BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
But Espinoza is a man of faith, as his fighting moniker “Divino” – Spanish for “Divine” – suggests. He was ready to seize opportunity once he was finally able to secure a work visa and return to the U.S. Shortly after Espinoza reunited with his American coach, Manny Robles, in 2023, highly regarded WBO featherweight titleholder Robeisy Ramirez selected him for a voluntary defense in Florida. Ramirez, a Cuban amateur legend and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was a 15-to-1 favorite. However, the unknown Mexican challenger defied the odds, getting up from a hard fifth- round knockdown, battling through a fierce Ramirez rally and the pain of a right knee injury, and dropping the titleholder in the final round. Espinoza threw almost 1,000 punches over 12 rounds to win a close majority decision and The Ring’s 2023 Upset of the Year. The 32-year-old has since made four defenses of the WBO title, including a rematch with Ramirez (TKO 6) and an 11th-round stoppage of Arnold Khegai last November. Espinoza (28-0, 24 KOs) is currently No. 1 in The Ring’s featherweight rankings, and while his first bout of 2026 has yet to be scheduled, high- profile events and unification bouts are rumored to be on the horizon. (Note: The following interview was conducted in Spanish.) The Ring: You’re one of the gentlemen of Mexican boxing, always cool and well- mannered. Were you this calm as a boy? Rafael Espinoza: It’s funny, I had that conversation recently because I have my little girl. She’s 4, almost 5, and she’s very restless. She’s always jumping on the couch, and all she wants to do is play. I asked my dad, “Was I like that?” And he told me, “Yes, you were exactly the same.” I always wanted to be playing, always wanted to have a soccer ball with me, always jumping around, playing “luchitas” (Mexican wrestling). So yes, I was a very, very restless kid, hyperactive, but very healthy, and I think I managed to make
Ring: How did boxing come into your life? RE: My dad was a boxing fan. He always liked it. But my grandfather also wanted to be a boxer, and he tried – I think he fought once or twice as a pro – in secret from his father, because they wouldn’t let him. So when I started boxing at 15, people started telling me, “Hey, your grandfather used to fight – didn’t you know that?” By then my grandfather had started to get Alzheimer’s and he began to forget things, but I do remember talking to him and asking him. One time he told me, “I fought in Morelia against the national champion, and honestly, I beat him, but they called it a draw. They didn’t pay me money – they only gave me lodging and meals.” When I heard my grandfather, I said to myself, “Well, maybe I carry it in the blood,” because as soon as I got to the gym, they told me, “Hey, you’ve got talent, you’re very tall.” That’s when the itch got into me, and people kept telling me my grandfather boxed. My father was born with that same passion for boxing too, but he had to work from the age of 12. As a boy, he was already out there working on the fields, so the opportunity never came. When my father saw that opportunity in me, he backed me 100 percent. He took me to a boxing gym when I was 9, and I told him, “You know what? I don’t like this. I don’t like this.” It wasn’t until I was 15 that I got into boxing seriously. Ring: Do you remember the name of your boxing gym? RE: Yes. It was called Box Azteca. Box Azteca – I think the gym is still open. That’s where Jorge Torres started training me; Jorge was the brother of [former Ring/WBC flyweight champ] Efren Torres. Efren “Alacran” Torres is from the same town my parents are from, La Palma, Michoacan. That’s where the dream of wanting to become champion began.
the most of all that energy I had in me.
water. I remember that experience so much. I feel like I really enjoyed the old games: marbles, spinning tops, hopscotch. And now that cell phones are here, it’s another era. Ring: Were there financial hardships when you were growing up? RE: When I was a kid, there wasn’t as much to think about as there is now, when people are focused on having the newest phone. But no, I remember my dad always trying to give us the best, and whatever we wanted, he tried to give us or find a way to get it. But now
that I’m older and I hear my parents talk, I realize my father went through a lot too. Sometimes he owed money and was trying to do everything he could. I later found out he struggled with depression because of the money situation, but I always remember him working, and that also taught us to value what we had. It taught me a lot about gratitude. Honestly, my childhood was beautiful, and I think that came from my parents’ hard work.
fighters had to? RE: That’s true. I had the great blessing of being supported by my father. He told me, “If you want to devote yourself to boxing, then devote yourself to it – but do it 100 percent.” I didn’t have to work; my father gave me that option. My father was a very demanding man, very tough, and I thank him for that because he demanded my best, my full 100 percent. I valued that a lot because I didn’t have to make the effort of working and training at the same time. I didn’t have to do both.
Ring: What sports did you play as a kid? RE: It was always soccer. Soccer was what came easiest. We’d even play in the street with a can. I remember it a lot because my parents are from Michoacan. I was born here in Guadalajara, but every weekend and every time we had a school break, we went to the town La Palma [in Michoacan]. In the town, we used to play marbles in the dirt. The town is near Lake Chapala, so we’d ride our bikes out and go splash around in the
Ring: Is it true that you didn’t have to work as a child, as so many Mexican
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