Jose Antonio Rivera Gets A Fight
By Robert Ecksel December 4th, 2006Rivera defends against Travis Simms on Peter/Toney II undercard
Rivera (38-4-1, 24 KOs), hailing from Worcester, Mass., became the WBA 147-pound champ when he beat German boxer Michael Trabant in Berlin in 2003, but a series of bad breaks – Ricardo Mayorga couldn’t make weight when they were supposed to meet – Thomas Damgaard fell out on short notice prior to their bout on April 2, 2005 – followed but a tough split decision loss to up-and-coming Luis Collazo – left Rivera disillusioned with boxing and his state of his career.
After the bout with Collazo, Rivera tired of trying to make a weight he was no longer suited for and decided it was time to move up to 154 to challenge for the super welterweight title. On May 6 of this year Rivera won a lopsided unanimous decision against then-WBA super welterweight champion Alejandro “Terra� Garcia to claim the crown.
Travis Simms (24-0, 18 KOs), from Norwalk, Conn., also has a history with the aforementioned “Terra� Garcia: he gave him first loss to win the championship in 2003. Simms successfully defended his title against Bronco McKart in 2004, but has not fought since.
December 4th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
Go Jose!!! I hope they show this fight on TV. I would like to see Jose Rivera win and get a big money fight. He deserves it.
December 5th, 2006 at 11:48 am
Rivera is the real deal. He is one of those killer fighters with all of the ability in the world and poor management and promoting. If this fight is not fixed by the greasy king, then he should take Sims. Rivera could be a good match for Winky, Shane, or Taylor.
December 5th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
Blowyabackout rivera is paperchamp and its people like him that makes wait undefeated fighters waitin for a shot like simms now simms comes out of nowere because never got a shot but after that fight there isnt goi to be no big money fights,he doesnt deserve that what he deserves is to get out of his trwon by soone named Joachim alcine thats been#1 in the wba for like a year..Forget tha big money fight hes already in a bid issue with 2 people
December 6th, 2006 at 7:20 am
Rivera destroyed Alejandro Garcia and knocked him down 5 times and won the title. How do you consider that a “paper champ”? Alcine is a nobody from Canada who fought club fighters in Canada his whole career. Nobody outside of the local boxing community in Canada has ever even heard of Alcine. If I ran him over in my truck I would probably think he is my local delivery boy or gardner.
December 6th, 2006 at 11:13 am
Sam learn some proper english.
December 6th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Yo man im french but i still speak english..what you saying that because he hasn’t beat anyone more significant that rivera doesnt need this fight..Wait until the fight is on man..You’ll Remember Joachim Alcine..chek out every category theres at least 1 Canadian coming up,molitor(champion),ngoudo,bute,adrian diaconnu,Jean Pascal..Joachim isn’t the most skilled from the beggining neither was eric lucas but improved so much man..Just wait and see what happens to your rivera that lost to ummmm club fighters.
December 6th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
B learn your boxing..Rivera deserves a big money shot.hahaha, he didnt even defend it once