The “Simple Man” is Not as Simple!

sim·ple [sim-puhl] easy to understand, deal with, use, etc. not elaborate or artificial; not ornate or luxurious; unaffected; unassuming; not complex or compound; occurring or considered alone; mere; free of deceit or guile; sincere; not grand or sophisticated; unlearned; unsophisticated; naive;

–noun

an ignorant, foolish, or gullible person.

In speaking to jr. welterweight Antonio “Simple Man” Orozco (5-0, 4KO), you will never describe him with the above definition from the dictionary. Bright, eloquent and affable coupled with tremendous boxing skills and power in both fists, you might say that you have the lethal combination ready to take the boxing world by storm a la Oscar De La Hoya. If Orozco is anything, it is not simple.

“When he first entered the gym, what stood out the most was his character. He is real quiet, very disciplined, no foul language and that is what drawn the relationship closer. His personality and his discipline is the reasons we decided, my father and I, to sit down and help this kid out,” Carlos Barragan, Orozco’s trainer and manager states after a mitt session with his young charge. “He speaks well, he reads books and has a great character and I believe we have something here.”

Heavily involved in southern California’s amateur boxing program, Barragan along with his father run National City, CA’s Community Youth Athletic Center, a program designed to help disadvantaged youth in South San Diego learn valuable life lessons thru the sport of boxing as well as providing after school programs and tutoring. An environment in which the young Orozco fits in well.

“Our youth program is here to build up young men. He showed us he is disciplined and that his hard work was going to pay off,” Barragan said. “We saw that he would be a great representation and an influence for the kids that train here every day. We don’t work with a lot of people but we are into quality rather than quantity.”

Before landing within the photo covered walls of the CYAC, Orozco followed a long road that took him from his native city of Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles, to off all places, Garden City, Kansas.

“About the age of four or five, we moved to Tecate where I did all of my elementary school. Then an uncle of mine and my grandparents decided to try a different life and they decided to go to Kansas,” Orozco says as he unwraps his hands. “So my grandparents and my mom’s brothers and sisters did and we decided to follow them. We moved out to Garden City, Kansas, where I did the rest of my schooling and pretty much my high school diploma was my ticket back to California.”

“It was something different, a small town. It was fun, it was something new, something I hadn’t experienced before, an environment I hadn’t been used to,” he added. “I had no complaints about it until I started growing up and noticed that there wasn’t much to do out there and that is why I wanted to hurry and get back to California”

Garden City is located in western Kansas with a population of about 28,000 according to the 2000 U.S. census. More notably, it was mentioned in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, one of literatures first true crime books, as the venue for the trial of the murders that are depicted in the story. Despite the lack of activities offered to its citizens, the city did provide Orozco the chance to begin his training in the sport of the sweet science.

“I started boxing in Kansas when I was ten or eleven. It was fun because my dad always wanted me to do some type of sport and I tried soccer but didn’t really like it then I tried wrestling. I just couldn’t do with the tights and the whole suit,” Orozco says with a laugh. “One day some kid, his name was Christian, I remembered his name, was going door-to-door doing a fundraiser for his boxing team. He came to the door, we bought some chocolates from him and we asked him what the fundraiser was for. He said it was a boxing team. He told us where to go and who to ask for and the first day I went, that was the first day I started training.”

Soon, Orozco amassed close to one hundred amateur fights, losing only twenty. During his apprentice career, Orozco won the Ringside Nationals, bronze and silver medals at the jr. Olympics and had the opportunity to compete in the National Golden Gloves but opted to graduate from High School instead.

“When I graduated at eighteen I decided to move back to California. My plans were to go out to L.A. because I knew there were a lot more gyms, a lot more movement in boxing,” Orozco continues. “Things didn’t really work out with an aunt I was staying with couldn’t really help me out very much. An uncle of mine who lives in Tecate told me to come to San Diego, come to Tecate, come to Tijuana and he offered to help me find a good gym, he said somewhere where you could start your career, do what you want to do and I did. We went to various gyms but nothing made me decide that this is they gym I want to be with. ”

After a month of being here, I was ready to go back, I was getting frustrated, losing my patience so I talked to my mom and told her I was ready to go back. She said hold on and let me find something in the area where your uncle works and she found the Community Youth Athletic Center website. She told me to come by and check it out and I wasn’t really expecting much since it was community youth athletic center and I just expected kids. I used my last chance and it was either this or go back home.”

