Featherweight contender Bruce Carrington (14-0, 8 KOs) says he’s ready to put on a show in his 10-round undercard fight against Enrique Vivas (23-3, 12 KOs) for the event at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ESPN and ESPN+ this Saturday, March 29th at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, in Las Vegas.
The highly ranked #1 WBC, #1 WBO, and #2 WBA, Carrington has been criticized by some fans for calling out champions Nick Ball and Stephen Fulton, but not the dangerous 6’1″ champ Rafael Espinoza (26-0, 22 KOs).
Time Running Out
Carrington, 27, says Top Rank told him that Espinoza isn’t interested in fighting him. That’s obviously hard to believe because Espinoza has been beating everyone and looked like 24k gold, stopping former WBO 126-lb champion Robeisy Ramirez in the sixth round on December 6th last year. Espinoza made the two-time Olympic gold medalist quit in the sixth.
Bruce is on the old side to be a prospect, and he can’t afford to wait too much longer to fight for a world title before he ages out. You don’t see too many prospects the age of Carrington when they’re being hyped the way he is. Something has got to be up for him to still be getting babied by Top Rank.
“We’re ready to put on a show. Two reasons. The Ball and Fulton fight are the most attractive and lucrative fight in terms of me fighting for the world title. Two, I got the word that [Rafael] Espinoza doesn’t want to fight me,” said Bruce Carrington to Sean Zittel, when asked about his thoughts on fans saying he’s targeting featherweight champions Nick Ball and Stephen Fulton, but not WBO champ Rafael Espinoza.
It would be interesting to hear what Espinoza’s side of the story is to see if he confirms what Carrington is talking about. It’s too unbelievable. Why would a knockout artist like Espinoza duck a flawed contender like Carrington, who looked terrible against Sulaiman Segawa last September and is still fighting on preliminary cards?
Espinoza “Duck”?
“So, what’s the point of calling him [Esinoza] out? Of course, I get it. You guys have seen me call out all of the champions,” said Carrington. “I don’t know why you guys are even questioning me on that. You guys have seen me say I want to fight Espinoza. You seen me go to one of his fights, saying, ‘I’m going to chop down that tree.”
The way Carrington got all worked up when talking about Espinoza is mighty suspicious. A person doesn’t get all amped up, looking like a 15th-century Grand Inquisitor is questioning him unless they’re hiding something. It’s all right if Bruce prefers to fight Ball and Fulton rather than Espinoza because those are more winnable fights with less risk. But you’d like for Carrington to tell it like it is.
“You guys forget so quick, but he doesn’t want to fight me,” said Carrington. “So, what’s the point of bringing him up? I want to fight the guys that potentially want to fight me and who would possibly be the more lucrative fights anyway, the more attractive fights anyway to make myself a bigger fighter, a bigger name in the division. Fulton and Nick Ball, those are the two fights that are the most interesting to me right now.
“I got the word that he’s [Espinoza] not interested to fight, and I get it. I get the risk, and I respect it. His time is going to come. I would love that to happen, too. That would be an easy fight to be made. Let’s get it on,” said Carrington when asked what his thoughts would be if Espinoza suddenly changed his mind and decided he wanted to fight him. I just want to fight for a world title by the end of the year. That’s what I’m looking for. That’s all I want.”
Last Updated on 03/28/2025
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