{"id":76578,"date":"2018-11-29T13:27:20","date_gmt":"2018-11-29T18:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=76578"},"modified":"2018-11-29T13:58:50","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T18:58:50","slug":"undefeated-prospect-richard-popeye-the-sailor-man-rivera-returns-to-the-ring-this-friday-night-boxing-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=76578","title":{"rendered":"Undefeated Prospect Richard &#8220;Popeye The Sailor Man&#8221; Rivera  Returns to the Ring This Friday Night &#8211; Boxing News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\">[AdSense-A]<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=76578\" rel=\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=76578\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-76579 size-medium\" style=\"margin-right: 10px;\" src=\"http:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Rivera-300x297.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a>Undefeated prospect Richard &#8220;Popeye The Sailor Man&#8221; Rivera will take his act South this Friday night, when he fights Joshua Robertson in a \u201cstay busy\u201d fight on the \u201cBoxing Bash\u201d card, presented by Christy Martin Promotions, at Centerstage@Noda in Charlotte, North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>Rivera vs. Robertson, contested at a 185-pounds catchweight, will be co-promoted by Rivera\u2019s promoter, Hartford Boxing Promotions.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Rivera (8-0, 7 KOs), the reigning Universal Boxing Federation (UBF) All America light heavyweight champion, is part of a trio that formed Hartford Boxing Promotions earlier this year, including Rivera\u2019s manager\/head trainer Tony Blanco and their partner, Michael Tran.<\/p>\n<p>Fighting out of Hartford (CT), Rivera has rejuvenated that market, whose rich boxing history dates back nearly a full century, headlined by International Hall of Famers Willie &#8220;Will o&#8217; the Wisp&#8221; Pep and Christopher &#8220;Battling&#8221; Battalino. Other top-area boxers include world champion Marlon &#8220;Magic Man&#8221; Starling, world title challengers Gaspar &#8220;El Indio&#8221; Ortega, and Israel &#8220;Pito&#8221; Cardona, and 1996 USA Olympic Boxing Team captain Lawrence Clay-Bey.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NtT42gG6bdg\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nNow, though, it\u2019s Rivera\u2019s time to shine. Arguably the hardest-hitting, most popular fighter in New England, Rivera hit Randy Campbell so hard this past April in New Hampshire that the force of his powerful right broke his opponent\u2019s ankle only seconds into the contest.<\/p>\n<p>Rivera has developed a strong fan-base throughout New England and now he\u2019s bringing his \u201cPopeye\u201d persona to the South for the first time. &#8220;This is a good opportunity to expand my \u2018Popeye\u2019 brand,&#8221; Rivera said. &#8220;My last fight was in Mexico and this fight is in North Carolina. We\u2019re on our way to going worldwide. I have a lot of family in North Carolina, Fayetteville and Raleigh, so I won\u2019t be alone down there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe 2019 won\u2019t be much different that my first year as a pro. I\u2019ll be getting a lot of fights and I think that, by the end of next year, I\u2019ll be fighting for something big. I stay in top shape in case a good opportunity comes around. I\u2019m confident and I\u2019ve really benefitted from being Joe Smith\u2019s sparring partner. This fight is about staying sharp because I don\u2019t like having too much time off. The plan is to fight in a different part of the country, get a victory, and then remain in top shape.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The wildly popular Rivera originally got his nickname because, when he was younger, his forearms were considerably larger than his biceps. Fighters in the gym jokingly teased Rivera about his enlarged forearms, calling him &#8220;Popeye,&#8221; and the nickname has stuck. Now, Rivera showcases his Popeye persona in full, which has added many females and children to his growing fanbase, and he attributes his wins to eating his spinach to be good to the finish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFighters today need to be more than talented,\u201d added promoter Christy \u201cThe Coal Minder\u2019s Daughter\u201d Martin, the two-division world champion who was a women\u2019s boxing pioneer. I haven\u2019t seen him (Rivera) fight yet, but I\u2019ve been impressed by what I\u2019ve heard about him. He\u2019s a great addition to our card. Rivera is a big guy with power and everybody wants to see big guys. But he\u2019s also smart, marketing wise, by capitalizing on \u2018Popeye.\u2019 He gets it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blanco connected with Martin through social media and, as he explained, things went smoothly from there to place Rivera on that card. \u201cWe want to keep Richard busy and then have a breakout year in 2019,\u201d Blanco noted. \u201cThe beauty of Richard is that he stays busy and works hard, sometimes when he\u2019s training by himself. Boxing is his job and I believe he\u2019s destined for greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Robertson (7-11, 2 KOs), of Lynchburg, Virginia, has fought the likes of unified world junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd, former USBA middleweight title holder Luis Arias, and ex- WBC FECARBOX welterweight titlist Thomas LaManna.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets are priced at $70.00 (ringside) and $35.00 (general admission and available to purchase at the venue.<\/p>\n<p>Doors open at 6 p.m. ET with the first bout scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n<p>All fights and fighters are subject to change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[AdSense-A] Undefeated prospect Richard &#8220;Popeye The Sailor Man&#8221; Rivera will take his act South this Friday night, when he fights Joshua Robertson in a \u201cstay busy\u201d fight on the \u201cBoxing Bash\u201d card, presented by Christy Martin Promotions, at Centerstage@Noda in Charlotte, North Carolina. Rivera vs. Robertson, contested at a 185-pounds catchweight, will be co-promoted by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[19245],"class_list":["post-76578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-undefeated-prospect-richard-popeye-the-sailor-man-rivera-returns-to-the-ring-this-friday-night-boxing-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76578"}],"version-history":[{"count":-2,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76578\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}