BACK FOR ONE MORE ROUND, PROVIDENCE
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The
best decision Peter Manfredo Jr. ever made came outside of the boxing
ring and had nothing to do with strategy or technique.
Shortly after his loss to Sakio
Bika in 2008, Manfredo's second shot at a world title, "The Pride of
Providence" -- at the time, just 27 years old -- figured it was time to
start thinking about life away from the sport to avoid the pitfalls that had
plagued so many retired boxers before him.
"I said to myself, 'Forget
this. I've got to get myself a job. I can't keep taking beatings like
this,'" said Manfredo, who returns to the ring Friday, May 13th, 2016 for the first time in
two and a half years.
"Then what? Everybody
loves when you're winning. No one cares when you lose. At the end of the day,
it's you and your family and you've got to do what you've got to do to support
your family. When you're boxing, I don't care how much money you make, you live
within your means. It runs out!
"In boxing, there really
aren't many happy endings. There's no retirement, there's no health care,
there's no annuity. After you run out of your money, which you're going to,
what do you have?"
Manfredo (40-7, 21 KOs) didn't
want to find out, so he got himself a job working as a laborer for Laborers
Local 271 in Providence, where he does everything from mixing cement to
construction to breaking down job sites.
"Hard labor," he said.
"Physical labor."
These days, he works for Lee
Kennedy, Inc., a construction company in Quincy ,
Mass.
As he prepares for his latest
comeback, an intra-city showdown next Friday against "Mr.
Providence" Vladine Biosse (15-7-2, 7 KOs) in the main event of
CES Boxing's "THE BATTLE FOR THE CAPITAL" show at Twin River
Casino, the 36-year-old Manfredo is brutally honest about his intentions.
His daughter is entering high
school next year and he wants to build her a bigger room in his house, so he's
lacing up the gloves one more time for some extra pocket change. Rather than
recycle the usual rhetoric about being No. 1 in the world or wanting to win a
world title, which he probably would've fed us in his 20s, the older, wiser
Manfredo tells it like it is. He needs the money, so he's fighting again. Plain
and simple.
"I am who I am. I'm not
trying to be someone I'm not," Manfredo said. "I know I'm not the
best fighter in the world, but how many people are? You've got Floyd
Mayweather, who is probably the best fighter in the world in this generation
and you can only have one. I know I'm not that, but I'm not trying to be that.
I just want to make enough money to support my family and get by and I think
people respect me for that because they can relate to that."
Even with a two and a half year
layoff, "The Pride of Providence" remains as popular as ever, a box
office draw unlike any other in New England , and he's
maintained his relevancy without having to force-feed lies to the general
public. If his blunt honesty were a turnoff, it would've driven fans away by
now. Instead, Twin River
"It's a humbling thing,
that's for sure," he said. "People like me because, for one, I'm a
good kid, and, two, I'm a real fighter. People want to come and spend that kind
of money to see a fight, they want to see a fight. And when you see a Peter
Manfredo fight, win, lose, or draw, I give you a real fight.
"I come to win every fight
and I give you a fight. People like that. They see the heart and the reason I
do it. I do it for my family. I don't do it to be a world champion anymore. I'm
not trying to be the best in Rhode Island .
I don't care about any of that. I do it just to make a paycheck and I do it for
my family. People like that and they can relate to that. Maybe that's why I
always sell the place out."
It helps, too, that he's as sharp
as ever despite the long gaps between recent fights. After retiring in 2011
following a loss to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Manfredo returned one
year later for another run on the regional circuit, firing off consecutive
wins over Rayco Saunders,Walter Wright and Rhode
Island rival Rich Gingras.
Manfredo stepped away again in
2013 after stopping Gingras in the eighth round of their scheduled 10-round
fight, only to announce another comeback in March. Originally scheduled to face
undefeated Angel Camacho Jr., Manfredo now faces Biosse, an awkward
southpaw whose style has forced him to adjust on the fly over the final two
weeks of training camp.
"Now I have to change my
whole game plan," he said. "It only gives me one week to prepare for
it because the week of the weigh in, you're not doing much. You're making
weight and you're kind of slowing it down a bit. Yeah, it throws you off a
little bit, but it is what it is. I'm a fighter.
