In 2011 the fighter José “Bolivita” Uzcátegui left aside all his experience as a blacksmith in his native Merida, Venezuela, to move to Tijuana, Mexico, and try to forge as a professional boxer and realize his dream of being world champion.
Uzcátegui relied on the baggage of more than 300 fights that he acquired as an amateur, but his change of life was not easy as he left his family and in his early days in Mexico spent needs before emphasizing professionalism.
“I came in search of a dream, to see if I could. I told my mother: I have an opportunity (to be professional), I’m going to Mexico to see what happens and if I can not go back and I’m still working in my workshop”, said Uzcátegui To Efe in an interview.
“I am a professional, an expert in what I do not only above the ring, but also in my workshop,” he added.
The Venezuelan recalled that his intention was to prove himself, to know if he was able to get ahead and although his mother supported him also asked him to be honest and return to work if he did not surrender as a boxer or if things got difficult.
“I did not need to come to Mexico to box, but I came because I had a dream that began at age six when I first got into the ring, at that moment I said ‘I want to be world champion’ and that was always in my mind”.
After establishing himself in Tijuana, Uzcátegui one day appeared before promoter Fernando Beltrán, who has worked with Erik “Terrible” Morales and Juan Manuel Márquez, and said: “I want to be world champion and I want you to take me to get it.”
At age 19, Uzcátegui started his pay boxing adventure on March 25, 2011 and linked 22 wins before his first loss.
He then tied four more wins and won the World Boxing Federation (IBF) interim super middleweight title against American Andre Dirrell on Saturday in Maryland, Washington.
Uzcátegui took advantage to make known in a battle that gained broadly, but that ended up losing by disqualification, in spite of to knock Dirrell.
The Venezuelan shot down the American in the last second of the eighth round with a combination of blows that he released an instant before the bell rang and as his last impact was already released, could not stop.
Faced with such action, coach Leo Lawson, uncle of Dirrell, received revenge and beat the Venezuelan with clean hand, which provoked a fight.
The demonstration of Uzcátegui was celebrated in Venezuela at the time that the aggression of the was object was reprobated by his compatriots, whom he asked to continue fighting for a change in the country.
“Venezuela is a great country and if we unite more I think that my country will have a change. I am not a politician, I do not like politics and I am neither one side nor the other, I am neutral, but what is happening is wrong In Venezuela, “he concluded.