After a meeting with Barragan Sr. where the rules of the gym were explained, Orozco found his home. Soon thereafter, Orozco joined the punches for bucks trade in June ’08 when he defeated Ricardo Martinez by 3rd TKO. Nine months later he stopped Carlos Diaz in the first while Yakub Shidaev was able to survive the distance a month later. In June ’09 Orozco stopped Antonio Sorria in the third round and in his last fight in November, Mario Angeles was stopped in the first round.

“I would say that all of my fights have been tough, there is never an easy fight,” the humble Orozco states. “The more one fights, the more experience you are going to gain. That is why we get prepared, to take the next fight which should be a tougher fight and the following fight is going to be even tougher.”

Many boxing pundits might say that a fighter with Orozco’s amateur pedigree and young age should be performing on a more regular basis than five fights in a year and a half. Orozco and his trainer disagree.

“It has been very well thought out. We haven’t rushed into things, we’ve kept our patience, been calm. Can’t complain about anything,” Orozco explains. “Carlos, my trainer and manager, he has taken very good care of me, he has taken me under his wing and just following him as he says, keeping my patience and out of nowhere we are going to come up and I am looking forward to that.”

“We had a couple of fights back down. The internet is ruining a lot of careers of boxers because now you can update, you can youtube, you can google them and all kinds of information is revealed,” Barragan stated further. “With four or fight fights a year and now at six rounds, you have to give the body a rest, you have to give the hands a rest. 6, 7 fights a year, that can take its toll on the body and you can actually ruin his career if you are looking for longevity. In our situation, it started off rough. I told him ‘son, just have patience, all you need for people to see you and what we can do.'”

What Orozco has done is stop everybody that has faced him except one lucky opponent.

“The only one that has gone the distance is the russian Yakub Shidaev who was a two-time national champion and represented Russia in the under-19 championships. Yes we have fought opponents but they have been opponents that have taken other prospects the distance,” Barragan stated.

Along with the experience that Orozco has gained as a result of his bouts, the “Simple Man” has had the opportunity to spar the cream of the San Diego/Tijuana crop since moving to the boxing hotbed which is southern California.

“That has helped me a lot. The only way to get better is by getting a beating. The only way to progress in this sport is by sparring with those that have the upper hand and you can learn something off of,” Orozco says. “There is really no point in sparring somebody you can get your hands on, that is not really going to help you much. I’ve sparred Antonio DeMarco and to get ready for this fight we sparred with Pavel Miranda and Juan Carlos Burgos, much more experienced than me. It is good work.”

Now, Antonio Orozco will display his skills on Thursday, February 25th at the Four Points by Sheraton when he takes a considerable step up facing the experienced Jaime Orrantia (12-26-5, 4KO) of Los Mochis, MX in a six rounder. The amateur standout Orozco has his work cut out for him as he takes on the the 28-year-old, fourty-four fight veteran Orrantia who has gone the distance with Jorge Paez Jr. and Marcos Licona and is coming off two consecutive KO wins. Orrantia is sure to put Orozco to the test in what promises to be the fight of the night on paper.

“This is going to be test, what we have worked on, to show where we are at. I am going to show that I have what it takes, I won’t be looking for a knock out, I will be looking to get the win and get my name out there.”

Orozco as well as Barragan hope that this bout, Orozco’s first at a scheduled six rounds, will be a step in the right direction for the year 2010.

“I am not going to mention any names but there have been names sent to us and we think Tony can play,” Barragan says regarding the future plans of his pupil. “We are looking and hopefully May, June, some top names, I am not going to jinx anything and name names but if everything works out well, Antonio Orozco will do some good stuff and we already have a game plan and we have to tie something up by the end of this year.”

“I want to get my name out there, an up and coming prospect, I may not be very well known but like I said, I want to make a name for myself,” Antonio says confidently. “I think it’s about time.”