Napolitano’s big break arrives
Antonio Napolitano (5-0) didn’t hesitate when he was asked to fight Brandon Brewer (25-1-1 with 11 knockouts) this Saturday at the Hamilton Convention Centre.
“It was an easy decision once I looked at the price of gas,” the 28-year-old St. Catharines said, with a laugh. “I am making five times more than what I made in my last fight.”
His promoter, Three Lions Promotions, offered him $7,000 plus a percentage of the gate and the unbeaten pugilist is looking at a pay day of around $9,000. Not bad for one night’s work.
“When your are working full-time and you have that opportunity to make that much money in one night, I would fight a lion in a cage for that amount of money. I wasn’t sure I wanted to fight because I have so much going on but once they told me the situation I told them I would fight him and his whole team for that amount of money.
“That is my approach for the fight and I believe I am going to beat this guy. I am doing it for the money but I am not showing up for the money. I am showing up for the win.”
Napolitano has watched quite a bit of tape of Brewer, a New Brunswick fighter who won the Canadian pro super welterweight title in 2014 and the North American Boxing Association crown in 2015.
“He is kind of awkward, he is gritty, he has a good chin, he comes forward and he comes to fight,” Napolitano said of his 37-year-old opponent. “He wants every fight to be a slugfest and sometimes I get into slugging too. At the end of the day, I have fought a million Brewers before, in the ring and out of the ring. This is nothing new to me.”
Napolitano wasn’t fazed by Brewer’s comments about the fight made in a promotional video.
“He is trying to be intimidating by staring into the camera with his big, ugly face trying to intimidate me and quite honestly that is why I was laughing my head off,” he said. “He is the farthest thing from intimidating. He is a farmer from Fredericton and I found that highly amusing.”
Napolitano isn’t overconfident about the fight based on Brewer’s age or the fact he doesn’t believe Brewer is as good as his record suggests.
“I am confident based on me. I have always been a confident guy and I am also a go big or go home kind of guy,” he said. “If I am at the casino and I have a bunch of chips, I throw it on black and spin it. I take gambles, I am confident and that is the way I am approaching it.”
This gamble could have a big payoff for Napolitano. The two boxers are fighting for the World Boxing Council United States’ middleweight title and a victory would vault the winner into the WBC’s rankings.
“This could jump me 100 steps ahead. The promoter was able to get the rights for this belt and if I could win it it would jump me up into the top 15 in the WBC rankings,” he said. “If there is a huge fight in Vegas or the U.K. two months down the road and someone pulls out, my name is right there in the rankings. I could potentially make $300,000 (for a fight) but I could also potentially just defend that title and make $10,000. Either way if I win it, it will lead to huge things and I could potentially make a lot of money.”
Napolitano’s last fight was in November 2019 but he is not worried about ring rust in the eight-round fight.
“To me, I am stepping off the porch and fighting a guy on a Saturday night. To me, it is all the same.”
He has tried to stay sharp during COVID times.
“I have been in and out of the labour union, banging it out and training when I can. I have two kids and my living situation has changed but I have been training like I always have, not exactly seven days, a week, but I have been doing a lot of running and a lot of sparring. I have been just trying to stay busy.”
He agrees it hasn’t been easy.
“It’s tough with everything going on and sometimes I lose focus because I have two children,” he said. “I know a lot of guys who were successful pros and they packed it in because they had one kid. They say they are too busy but I have two and I am still managing.”
Daniel Otter, the managing director of Three Lions Promotions, is eager to see which of the fighters emerges victorious.
“This is a very important fight for both guys,” he said in a press release. “Brewer has been to the top of the mountain here in Canada. He knows what it takes to win national titles. He wants that regional belt to keep moving up. For Antonio, this is a rare opportunity to skip a couple steps in his journey. If he can win, he immediately goes from prospect to contender after six fights.”
