Michelle Rivera looks like Muhammad Ali physically, but he also fights like him. It’s a strange coincidence, but it serves Riviera well.
Muhammad Ali’s friend and wife, Bondini Brown, coined the phrase “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” but boxer Michel Rivera might have us say, “float like a butterfly and sting like La Zarza Ali” in a few years.
Rivera (22-0, 14 KOs) has a face that resembles Ali, although the two are not physically alike. Ali had a heavyweight standing at 6ft 3, and Rivera a lightweight at 5ft8.
However, the similarities in the face and fighting styles match. At first, Rivera’s likeness to Ali attracted huge media attention.
“TV, when I come here [U.S.] In my first fight, ShoBox, everyone was saying I looked like Muhammad Ali, Julian Jackson, something like that,” Rivera told FanSided.
Rivera explained to FanSided that people have pointed out his resemblance to Ali since he was fighting in his home country, the Dominican Republic. Ironically, he had never seen the movie Ali Fight before the comparisons.
Far from their faces, Rivera’s fighting style mimics Ali’s by chance.
Watch the Michel Rivera vs. Joseph Rivera match on Saturday, March 26th, on Showtime at 9PM ET
“I’ve never seen Ali,” Rivera said.
Rivera added, “One day after [Jon] Fernandez fights, when I get the amazing knockout and this, I started watching the video of the young man on me, Cassius Clay, and I started to see that my style was similar to his.”
With 14 fights as a professional in the Dominican Republic and then his first six in the US, Rivera finally saw footage of Muhammad Ali early in his career and saw a little of himself. Rivera was wearing the ring like Ali but he didn’t study his fight movie.
When Rivera did, he saw why people were so fussed.
“My right hand, my bait, and I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s crazy,'” Rivera said. “It’s really my style a bit like him.”
Many believe Rivera modeled his boxing style on Ali, but this is not the case.
“People think I copied him,” Rivera said. “I don’t copy. This is my true and natural style.”
Rivera also noted that his hairdo naturally also resembles Ali’s. Yes, the shorts and the nickname, “No button on me,” deliberately mimic Ali, but the rest is all chance.
For those who have never seen Rivera, he fights in the Showtime March 26th bottom card of Tim Tszyu’s main event against Terrell Gausha. Rivera fights Joseph Adorno (14-0-2, 12 KOs), who is undefeated and must pose a challenge.
Currently, Rivera resides in Miami, Florida, and is coached by German Kaiseido. Oh, Kaiseido happened to be mentored by Angelo Dundee, Ali’s coach. Caicedo trains several Dominican fighters, including Juan Carlos Payano, Claudio Marrero and Jeison Rosario, which helped connect Rivera with Caicedo.
“It’s different because another coach knows your country,” Rivera said. “How are you, do you know what they say? He knows how to work with the Dominicans.”
Rivera and Kaiseido are a successful team, and Rivera sees Kaiseido in his corner for life.
Rivera is a direct player in the lightweight division, and a big win over Adorno would greatly advance Rivera’s place in the division.
[ad_2]
