Barboza’s Back, He Never Left Though ✝️

A fighter can chase an image or chase the truth. Arnold Barboza Jr. chooses the truth—about risk, loss, faith, and the weight class that fits who he is now. From stepping into a gym at five and a half to sharing cards with his pro kickboxer father, his foundation was built in real reps: smoker bouts, 75 amateur fights, and a career defined by taking chances instead of protecting a spotless record.

We talk through that nine-month sprint against three top-five opponents, the sting and lessons from the Lopez loss, and the decision to move up to 147 to unlock health, strength, and timing. Arnold opens up about how he and his dad keep their bond strong by drawing a hard line between trainer and father—strict in the gym, warm at home. He extends that wisdom to his own son, choosing a dedicated amateur program over trying to coach him himself, prioritizing learning, joy, and longevity.

Faith anchors the comeback. Arnold describes a dark season that shifted when he turned to God—daily prayer, renewed habits, and a calmer approach to career delays and near-miss negotiations, including a Ryan fight that fell apart over a rematch clause. The theme is resilience through clarity: build on fundamentals, respect your body, honor your people, and trust timing enough to make the next shot your best one. If you’ve ever had to rebuild after a hard hit—on the canvas or in life—this conversation offers practical wisdom and honest hope.

Listen, subscribe, and share with someone who needs a measured, fearless blueprint for a comeback. If the story resonates, leave a review and tell us the toughest adjustment you’ve made to get better.

The Boxing Grind 

Transcript

Setting The Stage With Barboza

SPEAKER_00 0:55

So you know, I usually I usually have the fighters do an introduction, but however, you definitely do not need an introduction to the world. Everybody knows who you are. This is Arnold Barbosa Jr. And you know, I just there's a couple of questions that I wanted to ask you, but was there anything that you wanted to just address first and let the public know? I know that you know, since May of 2025, I've been wondering what you've been doing.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah. No, you know, um, I mean, you can pretty much fire away

Early Years And Amateur Roots

SPEAKER_01 1:30

any questions you want. You know, as far as, you know, since uh you know, since May in my last fight, you know, I've just been, you know, just you know, in the gym, of course, like always, you know, getting my body right, my mind right, you know, going back to fundamentals, going back to basics, and you know, and making making uh getting ready for this comeback.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

So, and I also uh so I know that your father is your coach, and he's always been your coach, is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yeah, yeah, he's been my coach since I was uh five and a half years old.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

So okay, so you've been boxing since you were around five years old?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Yeah, sorry when I was five and a half years old. Um that's when I first stepped into a gym and first started uh fixing them up.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Okay, because I actually was looking for your amateur record and I really couldn't find anything. Did you have amateur fights or did you just go right into pro?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

No, no. So what happened was when I was five and a half, I I was obviously too young to, you know, to fight for USA boxing because you have to be eight years old. So my dad, my dad at the time, my dad was like a pro kickboxer, so he was but my dad's fights were like non-sanctioned fights, because they were like smoker fights. So what I was doing is I was fighting kids, you know, I was fighting smoker fights as well. So I was fighting like 25, I had about like 25 smoker fights, and people don't know what the net those are. It's basically non-sanctioned fights, you know, no no USA boxing and nothing like that. So I had like 25 of those, and then I had about like 75 amateur fights. I stopped boxing, you know, for like about six, seven years when I got to high school to play football. So I stopped boxing for a while, so I had about 75 amateur fights.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Okay. So when you say non-sanctioned, are the rules different? Is it a little bit more aggressive fighting or it's just it's it's just more the atmosphere.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

It's not non-sanctioned, meaning, you know, it's not more

Risk, Records, And Facing Elites

SPEAKER_01 3:20

same rules, same everything applies. But it was great because I was fighting on the same cards as my dad, you know, my dad would I would fight, and then my dad would fight after, you know, and it'll just be like the event user fighting at you know, clubs or bars, you know, and it's just it's the same same rules, you know, it's the same ring. You know, but you know, uh it was just you know non-sanction, you know, it wasn't it wasn't recorded.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Okay, and I mean you have quite an impressive resume. I know that you turned pro in in 2013. Is that accurate? 2013 you became pro and you had a very long streak of of you know perfect record, and just with the one exception against Lopez. How has that changed your outlook going forward for fighting?

