The number one prospect in Nicaragua is widely thought to be Carlos “Chocorroncito” Buitrago. He’s only just 18 and had also ready been a pro for 22 months going 14-0(10). Buitrago is the WBO 1# & WBA 14# at Strawweight and hopes to stay busy and improve his rankings in the remainder of the year. The Managua native will next be back in action on 30 April. Here’s what he had to say.
Hello Carlos, welcome to 15rounds.com
Anson Wainwright – How are things? Any news on when you’ll be back in action?
Carlos Buitrago – Hello Anson, thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I really appreciate it. Its one of the first times I have had an interview for an English speaking site. I am going to fight again on the 30th of April in a show to be held in Nicaragua. I am really happy to be back in action again.
Anson Wainwright – Your last fight you went 8 rounds which is the furthest you’ve had to go so far as a pro, how did you find it?
Carlos Buitrago – I had to work a lot for that win. I was in the ring with a veteran who has been in the ring with some of the best fighters in the world at that weight such as world champions Eduardo Marquez, Juan Palacios and Roman Gonzalez. I had a good victory but he made me work hard every round. I was able to knock him down in the early rounds but was not able to knock him out.
Anson Wainwright – Your perhaps a bit of a secret outside of Nicaragua. Can you tell us a bit about your fighting style?
Carlos Buitrago – I try to style myself after Jorge Linares and Tito Trinidad. I use my jab a lot, a lot of lateral movement, and throw punches in spurts. I practice a double hook like Trinidad and I am getting quite accurate with it. I am however, working on adding more variety to might fight style. There are some clips of my fights on youtube.com and the guys from my promotion company PRODESA regularly web stream their shows thru their website www.prodesa.com.ni.
Anson Wainwright – You turned pro very young. What persuaded you to go professional at just 16? In the last 18 months how much do you feel you have grown as a fighter?
Carlos Buitrago – I wanted to turn pro at around the age of 15. I was tired of being an amateur boxer. I had more than 174 fights as an amateur and felt that things were no longer very challenging. I wanted a challenge and the chance to earn a little money. My family is poor and I was seeing how other kids in our gym were earning fame, status and good money through boxing. I started sparring with some pros and I soon realized that I was a better boxer than most of them. After I saw that I knew that I wanted to become a professional boxer. In the past 18 months I have improved a lot. I understand better now how important lateral movement and a fast jab can be to open up your offense.
Anson Wainwright – You are from the same team as WBA 105 champion Roman Gonzalez. You are both at the same weight, do you spar together at all? If so how did you find it and in your opinion how good is Gonzalez?
Carlos Buitrago – Gonzalez is extremely talented. He does not have very many weaknesses hence his standing as a world champion. I think he is the best 105 pound boxer in the world. He is super strong and naturally gifted. I spar with him as well as IBF Youth Champ Yader Escobar (23-2, 15 kos, WBA #3, IBF #5) quiet often. They are both very strong fighters with good technique. Even though they beat me up quite often, sparring with them as helped me improve as a fighter. I have also sparred with former WBC minimum weight interim champ Juan Palacios.
Anson Wainwright – What are your hopes for your career in 2010? Perhaps some regional titles? Maybe fight on Gonzalez undercards possibly abroad to gain experience?
Carlos Buitrago – I have high expectations for 2010. Not only do I expect to fight between 5 and 6 times this year but I also want to have the chance to defend my WBO Youth World Championship belt. I know that my management team has spoken with the head of Teiken Promotions of Japan and a possible debut on Asian soil is not out of the question before the year is over. Basically I just want to keep as active as possible and develop the most that I can as a fighter.
Anson Wainwright – Your nickname is Chocorroncito. Where does that come from and how did you get that nickname?
Carlos Buitrago – My nickname roughly translates into English to “Roach”. I inherited that nickname from an uncle of mine who was a professional soccer player in the 60’s and 70’s. My family is full of athletes. My father Mauricio used to be a professional boxer. My brother Julio and I followed in his footsteps. My father currently is one of the head trainers of the Prodesa Boxing team to which I belong.
Anson Wainwright – Who was your hero growing up?
Carlos Buitrago – My hero and my mentor is Alexis Arguello. He helped train me since I was 8 until a few days before his death. He is the standard which I want to measure my career by. Before his death I promised him that I would become world champion and I plan to keep my promise.
Anson Wainwright – What do you like to do away from Boxing when your not training or fighting?
Carlos Buitrago – My family and I are very religious. We go to church quiet often and I participate actively in my community. Besides that I like to hang out with my friends and try to keep a balanced life between recreation, studies, religion and boxing.
Anson Wainwright – When you were younger it must of been tough on the streets of Managua, can you tell us about your early years and how you got into Boxing?
Carlos Buitrago – While my family is poor, our situation has been gradually improving. As I mentioned before my father is one of the head trainers for Prodesa as well as a boxing trainer for the municipality of Managua. My mother is a merchant who sells clothing in the market. My brother is a professional boxer who has done part of his career in Europe. The combined income of all of us, plus the support I have received from various sponsors has helped us lived a more comfortable life. We have slowly been able to fix our household. I never had it as difficult as some of my other team mates who are a lot poorer.
I got into boxing because of my father. I remember watching him box when I was very young. He also has a few fights taped that we occasionally watch. He is in the WBC Fecarbox Boxing Hall of Fame. I started accompanying my father when he started working as a trainer along with my brother. We liked it very much, we showed some talent and we decided it was something that we wanted to pursue as a career.
Anson Wainwright – Can you tell us a bit about your promotional company Prodesa?
Carlos Buitrago – I am very proud to be a part of this company. They have kept me very active in my short career promoting all 14 of my fights. They don’t have that many fighters but they have the best fighters Nicaragua has to offer. In total we are 18 fighters out of which 11 of them are ranked in at least one of the four main boxing organizations. We have two WBA world Champions as well as Youth World Champions in the IBF and WBO. The important thing is that PRODESA fighters have participated in world titles for the four main boxing organizations. We truly believe that we are one of the better boxing organizations in Latin America.
Anson Wainwright – Finally what are your goals in Boxing?
Carlos Buitrago – My goal is for some day to become a world champion quiet possibly in more than one weight class and be a model citizen.
Thanks for your time Carlos I look forward to seeing your development in the coming months.
Anson Wainwright
15rounds.com
