Future not bleak for boxing
While there is no reigning Filipino world boxing champion today, MP Promotions head Sean Gibbons isn’t worried about the future. “It’s a cycle,” said Gibbons. “We’re in a lull at the moment. But it won’t be long.” Donnie Nietes, 40, is first in line to end the drought. He takes on WBO superflyweight champion Kazuto Ioka in Tokyo tomorrow. Jerwin Ancajas will attempt to regain the IBF superflyweight crown from Argentina’s Fernando Martinez in August and Rene Mark Cuarto also has a chance for redemption against Mexico’s Daniel Valladares who took away his IBF minimumweight belt.
In the latest ratings, six Filipinos are No. 1 contenders in position as mandatory challengers. They’re WBO minimumweight Melvin Jerusalem, WBA minimumweight Vic Saludar, IBF superflyweight Jade Bornea, WBO superflyweight Nietes, WBO bantamweight JohnRiel Casimero and IBF superbantamweight Marlon Tapales. Saludar will figure in a title eliminator against Puerto Rico’s Oscar Collazo in Los Angeles this Saturday.
Gibbons said he has high hopes that promising prospects Criztian Pitt Laurente and Carl Jammes Martin will someday ascend the throne. Laurente, 22, is a 5-7 1/2 superfeatherweight southpaw from General Santos City with a 10-0 record, including six KOs. Martin, 23, is a 5-6 superbantamweight lefthander from Ifugao with a 19-0 record, including 16 KOs. He’s rated No. 10 by the WBA in the 122-pound division. Also looming in the horizon is Olympic middleweight bronze medalist Eumir Marcial with a 2-0 pro record.
Gibbons isn’t discounting Mark Magsayo from becoming a world champion again. Last weekend, Magsayo lost the WBC featherweight diadem to Mexico’s Rey Vargas on a split 12-round decision in San Antonio, Texas. “I guarantee Mark will be back as world champ,” said Gibbons. “Maybe, he’ll do one or two fights before the year ends then get another title crack. I don’t think Vargas did enough to win. If you poll 20 guys who watched the fight, 16 will tell you Mark won. Like Gerry Penalosa said, it’s not quantity but quality. Mark wobbled Vargas at least five times, landed the cleaner and harder shots and scored a knockdown. I agree Mark should’ve stuck to his jab and combinations instead of trying to go for a KO after he dropped Vargas. But Vargas didn’t deserve the decision. He stunk up the place.”
Two judges Tim Cheatham and David Sutherland scored it 115-112 for Vargas, awarding only four rounds to Magsayo. The dissenting judge Jesse Reyes had it 114-113 for Magsayo. Gibbons said Magsayo took at least six rounds and with the knockdown in the ninth, should’ve outpointed Vargas in a close contest. Besides, a challenger is supposed to take the fight to the champion, not run away from engaging. Gibbons called Vargas the Mexican version of Cuba’s Guillermo Rigondeaux.
“I objected to Cheatham as a judge before the fight but was assured he’s OK,” said Gibbons. “He’ll never be a judge in any fight I’m involved in ever again.” Gibbons recalled that when Casimero met Rigondeaux last year, Cheatham scored it for the Cuban, 115-113 while judge Robert Hoyle tallied 117-111 and judge Daniel Sandoval, 116-112, both for the Filipino.