Sports
Boxing Champ Won't Be Sidetracked
Erick Correa, this year's Chicago Golden Gloves super heavyweight champion, said his first professional boxing match is just a tune-up for MMA.
Don’t think that ’s decision to get into the ring as a professional boxer changed his mind about becoming a cage fighter.
He was at sparring Tuesday night … as a boxer.
“As a whole, I enjoy MMA more,” Correa said. “It suits me. It’s to my liking.”
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He said he’s planning to compete in a professional boxing match — his first, just as a tune-up fight — in September.
He hopes his first MMA fight will be in November or December of this year.
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Correa was scheduled to fight Aug. 19 in a Bobby Hitz show at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind. But that fell through.
Correa said he’s planning to fight in a Hitz boxing show Sept. 23. A spokeswoman for Hitz said that show is tentative and would be at Belvedere Banquets on Devon Avenue in Elk Grove Village.
“Honestly, I do believe the season is up for me as far as boxing goes,” Correa said. “I’m ready to be done with it. At the same time, it’s my pedigree. It’s what I’m grounded in. It’s going to be my strong suit when I’m cage fighting.”
Correa was this year’s super heavyweight Chicago Golden Glove Champion. He won the city’s most coveted amateur title, but then passed on competing in the National Golden Glove tournament, which could have led to an Olympic tryout.
He had it with amateur boxing, he said, and wanted to start training as a cage fighter.
Being 30 years old, Correa said there is no time to lose.
His first MMA fight is coming this fall, said Doug Mango, Correa’s boxing coach, who will be working Correa’s corner.
With no professional fights yet under his belt, Correa has the option to participate in both sports, Mango said. There’s no law against it.
But if he gains prestige and popularity, that's when he'll be limited to one or the other.
“If he ends up signing a contract with the UFC, they won’t allow him to box anymore,” Mango said. “They don’t want him to get hurt. It’s the same with boxing. If Erick signs a big boxing contract, they won’t want him fighting in a cage.”
Correa said lately — aside from boxing — he’s been training in the Thai-style to prepare himself for the MMA.
Correa, who is a freelance professional fitness trainer, said his favorite workout is not hand-to-hand combat. It's “the caveman training system,” which includes circuit training using heavy objects such as rocks, medicine balls and tractor tires.
