Eric Gomez: The Golden Matchmaker

By G. Leon

29/08/2007

Eric Gomez: The Golden Matchmaker

GL:  We're on the record with the Golden Matchmaker. You've been extremely busy and you've got quite a few promotions lined up, starting with September 15th.  That is a promotion in which the main event fell through and a lot of scrambling had to get done.  Give us your thoughts on that show. 

EG: "I think, top to bottom, Greg, it's one of the best shows that I've been involved in, and I've had a chance to matchmake.  All four fights, that are going to be televised, are going to be good fights.  As a boxing fan, I'm excited for each fight.  I would have preferred Barrios fighting against Marquez, but things happen, he got hurt.  He had to pull out of the fight, but Rocky is just as good, if not more dangerous.  He's got a bigger name in the U.S., so I think that's going to help us as far as PPV.  It's a hell of a fight, Marquez has something to prove.  He's going to want to prove that beating Barrera wasn't a fluke." 

"There's a little bit of animosity toward him in Mexico, for whatever the reason, I guess after the fight.  So, I think he's going to try to prove that he can knock the guy out.  That's where it's going to get tricky, because as you know Rocky's very strong.  He's got a big punching style.  Barrera stood away from him in the second fight.  In the first fight, a lot of people thought that Rocky pulled off the victory.  It was a very, very close fight.  Then you have Sergio Mora, he has the biggest test of his young career.  He won The Contender, he's had some good wins after that, and he's fighting a legitimate fighter, a former world champion, Kassim Ouma, who gave Jermain Taylor all that he could handle.  He chased Jermain Taylor around the ring for 12 rounds, he gave him hell.  It's the first legitimate fight for Sergio Mora.  Let's see if he really is a contender, or just a pretender." 

"Robert Guerrero, obviously he was supposed to fight Rocky, we have another young kid in our stable that stepped up to take on the challenger, that's Martin Honorio Martin Honorio is known for beating Steven Luevano.  Steven Luevano, he just won the title, he just has one loss in his career.  That came from Martin Honorio. Martin Honorio was the better man.  They fought a couple of years back, and Martin Honorio pulled off the victory.  The first fight opening up the show is Panchito Bojado, he's with Golden Boy now.  At one point in his career he was a Mexican superstar.  We're excited that he's back in boxing, he's a hell of a fighter.  He's grown up now he's a little older, mature.  He's getting a second chance, and you know a lot of fighters that are in his shoes don't always get a second chance.  He's got a second chance, he wants to make the most of it." 

"He's fighting a tough fighter in Steve Forbes.  Ask Demetrius Hopkins. This guy's a veteran.  He's a hell of a fighter, a great style.  He's very exciting, right in your face, a very, very tough fight for Bojado.  If Bojado is ever going to be a superstar, ever going to be a world champion, he's got to beat these kind of guys.  Stevie's there to prove he's still one of the top fighters, and he should give Bojado the toughest test of his career." 

GL:  On October 6th, we all know about the eagerly anticipated rematch between  Pacquiao and Barrera.  Are there any furthur updates as it relates to the undercard?

EG:  Through conversations with Top Rank, it look like Top Rank is going to be putting Steven Luevano in.  I don't know if they have an opponent yet.  We on our side are doing one of the fights.  What we're going to be doing is Librado  Andrades, he had a good comback fight.  He had a tough fight against Kessler.  Kessler is probably the #1 guy, I'm actually picking Kessler to beat Calzghe. I think he's the top guy at 168.  Librado had a chance for the title, against the toughest guy in his division, and he came up short.  We haven't lost hope in him, he's a hell of a fighter.  I'm close to making a deal possibly with Yusef Mack. That's the guy we're looking for right now to fight Librado Andrades.  Top Rank will announce in the next few days if Luevano is going to be the guy, and who the opponent will be. 

GL:  There are only going to be three fights on that telecast?

EG:  As of right now three, there's a possibility for a fourth, if we can come up with a good enough fight.  It would pit a Golden Boy fighter against a Top Rank fighter, that's what we've been talking about.  As of right now, we don't  have anything yet.  We've come up with a few ideas that we're kicking around.  Within another week, we'll finalize and decide wheather or not to make that fourth fight.  

