Ivan Montiel: Boxingtalk is here with veteran manager Mike Criscio, who works with Carlos Gongora. I don’t know about this split decision in which Lerrone Richards won the IBO 168-pound title from Gongora. Let’s talk about it.

 

Mike Criscio: Richards is a good kid but he’s not even in Gongora’s league. Carlos is so much stronger, bigger and better than him. I had Carlos winning 115-113. I am not saying that being prejudiced because he’s my fighter. If my fighter lost, I will tell you my fighter lost. Carlos gave it all, he had nothing in the tank. What happened was we were supposed to arrive there one week before. Carlos goes to the airport with his trainer and is told that he cannot board the plane. Carlos is told that he needs a visa. We told Matchroom [Richards’ promoter] that Carlos needed a visa and they say that we don’t need one. We did what we were supposed to do. Then on Monday, Carlos drives 3 hours to Boston, sits there for a couple of hours then drives back another 3 hours and by the time he returns he had nothing in the tank to train. We cut it off on Tuesday. On Tuesday night, we are approved with the visa in New York and went to Boston to put it in Gongora’s hand. Then we take a ride to New York airport which was 5 hours for a direct flight. Gongora arrives at his hotel at 10 am on Thursday. Carlos tried to train on Thursday, but he was shot, he had nothing in him. I then thought that I should’ve cancelled this fight. What am I doing, looking at the big picture instead of what’s right in front of me? This kid now has a blemished record which he shouldn’t have. I knew Carlos would beat Richards but he had nothing in his tank. If you watch this fight even the promoters say that’s not Gongora. He was lunging, he had nothing on his punches. If he was there for one week [prior] those punches would have knocked Richards out. Gongora steps into his punches, he’s very strong. I can tell by that fifth round that he was totally shot. His legs were killing him. Carlos was in camp for four months, he was in great shape. Carlos was ready to go, it was all because of the time difference. For every hour it should be one day. The latest Gongora should have arrived was Monday. Arriving late Thursday morning [for a Saturday fight], that’s not good. Matchroom did everything that they could to accommodate us, they did a great job. I did everything to make this fight happen, to get my fighter a victory. It was a mistake, I should have pulled that plug. I should’ve had said forget it we are not going to fight. Carlos also did not come to me saying Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that he’s feeling sluggish. I would have then said sorry we can’t do this you guys have nine other fights on that card. We would have postponed this fight until January. It’s sad, I feel bad for Gongora. He’s like my son, he calls me dad. Carlos is very close to me.

 

IM: Gongora being a fighter he’s not going to say anything. He’s just going to fight like most fighters.

 

MC: Carlos was upset, you can tell after the fight inside that ring he was laughing, but that’s what he does when he’s hurting. That’s why I feel so bad because I knew he was hurting. 

 

IM: I am thinking there should be a rematch.

 

MC: Rematch? Richards won’t do it. They didn’t want to put that in the contract and I said why not? I said we are going to win anyways so it doesn’t matter. We were going to give the belt up to fight for the four titles because Canelo Alvarez is going up to cruiserweight. We were fighting for a title so I said you can have it. They won’t rematch us. If they won’t do the rematch, the whole thing is fishy. It makes no sense to me. Why not rematch us? If Richards thinks that he will win, rematch us. We gave Ali Akhmedov a rematch clause when we fought him. I have no problem giving rematch clauses. Eddie Hearn is good with rematches, he loves rematch clauses. I don’t know why they won’t give us a rematch. Matchroom loves Gongora, they said that they will get back in there going for one of those four world titles. What’s not to like about this kid? He does not drink, he does not smoke. He trains. All he does is for Ecuador and his family. He’s unbelievable, one of the nicest kids in boxing that I have ever met in my life. I have had fighters who are all about themselves. I had a lot of those fighters in boxing. I had Chris Avalos who was faithful as the days long. He never left me. He stayed with me until the end. Unfortunately due to the fact he suffered back injuries, he never became a world champion. This guy had a great record. I talk to Peter Manfredo every day. Gongora is always checking up on me. I am in the hospital for a month and a half, Carlos is checking up on me every day. Carlos is in tears saying he can’t lose me. One of my other fighters, an Olympian who’s overseas is also reaching out to me every day, that’s Luis. These guys all worry about me. [When you are sick], you find out who the real ones are that’s for sure. 

