ARELY MUCIÑO AND ‘TITO’ ACOSTA: LOVE THAT KNOWS A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

THEY WANT TO MAKE HISTORY AS THE FIRST COUPLE OF WORLD CHAMPIONS

SAN JUAN PUERTO RICO – Outside the ensogado, former Mexican world champion Arely Muciño and former Puerto Rican world champion Ángel ‘Tito’ Acosta enjoy a stable relationship as a couple that they wish to extend until the end of their days. But inside the ropes they also share a well-defined goal: to be world champions again after almost two years of inactivity and to make history in the process. And it is that there has never been a married couple as world boxing champions at the same time! “We have visualized it. We have discussed it. Imagine! It would be spectacular, ”commented Muciño, who along with her husband will be active on the billboards of the Ring City USA series on NBC Sports in Puerto Rico, both in preparatory matches for their respective World Cup events in the summer and fall of this year. .

Acosta (21-2 with 21 KO’s) will compete with Aztec Gilberto Mendoza (17-9-3 with 8 KO’s) in the semi-star fight on Thursday, March 18 at the Albergue Olímpico in Salinas, while Muciño (28- 3-2 with 10 KO’s) will do the same against his compatriot Lucía Hernández Núñez (7-10) during the event on May 25 at the Plaza del Quinto Centerario in Old San Juan.

If successful, Acosta would be challenging the Japanese Together Nakatani (21-0 with 16 KO’s) for the 112-pound scepter of the World Boxing Organization and Muciño would finally have his turn against Argentina’s Anahí López to regain the 112-pound belt. WBO pounds he had to give up after sustaining an injury.

“We have both worked conscientiously for these fights. Defeat is not on our minds. Tito cannot fail this March 18, nor can I fail on March 25. The important thing is to focus on these fights and the rest will settle down, ”said Muciño, who has won four world championships and has just signed with Miguel Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy. Promotions

“I am very happy and grateful to Miguel Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions for this opportunity. It is a great step in my career, where we have been breaking stone from below in Mexican women’s boxing and I hope to have a great debut in the company on May 25, ”added the fighter from Monterrey. “We are very happy that Arely has trusted our company together with Golden Boy to once again seek a world championship opportunity. She is a proven warrior and we know she will make history again by becoming a world champion for the fifth time,” commented Miguel Cotto.

But not everything has been a fairy tale for Muciño and Acosta in the face of these events. By the time the two were getting to know each other, Acosta lost his 108-pound world title to Mexico’s Elwin Soto and soon after Muciño suffered an accident in which he dislocated an ankle and had to hand over his interim WBO world belt. Then then came global COVID and prolonged downtime.

However, as the saying goes: “There is no harm that does not come”.

“When we started together we had a ‘bad streak’. Titus lost the title to him. Then I had a championship opportunity in England against Nicole Adams but I had my accident and I couldn’t fight. Then came COVID-19. Times were tough. But that’s where Tito showed me that he was the man he deserved in my life. He was always there to support me, ”said Muciño.

“Suddenly, everything settled down. During that inactive time I terminated my contract with my previous promoter. Now I come back and the doors were opened to me with Cotto Promotions and Golden Boy. Everything happened at the time God chose. Now we both come very prepared, very hungry to vindicate ourselves and we are going to do it together ”.

In fact, both Muciño and Acosta were training in Mexico at the end of 2019 under the tutelage of Juan Muciño, Arely’s father, with a view to their return to the ensogado. Later, both came to Puerto Rico, where Acosta continued his training for the tutelage of Jim Pagán and José Bonet and Muciño visited various local gyms to do some ‘sparring’.

“Between what I’ve been working in Mexico and now in Puerto Rico, I’ve been preparing for this comeback for about six months and now campaigning at 112 pounds. I was originally training for my championship opportunity but since it was postponed, I continued training in Puerto Rico and now I will have this preparatory fight on March 18, ”Acosta said.

“Mendoza is an experienced fighter with 29 fights, he has only had two knockouts and he always puts up good fights. But I hit hard and I want to see if my hit can hold up, “said Acosta about his duel set at 114 pounds and that will serve as a prelude to the stellar fight between his friend Alberto Machado and the Aztec Ángel Fierro during the poster that will be held at the Albergue Olímpico

“This fight with Mendoza is very important because a slip could cost me my dream of being champion again. My approach is as if it were an elimination fight. There is no room for mistakes. I come well prepared and I come from good sparring with fighters like Yankiel Rivera, Oscar Collazo and Héctor Pérez from “Team La Perla”. They are going to see a dominant ‘Tito’ Acosta on March 18. ”

Of both succeeding during their commitments on March 18 and 25, respectively, the ideal scenario for Muciño is that both dispute world crowns on the same card to seek to make history.

“I imagine both in the same function. The company of both is the same. They can be done. They know the quality of each one. We could be champions the same night! The adrenaline, the motivation, both for each other, would be tremendous. We both know the sacrifice, what it costs to become a champion and how to achieve that goal. That’s where we’re going, ”Muciño added.