Ángel Acosta

[3] To support his mother, María del Carmen Gómez, he opted to dropout in seventh grade, intending to find a way to earn enough money to repair an inherited house and resume his studies.[6] His familiarity with Barrio Obrero helped him perform this task, which he undertook as both a temporary hobby and an additional source of income for his immediate family and other expenses, but which took a backseat to training for his fights.[6] The circumstances of his upbringing have brought interest from the media, beginning in 2014 when Acosta was the subject of !Ti-to!, a short documentary directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and filmed as part Huffington Post's RYOT initiative.[7] Two years later, he was the titular topic of El Púgil, an extended biographical documentary about the same subject created by Soto, which was distributed by the local Fine Arts cinema and was featured at the Tribeca Film Festival.[4] Even after advancing far enough in his professional career to be considered a contender, Acosta insisted that he had no intention of moving away from Barrio Obrero, with the local gym still serving as the main base of his camps with trainer Javier Arce.[9] On July 5, 2009, Acosta competed in the finals of the Copa Olímpica Juan Evangelista Venegas, an annual tournament held by the Puerto Rico Olympic Committee (COPUR), losing to Emmanuel Rodríguez by RSC in two rounds.[10] On October 8, 2009, Acosta participated in a tournament held between the national teams of Puerto Rico and Canada, defeating Ahmed Karatella 16:6 fighting in the flyweight division.[21] In December 2011, Acosta suffered another defeat to Jantony Ortiz in the finals of the Juan Evangelista Venegas Tournament, this time with scores of 8:5, marking the third and last loss in a streak that propelled his opponent to the national team.[31] Acosta then made his Texas debut, scoring a technical knockout over Víctor Ruíz, who suffered a severe injury in one of his eyes and was withdrawn by recomendación of the ringside doctor.[32] His perfect knockout ratio reached double digits with a win over Armando Vázquez at Caguas, in what was his first titular fight where he won the World Boxing Council's FECARBOX Light Flyweight Championship.[35] Acosta then met former training partner Ericson Martell as part of a PMC vs. Universal Promotions card, winning by stoppage in the second round and retaining his title.[38] Acosta was then scheduled to compete in his second regional title fight, this time for the World Boxing Organization's (WBO) Latino Light Flyweight Championship, against Luis Armando Ceja.[43] The boxing style displayed during this stage of his career drew attention, in particular because of combining respectable speed with a type of power that was considered rare in the lower weight classes.[5] When queried about the matter, Valcárcel asserted that Acosta was more advanced than José de Jesús, Josué Camacho, Alex Sánchez, Nelson Dieppa and Iván Calderón when they had the same quantity of fight.[48] Both would later hold amicable reunions at Barrio Obrero, and other promotional activities were made where the champion acknowledged that Acosta had "all around skills" and assessed that the punching power was superior to that of Moisés Fuentes, whom he had defeated priorly.[54][55] Acosta's first world title opportunity was scheduled to take place in the champion's home country of Japan, forcing the team to prepare him for his first journey to the eastern hemisphere by scientifically absorbing the hour difference over a span of two weeks, beginning the adaptation locally following a delay in the visa process.[56][57][58] This development forced a four-day stay in New York and the rescheduling of his final sparring session to El Maestro Juan Laporte Gym in The Bronx, also fragmenting the group until trainers Javier Arce and Jim Pagán could travel there.[60] Other changes made for this fight included beginning the camp abroad, traveling to Buffalo, New York with Juan de León (brother of Carlos and co-manager of his career along Willie Silvestrí) and expending four weeks there.[79] Acosta is scheduled to face countryman Janel Rivera in a ten-round super flyweight bout on May 12, 2022, in the main event of a DAZN broadcast card taking place at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California.