 

IM: Gongora is a gym rat, always working out.

 

MC: 100% he’s very strong, his body is a temple. That’s why I feel so bad, I did the wrong thing. I feel awful. If he would have won, I would have looked like a hero. We took that Ali Akhmedov fight with two weeks’ notice [in which Gongora won the vacant IBO title]. He was at 190 pounds, but I said we are fighting for a title. His trainer got Covid therefore he could not make it. It was just me and one of the trainer’s guys to help us. Carlos was losing the fight so I said step it up, it’s the final round. You got to knock this f*cker out. If you don’t, you have Ecuador behind you, you’re going to be embarrassed. Gongora got in that final round and knocked the sh*t out of him. This time around he had nothing in his uppercuts, nothing. I could’ve got hit with those uppercuts, they wouldn’t have fazed me. His legs were shot. 

 

IM: It’s funny you mentioned those uppercuts since I was waiting for those types of uppercuts. I thought that eventually those uppercuts would appear in those championship rounds.

 

MC: Richards is very slippery. He likes to hit and run. I guess the game plan was to play for the first six rounds. The championship rounds is when we were going to start fighting. We were going to start punishing this kid. Then by the time Gongora got there, he was shot and had nothing. 

 

IM: I am disappointed since I heard that there was a possibility of Canelo Alvarez versus Gongora taking place. Hopefully in the near future this fight can happen.

 

MC: That’s what the whole plan was. We got called when Canelo was fighting in Dallas. We were asked if Carlos was in the gym ready to go. I said yes, he just fought and he’s still here. We were told to bring Carlos since Canelo’s opponent [Billy Joe Saunders] was going to pull out of that fight. If that happened Gongora would have fought Canelo. We went to Dallas, trained every day, getting ready every day. At the weigh-in Canelo didn’t know if this guy was going to fight. We were told that we would get a fight with Canelo but now obviously Alvarez is now moving up to cruiserweight. That was the plan, it was something we wanted. That would be a great fight. That Carlos who was there training would be a great fight but the Gongora who was fighting the other day would not be a good fight. 

 

IM: What happens now? Where does Gongora go from here?

 

MC: Well we are not going to get him in that ring right away. I have a lawyer from California who’s supposed to work on his visa. This lawyer did this visa for 5 months which is supposed to be five years which cost me $6,000. I can’t believe it. I said why do that? I was told well the contract, I was like why didn’t you tell me?  I would have fixed it, making sure that Gongora had the right thing. Don’t go ahead doing it with me having to spend $6,000. I now have to get another visa. I have another visa appointment next week. This visa will be ready for January. Hopefully we can get Carlos Gongora back in the ring as soon as possible. For the contract we have another fight.

 

IM: In other words we will be seeing Gongora early next year?

 

MC: That’s what we’ve been told. That’s what we’ve been promised. I trust in Matchroom. They are a great company. They are a bunch of great guys. I believe that Matchroom will do it. I believe that they will put Gongora back in the ring right away. We will fight anyone at 160 and even 168. At 160, he doesn’t’ want to lose that weight but we know that he can do it. Carlos makes weight not even trying. 160 is his original weight. 

 

IM: Who do you want to see Gongora fight next? 

 

MC: A good fight would be against [WBO middleweight champion] Boo Boo Andrade, who is moving up in divisions. Gongora has sparred Andrade. The first couple of times Carlos didn’t do so well but after that he did pretty well. Nobody wants to fight Andrade, but we have no problem fighting him. Obviously Canelo would be a great fight. Whatever world title we can fight for. If we have to go to Europe you bet that we will be there 10 days prior to the fight. The visa is all set, everything will be set. 

