Joseph Adorno has returned to Minneapolis to redeem himself.
Almost 11 months have passed since the Dominican Republic’s Michel Rivera, then an unbeaten lightweight contender, defeated Adorno by unanimous decision in a high-stakes 10-rounder Showtime televised from The Armory. Adorno (17-1-2, 14 KOs) will encounter another Dominican, Elvis Rodriguez, at that same venue in the 10-round opener of a “Showtime Championship Boxing” tripleheader Saturday night.
The 23-year-old Adorno considers himself a lightweight, but the Allentown, Pennsylvania native felt this 140-pound bout was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
“It’s definitely a new beginning,” Adorno said. “It’s like a restart. It’s a second chance at being great, putting my name against those elite guys, you know, if I beat Elvis on Saturday night. I got a chance to do it against Michel. It didn’t go my way. I wanna redeem myself against another Dominican fighter, right back where I lost against a Dominican fighter. So, it’s definitely like a redemption for me.”
Adorno feels better prepared to face Rodriguez than he did for his lone loss to Rivera (24-1, 14 KOs) or his narrow win against Hugo Alberto Roldan (21-1-1, 7 KOs) in his last fight, which occurred September 9 at Bally’s Grand Ballroom in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Adorno edged Argentina’s Roldan by the same score, 95-94, on all three cards to win unanimously in the 10-round main event of a “ShoBox: The New Generation” broadcast.
Adorno estimated that he trained three full weeks apiece for those two bouts because he accepted those assignments on short notice. He has completed a seven-week camp for his fight against Rodriguez, during which he made adjustments based on the training mistakes that have cost him in the past.
“It’s just been great,” Adorno said. “You really do have to learn. You know, I used to be a lazy guy, didn’t like running a lot. But for this camp, you know, we had seven weeks. For Michel, we only had three weeks. And then for my last fight, it was only three weeks as well. So, those were short camps. For this camp, it was very different. I got to do way more training, way more running, you know, to prepare myself for those 10 rounds.”
Missing weight was a disruptive issue prior to earlier fights that Adorno assured is behind him. Adorno also anticipates the proper preparation for this bout to reflect in his performance during what is a make-or-break fight for him against the 27-year-old Rodriguez (13-1-1, 12 KOs), a strong southpaw who stands approximately four inches taller than Adorno.
“I was just a young kid,” Adorno said. “I thought I was the best at everything, didn’t wanna listen to nobody, wanted to do things my way. And, you know, those are the results – not making weight, getting tired in fights when I shouldn’t have gotten tired. You live and learn. You know, I was young, making mistakes. But you learn from those mistakes and here I am now.”
Rodriguez-Adorno will open a three-bout broadcast set to begin at 9 p.m. ET.
Former WBA world welterweight champ Jamal James (27-2, 12 KOs), a Minneapolis native, will end a 15-month layoff against Argentina’s Alberto Palmetta (18-1, 13 KOs) in Showtime’s 10-round co-feature. Argentina’s Jeremias Ponce (30-0, 20 KOs) and Puerto Rico’s Subriel Matias (18-1, 18 KOs) will fight for the vacant IBF junior welterweight title in the 12-round main event.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.