Sergio Mora

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Sergio Mora

Statistics
Real name Sergio Mora
Nickname(s) The Latin Snake
Rated at Middleweight
Height 6'0
Reach 74.0
Nationality Flag of the United States US American
Birth date February 28, 1980 (1980-02-28) (age 28)
Birth place East Los Angeles, CA, U.S.
Stance Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights 22
Wins 21
Wins by KO 5
Losses 0
Draws 1
No contests 0

Sergio "The Latin Snake" Mora (b. December 4, 1980, Los Angeles) is a Mexican American professional boxer trained by Dean Campos. Dean is the young trainer behind Sergio's unorthodox style of fighting. His nickname refers to his Hispanic origins and his fast hand speed (speed with which he punches).

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[edit] Personal life

Raised without a father, Sergio lived in the 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.

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.

[edit] 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. In the Quarter Finals he was put up against the favorite Ishe Smith, beating him mentally and physically 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.

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 refused 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.

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 Marquez v. Jorge Rodrigo Barrios). However, the event was canceled and it left observers wondering why Mora again avoided fighting a top name opponent. He fought Elvin Ayala on October 16, 2007, at The Home Depot Center. The 10-round fight ended in a draw.

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.

Mora has been criticized by some for avoiding top competition, including champion Jermain Taylor, with whom Mora had once signed to fight. Mora claimed that this was because Taylor wanted to fight near his home town. Rumors are that Mora was considering stepping up in weight to fight a top middleweight, but chose instead to fight Elvin Ayala, a bout that ended in a draw.

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".[1] 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.[2][3]

[edit] De La Hoya-Mora

Oscar De La Hoya was scheduled to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept 20th, but Mayweather retired. De La Hoya was rejected by Ricky Hatton and has asked Mora to fight him for the WBC Super Welterweight Title on Sept 20th, but no announcements have been made.

[edit] External links

[edit] Gallery

Preceded by
none		 The Contender Champion
2005		 Succeeded by
Grady Brewer
Preceded by
Vernon Forrest
 WBC Super Welterweight Champion
June 7, 2008 – present		 Incumbent
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