Boxing Projects

When I was 19 years old, I started the sport of Boxing. There was no real reason for it, I had been in a few fistfights growing up but nothing that lived inside me that had a penchant for blood and fists. I simply thought the sport was cool. Keep in mind, this was the time of Mike Tyson and Sugar Ray Leonard…..it was popular and I just wanted to do it.

I fought for almost 5 years before “retiring”.  It hurt.

Ronald Gavril fights at Turning Stone on the Mayweather Promotions card.

Fast forward twenty some odd years and here I am again in the sport, only this time I am outside of the ropes. I’ve become a sports photographer and I have had the opportunity to shoot quite a few fights in the past year. I’ve flown numerous times to The Turning Stone Resort in Upstate New York and shot televised events under the ShowTime, HBO and ESPN broadcast banners. I’ve also filmed in Kissimmee, Florida, Orlando and Las Vegas, and I’m hopefully just getting started.

Orlando Cruz (right) told folks he was gay, a first for the sport of Pro Boxing, and then whipped his opponent during an AllStar Promoted card in Kissimee, Florida.

The interest started back when there was commotion of the first pro fighter coming out, as they say. Puerto Rican superstar Orlando Cruz had just announced that he was gay, a first in the sport, and the media buzz was incredible! I shot his fight in the packed stadium and listened as the catcalls and boo’s quickly turned into chants of joy, and encouragement and National Pride. Cruz had turned a majority of the crowd into passionate fans who got to see his pugilistic prowess first hand. He easily won the fight, and that feeling I had upon seeing my images on the back of my camera that night were set in stone, boxing and the surrounding atmosphere would become my new passion.

Brandon Adams (left) fights during the ESPN Boxcino Tournament at Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, NY.

It was shortly after that when I began work on a documentary film centered around Canastota, New York, the home of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and the town I grew up in. Interviews with Tony Graziano, Ray Rinaldi, Billy Backus and Ed Brophy give this project in depth insight into the history of the sport and how it should be covered and hopefully remembered. This project has continued for almost 3 years, and I am getting closer to finishing up the project with the help of a talented producer and writer, Linnea Edmeier and the locals who have extensive knowledge of boxing and its roots. The folks I have met, and my surrounding team are the best at what they do, and this keeps drawing me back, month after month. I am off once again for my fourth consecutive Hall of Fame inductions in a few weeks, to not only cover the event for the Associated Press wire, but to reach out to make more industry connections. I truly want to be a “go to shooter” in the minds of the promotion companies and their fighters.

Miguel Cotto knocks out Delvin Rodriguez in the 3rd round at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. The crowd was over 16,000 and this image made the ESPN Photo of the Week.

Near the end of 2013, another Puerto Rican superstar, Miguel Cotto was bringing his contest to the Amway Arena, with his trainer Freddie Roach. These two have hooked up and are both at the top of their games. The sellout crowd was just under 17,000 and was byfar the biggest fight ever in the Orlando market. Cotto won by beating Delvin Rodriguez by knockout in the 3^rd round. My images were distributed all over the Associated Press wire service, and I ended up having a “Photo of the week” image run on the ESPN photo gallery page. Big time fights make for damn good images!

Floyd Mayweather Jr., now 46-0, weighs in prior to his fight against Marcos Maidana.

A few more trips back to Turning Stone saw some amazing fights on the ESPN Boxcino tournament. I was able to capture some more thrilling images including a TKO from Floridian Nate Heaven, in the heavyweight division. Power punches galore.

The highlight of my boxing photography happened a few short weeks ago at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Floyd Mayweather and crew had promoted a show at the Turning Stone Events Center, and it was here I met with the media and promotions manager Nicole Craig. She is an extremely busy person, but actually took the time to speak briefly with me. It was her help that enabled me to shoot a few days in Las Vegas.

Floyd Mayweather Jr punches Marcos Maidana on his way to a 12 round win.

