"I'm just looking for Chris to be Chris. I want him to come out, be aggressive, apply pressure and combination punching; all of the things that made people take notice on the way up. Obviously we've had a lack of focus in the past and Chris has his detractors, as I do, but hey, I've been working with the guy 9 years. I'm the same guy that got him from the point where people were telling me he would never be more than a 6-round fighter. So we're just looking for Chris to be Chris, put pressure on Manny and impose his will on him. We're looking to get him out of there," stated Henry Ramirez, world-class trainer of Cristobal Arreola, as he talked about this Friday's clash with Manuel Quezada on ESPN2's Friday Night Fight. Check it out!
PC: How is it going my man?
HR: Everything is good man. I'm looking forward to Friday.
PC: Chris has stated that he has been disrespecting the sport and maybe not putting 100% into boxing. Are you seeing some of those things being corrected?
HR: I will tell you this, he hasn't missed any days from the gym or any sparring. The one day that he did miss, he had to evacuate his home because they had a big fire near his house and he had to evacuate. I was skeptical and kinda doubted him. I was like, "well, evacuate to the gym," but he was being serious. He really had to evacuate his home.
PC: Manuel Quezada is his next opponent this Friday on Friday Night Fights. What are some of the things you are looking for out of Chris?
HR: I'm just looking for Chris to be Chris. I want him to come out, be aggressive, apply pressure and combination punching; all of the things that made people take notice on the way up. Obviously we've had a lack of focus in the past and Chris has his detractors, as I do, but hey, I've been working with the guy 9 years. I'm the same guy that got him from the point where people were telling me he would never be more than a 6-round fighter. So we're just looking for Chris to be Chris, put pressure on Manny and impose his will on him. We're looking to get him out of there.
PC: Both guys are coming off of losses and I'm sure both guys understand they have to look a certain way in this fight to remain relevant. What type of fight are you expecting out of Quezada?
HR: I'm expecting Manny to come out and try to take Chris' head off. He is coming off of a loss to Jason Gavern and we're coming off of a loss to Adamek; that right there will tell you the difference in levels. We lost to Adamek and he lost to Gavern. Gavern is a good journeyman fighter. We actually have him in camp right now with us. I've heard that he said he's going to take the fight to Chris, but I don't see that happening because if he does, it will be over in 2 rounds. I anticipate them trying to box early and move in and out. I think they will try to get Chris into the later rounds so they can expose Chris for what they will deem as a lack of conditioning. I want Chris to put that aggressive, grimy pressure on him and wear him down.
PC: Do you think, and this is no disrespect to ESPN because I love their shows, but do you think going from HBO to ESPN is the humbling experience that Chris needed to give boxing his all?
HR: I wouldn't say so much of a humbling experience. I think he now knows that he had to pull his head out of his ass, to be honest. There is no way he would be fighting on ESPN, which, like you said, no slight to them because we're thankful for the opportunity, but there is no way he would be off of HBO if he would have done what every pro fighter does: show up every day and come bust their ass in the gym. We're making a big deal out of this, and probably more than usual because he hasn't done it. He didn't do it for the Adamek fight. And it is not that we weren't encouraging him to do it, but as stupid as it sounds, the Adamek fight was the furthest thing on his mind during the time of the fight. There were times that we went a week at a time without seeing him in the gym; a week and then gone completely from the gym. In the gym a week and then gone for a couple of weeks. There was no professionalism there with Chris at that point.
PC: You have been in this sport for a long time. Is Chris the most difficult fighter you have ever dealt with?
HR: Absolutely. He's by far the hardest guy I have ever had to deal with in any walk of life, whether it pertains to boxing or anything. Chris and I have a different relationship because we are friends outside of boxing. I met him through boxing about 10 years ago. I boxed amateur myself for about 10 years and I've been involved in boxing for about 20 years as a fighter, a trainer and a manager of fighters. People have this misconception that I walked in off of the street corner being some guy hanging out at the fucking liquor store and I'm the furthest thing from it. I have a stable of 6 pros on my team right now. One is Jose Lopez and he is going to be the opener for us this Friday.
PC: I look forward to Friday night. Good luck to you guys. Give me some closing thoughts my man.
HR: We're looking for Chris Arreola to come out with an impressive performance. I hope he can get back to those big fights, but by no means are we overlooking Manny Quezada. We want to entertain the people at home and the people in the crowd. Me, personally, I'm looking to go two for two because both of these fights are my guys that I train. For the people that continue to be supportive, thank you and to the people that continue to be haters, thank you even more.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]