Minnesota Boxing News: Hector Orozco

A STRANGER IN HIS OWN TOWN
By Jesse Kelley

Hector Orozco taken four days after his bout with Jeremy McLaurin

Hector Orozco and Jeremy McLaurin fought 3.5 heated rounds in February and will go at it again Friday night at the Grand Casino in Hinckley, MN. The bout is one of many interesting matchups that lead to the finale between Andy Kolle and Matt Vanda's rematch in the main event. After only five amateur fights, Orozco made his pro debut in 2006 against experienced boxer Raul Gracia. Orozco, still in highschool at the time, showed grit and toughness in the bout as he traded with the bigger and more polished Gracia until the final bell. It would be three years before Orozco would be seen in the ring again. The feisty fighter resurfaced with a win against RJ Laase in 2009 and has since earned MN fight fans respect with his brawling mentality and willingness to face anyone. At 1win - 5losses, Orozco's record isn't pretty. However, he and trainer Rick Anderson feel like they haven't always been given every opportunity to win some of those losses.
Without yet having a proper introduction to the Minnesotaboxing.com readers and the anticipated rematch against McLaurin on the doorstep, I sat down with Orozco to talk about his boxing background, his prior fights, and what is likely the most unique boxing ring name in town.

Let’s talk about the first fight with Jeremy McLaurin. You were very busy from the opening bell. Did you see something prior to the fight that made you decide to start as fast as possible?
No, I didn’t know anything about him. All I knew was my last two fights I gave away the first two rounds. We can’t do that in a four round fight. We could come back in the third and fourth rounds but stuff like that could give the other people the fight. We said okay, just get in there and go at him. I got the stamina to go four rounds, go hard. So the first two rounds I went at him and it worked. I was getting tired at the end of the third round but we had that one minute break. When we train we take 30 second breaks so one minute isn’t anything. So I recovered and went out there to just keep going. At first I thought it was a punch that opened up the cut but it didn’t feel much like a glove. It wasn't bleeding a lot or bothering me and I told the doc I could see when the action was stopped. Blood wasn’t dripping into my eyes. I told the doc to let me keep going, at least finish the round. The doctor said no,it’s over! After the fight I was kind of pissed off. It wasn’t in my eyes, in my vision and there was no reason to stop the fight with that little time left in the fight.

So the doctor stopped the fight to take a look at the cut. What were you thinking and saying at that moment?
First I told the doc that I could see. It’s not running in my eye, just let me finish the round. He looked at my eye, took a long pause and then told the ref to stop it. I don’t know if you saw, but I kind of stopped and kind of begged him to not stop it, just let me finish. Then Mark (Nelson) asked again if he wanted him to stop it, and the doctor said yeah.
You know, I just wanna fight. I enjoy fighting. I just want a fair shake. If I’m winning, let me finish. I didn’t ask them to give me the fight. All I asked is just let me finish. I don’t like hand me downs. I don’t want easy fights, someone I’m going to knock out right away. I want to knock out some of the top guys.
This guy was 6-0, KO’s, and I was giving him a whooping in the first two rounds. I was hanging in there and not a lot of people expected me to hang in there. Especially because of the wonderful record. A lot of people don’t think I’m a good fighter because of my record. They think this kid’s just going to go in and get knocked out right away. I just keep showing people. They keep saying I’m cursed. It’s not that I’m cursed, they just screw me sometimes. There’s only two out of my last five fights that I know I lost. One was against Raul Garcia, my first pro fight. He outclassed me. He outpointed me. The second was in Kansas City, the guy just knocked me out. He was a good fighter.
The other ones were all debatable. I give it to Tony Lee also. He boxed well and outpointed me but I knocked him down and they discounted it and didn’t let me try to follow up right away. I had a chance on one and they took that chance away from me. I’m just gonna keep fighting, keep training.

Do you want to chime in on this one?
(Rick Anderson, trainer) Absolutely. Part of the game plan from the get-go was to go in and brawl this kid. I knew he was going to stick and move, he’s more of a runner. I don’t usually give Hector a lot of information. I give him the information for us to be successful. He’s still trying to get his feet underneath him as a fighter. We knew that we banked the first two rounds . After the third round I asked what happened? I told him he got that round, you need to go after him this fourth round. As the fourth round progressed, I didn’t see anything that Jeremy was throwing that was detrimental to Hector at all in the fight in the first place. When I saw what broke the fight, I was like, what just happened? I was begging them as well as Hector, please, don’t stop this thing. Why are they going to rob this kid one more time? And when I say that, I’m going back to the two fights prior to that. Against Figueroa, they stop the fight because of a headbutt when tape clearly shows Hector landing a punch. Hector scores a knockdown that they discredit it against Tony Lee and don't allow him to try to follow up. Somebody seems to be against the kid. If they arn't against him, they view him as an opponent in his own state. Just give the kid a chance. That is all we ask. So there’s a minute and half left in the round against McLaurin. Hector is winning the fight in my opinion. He’s not doing any damage to Hector. Even when the fight was over, the crowd was going crazy about the stoppage. It was the best fight of the night. They saw two warriors battling it out. They saw one warrior get screwed. I can’t tell you how many calls I got on the way home. And after watching the fight in slow-mo, it just confirms what I had thought, that the cut wasn't caused by a punch. I see that he hit him with a left elbow. The glove missed on the uppercut. He caught him with an elbow.

