Austin Trout, fighting at the lightest weight of his career, stopped Rosbel Montoya in two rounds Saturday.
Austin Trout made a strong impression in his first fight for his new team.
Trout, the headliner on the Impact Network’s first boxing show, hadn’t been in the ring since last May. He weighed in at 149¼ pounds – the lowest of his career – as part of a plan to move down to welterweight.
Still, he put Rosbel Montoya down three times and stopped him at 1:09 of the second round Saturday night at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino in Ruidoso, New Mexico, Trout’s home state.
The fact Montoya (17-10-1, 13 KOs) is a tier or two below the former junior middleweight titleholder obviously played a role in Trout’s dominance. The Mexican had lost seven of his previous eight fights and hadn’t fought at all in more than a year and a half, after all.
But Trout did what he came to do, gauge his effectiveness at the lower weight and win impressively. His previous low weight was 152½ in 2008.
“It was good,” Trout said afterward. “I won. I got the knockout. That’s an A+. It can always be better but this is my first time coming in at 149. I wanted to see how I felt. So far so good. Let’s try it again, let’s come back at 149 and see what we got next.”
Trout said he felt a difference in his power compared to his fights at 154 pounds.
“I feels good to move these people with my punches instead of having to finesse the whole fight,” he said.
Trout was asked who he wanted to fight next. His answer was predictable given his ambitions to win a title at 147 pounds.
“Where do I start?” he said. “Dany Garcia, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter … who’s the boy? … Errol Spence, Terence “Bud” Crawford … Terence Crawford for sure.”
Trout, plagued by inactivity the past several years, said he plans to fight at least three times this year.
The victory was the first for him since he outpointed Juan De Angel in February 2018. After that, he lost a majority decision to Jermell Charlo and drew with Terrell Gausha.
Teresa Tapia, wife of the late Johnny Tapia, is a promoter for the latest outlet featuring boxing programming, Impact Network.
Sometimes, he’s in a word. Sometimes, he’s in a look. Sometimes, he’s in an echo, a little bit like the sound of a distant speedbag filling an empty gym with a rhythm as comforting as it is haunting. Always, he is there for Teresa Tapia.
Johnny Tapia is gone, been gone for more than seven years. But his memory, his legacy, endures a lot like he did throughout 45 years full of conflict within the ropes and within himself. He was a showman. An angry man, too. His emotions and energy were always there, genuine and abundantly evident. He was crazy and caring, all at once.
His story lives on in film, books and forever in Teresa, his widow who is back as a promoter with a legacy to guide her through a rough-and-tumble business. It’s fitting in a way. Her late husband would never have strayed far from boxing. It’s safe to say he would have always been poised for another comeback, anther improbable return from the perilous edge.
Teresa, her late husband’s manager, is making that comeback. She’s a promoter for the Impact Network, which launches its boxing programming Saturday with former junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (31-5-1, 17 KOs) also in a comeback against Mexican Rosbel Montoya (17-9-1, 13 KOs) in Ruidoso, New Mexico.
Teresa Tapia said her return to boxing as a promoter is “like coming home.” AP Photo / Russell Contreras
“It’s like coming home,’’ Teresa said of her return to the familiar sights and sounds of a ringside scene that hasn’t changed much since her husband died on May 27, 2012 in Albuquerque.
She had left, drifted away, for about three years not long after Johnny’s death. She ran a home-health business and raised sons Johnny Lorenzo and Johnny Nikki. But there were always moments that brought her back.
She was there in Canastota, New York in 2017, standing in her late husband’s place alongside Evander Holyfield and Marco Antonio Barrera for his induction to the International Boxing Hall of Fame almost exactly five years after his death.
She watched her sons begin to follow their dad into the ring, Johnny Lorenzo as a junior-welterweight poised to make his pro debut and the younger Johnny Nikki as an amateur.
“Johnny Lorenzo looks a little bit like his dad,’’ she said. “Acts a little bit like him, too.’’
All the while, she heard from fans of her late husband, a three-division champion – junior bantamweight, bantamweight and featherweight.
‘’It’s amazing,’’ she said. “His fans are everywhere. Australia, China.’’
The Tapia story is compelling, in part for its ever-present danger. His drug use was no secret. He served four years in prison. Yet, his resiliency in the face of a self-destructive streak was astonishing. Even miraculous.
There were repeated brushes with death. Yet he came back and resumed his career. Teresa writes about one of those moments in the latest book about her late husband, “The Ghost of Johnny Tapia” by Paul Zanon.
In a forward, she writes about rushing to the hospital after getting news from her mom that Tapia was DOA, dead-on-arrival. When she arrived at the emergency room, however, there he was, up and running down the hallway.
He was a fighter in virtually every way, a motivation for Teresa.
