Eleven months and one week after having his unbeaten record snapped by Isaac Cruz, Giovanni Cabrera will step into the ring with William Cepeda on Saturday at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California, to face another of the lightweight division's best punchers.
For Cabrera’s trainer, Freddie Roach, jumping from Cruz’s attack to Cepeda’s (who only just faced Ricardo Quiroz on March 30 along the way) is one opportunity the boxer must seize.
“Any opportunity equals a chance,” the Hall of Fame trainer told BoxingScene. “When an opportunity presents itself, you have to take advantage of it. I want to get a big win to get the momentum I lost after the Cruz fight back.”
Facing “The Pit Bull” in the opening rounds, Cabrera (22-1, 7 KOs) found his rhythm and used his choppy style to make the Mexican uneasy as usual. Though it was Cabrera's first loss, his 114-113, 113-114, 112-115 split decision defeat felt like a moral victory in the moment, and is even more impressive considering Cruz later defeated Rolando Romero to win the 140-pound title.
But Roach felt he deserved more than the satisfaction of defeating Cruz.
“It was a close fight,” Roach said, “I thought I won, but I wasn't upset about the decision. I think on the scorecards we were within a point of a split decision win or a draw. It was definitely a good learning experience for Joe and a good teaching experience for me.”
While the Seattle-born, Chicago-based Cabrera has the natural charisma and swagger to make a fight as exciting as most fighters, his fighting style — standing upright, chin up in an inviting manner, punching from multiple angles, usually at some distance — can be fun to get used to.
Given Cabrera's disappointing knockout rate, it's not hard to think he could do more damage by getting his feet closer and putting more torque into his punches, but Roach argues his unconventionality is an asset.
“Joe has a very unique style of fighting that is puzzling to a lot of fighters,” he said. “The way he fights is a big weapon for him. He throws his opponent off his rhythm, which is what he wants. So far, he's been pretty successful at that. Let's see if Cepeda figures it out.”
Taking on two dangerous opponents in such a short space of time is clearly the kind of risk fans want a boxer to take, and Roach has tried to soften some of the roughness of his opponent, Joe, but acknowledges: “Joe's a free spirit. He definitely goes at it on his own terms.”
In other words, what you see is what you get when it comes to Cabrera, who has won 22 of 23 fights as a pro and was a round or two away from a clean sheet win against Cruz thus far.
With a record of 30-0 (26 KOs) and just two long-distance fights since 2017, Cepeda may be an even tougher opponent on paper with three emphatic knockout wins over Jaime Arboleda, Mercito Gesta and Maxi Hughes, but Roche refuses to entertain the idea that Cabrera should be relegated to gatekeeper status after two consecutive big-fight losses.
“I've never thought about it that way, either as a fighter or as a trainer,” he said. “My only concern is beating Cepeda. That's enough for me.”
And if Cabrera does pull off the upset, he'll do it in his own way and style.
“At the end of the day, that's just the kind of person he is,” Roach said.
Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcasted about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters. He also writes regularly for National Geographic and has written several books about the Arctic and Antarctic. He is happiest hanging out with polar bears in the wild. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.
