I just got home after being in Fresno since 3pm and I still don’t think this actually happened. My buddy Aren called me up and asked if I’d like to come shoot “the fight”. It took me a bit to realize that he meant the Jose Ramirez vs Jose Pedraza fight for TopRank for his buddy Rick Mirigian—Jose’s manager. I didn’t hesitate. I just said yes. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. It turned out to be infinitely more exhilarating than anything I’ve ever shot. I’ve shot shows for about 15 years now but all the rules for shooting shows go right out the window when shooting a sporting match of this caliber. Fighters are lighting-fast. Chasing them in the viewfinder is no longer a game of hitting your expected places; you are now hunting like a sniper without a spotter for your shots. I’ve been watching boxing in some form or another since I was a kid, but until I watched a pair or evenly-matched pugilists at the peak of their performance power landing or guarding punches that would reset me back to 1979, I was just watching a fight. This was an experience. It was constant chaos during every second of each round and it was the most nervous I’ver ever been behind a camera. I can’t wait to do it again.
Thank you again to my homie Aren and thank you to Rick for giving me the opportunity to knock a bucket list item off. You guys have no idea how much this means to me.
