Plant City Boxing Gym’s latest venture into the professional boxing scene is homegrown.
Gym owner Jose Rodriguez recently announced the debut of Fire Fist Boxing Promotions, a fighter management group he created with partner Jody Caliguire. After a three-month process of acquiring licenses, Rodriguez, himself a former pro, says Fire Fist is ready to put its name on the map.
“It’s a great thing,” Rodriguez says. “I wanted to be a champion, but now I can do it with these guys. It’s for real now. I can be in the corner. I’m your trainer. I’m your manager. I know I can do it.”
Caliguire, who owns Central Site Development, says he had been “toying” with the idea of creating a boxing management group for over a year. Fire Fist came to fruition in March after he discovered Plant City Boxing Gym while looking for a place to train. He says that, after meeting Rodriguez, the two quickly became friendly and found they had similar goals.
A week after Caliguire pitched the idea for Fire Fist to Rodriguez, the wheels on the project began turning.
“We’re further developing professional boxers. There’s a lot of talent in the Tampa Bay area, Hillsborough County and Polk County, and we want to bring boxing back to this area in a big way.”
Fire Fist currently has two boxers signed to its roster, and both men are slated to fight in the group’s first-ever event in mid-August.
Yamaguchi Falcao, 29, a World Boxing Council top-20 middleweight and a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, is a rising Brazilian star with an active 13-win streak and an affiliation with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Falcao, a former WBC Latino Middleweight champion, is looking to climb the ladder.
Falcao says he enjoyed training at Plant City Boxing Gym and that he believes Rodriguez and Fire Fist can help him ascend in the WBC ranks.
“If you’re a champion, you’re going to be a champion in this gym or any other gym,” Falcao says. “It’s the desire in your heart that you’ve got to be a champion. It’s the hunger that you’ve got.”
Cesar “Junito” Seda, a former International Boxing Organization flyweight champion, is looking to right the ship in his own pro career. Seda, 31, a native of Puerto Rico, last held the title in 2010 and hopes to earn his first title shot since 2013, when he unsuccessfully battled Leo Santa Cruz for the WBC World Super Bantamweight belt.
“He’s got the caliber,” Rodriguez says. “He just needs to get back on track.”
Fighters within the promotion live and train in Plant City, all on Fire Fist’s dime. The group purchased a house for fighters to live in and takes care of groceries, utilities and other needs so that the fighters have little to be concerned about outside their work.
“We take care of everything … we make sure they don’t have to worry about anything but boxing,” Rodriguez says.
Fire Fist is set to host a card in Tampa on August 12 featuring Falcao and Seda, as well as Irish boxer Connor Coyle. The group is planning to have Seda fight again in October.
Rodriguez and Caliguire say that Fire Fist is trying to bring more fighters aboard soon, and that they have high hopes for the future of the promotion.
“I think, personally, we’ve got something good going on here,” Rodriguez says. “I think in a couple of years, not too far, you’re going to see us with a WBC champion. You’re going to see us out there. You will.”