Brian Mendoza stepped in to allow Sebastian Fundora to take on Tim Tszyu this weekend, and he now has the chance to earn a belt of his own.
He has now been installed as a replacement for Fundora against Serhii Bohachuk.
He is going to get the chance to claim the WBO junior middleweight interim title, and he explained that his approach to the sport kept him ready to take a fight at short notice, which will be shown live on Amazon Prime PPV in the US (click here for details).
“Right, obviously they took [Tszyu’s] opponent away from him, and Fundora had to move up, and [Bohachuk] would have been without,” Mendoza told Boxing Scene. “So now we’re fighting for that interim title and that’s the thing.
“You know, this isn’t the type of fight you take on two weeks’ notice. He’s a dangerous opponent. But like I said, we’ve been ready. We’ve been in shape, sparring with Tim Tszyu and Eric Priest, who just fought on the Golden Boy card last week. We were just staying super-sharp.”
He described in detail the attitude he has to stay in shape.
“Oh man, the whole stay-ready thing also applies to my diet,” he explained.
“I’m a clean eater, I’m a healthy eater, I maintain a healthy weight year-round. I’m in shape: We do sprints, all the bag work, everything we have to do. There’s no stone unturned, even in this short camp, because they did tell me that I could possibly be a backup for this card.
“Even just on a ‘maybe,’ we were going at 110 percent, and they told me if this didn’t work out, maybe [a fight in] April. So we were going full steam ahead. This is when preparation meets opportunity.
“I’m a fan of boxing, so I saw his fight with Brandon Adams years ago. I always just watch a lot of boxing, so I’ve seen him over the years and I just feel like there’s a lot of holes in his game that I can just take advantage of.
“I feel like I’m going to get the stoppage before the 12th round.”
Live on DAZN: Haney vs. Garcia on April 20. Click here for details.