Get a fighter at the start of their career. Find one that’s been doing it as long as Ray Beltran has. Compare and contrast their conception of the road to big fights and chunky purses versus how it’s actually played out. Boxing is that theater of the unexpected sport which supplies heaps of strange stuff on your plate as you travel the path. Most learn if the journey is lengthy that they aren’t traveling on a street marked “Gentlemanly Art of Self Defense” Boulevard, but rather a dodgier one, labeled “The Fight Business” Highway.
A native of Mexico, now an Arizona resident, Ray Beltran debuted as a pro back in 1999. Beltran is in the ring July 9, as a headliner on a ProBox TV card in Plant City, Florida. The former Top Rank stable perennial is tasked with showing a younger foe, 140 poounder on-the-ascent Cesar Francis, that old dogs can bark AND bite.
Beltran told ProBox News that yes, he’s been contemplating life at 41, and life without living ‘the fighting life’ being his central focus. Contemplating but by no means capitulating. Beltran sounded convincing when attesting to the fact that he’s pure pitbull in the gyms taking on 25 year olds on the come-up.
Came Up The Hard Way
If you are are more than a casual follower of the game, you know Beltran as a gritty banger. The 37-9-1 fixture in the lightweight Top 20 (and higher) lists for near ten years earned stripes on later-stage ESPN fights.
He damn well earned his place on grander stages, like that 2013 WBO lightweight title crack against Ricky Burns which maybe should have gone his way. Beltran could typically be relied upon to turn in an honest effort and more than occasionally surpass expectations, as against Hank Lundy (2012), Takahiro Ao (2015), Jonathan Maicelo (2017), Moses Paulus (for WBO 135 title in 2018) and Hiroki Okada (2019). And also Francis, the 10-0 (6 KOs) Brooklyn-based boxer who aced his headline test versus Mohamed Mimoune at ProBox Events Center on March 25?
“I’ve seen some tapes of Francis,” said the fighter, married with three kids, when asked his take on the New Yorker. “He’s a good fighter, I’ve fought better before, no disrespect.”
He’s not wrong, even Francis wouldn’t dispute that 2014 Beltran foe Terence Crawford–Bud defended his crown with a Joker-grin-wide UD12—isn’t of majestic stock.
“But is this a 50-50 fight on? I don’t think so,” Beltran stated, “though the boxing world might think so because of my age, but…I’m positive.”
Positive, but practical to a point. Beltran, who came from Sinaloa in 1996, isn’t so sure of himself that he’s assuming he’s got another three years in the sport. This racket tends to become not-as-welcoming-to-you as when the joystick controllers knew your upside was likely to be considerable. Yes, Ray Beltran felt the sting of that certainty. After Beltran lost to to IBF lightweight champ Richard Commey, on June 28, 2019 on ESPN, Beltran and promoter Top Rank parted ways.
A business, the boxing BUSINESS, remember?
So, the ultra vet is setting the table for when the time comes that it is conclusively, probably violently, communicated to him that it’s time to move, find a less rigorous vocation. “I am having a promoter license, will be focusing on a foundation to help retired boxers, and will open a nice gym in Mexico, in Los Mochis,” Beltran said. “This year we start building, a good quality gym, for clients and also just for boxing. I know my end time is near, but I’m gonna fight as hard as I can. I’m a winner, every time I fight it’s to win. I’m not fighting for money.”
Meaning, he’s fighting because he wants to, not because he has to.
Beltran paints a picture which suggests that if Francis is thinking he sees a washed Beltran in Florida on fight night, he will be rudely informed otherwise.
“I haven't been retired, there was Covid, then the Top Rank contract was cancelled,” explained the 47 fight veteran. “It took awhile for boxing to get back on track. I’ve been in the gym all the time.”
During that ‘hurry up ’n’ wait’ training time, he now and again recycled some of his memories of his exploits in the realm. That Commey loss, that irks him still a bit. Because Beltran sees how sometimes rules and regulations are enforced, other times not as much. Beltran had to make a morning-of weight after missing on the scale at his weigh-in, so the IBF strap wasn’t for his taking if he’d snagged the upset. He wasn’t, the Ghana fighter sent KO victim Beltran to the floor in rounds one, five and eight.
“There are some rules about making weight, but in million dollar catchweight fight, it's all about the effin money, and nobody cares about the weight class,” Beltran noted.
If a similar convo was held in 1998, Beltran would have sounded different notes. He’s been through cycles…debuter, getting to prospect, prospect, contender, champ, on the re-build contender, etc. Now it’s late stage. Not last stage, no, he insists.
“I’m an honest person, I’m confident I can keep going,” he shares, “and in the gym versus young guys, I still do really good.” Of course, there’s been no shortage of folks nudging him to retirement. Former trainer Freddy Roach said publicly that the ex Manny Pacquiao sparring partner should be pondering his exit. He wasn’t at all rude about it, Freddie deserves that luxury, to weigh in on how others should maybe maybe want to be thinking. “For most people, when they are trying to accomplish a dream, comments are gonna be negative,” Beltran said. “But if you listen to all that you will be affected. As long as you believe in yourself!”
Ray Beltran will be seen as the underdog July 9, on ProBox TV. For good reason, probably, as history tells us in most clashes involving 31 against 41 year olds, the younger athlete wins. But not always. Usually, yes. Sometimes, though, the old dog reminds everyone of how they used to be. And that now and again, they can still show enough flashes of that youthful vigor, mixed with that seasoning which comes from experience, to cast doubters as faithless ageists.
