FRISCO, Texas – There was plenty of interest in Trevor McCumby’s next move after his valiant-in-defeat effort versus Caleb Plant last year.
At age 32 and still no worse than a bubble contender, it is believed there is still time to make some noise in the vibrant super middleweight division.
An upset win over Diego Pacheco, 23-0 (18 KOs), this weekend can help further that goal for McCumby, 28-1 (23 KOs). However, the 32-year-old Arizona native is also aware of the unforgiving business side of the sport that can leave him on the sidelines with anything less than an earth-shattering performance this weekend.
“All the cards are on this one,” McCumby insisted to BoxingScene. “I’m in the lion’s den, this is my last shot.”
Pacheco-McCumby is the co-feature to the Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez-Phumelele Cafu WBC-WBO 115lbs unification bout. DAZN will air both bouts live this Saturday (7:00 p.m. ET/12:00 a.m. BST) from The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
The ‘lion’s den’ claim is the mentality that McCumby long ago adopted.
He came out of the Plant fight with his first defeat – a ninth-round stoppage in their WBA interim 168lbs title fight in Las Vegas, Nevada. There was plenty of praise for the performance, which included a fourth-round knockdown of Plant before he tired late and was eventually stopped for the first time.
The positive feedback was appreciated by McCumby, but not entirely embraced.
“Just even growing up, coming up in the amateurs, that ‘win or die’ mentality was always instilled in me,” noted McCumby. “Losing can become a disease and I don’t ever want that to creep into my mind. I’m a winner and I’m coming into this fight with a winner’s mentality.
The easier path would have been to take a walkover fight just to get back in the ring. McCumby insisted on the toughest opponent that was willing to face him, to prove that he didn’t come this far just to come this far.
It meant a revamped training camp from his previous bout. McCumby enlisted the services of Rachel Donaire to head up the strength and conditioning portion of his preparation for this weekend. His first few days were a harsh reminder of the difference between in shape and gym-ready.
“When I went to try out her training the first day, it was only 15 minutes and I was dead,” admitted McCumby. “I was putting in the road work and thought I could hack it but it was a rude awakening.”
Then came a huge motivating factor, even more so than the threat of a second straight defeat.
Nonito Donaire, Rachel’s husband, was going back and forth on nailing down the particulars for his first fight in nearly two years. The 42-year-old legendary former four-division champion was in line to contend for a secondary version of the WBA 115lbs title. It wasn’t until late May that he received confirmation that his fight with Andres Cortes was set for June 15 in Argentina.
“When I first entered camp, Nonito and Rachel were still in the process of figuring out that fight,” recalled McCumby. “They kept messing with him: ‘It’s going to be now, it’s going to be three months from now.’ But I saw him just start putting in the work right away. He is always in shape but whipped himself into boxing shape in just three weeks at age 42.
“I saw that transformation and knew I had to take advantage of being in the presence of this legend and this legend’s wife. Seeing Nonito do what he did, going from the couch to winning a world title just like that… it just really motivated me to push myself to the limit for this camp.”
That extra push was reflected across the board.
Whereas McCumby set up shop in one gym ahead of last year’s bout with Plant, he took full advantage this time around of his Vegas surroundings.
“The biggest difference was my strength and conditioning training, but also the amount of sparring we were able to get,” McCumby revealed. “Working with Rachel Donaire was a big difference and also training alongside Nonito Donaire as he prepared for his world title fight. Rachel really kicked my butt in the gym. I really needed that because I feel like that I left that on the table going into the Caleb Plant fight.
“Sparring was also a little harder to come by for the Plant fight than it was this time. We only had a couple of guys that fit the mold. It was much better this time. Obviously, you’re never gonna find the sparring partner that exactly fits the mold you’re gonna fight, and there aren’t too many 6’4” super middleweights laying around. So, we found guys who apply pressure, tall guys who fight from the outside. We put in more than 100 rounds of sparring, compared to somewhere between 70 to 80 for the Plant fight.
“We’re prepared for anything this time.”
A win on Saturday will rank, statistically, as one of the year’s biggest upsets.
South Central Los Angeles’ Pacheco is an -1800 favorite to prevail and continue his run as one of the world’s best super middleweights. In fact, he’s on the short list of contenders, along with Christian Mbilli, as the division’s best right behind Mexico’s Alvarez, 63-2-2 (39 KOs), the current undisputed champion who is in the “nothing but big fights” portion of his brilliant career.
That alone provides McCumby – a 15-year pro following a solid amateur career – with all the motivation he needs to come in as anything other than a stepping stone this weekend.
“I think the winner of this fight holds all the cards,” McCumby believes. “Christian Mbilli had a really good win, he’s up there too. But I really feel like the hype is behind this fight. The winner of this fight gets to pick whatever fight he wants next, outside of [the Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford winner].
“I’m coming with everything, and I know they’re coming for me, too. The cards are in the winner’s hand. We can decide which direction we want to go once we get this victory.”
