Richard Medina: Making Dreams Reality
The official fight week for the Canelo Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga super middleweight clash is underway in Las Vegas, Nevada. Fighters for the mega card are either on their way or have already arrived in Sin City, still the world’s fight capital for now, to take part in the mandatory media blitz on the stretch drive of selling tickets and pay-per-view buys for this Saturday’s event taking place at the T-Mobile Arena, located just to the west of the Strip. For Richard Medina, slated to open the preliminary broadcast against Canelo camp fighter and unbeaten prospect Jonathan Lopez, his first professional trip to Las Vegas represents a calculated gamble with the potential for a large windfall in the near future.
Medina (15-2, 8 KOs) of San Antonio, Texas has had the benefit of fighting more than half of his professional fights in his hometown or the neighboring Floresville, Texas after concluding a well-decorated amateur career. While home cooking is always nice, most professional fighters have ideas of fighting under the bright lights in Las Vegas, for many years the host city of the biggest fights that could be made. Medina, known as “El Castigo,” is no different.
“I’m excited,” explained Medina. “I’m really excited. This is like a boxing bucket list to fight in Las Vegas. It was one of my dreams to fight in Las Vegas, so now that it is happening I am really excited and more motivated for sure. I’ve been ready for something to come up like this. I’ve been staying busy in the gym, so I am ready. Canelo is a good fighter. I watch him, and everyone watches him when he fights, so to fight under him, it is a good experience for sure.”
If there is one aspect that may alter Medina’s perspective on fighting on Canelo Alvarez’s undercard on Saturday, it could be that while Lopez is fighting far from his Orlando, Florida home, he is still the house fighter in the fight. Lopez is trained by Eddy Reynoso, the man that will be in Alvarez’s corner roughly five hours after their television opener. However, Medina is focused on the fighter in front of him and is prepared for what Lopez brings to the table.
“He’s a good fighter,” Medina says of Lopez. “He has a lot of experience. He fought a couple guys in the amateurs that I know from around here. We’ve been watching a lot of film on him. He’s a counter-puncher. So we’ve been working on stuff to counter that.”
Promoter Rick Morones Jr. of TMB Promotions has been with Medina since his professional debut in 2018. Morones, who promotes in the San Antonio area and has had a hand in developing many of the top fighters that have emerged from the region in recent years on his shows, understands the tough assignment Lopez presents, but is confident Medina brings challenges the undefeated fighter has not seen before.
“Lopez is one hell of a fighter,” admits Morones. “He is very talented, he can punch. But I think this is Lopez’ toughest fight. Rick is very skillful, has good footwork, good speed. He had over 130 amateur fights, so he has experience as well. It was something, when this fight happened, we knew what type of fight it was going to be. At the same time, Lopez has not fought anybody like Rick. I think if Rick is on his A-game, he is going to give [Lopez] a lot of problems.”
The glossy knockout record of Lopez, twelve kayos in 16 fights, catches the eye, but Medina believes that is one edge he has over his 21-year-old opponent. Medina has fought into the seventh round on seven occasions as a professional. On one of those instances, Medina went the full ten-round distance against eventual world champion Raymond Ford, far and away the highest profile fighter on either Medina or Lopez’s ledger.
“I feel like I am more of an eight-round fighter [than he is,] and I do more damage in the late rounds,” explains Medina, who has fought well late into his last two fights, both of which went eight full rounds. “I think that will definitely benefit me in this upcoming fight.”
The last time Medina went up against a house fighter in an eight-rounder was his last fight, a unanimous decision defeat to once-beaten George Acosta in Long Beach, California last December. The result of the bout is something of a sore subject to the Medina team. The San Antonio fighter traveled and performed well, to the point many ringside thought the fight was his before the scores were read by Lupe Contreras. Instead, the scores were wide the other way, with one judge managing to find only one round for Medina, making the defeat too hard to swallow.
“This last fight with Acosta, everybody that was there in attendance thought Rick won that fight,” explains Morones. “I rarely complain, but when they announced the decision, and one of the judges had it 7-1, it was like they thought Rick was never in the fight. It was crazy. If you watch the fight, Rick is touching him up the whole fight and Acosta is just coming forward with his head, holding. I gave that kid two rounds. There’s the photo of them two afterwards and Rick isn’t beat up at all. It was a tough one to swallow, but he got over it. Here we are again, given an opportunity, and he’s here to make the most of it.”
The moment that presents itself on Saturday is not lost on the 23-year-old Medina. “This is another great opportunity to put my name out there and to keep on moving up in my career,” says Medina. “Last fight, it was tough, fighting in another guy’s backyard. You need to knock him out or win by an overwhelming majority, and I guess I did not do that. So for this opportunity to come up, it is more motivating and I am grateful for it for sure.”
The fight with Lopez on Saturday is not only an opportunity for the young Medina, but also for Rick Medina Sr., the father-trainer of the San Antonio native. The elder Medina has only one client, his son, and they are traveling to Las Vegas to make the most of their crack at the big time together.
“This is both of our dreams right here,” says Richard Medina, groomed to be a fighter since birth by his father. “He and I are both beyond grateful and happy for this. I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. He has always been by my side, through thick-and-thin. Bumping heads, but he has always stuck by me through the bad and the good. He always told me, and told my mom, even before I was born, that I was going to be a fighter. It was spoken into existence. So this is for both of us, when I win, it will be for both of us for sure.”
While he will not have the large supportive crowd on hand that he became accustomed to fighting in San Antonio when steps in between the ropes in Las Vegas on Saturday, Medina is ready to kick the pay-per-view watch parties off back home with some excitement.
“I am feeling amazing,” says Medina. “I am feeling confident. I have been working all year for an opportunity like this. I know it is going to be a good fight, maybe even a knockout I feel like. I would love that. I am looking forward to September 14th. It’s just around the corner. We’re ready.”
Tickets for the event, promoted by Canelo Promotions and TGB Promotions, in association with Premier Boxing Champions, are available online at AXS.com
The preliminary undercard broadcast, opened by the Medina-Lopez bout, will stream live on Prime Video.
Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com