The “Mexican Cowboy” faces toughest test of his career in Richard Commey, but knows a win could set up a future showdown with champions Robert Easter Jr. or Mikey Garcia.
Luna vs Klimov Highlights: April 9, 2017
Alejandro Luna is a very ambitious young man. He wants 135-pound champions Robert Easter Jr. or Mikey Garcia should he win his title elimination match with contender Richard Commey this Saturday night in San Antonio, Texas.
Luna (20-0, 15 KOs) is ending an 11-month ring absence, while Commey (25-2, 22 KOs) has been inactive for a year and has lost two out of his last three fights.
The winner will be in line to fight Easter. Or Garcia—who is looking to win a fourth world title at 140 pounds when he faces unbeaten Sergey Lipinets in the main event of the Showtime-televised card (10: 15 p.m. ET & PT)—is an appealing carrot because he holds a 135-pound world title.
“This is an eliminator to fight Easter,” said Luna, whose fight will be broadcast on Showtime Extreme at 8 p.m. ET & PT).
“Easter is definitely the fight we’re looking to go after, if not, Mikey’s title if he decides to come back down. God-willing we get the victory, and after that, securing the Easter fight would be the main goal. We’ll fight any champion, but specifically Easter.”
Luna’s nickname is “El Charro,” which means “Mexican cowboy.” He grew up in a family of cowboys and has even competed in rodeos since he was a child. Luna began boxing at the age 8, and with his ring career on the rise, his time in the saddle became limited.
“El Charro’s” immediate focus is Commey, who lost to Easter and Denis Shafikov. He bounced back with a unanimous decision victory over Hedi Slimani.
Commey, of Ghana, had stopped five consecutive opponents prior to losing his vacant title fight with the 6-foot Easter, whom he floored in the eighth round.
“Commey’s a tough competitor whose losses were very close, disputable fights that could have gone either way, so I’ll go in being smart, using my jab and sticking to our game plan,” Luna said.
“We’re both boxer-punchers who like to mix it up, throw fireworks and brawl if we have to, so there’s going to be a lot of action, and we might steal the show. We’ll give the fans their money’s worth, either way.”
Luna is using his experience against Russian Andrey Klimov as a benchmark in his match against Commey. Klimov stood in against Terence Crawford, Jose Pedraza and Liam Walsh and though he lost decisions to all of them, he was never hurt. Luna believes his own victory over Klimov was more impressive than the aforementioned fighter’s bouts against Klimov.
“Klimov was never hurt badly in fights with one of the pound-for-pound best, Terence Crawford, Pedraza or Liam Walsh, but I was able to dominate him,” Luna said. “I hurt Klimov three or four times in the fight, and I felt that after that win I had proven that I’m ready and worthy of competing with any world class fighter.”
Before Klimov, Luna’s most impressive victory was against former 126-pound champion Cristobal Cruz, whom he nearly swept on the scorecards to earn an eight-round unanimous decision in June 2015.
“Commey’s the biggest fight of my career, and I’m training go 12 hard rounds,” Luna said. “But if I have a chance to get him out of there earlier I’ll go for it, and that would be great.”
For a closer look at Alejandro Luna check out his fighter page.
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