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Well, you know, I I believe, you know, like you know, I've always, you know, my whole career, you know, if you look back to even to like my 18th fight when I fought Mike Reed, you know, he's a really good fighter. You know, I've always kind of took chances. Yeah, you know, and and I never got, you know, you know, I'm the type of person where I never got attached to my my my O, if that makes sense. You know, I never I never you know I knew one day that it was very possible that I could lose, especially if I'm gonna take chances and if I want to fight the best. You know, and in my last, you know, if you look at my last three fights, you know, I had you know, I fought three of the top five guys in my division and within a nine month span, you know, that's unheard of. Yeah. People fight, you know, one fight here, and then six months later they fight another fight, and then six months later, you know, they fight another mega fight, you know. So I did them back to back to back, you know, and and you know, I'd be Jose Ramirez and upset him, I upset Cataro for the belt. You know, and then I went to my Lopez, you know, and the Lopez file was very unexpected to me. You know, I didn't think it was gonna happen that soon. I was trying to get some rest, but you know, the opportunity showed up and I couldn't, I couldn't, you know, I couldn't, you know, I couldn't turn it down, you know. But you know, my my perspectives, you know, it's it's as far as far as you know, like, you know, I just you know, it just it's crazy. You know, I heard the stories when you lose and people are not there no more, this and that. And you know, I went through that, you know, I had you know people on the team that were with me from the beginning and then they left. But as long as it stays me and my dad, you know, then that's all that matters, you know. And you know, honestly, the the the the loss, you know, I can't say it didn't bother me because I I mean I wanted to win, of course, but you know, at the end of the day, you know, it comes with territory when you fight the best, you know, there's gonna be a winner, there's gonna be a loser. You know, you just gotta dust yourself off. You can't sit down and you know and and cry and and make people feel sorry for you, just gotta get up and go to the gym and work much that much harder to get back.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Well, that's the winner mentality right there. I was wondering after that loss, did the did the relationship with your father as a coach change at all? Or

Processing The Lopez Loss

SPEAKER_00 6:00

did you get closer? What like how did that relationship fluctuate over the years, just with you, you know, different periods of your life growing up?

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Yeah, you know what? That's a good question. You know, so you know, I think boxing, you know, has really brought me and my dad, you know, closer together. You know, and right now we're closer than ever, you know, he's my he's my best friend, you know, he's he's my uh you know, my hero in OK, right? But you know, when I was you know growing up, you know, when I stopped boxing, that period I stopped boxing, you know, I was getting into a lot of trouble, you know, and doing stuff like that. And you know, my relationship with my dad wasn't too too good, you know. You know, he's always been there, you know, but it just wasn't too good, you know. And then boxing, man, it just it really it really just brought us together, you know. And you know, the the thing with me and my dad is the reason why it works so good is because you know, when when we're in the gym, you know, he's my trainer, you know, he's not my father, you know, and then when we're then once once we step out of the gym, you know, we don't even talk about boxing now, he's my dad. So I think I think I think that's what you know really makes this relationship work, you know, is that we we know how to separate the two.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Yeah, no, I I it sounds like you have an amazing relationship with him. And and I was wondering, I saw your son. Is do you pronounce his name Julian or Julian?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Um Julian Julian, but Julian.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

I mean well, let me tell you, he was badass holding those mitts for you. Does he fight? Does he box?

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Yeah, yeah. You know what? He uh he's actually he's actually starting his little journey. You know, he's uh he's in, you know, or no, he's he's been training and he's been training for about a year already. I haven't debuted him yet. Uh and for an amateur fight, I want to take my time with him. You know, I don't want to burn him out. But he's in the gym every day, he's boring, he's working, he's grinding. I mean, he's a grinder as

Father–Son Bond And Boundaries

SPEAKER_01 7:45

a kid. You know, he's training with me at Big Bury running in the snow. I mean, he's up, you know, five in the morning running. I mean, he's very dedicated, very disciplined. It's crazy at that age I'm not even close to that discipline. So yeah, you know, I told him, man, as long as you keep that, you know, you're gonna be you're gonna be really good. So so I'm I'm you know, I'm I'm just supporting him in whatever he wants to do. You know, I don't necessarily care for him to fight, but that's what he wants to do, so that's what I'm supporting him.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

And now you're coaching him.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

No, I'm actually, you know, I'm not coaching him. My dad's not coaching him either. We actually have uh one of the gents that we trained at for the offseason, Pepper Academy. Pepper's training him. We have him because I like his program with the way he runs with the amateurs. And I don't want to get involved. I I would not be a good trainer straight up. I would not be a good trainer, man. I've been I've been boxing, I was five and a half years on stuff. I just don't even know how to ramp my own hands properly, you know. So I would not be a good coach. So you know, my dad will step in when you know time is right, when he turns pro and stuff like that. But right now, you know, we have him in a good amateur program and I want him to learn there with all the other kids.

SPEAKER_00 8:41

I mean, I value that that honesty, and you know, it's it's very stand-up of you to put your son's best interest before yours, right? I mean, if you know that you can't do something and and you're you're allowing him to have the best opportunity, and then obviously, you know, your father is there and he can't step in when the time is right. So I commend you for that. I think that's really great. And you know, I know that you have a really strong faith in God. I've I've watched you for a while, and I'm I'm wondering where that faith came from. Was it something you were raised with?

