cobra” Gardner (15-1/ 7 KO’s), who if he’s superstitious, shouldn’t hold his breath. Gardner has had two marquee televised match-ups scratched this year thanks to his opponents’ blood tests. Gardner was slated to face dangerous Dominican middleweight Julio De La Cruz of Hartford, CT on ShowBox, but De La Cruz blood tests said he contracted hepatitis. Last month, Gardner was to face unbeaten “Bad” Chad Dawson in a huge local clash on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights, but Dawson tested positive for marijuana. Gardner, who hasn’t fought now in several months will face Patrick “La Sasa” Perez (25-4/ 14 KO’s) in a 10-round main event. Keep your fingers crossed Ian.
Also appearing on the show will be the exciting Eddie Bishop in his first bout since the draw with Medina. Bishop will be fighting the safer Gary Drayton (3-6-1 with 3 KO’s). Worcester cruiserweight, Roy “The House of” Payne, as well as the debuts of amateur standouts, Nick Morganelli of Southie and Boston police officer, Tyrone Smith are also slated to square off in separate bouts. For ticket information, phone 617-338-ROXY or toll free, 888-491-2900.
Replies: 2 Comments on this article
there is some good potential comming
Posted by Emmanuel Medina @ 07/06/2004 09:25 PM EST
"i just heared the news of my brothers beeing on CBZ. So i looked it up. i wanted to write cuz im on my way. Iv'e been threw a lot and ready for a new path.
Emmanuel,Medina 19
Posted by mi_vida41@hotmail.com">Emmanuel Medina @ 07/06/2004 09:19 PM EST
