When Alex Saucedo was a 17-year-old amateur, he spent time in Los Angeles sparring with Manny Pacquiao and harbored dreams of going to the 2012 Olympics.
As the story goes, Pacquiao was so impressed with the work he received from the teenager that he told Top Rank promoter Bob Arum about Saucedo. Not long after that, Saucedo, who had been in his native Mexico trying out for the country’s Olympic team, returned to his home in Oklahoma City, where he and his family moved when he was 7, for a two-week break.
During his visit home, Saucedo got a call from Top Rank, which was interested in signing him. He never went back to the Mexican Olympic camp.
Instead, he signed a contract with Top Rank, had his pro debut in November 2011 and has been working his way up the ladder since. It’s been a slow and steady climb, but now, at 24, Saucedo is ready for his close-up.
In what most expect to be Saucedo’s toughest test, he will take on rugged Australian brawler and former lightweight world title challenger Lenny Zappavigna in a 10-round junior welterweight bout on Saturday night at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City. The Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card is headlined by super middleweight world titleholder Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (37-0, 25 KOs) making his fourth defense against Roamer Alexis Angulo (23-0, 20 KOs).
The main card will air on ESPN and ESPN Deportes beginning at 9 p.m. ET, with the full card to stream live on ESPN+ starting at 6:15 p.m. ET.
“Lenny Z is a tough competitor. He’s a dangerous guy with a big knockout percentage,” Saucedo said. “We’re gonna come into a dangerous fight but we’re ready to put on a show for Oklahoma City, my hometown.”
Not only is Saucedo getting his first significant television exposure, but he will be fighting at home knowing that a victory could propel him into a world title fight later this year against Maurice Hooker (24-0-3, 16 KOs), 28, of Dallas, who claimed a vacant 140-pound belt by split decision over Terry Flanagan on June 9 in Manchester, England.
Since he has not been widely seen, Saucedo is hoping to make an impression on those watching him fight for the first time.
“I just want to show them what I always show — that I am an aggressive fighter with a good style, have very good boxing skills, and working with Abel [Sanchez, his trainer] has taken me to the next level,” Saucedo said. “It’s been two great years of learning from Abel Sanchez. I can’t wait to show everyone, to show the world what I’m made of.”
“I grew up on the south side of town, right near the arena, so this is truly a homecoming for me. I used to ride my bike past the arena and go to basketball games and monster truck events here. I can’t wait to get in there, get the win and feel the support of the home fans. It has been a long time coming.”
Alex Saucedo on fighting at home in Oklahoma
Saucedo (27-0, 17 KOs) is especially pumped to fight at home, where the card is a big enough deal that Oklahoma football coaching legend Barry Switzer was on hand at Thursday’s final news conference. The fight will be only the third hometown fight of Saucedo’s career and his first since 2014.
“It’s something I’ve always been looking for,” Saucedo said. “I’ve been very motivated throughout camp for the opportunity. And it just makes me work harder. I feel like I’m going to go out and perform better than ever in front of all my people. I believe it’s going to be a great night here in Oklahoma City. I’ve prepared myself really well.
“I grew up on the south side of town, right near the arena, so this is truly a homecoming for me. I used to ride my bike past the arena and go to basketball games and monster truck events here. I can’t wait to get in there, get the win and feel the support of the home fans. It has been a long time coming.”
Arum and Hooker promoter Dino Duva of Roc Nation Sports both told ESPN they have been discussing a Hooker-Saucedo fight provided Saucedo prevails against the 30-year-old Zappavigna (37-3, 27 KOs).
Arum hopes to put on that title fight and have the winner unify belts with titleholder Jose Ramirez, whose first title defense against Danny O’Connor headlines the July 7 Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card.
“I’ve known this kid [Saucedo] since he was 17 and signed with us and didn’t even shave,” Arum said. “So it’s been fun to see him mature as a person and as a fighter. Now the table is set for him. He’s not fighting an easy fight. Lenny Z is a warrior. He may not have the skills of a [Terence] Crawford or a [Vasiliy] Lomachenko, but Lenny Z is a warrior. So if Alex is able to win that fight then we are pretty well there with Dino for the fight with Hooker sometime in the fall. They made it a condition of contract that if he beats Saucedo we guarantee him a Ramirez fight.”
The title-fight talk is music to Saucedo’s ears. He has moved up the sanctioning body rankings over the past couple of years due to his victories and a push from Top Rank and his management team, which includes Hollywood stars Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg.
“I want any of the champions at 140 pounds. I want a title shot, and I know beating Lenny Z will help me earn a title shot,” he said. “There are two guys with belts, Jose Ramirez and Maurice Hooker, who I’d love to fight.
“There are two guys with belts, Jose Ramirez and Maurice Hooker, who I’d love to fight. [A title shot is] what we’ve always been looking for since the beginning of my career. But we have to get through Lenny Zappavigna first.”
Alex Saucedo
“[A title shot is] what we’ve always been looking for since the beginning of my career. But we have to get through Lenny Zappavigna first. He’s a tough, tough competitor, so we got to get through him, but that world championship is what we’ve been looking for, so it’s very motivating going into a fight knowing that by winning I’ll get the title shot I’ve always been looking for. Just a couple of rounds away.”
Said Sanchez: “This is the kind of fight Alex needs to look good in and win and move to the next level. The guys [at Top Rank] are the best at developing fighters and now it’s up to him to excel. You have to go through these kinds of fights and fighters if you’re going to compete with the elite guys.”
A big part of getting Saucedo ready for Zappavigna and a possible title fight has been the work with Sanchez at his Summit Gym in Big Bear Lake, California.
“He just brings sharpness to my boxing skills,” Saucedo said of a camp in which he trains alongside Sanchez’s other fighters, including unified middleweight world champion Gennady Golovkin and unified cruiserweight titlist Murat Gassiev.
The fight will be Saucedo’s sixth under Sanchez’s tutelage.
“He’s punching much better and he has a lot more confidence,” Arum said of the improvements he has seen Saucedo make since going to work with Sanchez in 2016. “He always had quick hands and feet and now he is becoming a complete fighter under Abel. He wasn’t a complete fighter until he went to Abel.”
Besides Sanchez’s teaching, Saucedo said he has benefited from training with his other top fighters.
“Training alongside those champions makes you want to be better; it motivates you,” Saucedo said. “We work off of each other and learn off of each other. [Training with Golovkin], it’s motivational, man, to see somebody like that at that level work as hard as he does and take the time to help us young guys coming up [who are] looking for the same dreams. It’s motivational to see somebody like that take the time and help us out with things, with punches. He doesn’t let us slack, not one bit. It’s like being in boot camp, but it’s helped me out tremendously.”
Sanchez said he has seen improvements in Saucedo since their pairing and he believes he is ready for a tough fight with Zappavigna and possibly a title shot after their 12-week camp.
“He came to me with very good skills,” Sanchez said. “The thing I thought he was lacking was meanness. I’m trying to get him to be a little meaner, wanting to put somebody out. He’s such a nice kid. That mentality is hard to break, but that’s what we’ve been working on along with technical stuff. He’s a work in progress but we’ve made good progress. We’re ready for this fight.”