SPEAKER_01 9:14

No, you know what? I was I was you know, I was I was raised Catholic, I got baptized, you know, Christian, you know, on May on May 11th, you know, uh last year.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

And you know, it it's something that, you know, you know, I went through a hard a tough

Passing The Torch To His Son

SPEAKER_01 9:30

time, a really dark time a couple years ago. You know, I was I was not living right, you know, I was just not doing the right things. And and you know, it was just, you know, um, it was a really tough time, you know, and and and you know, there's nothing, there's nothing or no one out there that can help me. You know, and and when when I turn to God, you know, that that everything just changed, my whole life changed. You know, doors open, my eyes open, you know, and and man, it's just it's been amazing, you know. And and you know, honestly, I I you know, I I you know I praise God every day, you know, before I eat, you know, right when I wake up, you know, before I brush my teeth, I you know, I'm in my deep spray, you know, you know, I you know, I like I said, I praise him and and I and I and I live through it, you know. So, you know, of course, you know, everyone's human, we make mistakes and you know, be perfect, but you know, I don't I don't think he wants perfect, you know. Um so so you know, like I said, you know, I just you know I turn to God and and my faith. And you know, like right now, you know, I've been on, you know, going almost going on a year without fighting, and you know, I'm not you know, I would I try to put my problems in his hands, and I know that everything works out for for a reason. You know, I think God, you know, works in his ways, and you know, maybe I needed to break and you know, and um myself. So so you know, so let's see where where he takes us next.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Oh, he he's he's taking you, he's taking you. And I mean I've been saved by Jesus for over 20 years, and uh, you know, we we all go through that dark period and praise the Lord that he's there to pick us up when we don't know where else to go. And you know, I you said you know, because you haven't fought in a year, and and I really do believe that this time was the time that God needed for you to have your attention on him, and you know, I I was in the boxing world, you know, there's always little birdies floating around with little noose here and there. And are you uh are you moving up in a weight class to possibly fight Ennis?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

No, I'm I'm moving up to 147. Um, you know, I think Ennis is at uh 54. Okay, if I'm not mistaken, but but I'm moving up to 47, you know, I notified WBC, I haven't notified the other sanctionary bodies, but yeah, I'm moving up to 47. You know, I just think you know, 40, I've been there my whole career. You know, I actually started at 47 and I went down because you know, when I was you know coming out of uh high school, I was playing football, so I was weighing 215, so I had to drop down. Wow. So yeah, I was uh just working out and you know, I was playing fullback linebacker. So yeah, I you know I started at 47 and had like one fight there, and then I was at 45, 45, and then finally went down to 40. So, you know, I think I think 47 is gonna be good for me, it's gonna be healthy for me. You know, I mean I wasn't struggling, killing myself, like major to make the weight, like not eating at all, like some of these fighters was crazy at me. But uh, but you know, I just feel like you know, my body, you know, I'll be able to actually show my full potential at 47.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

Okay, and who who would you be thinking about going up against?

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Man, you know what? Um, to be honest with you, uh, you know, no one knows this, but we were actually gonna fight Ryan, you know, the negotiated everything, and uh everything was already gonna go through, but then he is the part of side, I believe, decided to take off the rematch clause, and and that's what that's what Ryan chose him and the bell as well. So that

Faith, Redemption, And Routine

SPEAKER_01 12:30

I mean, you know, like I said, I already you know, I I still didn't you know get upset or anything, you know. I just felt like you know, it wasn't my time and and and you know, gotta want something else for me. So yeah, so you know, right now we're we're we're searching, you know, we're looking for options. You know, I mean I wanted to fight Crocker, the IBF champion, but I don't know if he's gonna be busy. So look right right now, whatever, you know, whatever, you know, we gotta get with Golden Boy and see if we're hoping to come back soon.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Okay, okay. Well, I'm definitely going to be looking out, and whenever your next fight is, I'm going to be there so I can formally introduce myself and cover the media. I do cover the media at different fights. So, you know, is there any message that you want to give out to the universe right now? I know you're making a comeback this year. Anything special you want to say?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Oh man, you know, nothing special, but just you know, for everybody, you know, just to you know, keep following, be patient. You know, we're gonna be back in the ring, you know. You know, we always put God first, you know, family second, and our guests come after that. So you know, stay tuned. You know, we're gonna come back and we're coming back strong.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

Amen. Stay tuned. Thank you so much, Arnold. It's been a pleasure, and I will definitely be back in touch with you soon, okay?

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Okay, sounds good. I appreciate you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Thank you. God bless.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

God bless. Bye bye.