View source for Miguel Espino

{{short description|American boxer}}
{{about|a Mexican boxer|the Salvadoran writer|Miguel Ángel Espino}}

{{BLP sources|date=October 2022}}
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="280" style="margin-left:3px" align="right"
!align="center" bgcolor="skyblue" colspan="3"|'''Miguel Espino'''
|-
!align="center" bgcolor="skyblue" colspan="3"|Profile
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Born
|colspan="2" valign="top"|{{birth date and age|1980|2|16}}
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Birthplace
|colspan="2" valign="top"|[[North Hollywood|N. Hollywood]], [[United States|U.S.]]
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Nationality
|colspan="2" valign="top"|[[Mexican-American]]
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Residence
|colspan="2" valign="top"|[[North Hollywood|N. Hollywood]], [[United States|U.S.]]
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Height
|colspan="2" valign="top"|5&nbsp;ft 11 in (1.80 m)
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Classification
|colspan="2" valign="top"|[[Middleweight]]
|-
!align="center" bgcolor="skyblue" colspan="3"|Boxing Record
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Fights
|colspan="2" valign="top"|20
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Wins ([[KO]]s)
|colspan="2" valign="top"|16 (8)
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Losses
|colspan="2" valign="top"|3
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|Draws
|colspan="2" valign="top"|1
|-
!align="center" bgcolor="skyblue" colspan="3"|Results on [[The Contender (television series)|The Contender]]
|-
!align="left" valign="top"|First Round
|colspan="2" valign="top"|Lost to [[Peter Manfredo|Manfredo]] on points
|}
'''Miguel Angel Espino''' (born February 16, 1980) is a professional American [[boxing|boxer]].

==Personal life==
Espino, a [[Mexican-American]], was born in [[North Hollywood, California]]. Espino is from the "hood", and sees boxing as an escape from this - looking to the day when he can present his family the keys to a new house. His mother is legally [[blindness|blind]], and has a younger sister who is seeking a BA in psychology. Espino is by nature a polite and quiet character, as well as a bit of a [[foodie]]. In 2011, he married his sweetheart, Ana, with whom he has a daughter, Abigail Angel Espino.

==Boxing career==
He was placed on the 'West Coast Team' in [[reality television]] show ''[[The Contender (television series)|The Contender]]'', and was matched against [[Peter Manfredo]], the high-ranked boxer who had been reinstated into the show by popular vote amongst the contestants. He was unlucky to lose, the three judges giving Manfredo 144 points and Espino 141 - the maximum for the five round fight being 150.

On losing, he was hugely upset at missing his opportunity to lift his family out of their "plight".  However, he won his next fight on the Contender rematch undercard, stopping Jonathan Reid in the fifth round out of five, and proceeded from there to go on an eleven fight winning streak from 2005 to 2009.  He was able to win the WBC Caribbean Boxing Federation Middleweight title during this time, and established himself as a nice action fight on Telefutura boxing cards.  This resulted in him getting a shot at WBC/WBO Middleweight champion [[Kelly Pavlik]].

==Middleweight title shot==
Espino fought Kelly Pavlik on December 19, 2009, at the [[Beeghly Center]] on the campus of [[Youngstown State University]] for the [[World Boxing Council|WBC]], [[World Boxing Organization|WBO]] and [[Ring Magazine]] [[middleweight]] titles.  Miguel lost by way of fifth-round knockout after giving a spirited effort in which he went inside and traded with the champion, but while both guys landed a lot on each other, the power difference was clearly in Pavlik's favor, as he dropped Espino a lot prior to the stoppage.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=4639682|title=Pavlik to defend title against Espino on Dec. 19|date=10 November 2009|website=ESPN.com|access-date=15 December 2021}}</ref>

==''The Fighter''==
Miguel Espino appeared on ''[[The Fighter]]'' as Alfonso Sanchez who appears during the climax of the movie.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/16/real-life-rocky-story-miguel-espino-goes-hollywood-in-the-fig/ |title=Miguel Espino: Real-Life Rocky Goes Hollywood in 'The Fighter' |access-date=2011-05-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110618034137/http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/16/real-life-rocky-story-miguel-espino-goes-hollywood-in-the-fig/ |archive-date=2011-06-18 }}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050507123832/http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Contender/boxers/miguel.shtml NBC Profile]
* {{boxrec|id=015885}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espino, Miguel}}
[[Category:1980 births]]
[[Category:American boxers of Mexican descent]]
[[Category:Boxers from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:The Contender (TV series) participants]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from North Hollywood, Los Angeles]]
[[Category:American male boxers]]
[[Category:Middleweight boxers]]


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