It has been over a year since local boxer Luis Prieto won his pro debut in front of a hometown crowd. Prieto is on his way to Saskatoon this weekend for the second professional fight of his career. Prieto says that heading into this fight he is nervous but feels good. Prieto, who trains out of BPM Fitness Co.in Grande Prairie, explains that two weeks before the fight was the hardest week of training, but one week before things cool down a little bit.
“I’m just trying to relax right now, pull back a little bit from hard training. – I’m just trying to maintain weight, drop those last pounds, and maintain weight,” Prieto says.
Prieto says that one of the main things he is taking from winning his first professional fight in Grande Prairie is that there is the pressure in a pro fight is different than in an armature one. His upcoming match is in the 147lb division, and he is facing Red Deer boxer, Michael Parker. Prieto explains that Parker also has some armature fighting experience.
“I know that he is a bit taller than me, – and we have seen some training and he likes to come aggressive. So I think that will make it for a fun fight.”
He adds that even after seeing tape of how his opponents, Prieto doesn’t change much when it comes to his training. Any changes that are made are just tweaking a few angles. Adding that they aren’t “trying to reinvent the wheel” for his training but are strategically making adjustments.
Neither competitor will have the hometown advantage heading into this weekend’s fight. But, Prieto says that not having that advantage is not as big of a deal to him, because in his amateur career he only fought twice at home, and his professional debut was his third time.