George Arias looks to impress on Showtime during Hall of Fame weekend

George Arias faces Alante Green on Showtime to kick off Hall of Fame weekend in Canastota.

On Friday night, the International Boxing Hall of Fame commences their induction weekend, which is always kicked off by a fight card at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY. The co-feature will have undefeated heavyweight prospect George Arias (17-0) going up against Alante Green (10-0-1) from Cleveland, OH.

The story of Arias is unique in different ways as he was born in the Dominican Republic but, at the age of seven, made his way to New York City, specifically Queens. Looking back at his life in D.R, Arias doesn’t remember much but does recall having the freedom to move around, which is something that came to a halt living in NY. He eventually moved to the Bronx, and that’s when life changed a little for Arias.

“Growing up, I lived on 138th Street and Cypress Avenue, which had a lot of baseball all around. Since there was a lot of violence in the streets, my mom wouldn’t let me go out that much, so it was going to school and then going home. I started with Taekwondo for five years and thought it was cool. Once I got to High School, I stopped doing it because life in school was more fun than going to the Taekwondo classes,” Arias told FanSided.

George Arias fights Alante Green on Showtime to kick off Hall of Fame Weekend.

When he was 18, he walked into a gym (Morris Park Boxing Club) out of curiosity and started boxing from there. Arias said, “For the first year of training in the gym, I had no intentions of staying. When I met my coach Leon Washington Jr., he kept pushing me to keep coming back. When the Golden Gloves came around, I started to get ready for that and made it to the finals, where I was robbed. I was almost impressed that I did that well with such little interest. After that, I started believing in myself, and in April 2014, that’s when I won the Golden Gloves.”

Later that year, Arias turned pro and racked 16 consecutive wins, which landed him a spot as the main event opponent for then-undefeated Cassius Chaney in December. Arias was the underdog but ended up pulling out the split decision victory. It’s always interesting to hear from the fighter what they saw inside the ring as it was happening, so Arias provided a peek at his thoughts that night. Arias told FanSided, “I was ready for someone with a lot of power and a strong right hand. Understanding that I knew as long as I didn’t let him sit down on his punches, he wouldn’t be able to do what he does best and get the knockout. I knew conditioning and footwork would be important, so I focused a lot on those things.”

Arias didn’t change anything for this training camp as he worked out of the Morris Park Boxing Club in the Bronx. Leon Washington Jr. was in charge of getting him ready, bringing in some veteran sparring partners. One of them was heavyweight contender Juiseppe Cusumano, who has worked with former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in past training camps. Arias felt like he had to be on his game all of the time, considering the level of experience he was sparring during this camp. Arias told FanSided, “They are the kind of guys that just when you think you have them figured out, they are also studying you, and you can’t keep doing the same things over and over. You have to throw things here and there to try and establish different rhythms. Mentally, it was fatiguing because you didn’t want to get caught. “

Arias is the first to admit that he doesn’t know much about his opponent but won’t get careless in the ring. “I don’t know much about him, but his record shows that he is a strong hitter. I see he is undefeated, so he comes prepared and doesn’t know how to lose. We are fighting at 225lbs, so I know he will be in really good shape, and someone who is determined said the 30-year-old heavyweight contender.”

Lastly, he wanted to make sure to address those that will be tuning into his fight on Showtime. Arias said, “I hope and pray to God that I can do the absolute best on Friday night. I love putting on a show for the fans and want to win. I hope they enjoy it as I do it for them. I train to give the people what they want, but when the fight comes, my priority is to win.”