March 23, 2009 — WBC CABOFE Middleweight Champion and former Contender alum Miguel Espino (20-2-1, 9 KO’s) continued his winning ways by stopping former light middleweight champion Alex “Terra” Garcia in an impressive fashion this past Saturday night at the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California. In front of a packed celebrity crowd and TV sets all over the nation, Espino and Garcia traded shots for the first three rounds when Espino then dropped Garcia twice at the end of rounds’ four and five. After the sixth round, Garcia failed to come out for the seventh round which then led to a KO for Espino while retaining his WBC CABOFE title.
Long-time trainer John Bray had nothing but positive things to say about his pupil; “After a long year off, Miguel looked good and did what he had to do to continue his dream of being the Middleweight champion of the world. There is always room for improvement, but I was proud of the way he fought after taking a couple of hard shots from Garcia. It was a good fight and I’m looking forward to keeping him busy. “ Bray also added that: “Although Miguel was off for a year, it wasn’t because he wanted to be. He was set to fight three notable fighters but for some reason, negotiations failed weeks prior to each fight. I would have loved to keep him active but it just didn’t work out until this fight.”
When interviewed after the fight, Espino stated that: “After a year off, I felt rusty in the ring but I’m glad that I kept active in the gym the whole year and it paid off. Even though three fights failed to happen last year, I stayed busy at the gym (Fortune Gym) and just kept working hard, and like I said, it paid off. I was always in the gym preparing myself for a fight, even ready to take one on short notice. I take my hat off to Garcia, he fought a good fight and now I’m just ready to take it to the next level in preparation for a world title shot.”