There is way too much to talk about on this trip, the fans, the promoters, the weigh in, the fight and just that Fight Freak atmosphere….but all in all the experience was incredible. Though I was not really set up to the media access I was normally accustomed to, I was able to pull off a few cool images from my seat up high. I truly hope to one day be a main apron shooter at fights of this magnitude! I am working on my boxing styles every chance I get, and will part of the young guard coming up the ranks…. I want to acknowledge the promoters and media contacts that have helped to get me this far. You will be seeing a lot of my images in publications in the coming years……this I guarantee!

Ninja at home

So, my boys decided to create “Sugar Glass”, you know, the material that is used on movie sets to crash over the actors heads, or in the old cowboy Western’s, the window that was broken as the villain get kicked out of the saloon. This is all the rage apparently with 8 and 10 year old boys….as this is all they spoke about for a week.

Now, if you don’t know my boys, they are actual Ninjas….honest to God, actual living and breathing NINJAS! The actual spinning, flying, grunting and cussin little buggers who are 2 stripe tests away from earning their brown belts…(one belt away from BLACK)……so you can probably see where this little story is headed.

I digress….....so anyways, they mixed the concoction up in the bowl and then cooked it in a 9x9 cake tin. It turned into a rather large Ricola cough drop looking thingy, about half an inch thick and sticky as hell….but it was transparent for the most part.  We left it in the fridge overnight to harden….as the boys went to bed for the night, smiling and planning on the next days adventures, and how to break the glass.

Sunday morning was like Christmas to them as I apparently overslept for the grand breaking ceremony. I was pulled from my somewhat comfy bed with the demands of Blaze to "grab my camera and shoot this thing"…………Y A W N!

I told him to go to the garage and retrieve the black backdrop, stands, beauty dish and a kicker light for the background. We took a 4x8 foamcore sheet and tried our best to block the sun streaming through the front door, as total darkness what my ultimate goal. This didn’t really work out as planned, but I proceeded to attempt the shot anyway.

We took a simple tripod and Blaze gaff taped a normal spring clamp to it, to hold the glass in place. This stuff was as sticky as molasses I tell ya.

It was very important for the two

of us to get our timing down, we only had the one chance to nail the shot and I was already up……..I counted him down at least 10 times until I felt we were in sync. When he finally got consistent in his throwing of the punches and his screams were at the optimal NINJA volume, we decided to go for it!

One more test of the flash was necessary to make sure the lights were firing…they didn’t?  The cable release had fallen out,….phew….quick fix.

3………..2………..1………POP!!!!!!.......then a second later the shattering echoed throughout the living room……….it was over….DONE!

Chimping on the back of the camera was almost as glorious as seeing my Space Shuttle remotes for the first time….we had done it….Perfection on one take.

He laughed as we ate the glass that was still stuck to the tripod………….not a bad days work.

Check the new website at www.AlexMenendez.com

Mr. Cooper

Ran across this image today. Anderson Cooper is the man on CNN who is constantly trekking the world in search of the Breaking News stories. He does a fairly great job in my opinion and he is both fun to watch and not afraid to ask the tough questions....

Just wish he would return to Haiti to see how those folks are doing today..........

......yes, I stopped so he could have his pic taken with me! :-)

NFL Draft on ESPN

The NFL draft airs tonite on ESPN and nobody has a clue who the first pick will be and if he will even have the opportunity to play this season. The courts will decide what happens with the lockout....

Anyways, not to carry on, but I had an assignment a few weeks back from ESPN. Bill Parcells was in Orlando at Full Center University and was taping a show called "Bill Parcells Draft Confidential", where the old ballcoach rated the current draftees and his guesses on their draft order. I was hired to shoot behind the scenes for distribution and marketing. Everyone was fun to hang with and I have to say, shooting for ESPN is always a good time!

Effenheimer Beer

Here's a quick website that was put together using photos I shot in Minneola, Florida.

The brewery is called Effenheimer and these guys are producing some pretty good beer onsite. If you happen to make it down to Central Florida, feel free to stop by and enjoy a "tasting". They are very down to earth fella's who will treat you right.