The confidence of Michel Rivera was through the roof following his victory over Jerry Perez. The reward for dragging his record to a perfect 24-0 seemed to be an appropriate one, a showdown against Frank Martin.
Initially viewed as a 50/50 clash, Martin eventually proved that Rivera (24-1, 15 KOs) was simply in over his head. Though he dug his feet into the dirt and battled, Rivera came up woefully short, losing a one-sided unanimous decision.
In connection with that fight, Rivera test positive for banned substances hydrochlorothiazide and triamterene – which are weight cutting agents. He was suspended for six months by the Nevada State Athletic Commision.
As the Dominican native has continued to lick his wounds, the rest of the lightweight division has thrived. Amongst a long list of fighters that have risen to prominence, Keyshawn Davis had begun to make waves.
Only eight pro fights into his budding career and Davis has already claimed that he’ll wrap at least one world title around his waist in the near future.
Rivera, despite his dreadful showing, isn’t entertained by Davis’ need to call out the division’s top dogs. As the 25-year-old looks upon Davis’ scant resume, he concludes that, at least at this stage in his career, Davis (8-0, 6 KOs) should take a backseat.
“He’s not on this level right now,” claimed Rivera to MillCity Boxing during a recent interview. “He just coming right now. He’s not ranking any place.”
Without entirely doing his research, Rivera’s words weren’t entirely true. Currently, the former Olympic silver medalist is ranked fairly highly in each of the four sanctioning bodies. He holds a ranking of number 12 in the IBF, number 8 in the WBO, and number 10 in both the WBC and WBA. Rivera, ironically enough, is ranked behind Davis in those aforementioned sanctioning bodies.
Still, Rivera’s placement is extraneous in his eyes. While he may not be in a position of power considering his current situation, Rivera refuses to take a step back and aims to rebuild. Instead, the Dominican contender is hopeful that he’ll begin his quest to fight for the sport’s biggest prize once he returns.
“I want to fight for the world title.”