I would like to go back now and give the readers some background on you. Did you fight a lot in the amateurs?
Actually no I only had about 5 amateur fights. I was 5-0. I got into boxing because of my dad. I like the sport, I always used to watch it with him and my uncles. We went looking for boxing schools and ended up finding Uppercut in the beginning. Then I was introduced to him (Rick Anderson) which I liked because I also used to take martial arts. He (Rick) is a kickboxing and a boxing trainer. I stayed because I really like the environment here. But yeah I only had five amateur fights. I didn't really know anything about the guys I fought. Some of them had a lot of fights and I still beat them. After the five amateur fights I decided to go pro. I am out here competing with these guys so I think it was a good decision.

You said as an amateur that you didn't know much about your opponents. Now as a pro it seems you are willing to fight anybody...
Yeah I don't really care who I fight, or care to know anything about them. Rick studies them and shows me stuff sometimes but I like it better going into a fight not knowing what they are going to do. That way I can better prepare for anything. I just go in there and do what he tells me to do.

You mentioned father. Was he a boxer also? Or anybody else in your family?
No, my dad was never a boxer. But my whole family are boxing fans. I am the first one in my family who got into it as a sport. They are all pretty proud to see me competing in it.

The first introduction you had on the local pro scene was against Raul Gracia in 2006. Gracia had been around for a while in the amateurs, lot's of fights. You had just turned 18 with not much boxing experience. Tell us more about that fight.
I really didn't know much about him until afterwards. He was a real good fighter, he outpointed me. I brought it to him but he was good enough to keep me off him and score points. I am never one who just lays down though or gives up in a fight. The only way you are getting me out is if you knock me out. I am going to keep coming at you even if it isn't always the prettiest. That's what I did in that fight. When I found out he was an ex amateur star, I kind of felt proud of myself for hanging in there with him.

That was in 2006 but then you had about three years away from boxing...
Yeah I kind of had a little time away. I was still in highschool at the time. I was going to get through highschool and then get some College stuff done. But I had to come back because I really missed it in that time. I still watched boxing but I really missed competing. I wasn't really planning on fighting at the time actually, I really just wanted to start sparring and training again for the fun of it. But after sparring so many times the boxing bug bit me so I got back in there. I also do kickboxing. I had my amateur kickboxing bout which was for a world title. I knocked the guy out in about a minute. After that, I had the fight with RJ Laase in Duluth.

That was a fun fight to watch. RJ had the crowd behind him. Share your thoughts on that fight..
Yeah I didn't know much about him either at the time. I saw the posters and it said he was 4-0 so I new he must be good. I have to admit that I was a little nervous, I knew he wasn't going to be an easy fight. He landed a few punches on me but nothing too serious. I think he tired out pretty fast. I was tired a little too but not as much as he was. I outworked him but was a little nervous that it was going to a decision afterwards because it was his hometown. It was a good fight and was announced as a split decision. I thought they might give it to him but they gave me the decision. I was happy that the judges made a fair decision.

I want to ask you how you got your ring name "The fighting Chihuahua"!
Well I am actually from Chihuahua, Mexico. Whenever I tell people that they first think about the little dog. It is more about where I am from but the Chihuahua is like a feisty little dog. Everybody has a mean name like the Pitbull or Bulldog so those names are all taken but the Chihuahua is a feisty little dog that will tussle and get in there with you. Kind of like me, I am not the strongest or have the knockout power yet but I will get in there and brawl with anybody. I think the name works for my style.

Thanks a lot guys for taking the time to talk. Anything you would like to add?
Yeah. Next fight I’m winning. I’m sick and tired of some of this stuff that has happened. I’m not going to let it go to judges anymore. I’m going to start trying to knock people out. It’ll make for more exciting fights for me. It’s good for the fans. I have never went into a fight with a mentality to knock a guy out. I want to pressure him until he can't continue. But I see sometimes you have to take it out other's hands.

(Rick Anderson) We don’t want easy fights. We want to learn from it and to feel good about our accomplishments. That’s one thing I’m not understanding about what’s going on here, because Hector is showing the state of Minnesota, with 16 fights under his belt now, that he’s willing to contend with people that got 100, 200 fights. He can bang with these guys, he can beat them. He’s a rising star in my eyes. I’m not taking anything away from any of the other people but I would cater to him just a little bit. Give him a fair shake. We’re pretty quiet people. We don’t really say a lot. We don’t go rustle feathers. You don’t see us running a lot of things in the papers on how we’re the best. We go out and we do our thing. We’re respectful to everybody but how long can I sit and watch Hector look like an opponent in his own state?

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