ROACH IMPRESSED WITH NEW FILIPINO BOXING PROTEGE

Baguio City - Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach started his training program with his new Filipino boxing protege, undefeated featherweight Lorenzo "Thunderbolt" Villanueva, at the Coyeesan Shape-Up Boxing Gym Wednesday and after four rounds of mitts sparring described the 24-year-old southpaw from North Cotabato as "impressive."

Villanueva, 21 wins with 20 KOs, becomes only the second Filipino boxer to be currently handled by Roach, widely acknowledged as one of boxing's best trainers. Roach is in the Philippines to start the first phase of the training program for his favorite boxer, Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao who will figure in a third bout with Mexican challenger Juan Manuel Marquez.

"I don't want to be excessive with my praises but this boy learns fast, disciplined and he definitely packs power," proudly told Pacquiao of his new ward. Pacquiao arrived at the Coyeesan Gym to work out shortly after Roach finished his first training session with Villanueva.

The 5' 7" tall orphan, who Roach said is tall for a featherweight, was brought up to Baguio City by former North Cotabato governor Manny Pinol who is Villanueva's manager. He was presented to the American trainer for the first time in the plosh The Manor Wednesday morning in the presence of Baguio City businessman Jay Sobrepena.

"Don't be too shy," Roach told Villanueva after he noticed that the fighter from the southern Philippine island of Mindanao would just meekly smile and bow his head as the American trainer and Pinol discussed the training plans for the Filipino southpaw widely touted as a bright prospect for Philippine boxing.

The first training session at the Coyeesan Gym was supposed to start at 1:30 p.m. but Villanueva and his group were at the gym at 12:30 p.m. 

After four rounds of shadow boxing, Roach asked Villanueva to get up the ring with him and started a mitts sparring session which lasted for four rounds.

Roach started demonstrating to Villanueva the techniques to shorten his punches and move his body. He appeared impressed as the World Boxing Oriental Featherweight champion easily implemented the moves that the American training wanted him to do.

After four rounds of mitts sparring, Roach got off the ring with a thumbs up sign and a big smile on his face.

"It's a bit too early to say this but this boy could make it. He has the power and the discipline and he learns fast," Roach said.

Roach said he expects to bring Villanueva back to the United States with him to continue his training program at the famed Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood, California.

Villanueva, along with Braveheart Boxing Club assistant trainer Bruce Lerio, will stay in Baguio City for about three weeks and train alongside Manny Pacquiao in his high-altitude training program.(pr)

Controversial Agbeko-Mares fight via Bigtime Bakbakan on AKTV on IBC

Pinoy boxing fans get a chance to watch the hugely controversial IBF bantamweight title fight  between Abner Mares and Joseph Agbeko which Mares won by a split decision and where referee Russel Mora came under bitter criticism for his failure to penalize Mares for several patently low blows.

The fight which took place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas can be seen on Sunday on AKTV on IBC channel 13 starting at 7 pm.

Showtime commentator Al Bernstein called Mora’s performance in the ring “the most disgraceful performance of a referee that I have seen in the past 15 years.”

WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire branded Mora who refereed his fight against Fernando Montiel when he allowed the Mexican to continue after he was dropped and was in no condition to go on, “a horrible referee.”

Donaire said he was ready to face Mares if rival promoters Top Rank and Golden Boy “want to make it happen I’m always ready to fight him. I don’t mind whoever they put in front of me. If they want to get Mares, I don’t mind.”

International Boxing Federation president Daryl Peoples and Championship Committee chairman Lindsey Tucker ordered a rematch after reviewing a tape of the fight. They noted that there were several low blow fouls committed by Mares and said that while referee Mora issued numerous warnings he neglected to penalize Mares and deduct  points for the fouls.

Peoples and Tucker also ruled that the knockdown called by Mora in the eleventh round which proved crucial in deciding the outcome of the fight which Mares won by a split decision, was the result of a low blow.

Based on its review the IBF branded Mora’s conduct “inappropriate” and said it “affected the outcome of the fight and in accordance with IBF/USBA Rules, the IBF is ordering a rematch which must be held within the next 120 days or by December 14, 2011

Promoter Don King who handles Agbeko welcomed the swift and decisive action by the IBF leadership and urged the Nevada State Athletic Commission and its leaders “to step up in similar fashion as the IBF has done. After all, they have an additional obligation to protect those making wagers by insuring that fair play is paramount in their state.”

The rematch put on hold any plans for WBC/WBO champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire to face-off against Mares in a unification title fight. Arum said Donaire would take the fight in a heartbeat but that he felt Agbeko clearly deserved to get a rematch first.(pr)

DIGOS CITY'S SALUDAR WINS THIRD TITLE

Digos City native Froilan “The Sniper” Saludar won a third World Boxing Organization title with a rousing 10th round TKO over a game and gutsy Gabriel Pumar, the former WBC International minimum weight champion before a good crowd at the picturesque Island Cove Resort and Leisure Park in Kawit, Cavite last Saturday night. The fight was telecast on a slightly delayed basis on AKTV on IBC channel 13 that evening.

The undefeated Saludar hammered Pumar with thunderous body shots throughout but the superbly conditioned Japan-based fighter refused to buckle under the onslaught and often fought back tenaciously with solid combinations of his own.

However, after Pumar caught Saludar with a clear low blow in the tenth round, the second after an earlier infraction in the fourth, a seemingly incensed Saludar went after Pumar with a flurry of vicious punches capped by a couple of cracking rights that sent Pumar crashing into the ropes and almost down before he was embraced by referee Danrex Tapdasan who wisely called a halt at 2:54 of the round.

With the win Saludar captured the WBO Asia Pacific flyweight crown to add to his WBO Asia Pacific Youth championship and WBO World Youth Championship titles while improving his record to 13-0-1 with 10 knockouts.

