Thursday, October 10, 2024  |

News

Aficianado

Sammy Vasquez looks to extend KO streak tonight

Fighters Network
14
Nov

Many sluggers have graced the Pittsburgh Pirates uniform throughout the years.

Willie Stargell, a young Barry Bonds, and currently Andrew McCutcheon have demonstrated power while wearing the gold and black.

Sammy Vasquez doesn’t slug it out on field for the Pirates at PNC Park but he does have eye-catching power. Vasquez’s power is displayed in the ring and he is looking to showcase it once again tonight.

Vasquez will fight Alberto Mosquera in a 10-round bout tonight at the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. The bout will headline the “Pride of Pittsburgh II” card promoted by Iron Mike Productions and televised on BeIN Sports and on IronMikeProductions.com.



Vasquez (16-0, 12 knockouts) has had a successful 2014 campaign, one that saw him advance from obscurity to knocking on the door of a crowded welterweight division. Tonight will be his sixth bout in 2014. He fought five times in 2013.

Residing in nearby Monessen, Vasquez has developed quite a following for his aggressive style that has seen him stop his last seven opponents.

“You know I’ve been training hard and I’m ready to fight,” Vasquez told a pool of reporters during a recent conference call. “I have a feeling it’s going to be an early night for my man, Mosquera, but we’ll see what happens.

“I’m excited to come back to Pittsburgh and get that dormant side out for the boxing and let people know, get (fight fans) more excited, and that way we can sell out the CONSOL.”

Mosquera (21-1-2, 14 KOs) will be a significant test for Vazquez. The Panamanian fighter was knocked out in his last fight on June 4 at the hands of Charlie Navarro in Panama City, but he does have wins over prospect Erick Bone and former world title challenger Miguel Callist.

Mosquera also has fought to draws against Brunet Zamora and Johan Perez.

Despite Mosquera credentials, Vasquez believes he will come out victorious tonight.

Vasquez, who served two tours of duty in Iraq, is also known in the boxing world by his unique nickname. He goes by “The Who Can Mexican,” as he traces his roots to his grandfather being from Mexico.

Mike Tyson, who promotes Vasquez, dubbed him “Sensational” at a recent press conference. While “The Who Can Mexican” is more the unique nickname of the two and because of the knockout wins he has had in recent months, Vasquez is open to putting them together.

“I started out ‘The Who Can Mexican.’ My Dad thought of that, and the fans kind of just grabbed onto that and just rolled with it. Now that Mike’s been calling me sensational, maybe I can be ‘The Sensational Who Can Mexican.'”

 

 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for RingTV since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Salazar also covers boxing for the Ventura County (CA) Star newspaper, Boxingscene.com, and Knockout Nation. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing