Q&A: Peter Manfredo!

October 10, 2006

By Patrick Kelley
Photos: Emily Harney





Saturday night, at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, RI, Peter Manfredo Jr. and longtime neighborhood rival Joe Spina will square off in a backyard brawl that has been aptly titled "Contender Special - Put Up or Shut Up!" ESPN2 will televise the bouts beginning at 10:30 PM, though it will be tape-delayed, as the main event begins live at 9:00 PM/ET.

Though the two Providence natives grew up less than a mile apart, in the Silver Lake section of Providence, there is certainly no love lost between the two Italian - Americans! Around town, Manfredo (25-3, 11 KO's) is know as "The Pride of Providence," a likeness he achieved greatly due to his success on the initial "Contender" series. It is a moniker that Spina (19-0-1, 14 KO's), who is known throughout town to be a "partying, care-less" type of guy, greatly despises. Plain and simply Spina wants what Manfredo has. In order to attain that, Spina will have to dethrone Providence's boxing monarch, a task Manfredo insists won't happen.

How'd training camp go?
Training camp went great. Working out in LA, you just break your body down and it gets you in killer shape. Now that I'm back home, I'm just so anxious to get in the ring. I'm ready to go!

This will be your second fight at super-middleweight, the first having been against Scott Pemberton, do you feel as though you're starting to grow into the weight?
Well, I've always been a big kid and I always tried to suck down to fight at the smaller weight classes. So, I always felt that being bigger made me stronger. I always sparred with bigger guys and I always felt stronger. When I moved up to the weight, my first fight with Pemberton was a knockout. This fight, with Joe Spina, should be a knockout. If it is, it will be proof that I'm a bigger guy, stronger guy, and that this is the weight for me.

This will have been the longest layoff of your career, 8 months and 1 day, the same amount of time you were inactive before the first Mora fight. Are you fearful that you may have some ring rust?
No. With the Mora fight I trained for six of the eight months leading up to the fight and I think I overdid it, and it showed. I was dead after three rounds, and he took over and dominated me. Am I worried about ring rust? No. I've stayed active, stayed sharp, and I stayed in the gym, so I'm pretty confident and just anxious to get in the ring.

Have you done any extra sparring to make up for the inactive period?
Well, for this camp I've gotten almost 100-rounds of sparring. Whatever the trainer tells me to do, whatever he feels I need to do, I just listen. I just do what I've got to do, and I just can't wait for Saturday night!

How did all the bad blood start between Peter Manfredo Jr. and Joe Spina?
It's jealousy! A journalist in Providence wrote in the paper this week " One is the Pride of Providence, and one wants to be." That kind of sums it up right there. The kid wants to be who I am, and he's jealous of me. He's been doing nothing but talking about me for eight months to a year, and I just got tired of it. I give respect to everybody, and everybody shows me respect. People get jealous of that. I've always been a level above him.

Since you guys grew up less than a mile from each other, and are fighting in your own hometown, who will have more of the fan support?
I would think me. Not a lot of people like this kid. He goes out and he drinks a lot. He's always in the clubs. He parties, he disrespects people, and people don't like that. You show people respect, and they'll respect you. That's how I was brought up, and that's what I do.

Do you feel and less or more pressure fighting in your backyard, since Spina is also a hometown guy?
I don't know about all that. I don't feel any pressure. I'm just so ready. When I train at the Wild Card Gym and I get myself in shape and know I did everything to the fullest, I come back with the utmost confidence, and just go in there and do my job. I'm on another level than this kid! A lot of people think he's big, he's strong, a lot of people think he's going to knock me out. I'm going to impress that night, and expose him for what he really is...and that's really a nothing! His best opponent was Jessie Brinkley, and Jessie was killing him for ten rounds, until he took a knee and gave up. That's what I thought. And, I'm much better than Jessie Brinkley.

Spina admits to the fact that you used to get the best of him in sparring. Does that give you any sort of psychological advantage?
Probably. I think he's coming in here knowing I'm the better man and he's got to knock me out to win. I think he thinks he's going to catch me with a big shot or something. So, he's going to swing for the fences. That's the way he fights. He's got no skill. I'm mad at this kid, but I'll take care of it as a professional. That's what I'm going to do Saturday night.

What's your prediction for the fight Peter?
He's not going to go past 6 or 7 rounds. He's not going past that. He's good for the first 2 or 3 rounds. I'm going to put pressure on him, and I'm going to bang him around. He's not going past 6 or 7!

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Manfredo is currently rated #14 by the WBC and # 15 by IBF, and enters the Spina bout fresh off a devastating third-round TKO victory against former world No. 1 contender Scott "The Sandman" Pemberton. Spina is rated # 16 by the WBC and is the reigning WBC, USNBC, and IBF Intercontinental super middleweight title-holder. He comes into Saturday nights fight off an eleventh round TKO victory over "Contender - Season I fan favorite Jessie Brinkley.

http://www.fightnews.com/contender12.htm


Cant wait for this.  Want to see Green Squash Ravelo and Manfredo humiliate Spina!!! Sad Balletto isn't fighting... I have tickets. Saw his fight was removed from boxrec