By Dave Spencer
With a new North American trade agreement in place, 28-year-old Mexican heavyweight Isaac Munoz Gutierrez hopes to make a statement in all three countries as he looks forward to his US debut in Texas come April. Co-promoted by Canadian-based United Promotions and Philadelphia’s Banner Promotions, look for major push by the newly signed former amateur star who managed to rack up 220 wins before turning pro.
Sporting a 12-0-1 with 10 KO’s record as a pro, Gutierrez was also a participant in the AIBA 2013 World Series of Boxing. “I have a couple of other fighters with his manager,” promoter Don MacDonald told Fightnews.com® from Toronto. “Any time I’d go down to Mexico I’d seem him and you can tell instantly that he was a very polished fighter. I really believe he has the ability to go far.”
MacDonald like so many is waiting out present Covid-19 conditions and is looking towards the fall to put on his highly popular Toronto-based shows where he usually gets upwards to 5,000 enthusiastic spectators for his cards. While he has managed to bring a handful of fighters to the championship level such Brandon Cook and Denton Daley, MacDonald knew developing a world class heavyweight was a different beast entirely.
“You have to already be in that business, being Canadian based, who does he really fight up here in Canada? To develop a heavyweight in the real boxing world, you have to already have heavyweights, you have to be a player in that division. As a small to midsize promoter, I can’t just wake up and decide I’m going to deal in the heavyweight division. It’s a different animal.”
“I’m excited,” says Gutierrez about signing with United and Banner Promotions. “I look forward on challenging the best in the division.”
“His manager (Manuel Garrido) approached me and we did a couple of fights in Mexico and we did well, but when I saw the potential in it, I went to Art Pelullo (of Banner Promotions) who I’ve known for a long time and reached out to him. He had some of his guys review him and the verdict was this guy could be somebody.
“It’s a joint promotion and it’s going to be exciting, he’ll fight in Canada, he’ll fight in the US and the end goal is to go after somebody like an Andy Ruiz and get himself into a title eliminator.”
Gutierrez’s manager Garrido is equally excited, “Issac is a very polished fighter with lots of international experience. I’m confident that under Banner Promotions he will be a threat in the heavyweight division.”
With the signing, it looks as if the training wheels will be taken off and level of opposition ratcheted up. Right out of the gate, Gutierrez is slated to meet veteran Russian Andrey Fetisov (31-3 25KO).
“It’s not as if we’re developing him at this point,” said MacDonald, “We’re just getting him that level of competition so he can shine like we know he can. He’s not somebody who couldn’t make weight and turned to the heavyweight division, he grew naturally into his body and trains very, very hard. He’s a solid thick guy and we couldn’t get him to cruiser if my life depended on it,” said the promoter of Gutierrez who stands at 6’2” and goes into the ring at about 230 pounds.
His best tool according to MacDonald is his jab, that of a light-heavyweight stating if you’re coming into things with a jab like that, everything else should fall into place. “His transition has been a smooth one. We’d like to get him up here sometime soon, but right now everything is hinged around the fight with Fedosov, but I don’t think there’s too many heavyweights out there who come into it with the experience Isaac does. With his age, he’s not a child, he’s a full grown man with kids. You get the professionalism, you get the experience and you get a guy who knows boxing. That’s a pretty good equation.
Good amateur but very green in the pro ranks. Suspiciously also is who in the world is veteran Russian Andrey Fetisov (31-3 25KO). He’s nowhere to be seen online or on boxrec???
It’s Andrey Fedosov, just a typo. He’s been around quite some time. Pretty good fighter, but not active. Hasn’t fought since Oct ’18. Beat Joey Dawejko in his last fight. If Gutierrez is decent at all, he should come out on top. BTW, I’m not sure what his management is smoking saying this guy is a solid in-shape 230. Looks pretty pudgy, even trying to suck his gut in.
Awesome thanks for the info!
They spelled his name wrong in the article. It’s Andrey Fedosov. He’s been inactive for a couple of years. I saw him knock Donovan Dennis out a few years ago. Has losses to Lance Whittaker and Bryant Jennings. He was once a pretty solid fighter…
That photo of him brought David Rodriguez, the Heavyweight from a few years ago, to mind.
That pic makes him look like an old school roughneck who made a few extra bucks knocking out all comers in underground bare knuckle fights in the oil fields!
Did a little Google search of the guy- He turned pro with a wealth of amateur experience in 2011 as a Super Middleweight, his last fight in 2019 he weighed 285lbs! That’s over a 115lb difference! Red Flag!!! He did that World Series Boxing thing for a couple years after turning pro and fought as a lightheavyweight. Based on his record, he didn’t seem to do that well there. He came back to normal professsional boxing in 2016 and has fought as heavyweight since then, with his weight steadily rising. I know nothing of the guy, but I wouldn’t expect him to be challenging Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury anytime soon. Perhaps a “La Batalla de los Gordsisimos” with Andy Ruiz!