“This is going to be an exciting year for me”

Coming off an impressive 3rd round TKO victory a couple weeks ago in Tampa, Florida over Aaron Drake 11-4(9), undefeated Jr. Welterweight prospect Adrian Mora 18-0-1(10) recently spoke with Boxingtalk.com about his recent victory as well as his future plans. “It was short, nothing really to it” stated the Thornton, Colorado based prospect, who later added “I am not going to call out any particular names, but whoever is there and the opportunity arises, that’s who I want to fight. Whether it is Joe blow or King Kong that is the guy I want to fight.” Read on as Mora also talks to us about possibly moving down to 135lbs, stepping up in competition and much more.

RC: You are coming off an impressive 3rd round stoppage. Why don’t you give us your thoughts and a run down on how it played out?
AM: It was short, nothing really to it. He was the kind of guy that tried to box me. He didn’t come forward and press the action; he basically tried to stay away. So the first couple of rounds were kind of slow, but what made the action really slow was that he kept on switching from southpaw to conventional. He came out southpaw on me and threw me off for a quick minute. But I noticed that when he was conventional, and leaning forward he was open for an uppercut because he was leaning forward over his knees. I knew that, but he turned southpaw and I couldn’t really get that uppercut in. Then in the third round, in the middle of the round he turned conventional again and he came in and I was waiting for it. When I caught him with the uppercut he was stumbling and his knees buckled and he was dazed walking around the ring so the referee just stopped it

RC: Form what I understand; you plan on working your way down to Lightweight. What’s the deal with that and how far are you away from making 135lbs?
AM: I weighed 137lbs for the fight and at that point I wasn’t on a serious diet. The day of the weigh in I didn’t have to shed any pounds. Most fighters on the day of the weigh in have to shed pounds; I didn’t have to do that. So I was only 2lbs away from 135lbs.

RC: So can we expect your next fight to take place at 135lbs?
AM: I think so, maybe. It doesn’t matter; I mean I fought Juan Carlos Rubio at welterweight and that wasn’t even my weight. So it if a real good opportunity arises I would like to fight 135lbs. If the fight makes sense and it is at 140lbs, then I will be at 140lbs. If I fight at 135lbs I will be very strong at that weight, but if the opportunity comes at 140lbs, I will stay right here.

RC: If you had an opportunity to face a top 15 guy, what weight would you prefer it to be at?
AM: With a top ten guy? It would definitely be at 135lbs in a perfect world, but this is a business you so you have to treat it like that, like when an opportunity comes up like any other business, even if it is not boxing, you have to take it, and that’s how I treat this. I am not going to say that I am going to be all stupid and say I am going to go to 147 or 154lbs, which I might not do right now until the time is right because I am a tall fighter and I have a frame where I can put on some weight. But if the opportunity rises at 140lbs, any of the top ten guys I would like to take that fight too. But like I said in a perfect world with enough amount of time and the right opponent I would like for it to take place at 135lbs. But, hey 140lbs don’t bother me either.

RC: Coming off your recent victory how far away do you feel you are from facing a top 15 guy at 135 or 140lbs?
AM: I think that 2007 is the year for me, I started the year off with a bang with the little title (NBA) I won, so I think this is going to be an exciting year for me. If Silver Hawk keeps me active like they have been doing, I think that in 2007 I will make it or break it.

RC: Any idea when we can expect to see you back in live televised action?
AM: well I went two and a half rounds in this last fight, so I would like to fight in February if I could but it is all up to my promoter. I love Silver Hawk boxing, I am very happy with this promotional company. I would like to stress and push them to put me in February or March. I will be ready. I can fight at least three or four times this year. So Hopefully my next fight, like I said if the opportunity arises, you know ShoBox or ESPN hopefully they will do my next fight. I believe I belong on T.V.. I belong on ESPN fighting 10 and 12 rounders. So hopefully my next fight will be on national television.

RC: What would you like to accomplish by years end? Where would you like to see yourself?
AM: If Silver Hawk keeps me active like they have been doing, and they have been doing a great job with me in keeping me active and picking the right opponents. I was out for eight-nine months and they got me back in there to dust that ring rust off, so I think 2007 is going to be a big year for me, like I said make it or beak it. I am not going to call out any particular names, but whoever is there and the opportunity arises, that’s who I want to fight. Whether it is Joe blow or King Kong that is the guy I want to fight.

RC: Adrian, this is the first time you and I have hooked up on Boxingtalk, is there anything you would like to touch on and let the people out there know?
AM: I do want to mention that people think that boxers don’t live in Colorado and that it is not a prospect state per say. Colorado is a beautiful place to train, people don’t understand that. I went down to Castillo’s camp in Toluca Mexico to get him ready for the Corrales fight. And this guy, he is a true true believer in high altitude running and I went on a run with this guy, and it isn’t much different from here in Colorado. Colorado is a beautiful beautiful place to train. People need to take advantage of this, I love training in high altitudes for fights. I felt like when I went to Florida, I felt like a machine out there. I felt like I had an oxygen machine on me in between rounds because I didn’t even breathe hard at all. I do agree with people that speak about the fighters here, sparring is kind of difficult to get in Colorado but you know hopefully that will change. In time I am hoping that I can become a fighter that can bring people into Colorado and in my camp, that is the goal rather than try to go out somewhere else. There is a lot of misunderstanding about Colorado; people told me that if I wanted to make it I needed to move out of Colorado. But if you are looking for a good training camp with high altitude Colorado is the place that you would want to be.


RC: What did you pick up working with a guy like Castillo in his training camp?
AM: I learned a lot, I learned how to be relaxed as he is, and how to run and the way to train the way he does things. The guy is a stone cold pro; I learned a lot of things from him. Although we have kind of different styles in fighting I use some of his tools. The same tools that he used against me in sparring, to this day I use it in sparring and in my fights even though we have different styles. He learned a lot of stuff from working with a great fighter like Julio Cesar Chavez that he uses, so it is like a big circle affect, I use what he used on me when I was sparring.

RC: Is there anything you would like to add in closing?
AM: Just God Bless everybody, and I want to thank him for keeping me safe in this hard sport and hard business and keeping me in his hands throughout everything in this sport.

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