GL: What else is happening on November 10th besides Mosley-Cotto?

EG:  I have no idea what Top Rank is going to do, they have a few ideas, but nothing is concrete.  It looks like we're going to be going with Casamayor.  We've just signed Casamayor, and he hasn't fought since he fought Corrales.  

 GL: Who's he defending against?

EG:  We've got permission from the WBC for him to do a defense against any top ten rated guy.  We're looking at maybe Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz is with us.  There's a chance we might be putting him with Santa Cruz, it's not 100%, it's still in the works.  Within this week, I'm hoping to finalize everything.  Casamayor is willing to fight anybody, he'll fight anybody.  It's a great thing to work with guys like that, and he's a veteran guy, he's been around.  He's fought everybody, and it's great to work with guys like that, they basically ask you what day, and say they'll be ready.

GL:  Casamayor is on BoxingTalk today, talking about he wants to fight Katsidis he has an interest in Katsidis What are the chances of that fight happening?  When can we expect Katsidisback in the ring?

EG:  Casamayor came to us and one of his things was, "I want to fight everybody.  I know Golden Boy can help me get the big fights.  Please help me get the big fights.  That's what I want."  We said yes, we can do that, we'll get the biggest fight that we can get you.  Katsidis is out, he had surgery on his cuts, and he's not going to be available until maybe December, or January.  We can't do that fight for the time being.  In the near future, after this fight, if Casamayor comes out okay, we would move to make that fight.

GL:  On November 17th is the fight that's being overlooked, because of the quartet of PPV's that start on the 15th.  There's a great fight with Joan Guzman and Humberto Soto, another product of the Top Rank-Golden Boy reconcilliation.  Can you give us some thoughts on that fight?

EG:  It's great.  When Richard decided let's settle this with Top Rank, this fighting doesn't do anything for boxing.  It doesn't do any good for us, for the business.  Now every avenue is open, and we can make these fights, and that's what we want to make.  We want to make these big fights, that's what Oscar has instilled in us.  We're following his lead.  Oscar, throughout his whole career, fought big names.  He fought Chavez, back when he fought Trinidad, Mosley, the big names.  We're following Oscar's lead, and that's what he wants, to see big fights.  Obviously all these fighters want to get paid, and make money, but they want the big fights.  They want the recognition, they feel that nobody can beat them.  Everybody benefits from making these good fights, it feels really good that we're able make them alongside with Top Rank.  We have Barrera-Pacquiao, which is great, but this is another big fight.  I agree with you people are overlooking it and it's going to be free on HBO, and that's the best thing for subscribers to HBO.  These kind of fights should be on HBO.  These guys are not PPV fighters, but they're future PPV fighters.  Guzman is probably the toughest, and most talented guy in the division.  Arguably, because you have Marquez there, but this guy can flat-out fight, and he wants to fight anybody as well.  He wants the big fights, and we're trying to get him the big fights.  Then you have a guy like Soto, who's probably the most dangerous guy in the division.  Nobody wants to fight either guy, guess what, they're going to fight each other. 

GL:  For December 8th, is there any indiation of who will be on the undercard of the "Undefeated" promotion?

EG:  No, not yet.  We're still a few months away.  We've just been kicking ideas back and forth.  There's a couple of guys that we're considering, but nothing as of yet.  We're kind of far out, we have some of our fighters fighting, we have to wait and see how some of them come out.  One of our fighers is red hot right now, he just had a big victory on HBO and that is Ponce De Leon.  We've thrown his name back and forth, he might be fighting.  It's still too early to make a determination about the fight, we'll know in another month or so. 

GL:  Is there anything else BoxingTalkers should know about?

EG:  Oscar's keeping in shape.  I was with Oscar over the weekend in Puerto Rico, and he's running.  He's keeping in shape, he's keeping his weight low, and he says he wants to fight two more times next year, then maybe that's it, call it a career.  As a friend, and as a boxing fan myself, I was happy to see that he's keeping in shape.  He's working out, out in Puerto Rico, and that's a good thing. 

GL:  Any closing thoughts for the fans?

EG:  BoxingTalk is the greatest, thank you to all the fans.

M

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