Baptism of fire for OPSI

Last Saturday night, Omega Pro Sports International (OPSI) finally decided to dip its feet into big time boxing by choosing the Cebu City Waterfront Hotel as its event venue.

It was the fourth installment of its "Who's Next?" boxing series and headlining the card was of course Omega Boxing Gym's flagship fighter, Jack Tepora.

The supporting bout featured Christian "The Bomb" Araneta, another Omega Gym fighter with an impressive immaculate record of 13-0, 11KOs.

Tepora (19-0, 14 KOs) has started to come under the boxing radar, acquitting himself quite well in the first three installments of the series with impressive kayo performances.

Araneta on the other hand, has styled himself as a kayo artist and from what we have seen so far, he seems to be playing the part well.

So it was but proper for these two to headline OPSI's card last Saturday night.

The problem was that their Indonesian opponents woefully paled in comparison in terms of boxing ability and prowess and were summarily dispatched.

MATCHMAKING. From a delightfully entertaining succession of undercard fights, the main event bouts turned out to be anticlimactic which left the ringside fans with mixed feelings.

Tepora knocked out Yon Armed with a body shot while Araneta eviscerated Demsi Manufoe with an uppercut, with both fights ending in the very first round.

Even OPSI's young and energetic president, Pio Paulo Castillo expressed his disappointment.

Yes it's all about the matchmaking but coming up with the proper formula is easier said than done.

First off, you have to consider the success component. When you are building up a fighter, you don't want to match him right away against tested contenders, unless of course you are willing to take the risk.

Then of course you have to balance that with the excitement factor.

While you don't want to match your fighter just yet against the top fighters you dont want to just feed him lemons and risk alienating the crowd on fight night. The market is the most important component, and so you have to take into account how the average fight fan would react.

Add to the list, the logistical issues, purse requirements, schedule considerations and you have one big headache.

Still, that was OPSI's baptism of fire and it should be able to learn valuable lessons from Saturday night.

Considering that they would have to deal with the inevitable comparisons made with more established boxing promotions I'd say they passed the test.

Sometimes it's all about the expectations, and from experience I've learned to scale down mine.

LAST ROUND. It's on Ian Craven who turns a young 70 today. Cheers!