Photo by Ismael Gallardo/RBRBoxing
Earlier in October at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, California, journeyman Alejandro Ochoa (7-10-2, 1 KO) was matched up against a tough Featherweight prospect from Maryland named Kevin Rivers Jr.
The 25-year-old Rivers had been undefeated in 12 professional fights and had scored nine knockouts in his fledgling career.
As is usually the case with young prospects, Rivers was matched with a journeyman–a fighter who is tough enough to give prospects good matchups, but not as skilled or powerful to defeat them.
Ochoa, a local journeyman, had other plans for Rivers, scoring two knockdowns en route to an upset majority decision win.
Needless to say, Ochoa is one tough fighter.
On December 4, 2015, Christian “Chimpa” Gonzalez (11-0, 10 KOs) will take on Ochoa in the main event of Golden Boy Promotions‘ “LA Fight Club” at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles, California.
The scheduled eight-rounder–which will be Gonzalez’s first–will be televised as part of a three-fight Spanish telecast on Estrella TV, while RingTVLive.com will stream the entire card in English.
Gonzalez, 20, is a young prospect who was signed by Golden Boy Promotions along with a slew of other young fighters towards the end of 2014, and looks forward to the challenge.
“I’m very happy and extremely motivated,” said Gonzalez. “I know that’s going to be a little bit more pressure on me, but hey—I’m extremely motivated and ready to go.”
Gonzalez fought his first seven professional fights in Mexico, where the competition was less-than-stellar. After fighting once in the States, Gonzalez was signed and he has noticed the competition is a bit stiffer.
“The level of competition is a lot higher. That puts us in the gym and gets us training a little more. It gives us that extra push,” said Gonzalez.
Make no mistake, Gonzalez isn’t preparing for war in a world title fight, but he is preparing for war against a tough fighter who will test him and be important in his development.
“He brings excitement to the table and I bring excitement, so it should be a hell of a fight,” said Gonzalez.
“He’s a guy that comes forward and likes to throw punches. He’s a guy that doesn’t give up. He’s a guy who doesn’t come just for a paycheck.”
In other words, Ochoa is coming to fight and the confidence he earned in his last upset win will have believing that he can do it again, especially since the two have sparred before.
“I think I sparred with him one time and it was a hard sparring. That’s why I say it’s going to be a very interesting fight,” said Gonalez.
Despite the tough fight ahead of him or perhaps because of it, Gonzalez is happy and welcomes the challenge.
“I’m happy. We’re in the sport of boxing. It’s not easy. I think the challengers are what take you to the next level.”
Indeed, these are the kinds of fights that take young prospects to another level. Rivers wasn’t successful, but in his first eight-rounder and first headlining fight, Gonzalez will look to have a better outcome.
“We’ll be ready December 4.”
