"I'm very confident that he's going to do it. I know that he's mentally very focused...I think Manny's good, but I saw the Margarito fight and I saw the Cotto fight and I think Shane has a great chance. I think people need to judge him on his past fights before those two because there were a lot of things mentally regarding a situation that was still occurring...Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's going to be an easy fight, but I think before the 8th round, Shane will have a knockout," stated the lovely Bella Gonzalez, the woman behind three-division world champion "Sugar" Shane Mosley. In this exclusive interview, check out what Bella had to say about her relationship with Shane, the upcoming May 7th showdown, and much more.
BT: So Bella, before we jump into things, tell the fans a little bit about yourself.
BG: Well, my background is I'm Cuban. My mom is Spaniard. I have 4 brothers and 2 sisters. I'm basically Southern. I've been living in Houston until recently when I moved out here [California].
BT: You said you were Cuban?
BG: Yes, I'm Cuban. I was born in Cuba. My dad is Cuban, my mom is Spaniard, so Spaniard and Cuban.
BT: How did you and Shane meet?
BG: I met Shane two years ago in March. He was out with his guy friends and I was out with my girl friends. He had to make an appearance at a fight that weekend. So I was out with my girlfriends and we had our table; we were just sitting there and his friends were all kinda like bothering me a little bit. They were like, "You have to come meet somebody." I was like, "Who do you want me to meet?" So they're telling me who he is and I was like, "Well, I'm Bella. Why doesn't he come meet me?" I guess a little bit of me not being so crazy about anybody, I guess that attracted him a little bit more to me. Right when we were beginning to talk to each other, we would go out with each other for lunch or we would just go on little errands or whatever together, so it came moreso as a friendship. Then he had left for a month and I went off for a month and he came back to Houston to look for me and he found me (laughing). So we had met back up and we just became friends and we got into a relationship afterwards. It took time.
BT: Well, it may have took time for you, but I'm sure he was ready to make a move the minute he saw you. I've never met you in person, but I've seen enough pictures of you to know that you are beautiful, fine, gorgeous; you name it and you're it.
BG: (Laughing) Thank you. You have to be precise. If you know what you like, then you need to stay true to what you like and not make exceptions. I wasn't really thinking about wanting to get into a relationship or wanting to have a boyfriend, you know? I just wanted to have a good friend and he was a friend of mine. So he figured out that what he wanted to do was this and I figured out what I wanted to do too.
BT: Judging from the pictures I've seen, you obviously do some modeling, right?
BG: I do. I've gotten to work with very good photographers, so I've been doing that, but I really want to get into acting. I'm taking acting classes very very seriously and I'm trying to make sure that when I come out, I'm sure about what I can do. I want to make sure that if I come out, I come out close to perfection.
BT: So you're not really looking for any opportunities until after you perfect your craft? You were in Mann and 50 Cent's video for Buzzin though, right?
BG: Yeah, I do videos as well. I mean, I have a lot of good friends that make music, but it's moreso what I like to listen to and whether or not it's a good representation of who I'm supposed to be. If I'm going to be in a video, I like to be the main person in the video. If I'm in a video, I don't want it to say anything about hoe this and that because that's not what I am and that's not what I'm going to represent. You know what I mean?
BT: Yeah, definitely. I respect that. Other women might jump at an opportunity to be in a video with 50 Cent no matter what he's talking about (laughing).
BG: I mean, that's cool. I'm cool with him [50 Cent] and he'll tell you the same thing. If were talking about a hoe and you expect me to be in the passenger seat, I'm not cool with that. I can listen to the song and I can like the song, but I'm not going to be the person in the song that you're supposedly talking to because if we're acting, that's me acting like that and I don't see myself anywhere close to that (laughing). Videos are just to have fun and keep busy, but if that were movies, I'd act it.
BT: No doubt. It sounds like both you and Shane are pretty busy and have a lot going on right now, although you did manage to squeeze in some time at a photo shoot together.
BG: He's just such a big support. Whenever he's not working, he comes to my shoots and he's very very supportive. What happened was I was working a lot with several photographers, but just one mainly and his name is Richard Franklin. If you look on the internet, he's like the Mt. Rushmore of photography. He is so good at what he does. He does everything himself. He's so hands on as to how he wants his pictures to look. So his thing is photography and I worked with him and American Curves, which is also MuscleMag and the diet magazine and fitness; it's like 5 magazines geared towards fitness modeling and people that are fit. So they bought the pictures and we did another photo shoot at our apartment. It's going to be me on American Curves and it's going to be me and Shane on MuscleMag. They should be out at the end of March.
