Arnold Barboza Jr.

At the age of 27, Arnold is a five-year pro. A rising young contender at 140 pounds, he stayed active with five fights in 2015, five in 2016, three in 2017, and three in 2018.

He has had three scheduled 10-rounders and been the full distance two times. Arnold also stepped up in level of opposition in recent fights and gave impressive performances.

In his last fight on December 14 in Corpus Christi, Texas, he won a 10-round unanimous decision against Manuel Lopez.

ESPN.com’s Steve Kim reported [excerpts]: It was one-sided junior welterweight contest between Arnold Barboza and Manuel Lopez, as Barboza dominated from the very beginning and won every round (100-90 on all three judges’ scorecards) by consistently beating Lopez (14-3, 7 KOs) to the punch all night.

Lopez, if anything, showed his toughness in going the distance, but he was simply out-classed. [End Kim item]

In his post-fight interview, Arnold said, “I worked on everything, sparring lefties, righties, and at this point I couldn’t get him out of there, but I think I did a great job. I had good combinations coming.

“I want the best – we want Jose Ramirez. I think that will be a great fight and I’m with Top Rank and he’s with Top Rank, and I think they will make it happen.”

In an earlier interview, manager-trainer-father Arnold Barboza Sr. said, “We train at the La Puente Gym in La Puente, California. Arnold always stays busy in the gym.

“We’re going to be 100 percent ready. We don’t take any guys lightly.”

In an earlier interview, Arnold Jr. said, “My style, I adapt to what my opponent’s doing, with what the game plan is. I can either box or brawl – I’ve done both in fights – but I prefer to box. I like to box – you know, use my jab, keep my distance.”

AMATEUR, PERSONAL BACKGROUND: Arnold said, “I was born in Los Angeles. I have one younger brother and two older sisters. My father works at a warehouse and my mother stays home and takes care of my little brother. I’m the only boxer in my family, but my father used to be a professional kickboxer. He was 13-0.

“I started boxing when I was 5 ½ years old. My father started me off – he actually left his professional kickboxing career to train me. He said he saw something in me, so he quit and just focused on me the whole time. You have to be eight years old to box as an amateur, but my father would fight in ‘smoker’ fights – he would take me with him and I would fight there, too. It was a crazy experience! I did around 20 of them, from when I was around six years old until I was eight.

“I had around 95 amateur fights, with eight losses – not including the smoker fights. When I was little, I fought in the Silver Gloves and I won the Junior Golden Gloves, but I was too young to travel.

“I stopped boxing for a while, from the age of 13 until I came back around the age of 19 or 20. We were moving and a bunch of stuff was going on with our family. I was playing football at that time, too. I was a linebacker-fullback. I bulked up a lot – when I came back to boxing, I was weighing around 210 pounds. I used to lift a lot of weights.

“I’m naturally right-handed.”…

AMATEUR HIGHLIGHTS:

2013 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS – Spokane Washington, 152 pounds/elite division: in his first fight on 4-1-13 he lost a 2-1 decision against Hakim Bryant of Asbury Park, N.J….

STRENGTHS: Has good skills and movement…has good punching power…had a strong amateur background…has a strong family athletic background…

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 20 fights…106 total rounds…

AVERAGE LENGTH OF BOUTS: 5.3 rounds…

KNOCKOUT PERCENTAGE: 35 %…

DISTANCE FIGHTS: 10 rounds – 2 (2-0)…8 rounds – 2 (2-0)…