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New Port Richey's Rivera Looking For A Title Shot

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By EDDIE DANIELS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 2, 2008

TAMPA - TAMPA - As the up-tempo music thumped inside the A La Carte Pavilion's main ballroom, New Port Richey resident Carlos "El Rayo" Rivera was in a hushed dressing room.

The makeshift changing room, with the words "Blue Corner" printed on a white 8-by-10 sheet of paper and affixed to the door, served as a staging area.

Opponents of those in the Blue Corner room entered using a separate door labeled: "Red Corner."

Ironically, the only thing separating each opponent prior to their fights were large, black curtains, which split the oversized room in half.

Everyone on the undercard of the Starfight Productions event titled "Fight Night at the Pavilion," had fought. Some milled around, cleaning up from their bouts, while others had already showered and joined the sold out crowd.

As a member of the Florida Boxing Commission inspected the tape on Rivera's hands, the 30-year-old boxer never broke concentration.

He took that focus into the ring last Friday and returned, nearly 45 minutes later, down the same corridor, an eight-round unanimous decision winner against Carlos "Bam Bam" Diaz. The victory upped Rivera's record to 13-3-2 with four knockouts.

Rivera's stern exterior prior to the fight provided the perfect shield for what was happening internally.

"Of course, it's my 18th professional fight and I was nervous," Rivera said, standing in the corridor shortly after greeting family and friends who watched him win his fourth consecutive bout. "Who's not nervous coming into something like this? If you aren't nervous, there's something wrong. Nerves keep me on point. It keeps me strong."

The reason for the nerves was multifaceted.

Entering the match, sure, Diaz had lost eight of his previous nine fights. Losing to a guy like that, at least on the surface, wouldn't look so good. But digging deeper revealed an opponent in Diaz who is considered a cagey veteran with power and a solid chin.

And all of those defeats on his ledger had much to do with the top-quality opponents Diaz has faced. Therefore, being on point was a must.

In the second round, Rivera took a handful of shots against the ropes, but turned the tide when he dropped Rivera from a left hook to the body, followed by a solid right to the head.

As the round progressed, Diaz (9-13-4, 7 KOs) found himself in further trouble against the ropes. The barrage of left-right combinations from Rivera kept Diaz pinned, and at one point, it appeared Diaz was sitting on the bottom rope.

"It should have been called a knock down. He was down," said Rivera's trainer, Jim McLoughlin of St. Petersburg's 4th Street Boxing. "He was on the bottom rope and they even said in the meeting, that's a knockdown. He was hurt bad. The body shot just crumbled him."

Diaz gutted out six more rounds, taking solid shot after shot and battling a cut.

Rivera had Diaz hurt at least three times in the fight, including a solid left to the head that wobbled Diaz at the end of the second round.

"In the last three fights, Carlos has jumped in ability," McLoughlin said. "In preparing for this fight, I knew we were going to win this fight. I thought we would knock him out."

Entering the contest, there was talk of bad blood between the two. Diaz accused Rivera of talking trash and trying to make a name for himself by fighting him. Diaz also said he didn't believe Rivera had the heart to fight through a tough bout, predicting he would knock him out.

As for Rivera, he downplayed the trash talk, saying he heard things from Diaz's camp, but not directly from Diaz.

Regardless, it was enough talk to throw a boxer off his game. So did it?

"You think this guy's going to let any of that affect me?" he said, pointing at McLoughlin with his right hand, still taped, but ungloved. "With him, I don't have to worry about anything or any one. Just prepare myself for who's in front of me, that's it. I don't let the crowd or anybody get to me. Only McLoughlin gets to me."

Now that he has proven himself against a veteran fighter, Rivera hopes this will lead to talks of upper echelon fights and a shot at a title.

"I'm excited for the fact that it's a win," Rivera said. "I'll take the win any way. This now prepares me for the 8-, 10-, 12-round fights. Now I have to start picking it up. Diaz is somebody who was a good fight for me because of the fact who he's fought. He's fought guys like Tony Davis, a world champion. I proved that I belonged in there. I belong in there with the 126-pound class."

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 948-4214 or edaniels@tampatrib.com.

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