Friday, Aug. 08, 2008

Modesto-born Barajas looks to stay perfect in the ring

SACRAMENTO -- Jorge Barajas on Thursday came within about 75 miles of where it all began. And the beginning was about the end of his stay in Modesto.

Huh?

Barajas was born in Modesto 30 years ago to field workers who immediately uprooted and moved around before settling in Idaho. But while Barajas is about as Modesto as Olympic swimming legend Mark Spitz, Modesto indeed is listed as the hometown of the man who sat at the front table at the DoubleTree Hotel in Sacramento with other professional boxers who will be on Tony "The Tiger" Lopez's first program as a promoter: "Night Out, Lights Out" tonight at Raley Field.

"I don't think I've ever been back there," said Barajas, who didn't know the hospital in town where he was born. "Is there more than one?"

But the man who was born in Modesto can box. He's 5-0 as a professional with two victories coming by way of knockout, and his six-round middleweight bout against Lester Gonzales (7-0, 5 KOs) of San Diego is scheduled to have second billing to the main event -- a scheduled 10-round welterweight fight between Cosme Rivera (31-11-2, 22 KOs) of Culiacan, Mexico, and Bobby Joe Valdez (9-4-2, 4 KOs) of El Paso, Texas.

Lopez, a three-time world champion, said fighting is easier than promoting.

"I got like 10 gray hairs in the last two days," he said.

But he's drawing heavy support in his hometown. Tonight's fighters sat and stared as several well-known title-holders were announced at Thursday's news conference: former featherweight and super-featherweight champ Bobby Chacon, former heavyweight champ and 1976 Olympic gold medalist Leon Spinks, former light-flyweight champ and 1988 Olympic silver medalist Michael Carbajal and former light-welterweight champ Loreto Garza of Sacramento.

Chacon turned and faced the crowd after his name was announced, struck a fighter's pose, threw some lefts and rights and said with a big smile, "I still got it."

Barajas said it was "an honor" to sit among those greats.

"It makes me feel like the sport is still alive. It's still doing very well," he said. "It's awesome to be a part of this."

Barajas said he began boxing at the age of 8. His dad loved boxing, and Barajas said he "loved to put a smile on his face." Barajas described himself as a boxer and brawler, which Oscar Hernandez, his coach of 16 years, confirmed. Barajas said if his opponent "wants to stop and throw, I'll throw with him."

That's what Lopez was looking for when he hired noted matchmaker Jimmy Montoya to assemble the card.

"These are the fights I want to have. I want this," Lopez said, putting his fists together. "I want the Mike Tysons, the Julio Cesar Chavezes. I think of Bobby Chacon, Pete Ranzany. I like those days, when fighters fought. These days, it doesn't seem the same to me."

So Montoya, currently noted for his work with "ESPN Friday Night Fights," matched Rivera and Valdez for the main event. Rivera is known as a boxer. He was stopped in the third round by Zab Judah in a bid for the WBC, WBA and IBF welterweight titles on May 14, 2005. Valdez, according to Lopez, "is a straight-up brawler."

Montoya said Lopez "fell right into my alley, because I love to make good fights." He turned to the table, looked at Barajas and the rest and said, "These guys mean business."

Said Spinks, "All we can do is hang in there and root them on, and if you don't, I'll beat you up myself."

Bee sports editor Bill Poindexter can be reached at bpoindexter@modbee.com or 238-4588.