By Marc “Kid Huevos” Livitz

The shutdown caused by the current global pandemic has sent many into a justified panic, while at the same time delivering those of us on the safe side a super size dose of cabin fever. The theme I’ve attempted to set with this series of interviews over the past few weeks is the basic idea that professional fighters aren’t so different from most of us. We’ve all experienced our own versions of setbacks over the past two months and some within the boxing ranks have been dealt one upon the next, as I found out earlier this week when I spoke to super featherweight contender Victor Morales, JR.

As the personable 22 year-old native of the Pacific Northwest shared with me during a pleasant phone call, a broken pinky finger meant his next bout originally scheduled for late March would be scrapped. Shortly after receiving the bad news, the whole world basically got some of its own. In any case, this was likely small fries for him, as a childhood bout with Meningitis at age 4 left him paralyzed from the waist down for almost a year. He’s always credited his father Victor, Sr. with helping him stay positive throughout his life as he went on to put together an impressive amateur record of 118 wins against 12 losses.

In addition, he won three separate national championship awards as he also nabbed an ‘outstanding fighter’ prize in 2014. Perhaps the oddest thing about our chat was the fact that Morales, 13-0, 7 KO’s, was telling me how Washington state was in the midst of a heat wave, after which I replied that central Texas was getting hammered by heavy rain. It’s usually the other way around, right?

ML: Hey, Victor, great talking with you again, my friend. What have you been up to these past few months as much of the world was seemingly put on hold?

“My family runs a pressure washing business and we’ve stayed very busy. There’s been all kinds of business, such as sanitation on shopping carts at grocery stores and the concrete in parking lots. I manage it and make sure everything runs smooth.”

ML: So, what were you doing and where were you when you heard that everything had to stop due to the Coronavirus?

“I had broken my left hand just before I was all set for a fight at the end of March at the Forum in LA. I shattered the pinky bone and I needed three surgeries to fix it.”

ML: Dang! How’d you break your hand so badly?

“It was one of those heavy bags that you fill up with water. I was just training at home and I ended up leaving it outside overnight. We had a hard freeze in the area but I didn’t think anything of it. We brought it back inside and I basically punched a block of ice. I knew right away that something was wrong.”

ML: So, that pretty much shut you down before the actual shutdown.

“Yes, but for me, it was almost like a blessing in disguise. The whole card was canceled, of course. I had thoughts of having to watch all the fights with a huge cast on my hand. I’d be sitting down watching everyone else fight and I’d be even more miserable. It’s okay, though because I know that everyone’s been affected by all of this.”

ML: You last fought around Thanksgiving last year. What did you take away from your bout against Diuhl Olguin down in Indio (California)?

“It was definitely a hard lesson learned because he wasn’t my original opponent. He got lost driving up there once he passed the border. Still, this guy I fought was ready and I had no clue who he was. I learned that he’d given losses to previously undefeated fighters. I found out a day before the weigh-in, so I had to just recall back to my amateur days and remember that I always had to be ready.”

ML: Have you been able to do much in terms of training?

“My doctor slowly started to clear me for certain activities after around a month and a half. I’d been just running and shadow boxing. My gym closed at the end of February and my dad was able to pick up an Olympic weight set, so I started lifting very light weights. We’ve slowly added some things to the pot like plyometric exercises and I recently started throwing again at the heavy bag.”

ML: Have you ventured out much?

“Oh, yes. From where I live, you can go north to Seattle or go east to play in the snow and there’s a lot of beaches between Washington and Oregon. We took some quads out to the sand dunes over Memorial Day weekend.”

ML: Did any bad habits creep in while you were recovering and waiting? Anything like staying up too late or eating a little too much?

“Well, for stuff like eating, every athlete changes when things slow down. We eat a bunch of food so that we can burn it off. If you fuel up and don’t use it, then you have to find a way to get rid of it. But I’ve been staying in shape and keeping my weight under check. I’m still on track to keep fighting at 126 (pounds). I usually walk around at about 140 or so.”

ML: Well, Victor, thanks so much for your time today. I do have one last question, though and I’ve asked every fighter I’ve interviewed in this series for their opinion on former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz, JR. joining up with the Canelo Alvarez camp. He didn’t look great in his rematch with Anthony Joshua, so do you think they can help him?

“Well, it all depends on his mentality. I was skeptical when (WBC super lightweight silver champion) Ryan Garcia moved over to them. I thought they couldn’t help him but he’s a superstar now, so we can only hope it helps out with Andy Ruiz, JR. He’s a grown man. I’m kind of just waiting. Obviously, I hope the best for him. One of his coaches, Manny Robles always said that he had trouble motivating him and that Andy’s dad would come up with excuses.”

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