When I caught up to Mederos, it was Monday of fight week and he was getting ready to head to Mexico City. There was nothing to pick up in the way of nerves, either about the fight, the flight or fighting 7,349 feet above sea level. In short, the 28-year-old was just happy to be days away from a fight after a long year on the sidelines.
“Man, life was definitely hitting my ass with some Mike Tyson uppercuts,” he said. “A lot of stuff happened.”
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Some bad, like cellulitis in his hand, and some great, like the birth of his second child, a son. And though he wasn’t thrilled with the time away, he’s back this weekend and chasing after something more than just a win.
“I don’t think the ‘it’s a win, I’ll take it’ mentality is a mentality that gets you to the top,” Mederos said. “But it’s a balance. I don’t think you get too overzealous about a victory, but I don’t think you get too down on yourself to where you’re not comprehending the fact that you are getting those wins. So I look at it (the Quinones fight) as a lesson. You take the positives from it, which is the win, and then you take the lessons from it that you’re learning, and you flip those the next time. I feel like a tendency that most guys have in this game is if it’s winning, it’s working. And I don’t always think that’s the case. I think you find a way to win and then you want to find a way to excel, because I don’t think the goal should ever be just to win. It should be to dominate. And then if you’re winning in the process, we love it.”
