Darling Jimenez is a naturally gifted fighter, something that was evidnet since the day he put on a pair of gloves as a 10 year old. A tremendous amateur, Jimenez was a four-time New York Golden Gloves Champion (1997-2000) who earned the prestigious Sugar Ray Robinson Award for the most Outstanding Boxer at the Golden Gloves three times (1997-1999). He reached the semi-finals of the 2000 Olympic Trials where he was defeated by David Jackson, the eventual 132-pound representative on the U.S. Olympic team. During this time Jimenez compiled a record of 107-3 with five victories against current IBF junior welterweight champion Paul Malignaggi.
These accomplishments by the Dominican native at an early age bred complacency for the now 28 year old. Jimenez is as talented as anyone in the business but is not the most dedicated individual outside of the ring. Jimenez grew up in the South Bronx where he earned a reputation for being a bad dude in the gyms of the Big Apple, but he also made a name for himself inside of the bars and night clubs of New York City as well. His partying is the biggest culprit for Jimenez's relatively quiet pro career. At 23-2-2, he is a considerable underdog this Saturday evening against one of the most highly regarded prospects in recent memory, Yuoriokis Gamboa, a Cuban gold medal winner in the Olympics.
If Jimenez did not use two stepping at mid-town Manhattans’ famed “Latin Quarters” as conditioning drills, or substitute merengue dances at local lounges for road work, then you might see the same Jimenez who brutally knocked out former world champion Mike Anchondo in three rounds. This is part of the enigma that is Jimenez, a man who was born to fight and lives to party in excess-- unfortunately this has led to his career being stagnant instead of sensational. But this is who Jimenez is, someone who is not the first in the gym and if his coach told him to sleep in and lets skip doing our 8 mile run, he’d be a happy camper.
Even Jimenez's manager, Richard Ryan admits things have not gone well: “Six weeks ago we had Darling in camp on the other side of town (Yonkers) so he could concentrate on the fight of his life away from the elements of his south Bronx life. We let him go home on Sundays to visit his family but set a rule that he would have to be back by the 9 pm curfew we all agreed to, Well, nine o’clock came and Darling didn't come back. At 10 pm I got a call from Pastor Ralph Farrait (his trainer) telling me Darling is MIA. I said let's go looking for him, we went all over the Bronx, to all the places we thought he might be. Darling was nowhere to be seen. Then I said to Pastor Ralph, 'do you think he would be partying this close to the fight?' He said no way, [but] I said lets go to the Bamboo club in the Bronx that I know Darling frequents. By this time its 2 am in the morning and when we get there sure enough there was Darling. He is in the back corner of the bar, he has a beer in his hand, and cigarette in the other and the arm that he is holding the beer with is around some girl's neck. I am pissed, so I go up to him and I say hey Darling what are you doing? You don't smoke (at least I never seen him smoke before). He said I only smoke when I drink."
Ryan, a manager who is known to treat his fighters well, continued, "I was jumping up and down and you know what he says to me? 'Can I buy you a drink?' I said, 'get the fuck out here or I'll kick you fucking ass all the way back to Yonkers and I'll call Gary Shaw tomorrow and tell him the fight is off. You are not going to embarrass me, you drunk.' After that night I never had another problem with him again, but maybe that is because I promised him after the fight that I would buy him a carton of cigarettes (Salem) if he stopped smoking and I would even try to get him a cigarette endorsement and that we would all go to the bar and get drunk" (except Pastor Ralph). I could see he liked that. He just laughed and said are you serious about the endorsement? I knew then that I wasn't dealing with your average athlete, He is unique to say the least. I said to myself thank God they don't test for athletes for nicotine because Darling would never be able to pass that test but I know he can fight and I know Gamboa is in for a rough night.”
The biggest task at hand for Ryan and his co-manager Kurt Emhoff, as well as head trainer Pastor Ralph Farrait is not getting Jimenez in peak condition for the biggest fight of his career but keeping him focused. Jimenez is so skirt crazy that he yelled out his phone number once to a ring card girl in between rounds during his eighth pro bout. A few months ago on Jimenez’s Myspace page, he had posted a photo with a neighborhood friend of his holding a bottle of Hennessey and him looking quite inebriated. Not exactly Tiger Woods slurping down a Gatorade. On Saturday will Jimenez be the stepping stone that sinks Gamboa? Or will the Dominican party animal pay the price for living a less than healthy lifestyle?
