Before fight night, two months of grueling preparation gave me the confidence of victory. Each run that I had, I did it with the repetition of "He will not beat me!" in my head. When ever I thought about the fight, I could feel my heart bumping a little faster. I was nervous about the fight. This fight meant more than a W or an L. Getting a victory meant beating the odds against a more experienced-heavy fisted-bigger-stronger fighter, tt meant getting the chance to be in the spotlight, it meant $100,000 extra that would put an ease to my family's economical situation.
     One month before the fight, Sly approached me and said, "Alfonso, I think you are a great fighter and very gutsy, but Jesse is bigger and stronger than you, so why give him an advantage? You can make yourself as big and as strong as him by working some weights and by strengthening your core muscles. I paid a personal trainer to do those things for you starting monday up until the fight." That Monday I was in Beverly Hills working out with celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I did weights along with 3 mile hill runs and 3 hours at the gym. A few days before the fight I looked bigger and stronger. My family noticed that change immediately. I was ready for the war and nervous for the magnitude of the fight. <P>
Cesars Palace was amazing. From the moment we got Las Vegas we were treated like royalty. Experiencing the glamour scene of signing autographs, taking picture, getting usiness propositions, and receiving free stuff had me in cloud nine. The day of the fight I got a huge reception by the fans when I walked into the arena during the Fan Favorite bouts. Actually I signed so many autographs and took so many pictures that I wasn't able to watch the fights.
     I returned to my room to rest and got mentally ready for the fight. I didn't speak much during my preparation in the locker room. I would just nod to my dad's instructions. When I came out to the arena wearing my white jacket, white trunks, white shoes and the Mexican bandana in my head, the audience erupeted. Their tonsils turned into exploting granades. When Jesse came out, the crowd seemed to scream as loud as they did for me. The introduction, the ref's instructions, the bell ring, the action, the bell ring! After the first round I told my dad, "He is hard to hit. He moves faster than I thought." My dad asked, "How is his power?" I responded "He doesn't hit hard" Then he said, "Put pressure on him. Push him back." So I did. I began putting more pressure and it paid off when I saw him hurt from a body shot.
     I remembered what we said to each other when we found out we were going to fight for 3rd place. "Gomez, you better work your chin!" "Brinkley, you better work your liver." After I hit him with that left hook to the body he smirked. I smirked back because I knew he was thinking the same thing. From then on, I kept the pressure and the body shots going which gave me the mayority of the rounds. I knew Jesse had to power to turn the fight around so I avoided exchanging too much incase he got lucky! Safely I anticipated the final bell and as it rang I knew that I had done enought for a victory. Howevere, knowing that the judges probably knew Brinkley because he is from Nevada had me worried about a hometown desicion. NOT TODAY! The judges saw me winning and I was so thrilled because this victory was my Big Break. Jesse was defenetely tougher than I had thought and after the first round I began boxing smarter and better. I had to use all my skills to beat him. He now tells me, "a lot of people think that of me. They say I look like an easy fighter to beat, but after they are in the ring with me they.... lose! ha ha ha" After beating Jesse, I can't wait to see what the future holds for me.