Dealing with adverse circumstances is nothing new for the 32-year-old from Queens, who was raped when he was a child, grew up using and selling drugs, and had multiple overdoses and trips to rehab as he battled heroin addiction. On December 27 of last year, he celebrated five years of continuous sobriety.
Successfully emerging on the other side of an early life that has claimed innumerable others has made Gordon uniquely prepared to deal with whatever obstacles land in his path during training camp or fight week itself, and helped him develop the kind of focus and self-belief that allows him to tackle whatever will come his way between now and Saturday night when he steps into the Octagon with Chavez.
“Listen, something will happen, but that’s fine, because that’s the way God wants it for me,” he said, certain that his smooth training camp would run into a detour at some point and that he wouldn’t get to Las Vegas without encountering some kind of challenge. “God always wants to test me to make me a better person.
“Everything I’ve gone through is setting me up to be exactly where I am right now and I’m in the best place I have ever been mentally, spiritually, and physically.
“It’s ‘The Way of the Gordons’ as my mom says,” he continued, “because there is always something. But when that something happens, I’ll take it in stride because if nothing else broke me, this won’t break me; it will only make me better.”
Last summer’s bout with Fishgold was a return to the featherweight ranks for Gordon, who made his debut in the 145-pound weight class, but missed weight, prompting a move up to lightweight for five fights.
