BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
Ring: Tell me about your debut in 2013 and how much you got paid. RE: More than the money, at that moment it was the desire to fight. I was an 18-year-old kid, and I said, “Wow, I’m going to make 3,000 pesos (around $170).” I think I made 3,000 pesos, but back then they paid me in tickets, and I gave them all to my family. So by the end of it, I didn’t make anything. To me, 3,000 pesos felt like a lot, but the excitement of being in the ring, of seeing what it felt like, was beautiful. I practically made nothing compared with what you invest when you’re training for a fight – what you have to eat, your trainers, all of that. I was supposed to be the first
Ring: Would you say prayer is stronger than your uppercut, your hook and your right hand? RE: Without a doubt, and not for hurting people. I’ve said it many times. People ask me, “How can you fight and hit your opponents?” It’s not about that. I always pray, “May your will be done, Lord. May my opponent and I both come out OK, and may what’s best happen for us both.” We’re both trying to make a future for ourselves. It’s a sport, and prayer is stronger than anything. Ring: What’s the highest point of your career so far? RE: The first Ramirez fight. I went in with faith, prepared, with everything you can imagine, but after that fight everything changed – my mentality, my faith even more – because I realized God was with me there. When you’re a human being who tries to give the best of himself, who doesn’t harm anyone and doesn’t wish anyone ill, God helps you, because you feel that energy when you’re up there in the ring. Then in the title defense, in the next fight, which was Chirino [Sergio Sanchez], I went in with a lot of confidence, with an even stronger mentality, telling myself I’m improving, and that’s what I’ve tried to do. After Chirino came the rematch with Robeisy, and I know I won it fair and square, with no tricks and none of that, because you saw how people talked about that fight. Then one punch comes and the fight ends, and it’s like, “Thank God.” I know I could also have won in any kind of way, but I knew I was doing things right and that my career was growing. Ring: What do you remember most about that first world championship? RE: What I remember most is getting back to the hotel room and lying down. My wife and my little girl were there, already asleep, and I can’t tell you how long I stayed there crying in bed, thanking God. That’s the memory that comes back to me the most. I cried for a long time just thanking God, and I felt
like he was telling me, “You’re doing the right thing.” That moment is what I remember most. Ring: At 126 pounds, it’s you and your fellow world titleholders – Angelo Leo (IBF), Brandon Figueroa (WBA) and Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington (WBC) – at the top. What does it feel like to be one of the dominant champions at featherweight? RE: Honestly, it’s a feeling of gratitude. It makes me feel like everything is being done right and that I must keep working, stay motivated and want more, want to keep proving things. Right now, my plan is to unify at 126. I feel dominant at this weight. Big fights can be made now, and if the opportunities don’t come, then I will move up to the next division. I know I’ve got the frame to move up two or three more divisions. But right now, I want to stay focused on 126, where I am today, and see what can happen there before moving on to other divisions later. Ring: Recently, Emanuel Navarrete cracked The Ring’s pound-for-pound rankings. Is that one of your goals? RE: Of course. That’s one of my dreams. Obviously the first dream was to become world champion, but another dream is to be among the pound-for- pound fighters. And having “Vaquero” there is a source of pride for Mexico too. He deserves that recognition. I’ve got a lot of affection for Vaquero. That gives us motivation to say, “Yes, it can be done,” and to keep working so we can get there too, to be in those spots. And I know I’m going to make it. Ring: Canelo Alvarez announced his return in September and there are plans for him to headline a “Mexico vs. the World” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Would you like to be part of Team Mexico? RE: Of course! Just imagine it. Right now, everything is moving over there in the Middle East, and representing Mexico in September, representing