"My mind is still on the
prize. Obviously, there are still going to be obstacles in your way. Being the
professional I am, I've got the experience where I'll be fine at the end of the
day."
In an ironic twist, Biosse once
trained under the guidance of Manfredo's father, Peter Manfredo Sr., but
has now built his own legacy as an iconic figure in Rhode
Island 's Cape
Verdean Providence
where he was born and raised.
"I have all the respect in
the world for Vla," Manfredo said. "I like Vla. When Vla was turning
pro, I helped him to turn pro. I thought he could make it. I thought he was
pretty good. I encouraged him.
"As far as the name, 'Mr.
Providence' versus 'The Pride of Providence,' I don't even look at it like
that. It's a fight. At the end of the day, it's a fight. I'm going in there to
win and I know he's coming in there to win and for that the fans are going to
get what they want. They're going to get a good fight and get their money's
worth."
Win or lose, there's no guarantee
of additional fights or additional paydays for Manfredo beyond next Friday.
The only sure thing is his life outside of the ring, his life in the workforce,
which has allowed him to build a stable foundation for his family. He can't
fight forever, but as long as he has a career beyond fighting, he's an example
of brains overcoming brawn in a sport that often leaves its most beloved stars with
broken dreams and empty pockets. Perhaps there are happy endings in boxing
after all.
"I always wanted to work. I
was always a hard worker," Manfredo said. "As I was coming up, I was
always influenced by my father just to be a fighter because he was looking to
make a living off of me. He was just looking at his end.
"At the end of the day when
I got older and I started having my own family, I woke up and I got myself a
job and got myself in the union. It's the best move I ever made."
Limited tickets for "THE
BATTLE FOR THE CAPITAL" are priced at $46.00, $66.00, $151.00 (VIP) and
$201.00 (VIP) and can be purchased online atwww.cesboxing.com, www.twinriver.com or www.ticketmaster.com, by phone at 401-724-2253/2254 or at the Twin
River Casino Players Club.
Standing room tickets are also
available for $46.00 directly through Twin River Casino and can also be
purchased online at www.twinriver.com orwww.ticketmaster.com or at the Twin River Casino
Players Club. All fights and fighters are subject to change and tickets
are non-refundable.
The Manfredo-Biosse headliner at
"THE BATTLE FOR THE CAPITAL" is one of nine fights on a stacked card
featuring two title bouts in addition to the professional debuts of two
accomplished amateurs from Worcester , Mass.
Worcester's Khiary Gray (12-0,
9 KOs) also returns on May 13th and puts his Universal Boxing Federation
(UBF) Northeast Junior Middleweight Title on the line against Fort Meyers,
Fla., vet Quinton Willis (10-3-2, 5 KOs) in an 8-round bout while
unbeaten New Haven, Conn., welterweight Jimmy Williams (10-0-1, 5 KOs)
faces St. Petersburg, Fla., veteran Manny Woods (15-4-1, 5 KOs) in a
six-round bout.
Undefeated Springfield, Mass.,
junior welterweight Zack Ramsey (7-0, 3 KOs) steps back into the ring
for the first time since 2014 to face 20-fight vet Issouf Kinda (17-3,
7 KOs) of New York in a six-round bout and regional standouts Nick DeLomba (8-1,
2 KOs) of Cranston, R.I., and the undefeated Freddy Sanchez (7-0, 5
KOs) of Worcester face off in a 6-round bout for the vacant New England Super
Featherweight Title.
The May 13th undercard also
features a six-round rematch between Stoughton, Mass., super featherweight Travis
Demko (4-0, 1 KO) and Mohamad Allam (2-1, 1 KO) of Holyoke, Mass. The
two faced one another in September with Demko winning by unanimous decision in
a 4-round bout.
Also returning to Twin
River Framingham ,
Mass. Providence 's Cido Hoff (0-0-1)
in a 4-round bout. Worcester 's Kendrick
Ball Jr. makes his professional debut in a 4-round super middleweight bout
against Providence 's Tunde
Odumosuwhile fellow Worcester
native Jamaine Ortiz debuts in a 4-round super lightweight bout
against Skowhegan , Maine
Visit www.cesboxing.com, www.twitter.com/cesboxing orwww.facebook.com/cesboxing for more information and
use the hashtags #ManfredoBiosse and #Battle4TheCapital to join the
conversation.
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