BT: Speaking of fitness, you either eat absolutely nothing at all or you workout like crazy in order to keep a physique like that.
BG: I do, I do, I do. I do Brazilian workouts, like a lot of squats. I drink a lot of coconut water.
BT: Did you say Brazilian workouts? What the heck is a Brazilian workout?
BG: Like Zumba, like squats, lunges, certain lifts that you have to do with your arms. Basically you don't need any weights. Your body is the weight so you have to know how to use your body. Man, you can make your body so ridiculous if you eat the right things and know how to work out. And I know how to work out because my mom has been like a workout nutrition freak. She's a microbiologist though. She knows everything not to eat and she was always about vitamins and taking care of yourself. She would eat salad all the time and chicken. She wouldn't even eat red meat or smoke a cigarette, so that was good stuff that I learned from her. I constantly am doing Yoga and my Brazilian workouts, and me and Shane do our little team workouts whenever he's not working and I'm not working. He tries to beat me at basketball in the morning, he tries to box me when I'm making him breakfast, so I have to keep up with him.
BT: So do you follow boxing at all or do you just follow Shane's fights?
BG: My father, Carlos, used to be a boxer on the Cuban Olympic team. Boxing has been a part of my household forever.
BT: You seemed like you had a little boxing knowledge when you went in on Andre Berto on Twitter (laughing).
BG: Because this guy was talking so much. Do you know what's crazy to me? Let me tell you what's crazy. Sometimes people are so into themselves, they really don't understand that people will stand and question them like, "For real, why are you so into yourself? You're like nobody. Nobody knows you; nobody cares about you." He was just making himself seem absurd. Like who has he fought that's so serious like that? You [Berto] need to be surprised that this man [Mosley] is even referring to you or even mentions your name because you're not important like that. He comes out with some very childish remarks; grandpa this and grandpa that. Hey, grandpa these nuts, boo (laughing). He was talking so much noise and everybody was just clowning on him.
BT: So obviously Shane has a big fight coming up in May.
BG: Shane's big fight. It's scary. I don't like to see him get hit, but I'm very confident that he's going to do it. I know that he's mentally very focused. I did move out here for acting and I'm only an hour and half or two hours away from him compared to being over there in Houston. I feel it can ease him that I'm closer and more accessible. I try not to just seem like I'm right here and on top of him, so I'm constantly doing my stuff, but on the weekends, he comes down [from Big Bear] and we do our thing. It keeps our relationship new and I enjoy that. I try to be very supportive and I try to help him out in any way possible.
BT: So you've been to his fights before? Were you at the Mayweather or Mora fight?
BG: Yes, I was there for Mayweather; I was. Yeah, I was there for those two fights.
BT: Some people out there think Pacquiao is just going to run through Shane based off of those last two fights he had. What do you think about Manny Pacquiao and the opinion of some of those people?
BG: I think Manny's good, but I saw the Margarito fight and I saw the Cotto fight and I think Shane has a great chance. I think people need to judge him on his past fights before those two because there were a lot of things mentally regarding a situation that was still occurring. I mean, I don't really speak on that situation, but I just think that things outside of boxing had been a distraction to him.
BT: You're talking about the divorce I take it.
BG: Yeah, I'm talking about the divorce. I mean, I just don't...it's not my business. I don't speak about her and I don't speak about the situation because there's no reason why I should.
BT: Obviously you're expecting Shane to win on May 7th, but...
BG: Of course he's gonna win, and then after that, you're probably going to call me back and be like, "Hip hip hooray. We need to do a party because he won." And I'm going to be like, "I told you so!" And I'm going to see you at the party and I'm going to say, "I told you so and he won and we're going to celebrate!" And that's what we're going to do.
BT: Shoot, what are you talking about? I'm not going to call you because I expect to know where the party is before the fight even starts.
BG: Well yeah, but you gotta understand that sometimes we just gotta travel from here to do a party over there; do a party over there in Vegas and then a party over there in New York and then the party over there in Houston and then Miami.
BT: (Laughing) Well count me in for all of them. Do you have a final prediction for the fight? Is Shane going to get the knockout that he's looking for?
BG: Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's going to be an easy fight, but I think before the 8th round, Shane will have a knockout!
FOR MORE ABOUT BELLA, BE SURE TO FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER AT @BELLA1MAFIA
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