For Australian-Mexican warrior Cesar Mateo Tapia a/k/a Mateo Tapia, boxing is more than just a sport – it is his safe haven. The 22-year-old super middleweight (12-0, 7KOs) is coming off a first-round TKO victory against Steve Collins Jr. (14-4-1) in Dubai in March. Known as "El Tijuanero," Tapia admits the sport has prevented him from falling onto a bad path, and has hopefully put himself on track for a future world title shot, something that he has couldn’t imagine during his younger years. Tapia said: “I did not really have my parents to guide me growing up. They weren’t really there for advice or anything. Boxing saved my life."

 

Tapia continued, “The gym is a place that I always go to when something goes wrong. I’m always in the gym every time I was going on a bad path. Boxing really steered me away from the path that you don’t want to go on. I am really in a happy place with boxing.

 

“Coming off a first round TKO, I definitely want to keep the momentum going as soon as I can get a fight, even if it is overseas. Of course, that will always be part of the plan but I leave it all up to the MTK Global management. Hopefully, later this year, I can get a fight in the UK or even in the Middle East.

 

“I just want to be in contention with all of the top ranked super middleweights in the world. It’s up to MTK Global to decide on who I’ll be facing next. So far, they have done a wonderful job in terms of my career progress. “I was able to keep myself busy over the last few months. I had to go back to work because gyms are closed. My dad made a little gym (in the house) so I was there every afternoon. I just got my runs in every couple of days to stay active and did what I can despite the situation.”