For the territory’s professional boxers to keep climbing the ranks, they have to stay busy in the ring. The group’s managers said Monday that the next step forward is Argentina, and a five-bout fight card where John Jackson, Julius Jackson and Samuel Rogers are being billed as the main attractions.
The link between 340 Boxing and Argentina lies with international boxing champion Sergio Martinez, who pulled Rogers and Julius Jackson into his training in Spain earlier this year and used them as his chief sparring partners as he prepared to take on England’s Martin Murray.
Martinez, an Argentina native, is the current WBC middleweight champion — a title he was able to keep after beating Murray in April.
Now, the 340 Boxing camp is preparing to blaze the same trail. While there’s no title in contention yet, the fights: will take place on Dec. 7 at the historic 20,000 seat Chateau Carreras Olympic Stadium in Cordoba, Argentina. It will help to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the town’s legendary soccer club and will pit the 340 boxers against their toughest opponents to date.
"It’s a big celebration night, but we know that we’re going into our opponents’ home town so we want to make sure that we bring it," 340 Manager Jose "Tony" Rosario said at a press conference held on St. Thomas Monday to announce the fights.
According to the fight card, Julius Jackson (16-0, 12 KOs) will be the main attraction of the night, taking on Argentina’s Marcos Hector Vergara (28-3, 21 KOs). At the press conference, Jackson said he’s not worried about his opponent’s record.
"Right now, I don’t know much about him, but I’ve looked up his record and he has fought for a few minor Latino titles," Jackson said of Vergara. "But I’ve been looking for a good fight to test myself, and I’m hoping to go the distance with him and see how it goes.
“We’ve been looking for tougher opponents and I’m excited to have a good challenge – but at the end of the day, I think we’re the best in the world, so if he’s not the best in the world, then he’s not going to win. We’ll just see what he has."
John Jackson’s bout, another co-main event, will also feature Argentina’s Carlos Adan "El Malevo" Jerez (37-16-3, 18 KOs). Speaking Monday, Jackson (17-1, 14 KOs) said he’s been making the most of his training since August’s Paradise in Paradise VI fights and is looking forward to maintaining some of signature moves.
"As usual, we’re training hard, especially in the morning," Jackson said of his daily routine. "We are just staying focused with our whole team, but we’re continuing to improve on what we did in the last fight. What I want to transition over into this fight is my jab, which I had in the last fight. Normally, I just go and throw a lot of right hands, and I forget about my jab, but last fight I didn’t and I want to bring it into this fight as well, and of course, just continue to improve from there."
Out of the three, Rogers (14-0, 8 KOs) is the most ready to break into the big ring. While John Jackson is ranked ninth in world and Julius Jackson fifteenth, Rogers is being touted by boxing experts to be a major super welterweight prospect, who will be testing his mettle next month against Argentina’s Guillermo Suarez (14-3, 4 KOs).
"I know this guy has a winning record, 14-3, but what we want right now is tough fights because we want to climb the ranks and top the charts," Rogers said Monday.
"In order to be the best in the world, you have to fight the best and a lot of boxers out there, they kind of look at a fight like this and over-estimate their opponent and that’s one thing we don’t do. We fight every bout like it’s for a world title and we train hard, extremely hard and yeah, we want tough fights. Tough fights, where we beat them, climb the ranks and be world champions one of these days."
No stranger to the spotlight, 340 Boxing trainer Julian "The Hawk" Jackson added Monday that getting to the championship ranks is the natural next step for his elite professionals.
"These guys are evolving right now and are bringing something that the boxing world needs and I really believe that they are going to bring the excitement, the speed, the power that a lot of people have been looking for," Jackson said. "Why? Because they’re hungry and they want to make this thing work."
Rosario said that an eight-man group will be heading to Argentina next month — the three fighters, plus three trainers, Rosario and a cut man — and that the next step will be to raise the approximately $30,000 needed to cover expenses, purses and other costs. As the group prepares to raise funds, anyone interested in donating can call (340) 998-1166 or (340) 643-3332.
The upcoming year is going to be the biggest yet for the group, Rosario added.
"Where these guys are right now, they are there in the top echelon," he said. "The press know who they are, the people in boxing know who they are, HBO, ESPN know who they are – and the calls are coming in for fights.
“This 2014 is going to be a very, very big year for 340 boxing, but we need to get over this hump first," Rosario said.
