Sergio Mora
Sergio Mora | |
|---|---|
| Born | Sergio Mora December 4, 1980 |
| Nationality |  American |
| Other names | The Latin Snake |
| Statistics | |
| Weight(s) | Middleweight Light Middleweight Welterweight |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Reach | 75 in (191 cm) |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Boxing record | |
| Total fights | 24 |
| Wins | 22 |
| Wins by KO | 6 |
| Losses | 1 |
| Draws | 2 |
| No contests | 0 |
Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora (born December 4, 1980 East Los Angeles, California) is a Mexican American[1] professional boxer trained by Dean Campos. He is the former WBC Light Middleweight Champion[2] and also the first champion of NBC's The Contender.[3]
Early life
Raised without a father, Sergio lived in an East Los Angeles apartment downstairs from the apartment where his mother lived. His boxing will, he hopes, lift him and his family to a better standard of living. Sergio is eloquent and thoughtful, quite against the stereotype of the ghetto he admits to coming from.[4]
Sergio is a class of 1997 alumni of Schurr High School in Montebello, California. Shortly after his Contender victory, he was invited to appear onstage at Schurr's June 2005 Renaissance Rally.
Personal life
Mora is married to Alex Mora (born "Alexandra Elaine Abrahams" on January 4, 1984 in Bronx, New York), who is the younger sister of American actor Jon Abrahams. They were married on March 17, 2001 in Hampton, New York. The couple have two children. Their son, Dominick Christian Mora, was born on May 15, 2002 in Los Angeles, California. Their daughter, Isabella Marie Mora, was born on July 29, 2005 in Bronx, New York.
He is also the brother-in-law of Beth Saunders (born "Elizabeth Victoria Abrahams" on June 21, 1987), who is the wife of American professional mixed martial artist, Ben Saunders (born "Benjamin Saunders" on April 13, 1983), as well as the uncle of the couple's two children, Hayden Saunders (born "Hayden Shane Saunders" on October 16, 2005), and Skyler Saunders (born "Skyler Ryan Saunders" on December 14, 2008).
Nickname
His nickname refers to his Hispanic origins and his fast hand speed (speed with which he punches). Dean Campos is the young trainer behind Sergio's unorthodox style of fighting.
Boxing career
He is the champion of reality TV show The Contender, initially being a member of the West Coast Team. He fought Najai Turpin in the first round, the boxer who later committed suicide.[5] In the Quarter Finals he was put up against the favorite Ishe Smith, beating him to reach the Semi Finals. He fought against Jesse Brinkley in the Semi-Final and defeated him after seven rounds, earning a place to box against Peter Manfredo in the final. In the final fight Sergio defeated Manfredo in a seven round unanimous decision to become the Contender champion. He defeated Manfredo by a split decision in a rematch. Many ringside observers felt Manfredo won the fight convincingly, but Mora won by a controversial split decision.[6]
Months later he beat Archak Ter-Meliksetian (15-3) by TKO in the 7th of 10 rounds.
Mora fought the IBA Title holder Eric Regan (26-2) on August 25, 2006, at the Arco Arena in Sacramento CA. Mora won by unanimous decision after 10 rounds.
Rumors are that Mora was to fight WBC/WBO middleweight title holder Jermain Taylor in Spring 2007. However, on March 15, 2007, Mora turned down a seven figure fight against Taylor that would have taken place in Memphis, which Mora felt was too close to Taylor's home of Little Rock, Arkansas. With only 18 career bouts at the time, Mora also felt he lacked experience to challenge for a world title.[7]
Sergio was to fight Kassim Ouma (25-3-1 15 KOs) in a middleweight bout on September 15, 2007. It was to be televised on HBO as one of the undercard bouts supporting the main event, (Juan Manuel Márquez v. Jorge Rodrigo Barrios). However, the event was canceled after Marquez suffered an injury during training. He fought Elvin Ayala on October 16, 2007 as the undercard of Gomez vs Tackie at The Home Depot Center. The 10-round fight ended in a draw as Ayala outworked a rusty Sergio in the first half of the fight, but Sergio came on the in the 2nd half of the fight.
