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HENRY RAMIREZ: "WE'RE PUTTING CHRIS RIGHT BACK IN...THERE ARE NO DAYS OFF"

By Percy Crawford | May 17, 2011
HENRY RAMIREZ:

"He's fighting a week from Friday. He's fighting next Friday night, May 27th, on ESPN...we're putting Chris right back in next Friday. There are no days off. He had Sunday off because he fought Saturday, but that's it. It's right back at it tonight in another 30 minutes...He's in good shape now and we'll probably get a couple of days of light sparring this week and we will be ready to go. You hit it right on the head, you don't want to give Chris too much time to himself," stated world-class trainer Henry Ramirez, who talked about the decision to place heavyweight contender Chris Arreola back into another fight just two weeks after his most recent win, a 3rd round stoppage of Nagy Aguilera. Check out what else he had to say!

PC: Congratulations on the win. How do you feel about Chris' performance?

HR: I feel pretty good. Obviously Chris is always going to be judged by his weight, and coming in at 234, we were ready and trained and it showed in his performance. He was light on his feet. There are still things that we need to work on, but the combination punching was there and he got Nagy out of there in 3 rounds.

PC: What was the biggest difference in camp that allowed Chris to come in at 234 pounds?

HR: You know what, man? I'm going to be honest. I would love to sit here and take all of the credit and say, "Hey, I finally got through to him," but it was all Chris. At this point in his career, he's allowed distractions in the past to get in his way and this camp, there was nothing getting in his way of him getting his ass in shape. He didn't let anything bother him. Nothing came before boxing, which was great. That's what you gotta have at this level.

PC: When you fight a guy like Nagy, who has some big names on his resume, do you try to one-up one of his previous opponents? Did you guys go in thinking you wanted to handle him easier than Antonio Tarver did?

HR: No, we didn't even think about what Tarver did to him or what Sam Peter did with him. It didn't even cross our mind. Our only thing was getting Chris in shape and showing a renewed dedication to the sport. I think little by little, we're going to be able to show that to a lot of naysayers and detractors which, you know, him and I have a lot of them (laughing).

PC: Don't we all my man (laughing). When would you like to see Arreola in there again?

HR: He's fighting a week from Friday. He's fighting next Friday night, May 27th, on ESPN!

PC: Damn, that's a quick turn around.

HR: Quick turnaround. What happened was, I have Josesito Lopez, who was supposed to be the main event fighting Steve Chambers, Eddie Chambers' little brother, but we had to pull him out due to a hand injury. Hey, the opportunity presented itself and we're putting Chris right back in next Friday. There are no days off. He had Sunday off because he fought Saturday, but that's it. It's right back at it tonight in another 30 minutes.

PC: I know you don't like to give Chris too much rope. You have to be happy with this quick turnaround because it doesn't let him stray away?

HR: Oh yeah! We'll get him right back in there. He's in good shape now and we'll probably get a couple of days of light sparring this week and we will be ready to go. You hit it right on the head, you don't want to give Chris too much time to himself and he's only had one day off and that was Sunday (laughing); that's it.

PC: What were some of the things you were looking for Chris to accomplish against Nagy and did he accomplish those things during the course of the 3 rounds that the fight lasted?

HR: One of the things was to be light on his feet, and it's not like I was looking for him to out-box the guy, but being able to close distance quicker. When he's light on his feet, it allows that. We wanted to let the combinations flow and we accomplished that as well. He got hit a little bit, and I think that started when he realized Nagy couldn't hurt him. And at the end of the fight, he was smothering himself just a bit. I was hoping he gave himself just a little more room, but he got him out of there in the 3rd round. I will say this, Nagy Aguilera definitely came to fight. He didn't come in there to lay down or pick up a paycheck. Chris was able to get him out of there and we will keep working and keep him busy.

PC: What's the year end goal for Chris. Obviously the plan is to keep him busy, but where from there?

HR: The year end goal will probably be to fight someone in the top 10; a statement type of fight. We want to get a win over one of those top 10 contenders and hopefully he fights for another world title, whether it be at the end of this year or next year.

PC: Well, I'm sure we will be talking again in a few weeks being that you guys are going right back at it, so we will keep this one short. Give me some closing thoughts my man.

HR: I want to thank you and FightHype for giving me a holla, man. We're just trying to keep Chris' name out there and hopefully, with his renewed dedication, it's a pleasure to see. I've been with Chris for 9 years and I can see the transformation in him, but that's just one step. We gotta be able to keep it up from here on out. No more slacking in training or blown opportunities and hopefully we can turn some of those naysayers into supporters.



[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]

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