 

IM: Do you think that perhaps the decision for Richards was hometown cooking?

 

MC: I don’t want to believe that, I really don’t. There’s no rematch clause which makes me wonder. What’s going on with these judges? The IBO didn’t have any judge from Ecuador but they could have gotten a judge from Ecuador. We should have had a judge from The United States. There should have not been judges from the UK and Belgium. Alright the UK judge is fine but not Belgium and Italy. I think the judges should be agreed upon way before the fight. I thought that was the deal we had. I wanted to see that list of judges ahead of time. I did see that list however I didn’t know that the trainer, Hector had an issue with that judge from Belgium in the past with a bad decision. 

 

IM: What has Gongora said about this whole thing?

 

MC: He’s not happy, not happy at all. Gongora knows the Ecuadorian president loves him so much. When he won the IBO title, he was a star for Ecuador. He was getting endorsement all over the places. Ecuador had parades for him. He was the king in Ecuador, he was unbelievable. It’s been a long time since a fighter has won a world title for Ecuador. I feel bad for him. His accomplishments, they love him there. 

 

IM: Well I sure hope to see Gongora back in the ring soon. 

 

MC: Yeah. Gongora has lots of power that’s 16 knockouts in 21 fights. That’s 80% ratio. [Gongora’s record is 20-1] That’s pretty good. Richards has only a 20% ratio. Carlos was never ever hurt in that fight. Carlos was not even hit with something to throw him off balance nothing at all. There was nothing there to show us that Richards can beat Gongora. Richards wins fights with his jabs and movements. Good for him. Richards has found a way to beat the system without going toe to toe. If Richards goes toe to toe with guys in his division, he will have a problem. 

 

IM: Gongora is not just about power, he has skills.

 

MC: 100% he has skills. I am not taking anything away from Richards, he won that fight. Richards did what he had to do. Richards ran a lot by sticking and moving but boxing fans don’t like that style its boring. We don’t want to see that shit. I hate those types of fights. It’s ridiculous. If Richards is not afraid he shouldn’t have a problem for a rematch. 

 

IM: Push for that rematch maybe eventually Richards will give in.

 

MC: I will but I don’t think he will because he knows that he got a gift. He’s not going to win a rematch I can tell you that. I knew as soon as I heard the score cards that we lost the fight especially when I noticed [ring announcer] Dave Diamante not looking at me. Dave usually gives me a wink indicating good job. As soon as I saw that, I knew that we had lost. Listen man Matchroom is a great promotional company probably the best around. I think that they will do the right thing. They like Gongora, they want to see him become champion I believe that they will move him in the right direction. 

 

IM: Talk to Eddie Hearn.

 

MC: I am going to, trust me. I have already spoke with several guys. I will continue to make phone calls. We will put it out there through you guys demanding that rematch. Again if Richards is that confident then why not a rematch. What’s the problem? 

 

IM: Yup unless Richards has something to fear?

 

MC: Richards has something to fear. He knows that Gongora was not ready for this fight. Richards knows that Carlos had no sleep and that he was running around all week for that visa. A week of the fight having to cut weight and then drives hours a day it’s not good. If that fight took place in the United States totally different story. 

 

IM: Speaking of a rematch say why not have it in the United States?

 

MC: Richards won’t leave The UK no way. Home judges he won’t leave The UK. I can tell you one thing if we get a rematch, we will go to The UK. This time around we will not leave it in the judges’ hands. We won’t have to worry about the judges giving us the fight. Gongora will take Richards out that’s 100%

 

IM: That’s the best way to think. The late and great Emanuel Steward used to always say it don’t leave it to them judges, go for the knockout.

 

MC: 100% The UK is The UK, everyone knows that you have to knock everyone out. 

 

IM: Well Mike take good care of yourself, I want to see you 100% healthy keep us posted with Gongora’s next fight.

 

MC: Thank you Ivan I will keep you posted.