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Giuriceo battling time, Abreu on Saturday night
By STEVE WILAJ
YOUNGSTOWN
Some things are still the same for battle-tested Jake Giuriceo.
For one, the 31-year-old Campbell native, a.k.a. “The Bull,” still has passion for boxing. He also still trains avidly — “I’m always in shape,” he says — always finding time to do so before or after his day job.
However, things are changing for The Bull — who will fight Dominican Republic native Jose Abreu as the co-main on Saturday night as part of “Championship Night” presented by Southside Boxing outside Covelli Centre. The eight-round bout is the first big step of, possibly, his last attempt to capitalize on his boxing career.
See, age is not on the side of Giuriceo, who is 19-5-1 and has endured serious injuries in the past. And while he already has one young daughter who consumes plenty of his time and energy, he also has another daughter on the way, due to be born in August.
So, that workout time is about to be compromised even more. Naturally, it may only get harder to maintain his focus and passion for the sport.
Which raises the question: Is it now or never for The Bull?
“I don’t know how much more time I have with boxing,” Giuriceo said. “I’m very limited right now with one daughter — getting to the gym as much as I used to be able to.
“I still work out, I just do some different things. I do a lot more running now — every time I go out on a jog, I’m running for an hour minimum because I have to do that since I’m not getting to the gym as frequently.
“So yeah, it’s pretty much now or never. It’s gotta happen.”
Precisely, what The Bull wants to happen is for him to finally “get some [money] back for all the time we have put in.”
A fighter out of Burnside Boxing Club in Struthers, the welterweight Giuriceo went pro in 2009 and built his record up to 16-0-1 before losing five of his next six fights over a stretch from July 2012 to November 2015. Three of the losses came in Brooklyn, Hollywood and Las Vegas.
During that rough stretch, he suffered a detached retina, had surgery, took two years off and also saw a handful of bigger fights fall through.
But starting Saturday — after bouncing back with two wins since December — The Bull is going all-in.
“When you’re fighting a kid who is 12-0 with seven knockouts, Jake’s rolling the dice a little bit,” said Jack Loew, Southside Boxing’s owner who assisted in getting Giuriceo the fight. “If Jake wins the fight, it’s a big win over a 12-0 kid.”
Even more, it would be a quality win that gets Giuriceo to win No. 20.
“It’s like a milestone,” Giuriceo said. “If you can get it, they’ll start putting you on TV and matching you with a lot better fighters because it shows you have a lot better credibility. So I really need a win here. It would be huge for my career. I’m just hoping that everything works out and I go out there and perform.”
Giuriceo shared these sentiments on July 9 at Southside Boxing, moments before he sparred with the card’s main-event fighter, 21-year-old big-time boxing prospect Popo Salinas.
For the most part, The Bull went punch-for-punch with Popo — the kid with plenty of the time on his side giving the man with a ticking timer some valuable work before his final attempt at success.
“I would like to get a win here and then find an opportunity for a big fight,” Giuriceo said. “Maybe get into one of them smaller titles that are out there so that we can move somewhere in this career.
“I’ve been doing it for seven years now. I have my second daughter on the way. I still have the passion and the drive for the sport, but time is starting to run short for me. So I’m hoping something can happen here soon.”