Antonio DeMarco Speaks on Fighting Miguel Roman

Antonio DeMarco Speaks on Fighting Miguel Roman

 By: Press Releas

Photo By Bret "The Threat" Newton

March, 7, 2012 – The deciding moment for Antonio  DeMarco to take his destiny in his hands was the morning as a young teenager  when he awoke to find his mother crying at the kitchen table.  That day there  wasn’t a morsel to eat at the DeMarco home and Antonio understood that it was  time to grow up and contribute to their humble household.  Determined not to be  a burden on his parents and hoping to be able to help them get out of the  poverty that had so savagely taken ahold, DeMarco, at the tender age of  fourteen, embarked with just a backpack over his shoulder on a journey that  would lead him to one day capture the WBC lightweight title and realize one of  his wildest dreams.

DeMarco first traveled to Mexico  City where he would try his luck not in the ring but on a soccer field.  When  that plan didn’t bear any fruit, destiny grabbed ahold and led DeMarco to  Tijuana, Mexico.  Since his grandfather and an uncle had been Mexican national  middleweight champs, it was only logical that DeMarco would try his luck with a  pair of gloves strapped onto his hands.  It was precisely his uncle, Everardo  “Flash” Armenta, who took DeMarco to Tijuana and left him with more than capable  hands.  DeMarco was not only welcomed into the home of his trainer Romulo  Quirarte, fed and clothed, but was eventually also accepted into the family when  DeMarco married Quirarte’s granddaughter, Tania.  DeMarco is the son-in-law of  two-time world champion of Raul “Jibaro” Perez.

Now, twelve years later, the  twenty-six year old DeMarco (26-2-1, 19KOs) returns to his hometown of Los  Mochis as a world champion having captured the vacant green and gold belt last  October with one of the most memorable finishes in recent memory when he stopped  two-time world champion Jorge Linares in the eleventh round.  DeMarco will  defend his title for the first time versus fellow Mexican Miguel “Mickey” Roman (37-9, 28KOs) of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, at the Polideportivo Centenario on  Saturday, March 17th.  The twelve round championship bout will be broadcast live  in Mexico by Televisa.

DeMarco on that day when he saw  his mother cry:

“You can never forget the tears  of your mother.  Her tears helped me to take the path set out for me which led  to this marvelous moment that I live now.  I have to say that even to this day,  I can’t believe it but I am enjoying to the fullest.  It can not be possible  that the scrawny kid that left his home that day is now a world champion, I feel  very privileged.”

On his boxing career:

“What has happened  in the last five years is incredible.  It seems as if I rubbed a magic genie  bottle and he made all my wishes come true.  First I headlined on ShoBox and  that for me was incredible.  Then came the opportunity for the NABO title and  after that the interim WBC title versus Alfaro and I won those fights.  I then  faced Valero and I lost the title but I learned a lot from that fight.  It was a  loss that taught me more that my wins and it showed me what I was capable  of.”

On becoming a boxer:

“My mother cried  when I left home to come to Tijuana and I had problems with my father when he  found out that I wanted to be fighter.  Back then I was a kid of fourteen who  had a dream and it hurt to leave my family but now that I have my daughter  Camila, I understand my parents and I admire them for letting me leave home at  such a young age.  I am a world champion but that would have never happened if  they hadn’t let me go.”

On the people that helped him in  Tijuana:

“God gave me the opportunity and  we have won with hard work but it is an achievement that it is not only mine.   Not a lot of people know but there are many people that helped me when I first  got to Tijuana, that fed me, gave me a place to stay when I arrived to Tijuana  with nothing.  This opportunity I owe it to the Quirarte family, to the parents  of (Juan Pablo) Che-Che Lopez and Marvin Quintero.  If somebody deserves this  belt, its them because they were the ones that pushed me to get here as well as  my daughter Camila.  My biggest dream is to be able to send my daughter to  school and for her not to have the life that I did.  That is why this  opportunity to be a champion is also hers.”

On fighting in Los  Mochis:

“I want to thank Baja Boxing and  Mr. Gary Shaw because they are making another one of my dreams come true which  is to fight in my hometown of Los Mochis and in front of my people as a world  champion.  It will be my honor to defend my title in Los Mochis.  You don’t know  how motivated I am since they informed me that the fight would be in Los  Mochis.  I am going to come out with everything so not to disappoint anybody and  I want to dedicate the fight to all the fans of Los Mochis but with out  forgetting my beloved Tijuana.”

On Miguel “Mickey”  Roman:

“Roman is a great fighter,  aggressive who is always pushing forward but he is a fighter with virtues and  defects just like me.”

On the strategy versus  Roman:

“We are working on certain  things to take away his aggressiveness but to be honest sometimes the tactics  you work on in the gym don’t work in the ring.  That is why the thing that we  are going to do most in this fight is give it our all, our heart, our soul, our  will to be somebody and the desire to keep being a world champion.  That is what  is going to help me withstand everything and win the fight.”

On Romulo Quirarte:

“Romulo Quirarte is a man that  has a lot of experience.  He is a wonderful person.  God sent him to form good  men, more than fighters and world champions.  It is an honor for me that he is  in my corner or better said, it is a privilege for me to be in his corner.  It  is a big advantage to have him there.  He gives me tranquility and he is able to  transmit his experience in a way that makes you feel like you own the  ring.”

On his strength:

“Everybody sees me as this  lanky, skinny kid but I have the hunger to succeed and the will to win at life.   That is where my strength and that extra effort comes from.  I want to be  somebody and leave my mark.  I don’t want to be somebody just in boxing.  If God  grants me that, I will gratefully accept it but I am more interested in being a  good father, a good husband and a good gym mate.  To better myself as a human  being is what I am looking for.”