Hunger Vs Experience for Guevara and Cuadras

Pedro Guevara and Carlos Cuadras think the world of the WBC….so much so that they’ve globe trotted right around it, to contest its Interim title.

Both were on the marathon flights to the WBC Convention in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. In a grandstand finale to the Convention they will contest this title. It’s a way to get back to the top. Pedro is a former WBC light flyweight champion, while Carlos is a former WBC super flyweight champion.

Pedro is offered a chunky sandwich and a bottled water by the stewardess, on the first leg of the flight from Mexico City. He tactfully and carefully puts them away in his rucksack. He’s just three pounds over the super fly weight requirement stipulation and will shed the excess ounces with running and mitt work, after resting and acclimatizing to Tashkent. All the sparring is already complete.

As we take off, he says: “Carlos is more experienced than me. But I’m hungrier, and that will be the winning factor. The victor of our fight might be able to fight absolute champion Juan Francisco Estrada if he stays at this weight. He’s a very smart and intelligent fighter.”

Both Pedro and Carlos who are originally from Sinaloa, have been training for three months plus this for this one. Pedro prepared in Mazatlan and before the flight he worked out in the Pancho Rosales Gym in Mexico City. Carlos has worked in the spartan Otomi area. He found a way to train and run in Istanbul, on the way here.

Tongue in cheek, Carlos who an ever youthful thirty-five Carlos 40-5, 27 KO’s loves to tease opponents with the quip that he has a dose of harsh medicine for them. Pedro smiles assuring he has his own palliative solution plus remedy.

Perdro hits hard himself. Both hands just below the wrist are bumpy. The legacy of healed fractures. His face is unmarked. He can box as well as fight.

His record is 49-3, 22 KO’s. One year younger, aged 34, and he is already looking
to the future. He owns a gym and wants to coach. As a trained lawyer, he is determined to pursue a flight path as a legal eagle.

He and Carlos have a long history going all the way back to their amateur days when Carlos won gold at the Pan American Games. Pedro smiles saying back then Carlos was the bobby dazzler, while he himself was a late developer.

Throughout their careers both men have on occasion trained together and sparred. They know each other’s style well. They are friends but both stress this is only possible before and after but not during this make or break fight. Both have come far in their respective careers and travelled so far on this trip…too far to lose. But that fate will befall one of them.

When two Mexicans fight, a boxing war is on the cards and in the runes. As the saying goes: “I’m Mexican. We always fight to the end.” Uzbekistan which has a long and rich boxing history of its own will savor the spice route leading to, an enthralling epic outflowing of Latino pride. It’s going to be one helluva fight!

On the flight, Pedro covers his face with a blue towel and pulls down the hood of his hoodie as the engines of the Turkish Airlines Airbus roar in a clear blue sky. He dozes fitfullly in his own world, seeking to be again on top of it…as does Carlos.

This fight will be a glorious Green and Gold awakening.