Matthew Griego takes on Ronnie Baldonado in toughest test

New Mexico’s undefeated prospect Matthew Griego will face his toughest test to date when he squares off against Ronnie Baldonado at Isleta Casino March 7th in his hometown of Albuquerque.

Griego 10-0, with 6 KOs, wants to show the boxing world that he is ready to step it up in competition. The fight card also marks the return of boxing promoter Lenny Fresquez.

Fersque, the godfather of boxing promotions in New Mexico, will back his first card since 2013. Fresquez is best known for promoting former world women’s pound-for-pound queen Holly Holm, before Holm made her jump to MMA, where Fresquez still acts as her main promoter.

In his return to boxing Fresquez stated he wanted to get an up and comer and someone who was a good person, not just a good fighter.

“I wanted to get back for a while, but didn’t have the right fights to put on. I met Matt at Tom Crego’s funeral and we exchanged numbers and kept in touch.” stated Fresquez.

“He is a good kid and there isn’t a lot of them out there, there are a lot of good fighters but I want to work with someone who is both.”

Crego was one of New Mexico’s best supporters of boxing, having helped former world champions Johnny Tapia and Danny Romero during their careers. Crego died in January of 2019. Prior to his passing, he had reached out to Fresquez about Griego, thus the start of the dialogue between them.

A boxing event was in the makings in the summer of 2019, but Fresquez couldn’t put together a quality card, so he decided to wait for the right time.

“We were close to getting something going but I wanted a good card from the first fight to the main event,” Frequez said. “We were having an issue seeing eye to eye on a lot of fighters agreeing to fight better opposition, so we held off.

“I think now we have a good card look to put on a good show March seventh.”

Griego,23, was so eager to take on the experienced Baldonado, who’s lost only twice in 17 professional fights, that he jumped at the chance as soon as Fresquez sent him a list of opponents.

“I am so ready to fight someone of this caliber, all my other opponents prior I know I should have beaten them but now I have a huge challenge in Baldonado,” said Griego. ”I look to finally put on a big show and show the boxing world that I am ready for these types of fights.”

Having fought only twice in the last twenty-four months, Griego is eager to get his career back on track.

“I had a few things that fell through in the past two years,” said Griego. “I was to fight in a tournament last fall, then that fell through. Then I got an injury in training so I wanted that to heal. It’s been frustrating, but I have kept my head up, stayed in the gym and remained positive. I’m just glad Mr. Fresquez is giving me a chance to show my skills.”

Baldonado, 24, fights under the promotional banner of the great Manny Pacquiao. He’s scored nine knockouts in his 15 wins.

Griego is confident he can win.

“I have seen tapes on his style and I feel my boxing ability and speed will be the factor in the fight,” Griego said. “He has fought a lot of good fighters and his record speaks for itself, but I feel I’m ready to finally put my slow start in my boxing career in full throttle.”

Outside of boxing, Griego and his girlfriend Jolene recently purchased a home and are in the process of renovating and redecorating.

If Griego can get past Maldonado, he will have remodeled his career under Fresquez - and opened the door for bigger opportunities to come his way.