On January 11, 2008, Sergio Mora stopped Rito Ruvalcaba in the sixth round of their scheduled 10-round middleweight fight at the Casino Morongo. Mora was behind on two of three judges' scorecards entering the sixth round. He hurt Ruvalcaba with a combination, drove him to the ropes and landed another left hand, at which point the referee stopped the fight. But Ruvalcaba was still punching at the time of the stoppage, leading to some controversy.
WBC Light Middleweight Championship
On June 7, 2008, Mora defeated Vernon Forrest via a 12 round majority decision to become the WBC Super welterweight champion. In the build-up to the fight, Forrest threatened to send Mora "out on a stretcher" and referred to him as the "pretender".[8] However, Mora succeeded in pulling off the upset victory.
Forrest took an early lead in what began as a tactical bout, working behind a left jab and landing right hands. Mora started to force his way into the fight in the fourth round, throwing hard punches to Forrest's body and consistently outworking the defending champion. The final scores were 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112 in favor of Mora.[9][10] After the fight, Forrest said that he had taken Mora lightly and cited that he didn't train properly for the fight, resulting in his lack of punches thrown in the match.
Vernon Forrest (41-3) reclaimed his WBC 154-pound title on September 14, 2008, against Sergio Mora via unanimous decision. Forrest scored a knock down in round seven, had Mora in trouble in round nine and on his back foot for a majority of the bout.[11] Mora had problems making weight for the rematch, having to lose two pounds after failing the initial weigh-in, and after the fight said that he didn't expect the quick turnaround on the rematch clause and had needed more time to make the weight properly, resulting in his poor performance.
Move to Middleweight
After the two fights with Forrest, Mora made a move up in weight and was to fight then Middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik.[12] Pavlik would postpone the bout due to a nagging staph infection.[13] Mora would attempt to keep the fight alive but ultimately it never happened, keeping Mora inactive for almost 2 years. After pulling out of the fight with Mora, Kelly Pavlik went on to lose against Sergio Gabriel Martínez.[14]
On April 3, 2010, in his first fight in over eighteen months, Mora defeated Calvin Green by 7th round TKO on the Bernard Hopkins-Roy Jones Jr. undercard.[15] Mora dominated a game Green, fighting with him primarily on the inside landing combinations against him with his quicker hands. He hurt Green several times in the fight, and the ref had finally seen enough after an unanswered salvo of punches from Sergio in the 7th round.[16]
Mora-Mosley
Mora fought Shane Mosley on September 18 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.[17][18] The bout ended up in a split draw. Scores (Mora 115–113, Mosley 116–112, 114–114).[19]
Professional boxing record
References
 |
- ^ Crawford, Percy (2010-07-28). "I'm going to be the first Mexican to beat Shane Mosley". Fight Hype. Retrieved 2010-09-06.
- ^ http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=14349
- ^ http://fighthype.com/pages/content8301.html
- ^ http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Sergio_Mora
- ^ Carter, Bill (February 15, 2005). "NBC Reality Show Contestant Kills Himself". The New York Times.
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2190144
- ^ http://www.secondsout.com/news?ccs=1624&cs=151465
- ^ Morales, Robert (2008-06-04). "Mora in search of respect against Forrest". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
- ^ Aranda, Ramon (2008-06-08). "Mora Upsets Forrest - Williams Gains Revenge". 411mania.com. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ "Pavlik retains middleweight titles, Mora beats Forrest". Reuters. 2008-06-07. Retrieved 2008-06-08.
- ^ "Vernon Forrest Beats Sergio Mora, Takes Back WBC Super Welterweight Belt". 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=3972411
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=4153157
- ^ http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content7491.html
- ^ http://boxing.fanhouse.com/2010/04/03/hopkins-vs-jones-jr-results-live-updates-of-undercard-and-ma/
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/columns/story?columnist=rafael_dan&id=5053975
- ^ Satterfield, Lam (June 30, 2010). "Mosley-Mora Finalized For September 18 at Staples Center". BoxingScene.com. Retrieved July 1, 2010.
- ^ http://www.fighthype.com/pages/content7906.html
- ^ "The Fabulous Forum". Los Angeles Times. September 18, 2010.
External links
- Official Website
- NEW Official Forum
- Sergio Mora Fight-by-Fight Career Record
- Boxing record for Sergio Mora from BoxRec (registration required)