Cuban-born welterweight Damian “Devo” Frias (19-7-1, 10 KOs) will be back in his customary role as a potential spoiler Saturday night in Dallas as he takes on undefeated welterweight prospect Mikael Zewski (19-0, 15 KOs) in an eight-round bout at American Airlines Center. Zewski-Frias is on the Mikey Garcia-Juan Manuel Lopez undercard.
Frias already has one major upset on his resume having defeated 21-1-1 Henry Crawford (TKO9) in 2011. In his last three fights, after his upset of Crawford, Frias went the distance in losses to, in order, Ionut Dan Ion (30-2), Vitaliy Demyenanko (25-0) and Carlos Molina (19-5-2).
“After beating Crawford,” Frias said, “my career didn’t take off like I had expected. Maybe that will happen after this fight? My last three fights have been against top fighters. I wasn’t prepared for the Molina fight but the other two fights I thought I should have won. I felt I beat the Russian fighter in Seattle. I lost to Ion by two points. I dropped him but they called it a slip. I don’t have a promoter to protect me like these guys.”
Zewski, a Canadian, is promoted by Top Rank, which is also promoting the show. “I fight for me and that’s the way it’s been,” Frias added. “My manager, Si Stern, gets me fights, and I don’t care who it’s against or where. I just deal with it. I’m not intimidated by anybody and don’t mind fighting in front of my opponent’s fans.
“I don’t know too much about Zewski and don’t really care about him or what he brings into the ring. I’ve heard that he’s supposed to be a strong fighter. We’ll see. He’s in for a big surprise if he’s taking me lightly. I’m ready to go to war.”
“Damian is as tough as they come, no fear, and he’s a very dangerous opponent for any welterweight,” Stern commented. “He should really have a few more wins than he does but he’s fought a lot of good guys on the road. Nobody’s ever stopped Damian.”
