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When discussing the origins of the fighting spirit which has carried him to an unlikely world title shot against Tim Tszyu, Brian Mendoza takes you back to the night his father swam into the US-controlled Guantanamo Bay on the island of Cuba.
Mariano Mendoza couldn’t envision living the life he wanted for himself or his family-to-be in his homeland, so decided to risk it all in the hope of a better future in the United States.
Which is why he waited until the dark of night to plunge into the water and leave everything, and everyone he knew, behind.
“My dad in the ’90s wanted his freedom, he couldn’t see where the country was going,” Brian Mendoza says. “He needed more opportunities to provide for his family. There were things he couldn’t do when he was there.
“He took that leap. He swam to the American base in Guantanamo, swam hours across the ocean. There’s eels, traps that the government sets, everything. If the government sees you in the ocean, they actually just start shooting.
“That’s why a lot of people don’t make it, there’s a lot of dangerous stuff on the way. You’re going against the current the whole time and they have a giant spotlight you have to avoid that’s constantly scanning over the ocean for people trying to swim.
Brian Mendoza, pictured with his father, Mariano Mendoza, ahead of his fight with Tim Tszyu.Credit: No Limit Boxing
“You have to be hiding from that, you have to time the current, there’s a lot to get around. It’s three hours in the ocean, that’s why it takes so long.
“You hear all those stories about people trying to make it on makeshift boats, it’s the same thing. Of course, many people have been caught and shot down in the water and they just leave you there. It’s insane. My dad, thankfully, made that tough journey and I’m here today because of it.”
Mariano Mendoza still remembers pulling himself out of the water and striding towards a new life.
“It was a good feeling, I can’t describe that moment,” Mariano Mendoza says. “The best moment ever in my life.”
Having survived the treacherous voyage, Mariano made his way to Florida in search of work before settling in New Mexico. That’s where he met Mendoza’s mother, Lissett, who survived her own ordeal in relocating to the United States.
Brian Mendoza plans to spring an upset on Sunday.Credit: No Limit Boxing
“My mum, she had to take a dangerous route here too,” Mendoza says. “They call it Mariel – like in the Scarface movie when all those people were sent over [from Cuba by boat], it was during that era.
“It was the government shipping you off, they didn’t promise you any safety. They just threw you on the boats and said, ‘Good luck’.
“There’s no guidance, there’s no promise of not ending up homeless. They don’t give you much of a start. Even when they send them here, the people when they receive you here, they say ‘Hey, if you want work, we have some in New Mexico.’
“They come here with no connections, no help, no nothing. You get started from scratch. She was young, about nine years old when she came over.”
The pair settled in New Mexico for about three decades, worked numerous jobs and had four children.
One of them, Mendoza, will on Sunday challenge Tszyu for the WBO super-welterweight world title. The 29-year-old’s journey from obscurity to world champion contender on the Gold Coast is just as unlikely a tale.
There have been moments when Mendoza’s career stalled. Despite his impressive record, the man known as “La Bala” – which means bullet in Spanish – struggled to attract big-name opponents or the attention of the media.
Just as he was considering undertaking supplementary work to make ends meet, he experienced a lasting, existential moment.
“My career was very stagnant, it wasn’t going anywhere,” Mendoza recalls. “I was having issues, thinking of where I had to go when I actually saw an owl in an area where they are not too common, it just flew up and started staring at me. I had a moment, just with the owl.
“After a couple of minutes it just flew off. I kinda felt something. I’m not too big on spirit animals and stuff like that, but that day I happened to feel something.
“It always stuck with me, this thing about perseverance. To just stick through it and that changes are coming, owls represent that along with wisdom. I felt a big change was coming and that’s exactly what happened.”
That big change occurred on a night that was also a poignant one for Tszyu. In March of last year, Tszyu became the first Australian to headline a non-title fight in the United States, rising from the canvas to defeat Terrell Gausha at the Armory in Minneapolis.
It was also a turning point for Mendoza. So anonymous was Mendoza at the time, that his fight against former unified WBA and IBF light middleweight champion Jeison Rosario – on the very same card – was held after the main event.
As Mendoza landed a brutal uppercut to floor Rosario and turn around his fortunes, the cleaners were folding up the empty chairs. Having played second fiddle to Tszyu, he earned the right to challenge him for his WBO super-welterweight world title after another stunning knockout, of the previously unbeaten Sebastian Fundora in April.
It has culminated in a remarkable journey to the Gold Coast, one made with proud and apprehensive parents.
“I’m actually not a fan of the sport,” says Lissett. “Many times I have told him ‘Nothing would make me happier than you quitting.’ But we support him. He has put in so much work and dedication into his training.”
When Mendoza enters the ring, he will do so with an ornate tattoo representing the owl he encountered when at a crossroads.
“I just believe I’m in my prime, this is my moment,” Mendoza says. “I have all the experience I need, I feel like I want it more. I know he wants it very bad as well, but when things get really rough, I have that extra edge. I’ve got a chip on my shoulder, I’ve already tasted defeat and I don’t want to go back to that.
“I train in the gym accordingly. The discipline I have, the experience, I’ve already pulled off big upsets so this is familiar territory for me.”
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