Enjoying the fruits of your labor

Although he made his professional debut last August, Shemuel Pagan will get to deposit his first prizefighting paycheck later this month.

The five-time NY Golden Gloves winner donated his entire first purse to the the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation, the non-profit charitable organization legendary trainer Teddy Atlas created in his father’s name.

“The reason why I am donating it is because I follow the Old Testament — I’m a religious person,” Pagan said at the time. “When God blesses you with anything, he commands that you give the first fruits to him. So when you give to the poor and needy, you are giving to God…I want to help God’s people.”

Now, almost six months later, after he dukes it out with Camden’s Marcos Garcia for a maximum of four rounds, Pagan will step back through the ropes and earn

After multiple fights had fallen through in which he would have fought in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York, Pagan will return to Newark, New Jersey’s Prudential Center as part of the Zab Judah-Kaizer Mabuza undercard this Saturday.

There was a brief moment last month where it looked like it was going to be deja vu ‘all over again’ for Pagan, as another scheduled opponent pulled out.

“They had me fighting against a fighter [Lonnie Jackson, Jr.] I lost to in the amateurs a few years back,” explained Pagan. “I actually lost to him by one point. I was looking forward to fighting him, but he pulled out.”

Luckily, matchmaker Russell Peltz was left with enough to find a replacement opponent, and scheduled Garcia to step in the ring with Pagan on March 5th.

While Garcia’s record reads 0-3, make no mistake — it’s a hard-fought 0-3. The 30 year-old from South Jersey has lost each of his fights via majority decision.

Although he would have preferred to avenge his amateur lost to Jackson, after almost half a year without fighting, Pagan’s ready to do battle with whoever stands before him.

The always smiling, always optimistic Pagan chooses to view the long layoff between fights in a positive light.

“It [the layoff] hasn’t effected me,” Pagan said. “I think it actually helped. It gave my body enough to time recuperate and replenish so I can go back in the ring with fury.”

Back in August, in his debut, Pagan also fought with fury when he easily navigated past Raul Rivera, earning him a clear-cut unanimous decision victory. Pagan floored Rivera twice during their twelve minute dual, but “Shem” was unable to stop his counterpart.

“The only weakness I had that night was that I didn’t knock him out,” Pagan said, reflecting on his debut. “That’s the only thing I wanted to do, but you can’t knockout everybody.”

Although he displayed an impressive arsenal of weapons, used superior foot-speed to create angles, and showcased his signature hand-speed, Pagan was a bit unsettled, and felt that he was trying too hard to get the knockout.

“My weakness was trying to go for the kill,” said Pagan. “I should have been a little more relaxed. I know to everyone else I looked relax, but deep down inside — personally — I wasn’t relaxed.”

During the months between bouts, “The Chosen One” has chosen to address that very issue while at the gym.

“[Relaxing] is a mental thing that starts with training in the gym,” said Pagan. “Usually when I’m training, I’m training with excitement and psyching myself up and training hard. I just go hard every round when I’m working out. I have to learn mental cruise-control when I’m working out, so when I’m fighting [in the ring] I can do the same.”

While Pagan is trying to take a more melodic approach to his craft, one thing he should stay psyched up about his earning his first paycheck via the fight game. After nine years-plus of honing his craft for no financial reward, the charitable Pagan will finally enjoy the fruits of his labor.

Kyle Kinder can be reached at Twitter.com/KyleKinder or [email protected]