Q&A: Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera Controversially dethroned WBA Interim Super Lightweight champ Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera is still trying to figure out how he is without his belt after it was slipped from around his waist and adorned around that of his opponent on Saturday night- Jose Benavidez. In a questionably scored bout that raised the eyebrows of many- Herrera lost a unanimous decision by scores of 116-112 twice and 117-111 to the undefeated Benavidez. A dejected Herrera graciously took the time to talk at the Japonais Restaurant in the Mirage Hotel and Casino nearly twenty four hours after his fight. Mauricio, thank you or taking the time to talk after your controversial loss to Benavidez. What are you thoughts about how the fight went at this point? I was feeling sad. I don’t know why, but I had a feeling that something was gonna go wrong when they announced the score cards. Then they announced Benavidez…I heard “Jose Benavidez,” and I wasn’t angry, I was just numb. I just, I’ve been there like three times in my career- three robberies-I was just shocked. I didn’t know how to react. It hurt me. It hurt me more than feeling angry. It hurt me to hear them call his name, he won the belt, they were screaming. I didn’t know what to think. I was speechless. Did you have any sense of him winning any of the rounds? What credit do you give him as far as anything he did in the ring? I felt I was doing a lot of work in the beginning, investing in the body. Somehow the judges don’t count my body punches, whether they’re jabs or hooks, whatever they are. Same with the Danny Garcia fight. But you know what, I had a game plan: go to the body, wear him out. I don’t think I was getting credit for the work I was doing. He would score towards the end of the round, trying to steal the rounds with some of those sharp shots near the end. And he won some of those. I give him like three rounds, three or four. But I don’t think he did enough throughout the whole round. I was working throughout the whole round, being aggressive and he wasn’t doing much, just trying to steal rounds here and there. So that’s why I felt that I was ahead and winning the fight. That’s what the buzz was, that you would be working for two-and-a-half minutes of the round and he’d come on at the last thirty seconds to try and steal it. Yeah, he’d try to take my credit away, all the work I did earlier, like three fourths of the round and he’d throw a three punch combination and try to steal the round! Maybe they (the judges) thought that, but I didn’t think it was fair. Do you feel that the public reaction, the network reaction, will bode well for you in getting a rematch and was there a clause in the contract for a rematch? No clause in the contract, but they look like good people. They look like they will allow me a rematch. His dad himself came to the locker room (after the fight) and was talking to my manager and trainer while I was going to take a shower. I heard him saying, “You know what, we didn’t think we won the fight, but they gave us the fight. We’re not the judges, so what can we do?” I heard that and they admit it themselves. They were shocked they won the fight so that says it all right there. They should give us a rematch. We gave them the opportunity so maybe they’ll give us the rematch. If not, there’s nothing I can do about it, we’ll move on a fight bigger and better guys. Is anyone in your camp talking to the WBA about it and have you heard any reaction from the WBA about the decision? We haven’t heard anything. We have Robert Diaz from Golden Boy, he was disgusted. Oscar was kinda mad. The fight just happened. Maybe by Monday or Tuesday of next week they’ll call me in, we’ll have a little meeting. They gotta do something about these judges, at least try. Give them a little scare or something. This is going on too much now. Well Oscar himself did mention that he was at your fight and that he felt there was no way you lost that fight. Yeah, I mean most everybody at ringside had me winning that fight. I’m hearing comments- Max Kellerman said some good things about me. It was very kind hearing what they said and it was exactly what I felt. It (the decision) was hurtful. It didn’t make me angry it made me more sad. How does a decision like this- and it’s happened to you more than once, keep you from getting discouraged and keep going? Well it’s tough. I love boxing so much and you know going into it there’s corruption and there’s crookedness there. But I love it so much, you gotta keep going, you gotta keep motivated because I know the people see it. They’re the judges, they see the fight. The only ones I can’t beat are the judges. I can beat everyone else but I can’t beat the judges. The people are the judges and that keeps me going- reading comments, meeting people that are on my side that think I won. That keeps me alive. I been boxing all my life since I was a kid. There’s good and bad in boxing and you just gotta take it and roll with it. I’m a little sad, maybe get depressed for a little while but it’ll go away and I’ll come back. You’ve been on the wrong side of these decisions before. Is there something about your style that lends itself to this happening? Have you thought about making adjustments at all? Well the thing is, I’ve been fighting this way all my life. It’s kinda of hard to make a whole turn around. I fight the only way I know how and that’s to frustrate the guys. I don’t have a lot of power. I throw a lot of punches. I try to be a technician in there. So I work with what I have. I try to go out there and sometimes fight like I have power, which I don’t. So I fight to give the people a good fight, an entertaining fight. It’s all I can do. I can’t really change much of what I’ve been taught. Well hopefully the public opinion will sway the powers that be in you getting a rematch soon. Oh yeah, my head’s high. We’re motivated and ready for the next one in 2015!
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 12:59:04 +0000