Photo via Mikey Williams, Top Rank Boxing

Last week I caught up with highly rated 130lb contender Abraham “Super” Nova (22-1, 15 KOs) at his gym “Everybody Fights” in Boston, MA before he left to head out to Vegas for all of the fight week festivities. Nova will be featured in a ten-round bout on Friday night’s Top Rank ESPN+ telecast against former world champion Jonathan Romero (35-1, 19 KOs).

Nova mentioned to me how excited he was to be fighting on such a historic week of boxing.

“I’m pumped. You know, I’m excited. Originally I was supposed to fight on the same day as Spence and Crawford, but then once they told me I was fighting the day before I was still pumped. Being in Vegas, a part of the whole atmosphere is electrifying.”

This will be Nova’s second fight of 2023. He picked up an impressive victory over the always game Adam Lopez (16-5, 6 KOs), which was a big statement because it was his first fight after taking his first professional defeat at the hands of now WBO featherweight champion Robeisy Ramirez (13-1, 8 KOs). Abraham spoke to me about how important it was for him to come back against a well respected opponent instead of taking a softer touch.

“It was big. You know, it was big for my confidence and my mental. You know, coming off of a loss against Robeisy it was difficult, especially the way I lost. So you know coming back and having a tough fighter in front of me, you know giving me everything he got, you know it’s something I needed to help me bounce back in order to get these fights quick and in order to get me in position for a world title. So you know, a fight with Adam Lopez put me right in target for this fight and hopefully a big title fight coming.”

After beginning his career at 130 lbs, Nova briefly moved down to 126 lbs to chase a world title. He got ranked as high as #2 in the world by the WBO before his defeat. Nova has a big frame even for 130, so cutting those extra four pounds to get to featherweight took a toll on his body. He explained to me how much stronger and more comfortable he feels being back at 130 lbs.

“I feel a lot stronger. I feel more healthy. I feel like this is where I belong. You know 126 was a big hit on my body, especially that I wasn’t young. I was 28, 28/29 years old so it’s tough cutting all that weight. But you know going back to 130, feeling you know very strong, having a good nutritionist behind me, I’m excited for what my power could deliver at this weight class”.

Nova has a lot of respect for his opponent Jonathan Romero, but does believe that he has a few advantages over the former world champion that will help ensure he comes out on top.

“He’s fought good opposition, but I feel I have fought better opposition… My power and my size, he’s coming up from 122, that’s where he fought for a world title and now he’s coming up at 130. I’m the younger, stronger, bigger fighter. He does have the experience, but I feel like I’m better well-rounded with my skillset.

The last question that I had for Abraham was if his mascot was going to make the trip up to Vegas with him. He made sure to make it known that the mascot will be at every one of his fights going forward, and it was visible during today’s weigh ins.

“The mascot goes worldwide. Wherever I go he goes. The mascot is part of me, it’s who I am. It’s my biggest fan, so you’ll see the mascot in Vegas and you’ll see it everywhere I go.”

The fight will be featured on the ESPN+ undercard that begins at 7:30 pm EST/4:30 pm PST and will take place at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. All Nova needs is a victory to put him in position for either a title eliminator or world title opportunity, but a knockout would be a huge statement especially considering the attention that is on the sport of boxing this week. Nova has done a great job of advertising himself, his mascot and entertaining fighting style have certainly caught the attention of boxing fans all around the world. This is a great opportunity for him, and I fully expect him to shine bright tomorrow night.

Here I have attached the entire interview that I did with Nova, which also contains some training footage from different workouts throughout this camp.