Don’t Tell Robert “Tito” Manzanarez 15 is Too Young to Turn Pro!
By: Ken Hissner
It was 3 months past his 15th birthday when Phoenix, AZ, born (2/17/94) Robert “Tito” Manzanarez turned professional in Los Mochis, Mexico, when he stopped Jose Rosario Lopez in 0:32. At 5:07 he only weighed 110¾ and scored another win just some 8 days later weighing 123¾ but returning to his flyweight weight some 4 weeks later in his third bout.
Manzanarez was 9-0 in 2010 in 4 round bouts. In 2011 he was 7-0 in all 6 round bouts. In July of 2011 he faced his first opponent with a winning record in Cristian Aguilar, 5-1, scoring a first round knockout which was his eleventh bout weighing 122. It was his second scheduled 6 round bout.
Two fights later Manzanarez defeated Edgar Alfredo Martinez, 6-1, over 6 rounds. He would go onto score 8 straight stoppages after this fight before suffering his first career loss to Alejandro Barrera, 21-11, by stoppage in the 4th round of a scheduled 6 round bout. He would defeat 13 straight winning record opponents after this up until his most recent bout including reversing his loss on November 17th in 2012. He was 5-1 in 2012. He had his first scheduled 8 round bout in June of 2012.
In February of 2013 Manzanarez would be back in the ring starting a 6 straight stoppage wins including a third round knockout over Barrera in a re-match on November 16th 2013. In May of 2013 he had his first scheduled 10 round bout in May and going just 4-0 in 2013. In 2014 he also went 4-0.
In August of 2014 Manzanarez faced Ricardo Castillo, 40-11-1, who in 2009 fought for the IBF World featherweight title which ended in a TD3 and Castillo never got a rematch. Manzanarez stopped Castillo in the third round. In his next bout he won a 10 round decision over Hector Velazquez, 56-23-3, in December.
In 2015 Manzanarez only had 3 bouts with 2 by stoppage. He would come in at 140 in one of these bouts which has been his highest weight as of yet. In 2016 he returned some 4 months later in a bout scheduled for 6 rounds. He knocked out Carlos Joan Jacobs, 20-11-1, in the second round. In his previous bout he turned 21. It would be his only bout in 2016.
It would be another 11 months before Manzanarez would fight again and his first bout outside of Mexico, in the US. On February 17th of 2017 he scored a 4th round knockout with a body shot in a scheduled 8 round bout over former super featherweight champion Gamaliel Diaz, 40-15-3, at the Belasco Theater, in Los Angeles, CA.
Manzanarez 35-1 (28), on May 18th defeated Erick Daniel Martinez, 13-7-1 (7), over 8 rounds at the Casino Del Sol in Tucson, AZ, his home state for the first time since turning professional after 7 years of fighting. At 22 he is a name to watch!