“I want to further his legacy,’’ said Teresa, who will be involved in promoting cards and producing television documentaries on the fighters in each of the 52 shows planned by Impact over the next two years. “I think it’s important.
“Mostly, I hope to be the kind of promoter Johnny would want me to be. He was for the fighters. Always for the fighters.’’
Follow Norm Frauenheim on Twitter at @FrauenheimNorm
Austin Trout is excited about his future as part of a new team and a new television deal that will give him more control over his career.
Austin Trout has a new team, a new network, new weight class and a new lease on his career.
The former junior middleweight titleholder, who faces Rosbel Montoya on Saturday in Ruidoso, New Mexico on the Impact Network, is a perennial contender who has become known for giving spirited efforts but falling just short in his biggest fights.
One nagging problem, he says: Inactivity, which he contends makes it difficult to establish the rhythm necessary to succeed on a high level. He has fought only five times since September 2015, which is a little more than once a year.
Why?
“There’s no real reason for me to be as inactive as I’ve been,” the 34-year-old told Boxing Junkie. “I wasn’t injured, I wasn’t suspended, I had no legal trouble. Nothing like that. I was always in the gym waiting for a call. I guess my handlers just didn’t think it was profitable to keep me busy.
“I do know for this part of my career I can’t sit and wonder, ‘What if?’”
Austin Trout is coming off a solid performance in a draw with Terrell Gausha. Jamie Morton / Beau Rivage Resort Casino
That’s where the new people in his life some in.
Trout (31-5-1, 17 KOs) is a centerpiece in the partnership between the Las Vegas-based promotional firm American Dream Presents and Impact Network, an inspirational outlet that will broadcast 52 live boxing shows over the next two years.
No more sitting around waiting for phone calls. Trout said he hopes fight at least three times and possible more this year as he builds toward another shot at a major title.
“They have so many dates,” he said. “… Almost twice a month. I’ll have the opportunity to pick the dates I want, which is a blessing. My whole life was wrapped around when I was going to fight. I never picked a fight date. I was told, ‘You fight on this date,’ especially the last five years.
“There was never any room to say, ‘No, I don’t like that date,’ when I needed to fight. Now I have a little more control.”
Of course, a big question is this: How will Trout perform in those fights?
Well, if his most-recent fight – a draw against capable Terrell Gausha – is an indiction, he has more to give. And, he said, he feels good. One benefit to fighting infrequently is that you spar your body the wear and tear of a more-regular schedule.
“I feel like I’m a young 34,” he said.
Trout’s victory over Miguel Cotto (left) in 2012 was career defining. He has endured a lot of disappointment since then. Elsa / Getty Images
That’s also the opinion of his Trout’s trainer, Rob Garcia, who has been working with veteran trainer Jesse Reid for this fight. Garcia, who first built his name as a strength and conditioning coach, said Trout checks all the physical boxes – speed, balance, reflexes, the ability to anticipate. Trout has it all.
And, just as important, he is in a good place emotionally because of his new opportunities.
“I think he’s re-energized,” Garcia said. “He’s re-motivated, which is where he belongs. At this point, at 34 years old, this will be his time to push, his time to seal his legacy as one of the best fighters of his time.”
And it appears that push will take place at 147 pounds, not 154, his primary weight since he turned pro in 2005.
One reason for the move is obvious: Potential big fights abound at 147, where the likes of Manny Pacquiao, Errol Spence Jr, Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter reside. And he said a new fitness regimen has changed his body, which has made 147 a natural weight.
Trout is fighting Montoya (17-9-1, 13 KOs) at a catch weight of 151.
“I didn’t think it (making 147) was possible until I changed my diet up,” he said. “I do body scans, which tell you how much fat, water and muscle you have. Looking at the numbers, I have enough to heathfully make 147.
“… I used to walk around at 186. Now I walk around at 170 to 172. I don’t get as big anymore. I can get down to 147 for sure.”
Trout acknowledges that his one-sided decision over Miguel Cotto in 2012 – a career-defining fight that was followed by his loss to Canelo Alvarez – seems like a lifetime ago. Since then, as we said, he has had to endure more than his share of disappointments.
One thing never deserted him, though: Love of the sport, which he says is as strong as ever. Without that, there’s nothing.
“I still enjoy it, I still love it,” he said. “That’s why I’m doing it. The love is strained sometimes. Boxing is an asshole, if you know what I mean. But, yes, I love the game. It’s done so much for me and my family. It’s allowed me to see the world. I’m looking to get a fight in Ireland in April and then come home Albuquerque [New Mexico]. After that we’ll look around and see what we can do.
“… We weren’t supposed to be champion the first time. I didn’t belong to anyone at that time. I just fought and climbed the rankings until no one could deny. Like before, I’m just going to keep fighting.”
