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Manfredo vs. RJJ sounds to be only 3 months away... Seriously talking
Manfredo, Spina speak!
October 15, 2006
By Billy "Loops" Luppert
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Photos: Emily Harney
The fight between Joey Spina and Peter Manfredo, Jr. Saturday night at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, RI. was dubbed "Put Up or Shut Up," but easily could have been called "Backyard War", or "Bragging Rights", as these two super middleweight rivals, who grew up less than a mile from one another were scheduled to do battle for 12 rounds. Manfredo, who became a crowd favorite on "The Contender", destroyed Spina within 3 rounds and "The Pride of Providence" could also be known as "The King of Providence," a title that Spina gave himself in the days leading up to the bout.
Leading up to the bout, there was plenty of bad blood between the two fighters, and neither was shy about expressing their dislike for one another. Manfredo vowed to punish Spina for disrespecting him and his father. Spina promised to embarrass Manfredo in front of their hometown fans. At the post-fight press conference following the fight however, all the bad blood between the two had been left in the ring.
When the conference started, Manfredo was up on the podium with Contender Producer Jeff Wald, who said about the fight, "Peter Manfredo did exactly what he said he was going to. Peter fought an incredibly disciplined, smart, professional fight, and never got out of his gameplan."
Manfredo opened up by thanking his fans and those who came out to support him, including former rival Sergio Mora. Mora defeated Manfredo in the finals of "The Contender" and followed up that up with a controversial win over Manfredo in the rematch. "I know there was always a lot of bad blood between me and Sergio, but it's cool now, I'm in a different weight class. We're going to do our own thing in our own weight classes. He wants to be a champion, I want to be a champion, and I respect him." When asked to comment about the knockout of Spina he said, "Well, I really didn't want to end it that early, I wanted to punish him for all the things he had been saying. A lot of people in Providence said this kid is big and strong, and I better watch out for his left hook, but you better watch out for Peter Manfredo."
"The kid wasn't ready for me tonight. I don't want to knock the kid, he just wasn't on my level. He may have been led to believe he was on my level, a lot of hype and built himself up, but he's never fought anybody in my caliber. He was always brought up to feel that he's on top of his game, and you have to blame a lot of that on his trainers, and managers. I don't want to rag on the kid, he came in and did the best he could tonight," Manfredo went on to say. At that point, a dejected Spina walked into the press conference with his left hand bandaged up, which according to Spina, was broken. Manfredo turned to Spina and told him "stay strong, keep up the good work, it's hard to be a fighter."
"We had bad blood but I think a lot of it was to promote the fight. I helped him as an amateur, he always fought at a different weight and if he had a question I would help him out, and he would do the same for me."
Spina was asked about his hand, and said he broke it in the second round but wasn't sure how he did it, but said "that's no excuse though." Spina was then asked if he respected Manfredo now, after reportedly saying he didn't have any respect for him. "I never said I didn't respect him. I respect anyone that gets in the ring. It was a business thing, it wasn't any disrespect. In boxing, you don't make any money, and 19-0 with 14 KO's I never made any money and that's why I fought "The Contenders" (Spina knocked out another Season 1 participant in Jesse Brinkley in May)."
When someone commented to Spina that he "made money tonight," Spina responded by saying, "pride means a lot more."
While Spina didn't comment on his future, Manfredo is rumored to be fighting former pound for pound king, Roy Jones, Jr. on January 20th.
When Manfredo was asked about this, Wald spoke up and said, "Nothing is signed, sealed, and delivered" but said they are exploring a bunch of options and that Jones was definitely under consideration to fight at a catch weight. Stay tuned in the coming weeks, as an official announcement could be made regarding a Jones-Manfredo fight, which would be just over 3 months away.
http://www.fightnews.com/luppert56.htm
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Originally Posted by "PRIDE OF BOSTON"
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