Paul Mendez maybe a fighter that in 2014 you start to hear things about, so let the introduction begin a bit earlier than one may have expected. Now to act like I am introducing Mendez to the general public is a disservice to the great bay area boxing reporters who have covered his career from the start from Ryan Maquinana, Mario Cabbera, Truth Esguerra as well as the great fight photographer Erik Killin and not to mention the great Sam Garcia Boxing gym whom have taken over Mendez’s career from management to trainer. No, this is more of introduction of someone who has paid his dues on the local circuit and now holds the IBA middleweight title after his last fight and hopes to make a second successful defense on Saturday, September 28 at Cache Creek Casino in Brooks, Ca just outside of Sacramento, CA.
Mendez has become known for his skill in the ring, his adjustments between fights always showing improvement as well as the fact that he has never outright lost a fight. His two loses come in the form of a majority decision loss and split decision loss, both of which were close and showed him improving as the fight went on later, yet they were 4 and 6 round affairs making the later stages of the fight, well not really as readily available as say his recent title fights which are ten round affairs. Mendez who found himself on three fight knockout streak heading into a fight with Alfredo Contreras showed poise and maturity and Contreras took a wealth of punishment only to keep coming forward. Onlookers afterward were impressed with Mendez’s performance based off the sheer toughness of his foe and the fact that he did not just look for a knockout, but fought his fight against a tough fighter.
In late July, Mendez defeated DaShon Johnson to gain IBA Middleweight title something that brings him one step closer to appearing on television and with a Salinas, CA Fox Sports 1 date being announced for October 28th, one may make an educated guess that if Mendez is able to get through this fight quickly or with little damage he may appear on this card.
Mendez will be given no gimmie as he fights one of the toughest guys you can face who is a veteran of the local circuit in Rahman Mustafa Yusubov (9-7 7KOs), the man who knocked out James Page in the second round of Page’s comeback fight after nearly being knocked out in the first. Yusubov has an ugly looking record, but that is what makes him tough, there is no trick about him – he wants to come forward and punch, ie., he will get knocked out or he will knock you out. Yusubov’s record says the same as he has knocked out seven foes as well as been knocked seven times. On top of this Yusubov has been in tougher fights than Mendez fighting Karim Mayfield, Hugo Centeno Jr as well as James Page in Page’s comeback fight.
Mendez who is on the cusp of the top ten status at Middleweight with a big win on Saturday and maybe one more victory could find himself in a fight with either J’Leon Love when he comes off his suspension or Danny Jacobs, who many fans feel needs to be tested after defeating cancer and getting back in the ring. The other thought maybe to bring in Sergio Mora to the bay area where the wonderful PacoPresentsBoxing.com promotion headed by Paco Damian as well as in association with “war a week” Don Chargin of Don Chargin Productions.
Paul Mendez will be fighting Saturday September 28th fight at Cache Creek Casino in Brooks, CA with the first bell sounding at 6pm. Tickets, priced at $65, $95 and $125, are on sale now and available for purchase at cachecreek.com, tickets.com and online atPacoPresentsBoxing.com.
