Undefeated flyweight Andy Dominguez is a fighter who has traveled quite a bit around the Western Hemisphere. But at heart, he's a New Yorker, and on Thursday night, he'll take it to the ring on Boxing Insider Fight Night at Sony Hall against his tenth professional opponent, Mohammed Nil Ayikwei Aryeetey.
If we tell you that Dominguez is a native of Mexico City, you would think that he grew up in that major metropolis. But the reality is, he's a farm boy, as he was reared in that kind of atmosphere in rural Mexico.
He didn't stay there all that long, however; Dominguez's childhood was spent in the Bronx, which is where his family moved when he was just ten years old. There was nothing easy about his early years in the Big Apple. Slight of build, he speaks of lots of abuse that came from his classmates at school, as if learning the language and getting used to life in the big city weren't enough.
But at the age of 13, he ventured into a boxing gym, and things changed relatively quickly, and not just from a self-defense standpoint either. Young Andy found out that he had a competitive fire, and he started to play his skills against those of others. He wound up having 59 amateur bouts, and in the prestigious New York Golden Gloves, he won three championships.
From there, it was just a matter of time before he turned pro, and he did so in August 2020 when he scored a four-round decision win over Jonathan Correa Alamo. In his first eight bouts, the only other opponent who was able to go the distance with him was Ivan Vasquez.
In May of last year, he registered a fourth-round TKO of Edwin Reyes to capture the WBA Fedecentro flyweight (112-pound) title, which was vacant at the time.
That victory brought him a world ranking, and as of right now he is positioned at #6 in the flyweight ranks according to the World Boxing Association, which means he is qualified to fight for a world championship right now.
His first fight at Sony Hall (last October) was electrifying, as he scored a one-punch knockout in the first round over Ricardo Caraballo, a 7-1 pro who had been a National Golden Gloves finalist. Then he came back to Sony on December 21 and went eight rounds for the first time in winning a decision over Marvin Solano.
Dominguez comes out and throws jabs that have some purpose, and once he's got an opponent in trouble, it's "katie bar the door," as they say.
He also has various ways to go on the attack. Last March, facing Jeronil Borres, a 17-fight veteran, he landed a suffocating body shot to end things with fifteen seconds to spare in the opening round.
This is an explosive fighter, but also an effusive personality, who has drawn interest from a number of sponsors and will likely continue to do so. If the flyweight division has a future star, he's right there in the running. And he now lives and trains in Las Vegas, who a number of stars are known to have been spotted.
He says that as a professional, he'd like to "inspire people."