It is fight week and since arriving on Monday evening, middleweight contender Miguel Espino and his team have enjoyed their time and experience in Youngstown, Ohio, ecstatic at the opportunity of a life-time. Espino is living a life-long dream and now understands what it is like to be fighting for the middleweight championship of the world. Most fighters that fight for their first world title are overwhelmed by the fame that comes with it, however, Espino is different and stays humble.
While preparing himself mentally with trainer John Bray for the fight of his life, Espino is taking this experience all in stride and thinking about what could become of his career, if he is to defeat Pavlik and become the new WBC/WBO world middleweight champion. He knows that he is the underdog and is content with that label until fight night.
Miguel had a great training camp at Fortune's Gym in Hollywood, California and hopes to perfect his game plan when he challenges Pavlik this Saturday. When speaking to trainer John Bray about the fight plan, Bray indicated that, "I expect Miguel to just back Kelly up once the bell rings. Pavlik doesn't respond to pressure well and we're just looking to get him on the ropes and go at him. Once that bell rings, Miguel will have that Aztec Warrior mentality and be ready for war."
As Espino is getting acclimated to the cold winters of the east, his body is responding well. Espino had a good public workout yesterday for the media and will attend a final press conference today at the Beeghly Center with Pavlik. After the public workout yesterday, Espino was appreciative of the support he has received from Latinos in the Youngstown area. Calls have flooded his trainer and publicist from Youngstown fans wondering how they could support Miguel in any way.
While speaking at the initial press conference leading up to the fight, Espino noted that, "I know there will not be many Mexicans rooting for me and much of Pavlik's fans will be (Beeghly Center) there"; however, that is far from the truth as many Mexicans from Youngstown have expressed much support for Miguel and want him to beat Pavlik.
When Miguel was asked about the support he's received from the Youngstown area Miguel stated, "Man, I didn't even think that there would be Latinos or Mexicans for that matter out here rooting for me. It is very humbling and I'm appreciative of the fact that they're rooting for me to beat the hometown fighter. I'm going to do the best I can come fight night and hope to share that night with my new fans in Youngstown and my fans back home in Cali."
Espino is truly appreciative of the support he has continued to receive and looks to give his fans a great night of boxing as he expects to conquer the Youngstown fighter and take back those titles to the West Coast.
