“This is my chance, this is my life!”

By Przemek Garczarczyk

“Lot of people are like, ‘Fres, I don’t know how you do it. A lot of people are retiring and forgetting boxing. How you do it?!’ It’s my mind. I’ve been through the gutter. Born in the roughest part of Puerto Rico, been in the roughest projects of Chicago, I’ve seen it all. I’ve lived in the gutter. And here I am today, after all these sacrifices as a youth, and now I’m helping others persevere in my country that was devastated last August, here I am in my career on the cusp of finally fighting someone who is clean, who hopefully passes all these tests and we’ll have an even playing field. I’m just blessed,” said longtime boxing veteran and heavyweight contender Fres Oquendo (37-8, 24 KOs) in a Fightnews.com® interview.

Oquendo is preparing in Chicago for his September 29 bout (in Cologne, Germany) against Manuel Charr (31-4, 17 KOs) for the WBA regular heavyweight championship of the world.