Despite the grainy footage and the constant torrent of encouragement yelled at a young prospect known only as ‘Gordo,’ the talent and the frustration of his impromptu sparring partner is on display in equal measure.
The taller man, topless and wearing what appear to be loose-fitting ankle high sneakers, had turned up at the gym in search of scratching a certain itch. He was and still is a professional prospect, but he was out of camp after celebrating another routine victory.
First up, he was served a far bigger man, before now-undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez was wheeled out wearing his ‘TBE’ shirt and fluorescent yellow boxing boots. The boots matched the shirt of his coach and father, BWAA Trainer of the Year, Teofimo Sr, caught in the gym mirror’s reflection as he throws instructions out like a drill sergeant.
“Turn him, Gordo – I want you to go low again. That’s it, baby!” yelled Lopez’s father, until his son was stopped in his tracks and temporarily crumpled in a heap, caught on the way in by a perfect right hand. ‘Gordo’ was fine and finished the spar impressively, aged only 15 and considerably the smaller man. But when the old video surfaced in 2019, boxing fans were intrigued at the thought of a conqueror.
“There was a Puerto Rican dude there, too, he was 200lbs and he fought at around cruiserweight. I wasn’t even in training; I just went to the gym because I was missing the action,” explains unbeaten Puerto Rican-American, Janelson ‘Bocachica’ Figueroa (17-0, 11 KOs), speaking to Boxing Social from the Caribbean Island.
“I got to the gym and they had nobody there but huge guys. They told me: ‘We ain’t got nobody here that’s your size. I don’t know if you wanna spar them – so you can just go home’. I said, ‘Let me hop in there with ‘em’. I stopped this [big] guy in two rounds. The first round, I was whoopin’ ‘em, and in the second round I stopped him with a body shot. Dude was huge.”
Figueroa continued, “Then they said they had somebody else, and they brought out Teofimo. I have nothing against him as a fighter. The man has skill, but I am better than Teofimo Lopez and I always will be. If he wants to get in contact with me, then he knows who to call.”
What started as a viral clip of a sharp, snappy knockdown later revealed a messy wrestling suplex, executed in frustration by Figueroa to end the pair’s session. But nobody reads the small print.
After headlining a ShoBox February 17 card, welterweight Figueroa has been enjoying some downtime in Puerto Rico, hopping between Ubers during our call, dishing out directions in seamless Spanish. Despite being born and raised in Detroit, it is evident that the 22-year-old’s parent’s roots are of extreme importance and pride.
“I’m born and raised in Detroit, but both sides of my family are Puerto Rican, and that’s super important for me. Puerto Rico has created a lot of champions, so I gotta be one of ‘em. It’s huge here; everybody boxes in Puerto Rico and my family have all been involved in boxing; my mum’s side and my dad’s. Everybody from me up, we’re all into boxing. It’s just in our blood.
“When I fought here in January 2019, we had it loaded out, so my fanbase in Puerto Rico is growing all the time. I fight in the traditional Puerto Rican style, so we [Janelson and his father, who doubles up as his trainer] always felt like professional boxing was meant for me – that’s how we’ve always fought.
“Growing up in Detroit, there’s a lot of negativity. It was hard. People telling you to do things you shouldn’t be doing all the time, like drugs, joining gangs. If you look for any problems in Detroit, you will find them. There’s not a shortage of problems in Detroit, but that made me the person that I am. I’m a leader not a follower, so I don’t think it was a bad thing for me growing up there, but it was super tough, for sure.
“Generally, it was my dad keeping me out of trouble,” said ‘Bocachica’, or ‘small mouth’.
“And it was me wanting to be a leader. If you’re a gang member, you’re gonna be a follower. I always wanted to set an example and, even when I was younger, my dad taught me better than that stuff [becoming involved in crime]. I was never one to follow anybody into trouble, so it wasn’t that hard for me.”
Figueroa has been backed as a professional by boxing superpower, Split T Management, and by Kings Promotions, garnering praise for some of his showstopping victories. His knockout of Nicklaus Flaz – a jolting, vicious left hook – is a testament to his fluidity. But it was that last outing, a victory over Mark Reyes (WMD10) that has catapulted the Detroit-native into world ranking-contention.
Photo: Amanda Westcott/Showtime.
That win wasn’t particularly hard-earned, but it taught Janelson a valuable lesson: “I didn’t feel that the judges scored it fair. I felt they were more [generous] to his style because of my showboating, but I felt like that was an easy fight. I came out clean – his face was rearranged everywhere, bumped and cut up. For those who know boxing and those who watched the fight, he didn’t land. I outpunched him and outpowered him; I wasn’t getting touched with anything.
“I super realised that; my showboating may cost me a fight. The judges don’t like that. It’s my confidence and, if you’re a boxer, you should know that your opponent is gonna try and get into your head. It should never come to that. You always gotta keep it calm because you’re there for a reason – to fight. I think it’s harder as a professional because people don’t wanna get beat up. You have to genuinely love boxing and be very good at it – because you could get hurt. I’ve been dodged a couple of times in the pros, but when the rankings come, the numbers don’t lie, and these guys will have to fight me.”
There has always been a fine line between entertainment and arrogance, especially in boxing.
Figueroa – even in his short sparring session with Lopez – can be seen clapping his gloves together under his leg, standing with his hands down while taking shots to the face or taunting his young opponent, dismissing his power. In his fight with Reyes, a headline contest broadcast on Showtime in the USA, he demonstrated the same showmanship. But he doesn’t come from the Olympic crop.
In an era where social media drives value, Figueroa is keen on maximising his time in the sport’s shop window and seems happier making enemies than leaving no impression at all. One could argue he’s doing it the ‘right way,’ while risking contentious results consequently.
He tells Boxing Social that he wants to fight “everybody that’s better than him”. And that him and his father are hunting for world titles, representing the great fighters from Detroit and Puerto Rico. But away from boxing, life seems simple, with less pressure to perform. Figueroa explains that he wants to be known as an honest, hard-working family man, who enjoys working in construction when he has to, unafraid of the day job.
He invests his time in things that will take him to the next level as an athlete but laughed honestly as he revealed his only other passion with a plea: “I love cars, man. If anybody reads this and they wanna buy me a car… My ideal car is a Ford Mustang, GT500.”
He slips back into Spanish as we exchange goodbyes and offers the Uber driver an alternative route, presumably off the beaten track to avoid congestion. If only things were that simple in his chosen sport, right?
Main image and all photos: Amanda Westcott/Showtime.