Alonso making boxing promoter debut
The pain endured from sustaining a broken thumb last season had subsided when Miami Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso developed a budding friendship during rehab.
A chance encounter just may have steered Alonso toward a potential postfootball career. He is one of the promoters for Saturday’s Boxing Storm 3 at Miami Airport Convention Center. The main event features Miami welterweight Harold Calderon (12-0, 7 KOs) againstWilfrido Buelvas (18-7,4KOs). Theundercard starts at 7 p.m.
Alonso jump aboard after befriending Calderon while the two were recovering from the same injury a few months ago. They immediately bonded, and soon after Alonso joined the promoting business.
“I met Harold few months ago,” Alonso said. “I’ve always been a fan of boxing. He’s a great guy and I’m looking forward to watching him fight.”
It was an easy sell for Alonso because of their quickly developing friendship. The doctors introduced them because they wanted Calderon to offer advice on how to deal with the injury. He was recovering from his second broken thumb. They both injured the same bone.
The meeting has blossomed into them speaking at least once aweek. Alonso attended Friday’s weigh-in and he also plans to sit at Calderon’s table during the fight.
“I started talking to him because I’ve been through this injury,” Calderon said. “Iwas a bit nervous because I’m a huge Dolphins fan. I go to every game. After we exchangedwords, I realized this was just a normal person. It was nothing. We just clicked together. I was amazed how someone like him could be just so cool. He said anything that I needed, he’d help me out.”
Alonso, whose background includes Colombian, Cuban and Puerto Rican heritage, is no stranger to boxing. He grew up watching the sport with his father, Carlos. Boxing and mixed martial arts are also part of Alonso’s offseason training.
“Iwas a bigMiguel Cotto fan,” Alonso said. “I’m a big fan of the Cuban boxers. … There’s a lot of them. I’ve always been a fan of boxing. My dadwas a fan of boxing. I kind of grewupwatching.”
Calderon is among those impressed with Alonso’s boxing knowledge. The two have attended local fights together, discussing techniques throughout.
“He’s a boxing fanatic,” Calderon said. “When we were first getting to know each other, I thought hewas just a casual fan. Then I realized he wasn’t. He knows the sport. He knows who fought who. He knows the stuff like offense and defense.”
Calderson said he could see Alonso becoming a fulltime promoter once his playing days are over. They recently discussed how Alonso would have made sure FloydMayweather and Manny Pacquiao fought years before they finally did in 2015.
Alonso said he will start thinking about that when the time comes. Right now, he’s just focused on being supportive as possible of Calderon.
“I haven’t thought about it,” Alonso said. “Harold is my buddy. I’m a boxing fan. I’m just looking to see some good fights [Saturday].”
Twitter @shandelrich