Mexico as one of the best Mexican boxers of the moment, would be a source of pride and a motivation that can’t even be put into words. It would be remembered by the next generations. I imagine they’d say, “Look what my grandfather, my great-grandfather, my dad did, fighting in Saudi Arabia.” The truth is, representing Mexico as one of the best Mexican fighters of your era is something huge, and of course I’d be very happy to be there. Ring: How do you describe Mexican boxing? RE: Without a doubt, I think Mexican boxing can be described as a power in the sport. Mexico is boxing, and I think this Mexico vs. the rest of the world thing they’re trying to do will also make it clear that Mexico is a force. To me, it’s one of the best boxing traditions in the world. What Mexico does in Saudi Arabia will bring more support, more fans, and it will also make kids turn and look at boxing as a career – not just as something where a person has to fight to make money, but as a discipline, a profession where they can say “I want to be a boxer” the same way someone says “I want to be a teacher. I want to be a doctor.” I think it’s a profession, and in Mexico we carry it in the blood. We’re a powerhouse. Ring: Please name three of your favorite old-school idols of Mexican boxing and your choice of the top three current Mexican fighters. RE: There’s no denying Julio Cesar Chavez. For me, he’s No. 1, then Salvador Sanchez and Ricardo Lopez. Those are the fighters who left the biggest mark on me. Among the current ones, Canelo, then Navarrete, and I’ll put myself at No. 3. Ring: After you retire, where would you want to be on that top 10 list of Mexican fighters? RE: I’d like to be in the top three. I’m going to do everything possible for that to happen and keep moving forward.
At 6-foot-1, Espinoza is a nightmare for any 126-pounder.
fight [on the card], but I ended up being the last, so I made my debut with my hands all numb from waiting around. I fought around 11 or 12 at night. But those are beautiful memories, and they’ve been worth it. Ring: I remember calling one of your fights for UniMas in 2015. You fought in Hollywood, California. Saul Rodriguez, Alex Saucedo and Arnold Barboza Jr. were on that card. You gave a great performance; you won. But then you disappeared. RE: The people who were managing my career made a mistake. We got too comfortable fighting on a tourist visa. It was a mistake, an oversight, and I didn’t know I needed the right visa – I think it’s the P-1, the work visa. So I had two fights in the United States, and during that stretch I would go back to Mexico and then come back into the U.S., go back to Mexico and come back in on my tourist visa. Then something happened when I was about to enter the United States again to sort out my work visa. Right at that moment, immigration stopped me at the Tijuana crossing and started
questioning me. They were telling me I’d been coming to the United States too often, asking what was going on, whether I was working there. I had to tell the truth. I said I was coming to get my work visa. They told me that yes, I needed that visa, so they were going to cancel my tourist visa and I’d be able to apply later, but for the moment I couldn’t enter the United States. So, imagine that. Like you said, I was excited because I had gotten to the United States and it looked like things were going well, and then they stop me cold. I go back to Mexico and try to get my visa again, and it was denied many times because I couldn’t prove that I was only going there to fight, that I wasn’t going to stay and live in the United States. Eight years went by when I couldn’t get a visa, and I said, “Well, I’m going to keep my career going in Mexico and keep grinding.” I kept working hard. Then the world title fight came along, and that’s when it was time to try for the visa again. I hadn’t tried in six or seven years.
me my visa, but they gave it to me on a Tuesday, and I was fighting on Friday. Basically, after first telling me yes on the visa, they pulled me out of the consulate and said, “Look, we can’t give it to you. Documents are missing and we can’t issue it.” I told them, “My fight is Friday – it’s for the world title. It’s my dream.” They answered, “Your visa is denied. We can’t give it to you.” So they [kicked] me out of the consulate, I get into a cab, and then I start hearing my name – they said, “Rafael Espinoza,” and I said, “That’s my name.” I get out of the cab and run back, and they tell me they’re asking for me inside, that I must come back in. I go back into the consulate, and I was disappointed, sad. Then I get there, and they tell me, “Your visa has been approved. Put down your fingerprints.” I didn’t even want to ask how or why or anything. I just said, “Thanks be to God.” Then they gave me the visa and I flew to Miami, and the rest is history.
Ring: What happened? RE: That’s another long story. They gave
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