Pumar, who won the admiration of fight fans for his gallant stand, dropped to 14-6-1 with 9 knockouts.

After taking the first two rounds with thundering right hooks to the body and a couple of stinging right straights against the southpaw Pumar, Saludar was momentarily shaken when Pumar caught him with an uppercut and a flurry of punches before Saludar hit back with some vicious shots to the body and head in the third round.

A Pumar low blow early in round four angered Saludar who almost sent him through the ropes with vicious body shots but Pumar fought back with several shots to the head. After the action eased up in rounds 5 to 7, Pumar connected with a good right hook in the eighth followed by two good lefts before he jumped in and caught Saludar with a nifty right.

In a scheduled ten round super flyweight battle southpaw Jerwin Ancajas kept his unbeaten streak going with an 8th round TKO over tough Jason Egera in a slambang encounter that saw Egera wilt under a barrage of body shots and as Ancajas chased him around the ring referee Tapdasan stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:38 of the round.

In another action-packed bout super featherweight Rey Labao scored a 5th round majority technical decision over Jose Ocampo when the ring physician instructed referee Sammy Bernabe to stop the bout after Ocampo was bleeding from a cut over his right eye which the referee claimed was caused by an accidental head-butt.

However, repeated slow motion replays on television showed it was a perfect left straight that opened up the cut.

Two of the three judges had Labao who whooped it up in the center of the ring the winner with Salven Lagumbay scoring it 48-47 and Epi Almeda 49-46 while Romy Yulo had it even at 48-48.(TV5 pr)

Dapudong loses world title bid

City of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico - The world flyweight title bid of the Philippines' Edrin "The Sting" Dapudong against Mexico's Hernan "Tyson" Marquez ended in a controversial fashion Saturday night as US-based Mexican referee Raul Caiz stopped the fight after a flash knockdown suffered by the Filipino challenger in the third round of the 12-round title fight.

 

Dapudong, 25, who was never been down before tonight's championship fight, was tagged by the Mexican champion with a left to the face as he was backing off early in the third sending him to the seat of his pants.

 

The Filipino stood up on his own right away and appeared unhurt. Caiz gave him the mandatory eight count but suddenly decided to wave off  Dapudong out of the fight to the surprise of the challenger's corner which included former North Cotabato governor Manny Pinol, trainer Bruce Lerio and veteran cornerman Nonito Donaire, Sr.

 

Dapudong was in control of the fight early on connecting crisp jabs to the face of the shorter champion. In the third, he caught the champion with combination to the body and pursued the Mexican titlist to the ropes only to back off as the champion counterpunched. The unofficial scorecard of TV Azteca showed Marquez winning the first round and Dapudong earning the second.

 

Marquez caught Dapudong with a left to the face sending the Filipino challenger to the canvas that ended in the stoppage of the fight.

 

"We can't say we could have won the fight but certainly, the stoppage was premature given the fact the this is a world championship fight. Dapudong was not even hurt or marked," said Pinol.

 

Dapudong, who appeared bewildered by the stoppage of the fight, said he was asked by Caiz whether he wanted to continue the fight and he said he told the referee "Yes."

 

A replay of the fight on Azteca TV of Mexico showed Dapudong nodding his head as Caiz was asking him whether he wanted to continue the fight. Caiz, however, waved off the Filipino challenger.

 

"I don't know why he stopped it," Dapudong, who did not even suffer a welt as a result of the punch that led to the knockdown.

 

Even the legendary Mexican boxing icon Julio Cesar Chavez, who was at ringside for the television coverage of the fight, later said he thought the fight was prematurely stopped.

 

He later posed with Dapudong in the lobby of Hoteles Lucerna after the fight.

 

Pinol said that the knockdown suffered by the champion Marquez in his fight against former champion Luis Concepcion of Panama was even worse but the fight was not stopped. Marquez came back to score three knockdowns and won the title from Concepcion.

 

Pinol said he has expressed his displeasure over the early stoppage of the fight but he had no plans of contesting the result.

 

"That's part of the realities you have to face when you fight in a foreign venue," Pinol said.

 

Saturday night's loss was Dapudong's fourth in 26 professional fights and his first by stoppage.(Carlos Bautista)

Dapudong camp worries about heat; Marquez concerned of hook

WBA Flyweight Championship

 

DAPUDONG CAMP WORRIES ABOUT HEAT;

CHAMP MARQUEZ CONCERNED OF HOOK

 

By Carlos Bautista 

City of Hermosillo, Mexico - With just a day remaining before Mexican champion Hernan "Tyson" Marquez defends his World Boxing Association (WBA) title for the first time against dangerous Filipino challenger Edrin "The Sting" Dapudong, both camps have showed concern of two factors that could affect the outcome of the fight.

 

For the Mexican champion, it is Dapudong's vaunted left hook that they are concerned with. And rightly so. In June last year, in spite of the short notice, the Filipino fighter used that left hook to knock out then No. 1 Mexican flyweight Jesus "Zurdo" Jimenez to win the World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight silver title. 

 

While Dapudong lost that title by decision in September 2010, the video of that fight against Jimenez is all over the Internet and serves as a fair warning to the champion that the Filipino challenger, who again was informed of the fight only two weeks ago, is capable of scoring an upset.

 

Dapudong's camp, on the other hand, has expressed worries about the searing heat even at night in this city of 1 million people located right in the middle of the desert in Sonora, with the mercury hitting 105F during daytime.

 

"I went out of the hotel at 8:30 p.m. to buy slippers and the air was so hot I felt like I was standing beside a running diesel engine," said Dapudong's manager, former North Cotabato governor Manny Pinol.

 

Both camps, however, have an antidote for their perceived problems.

 

In public workout Thursday, Mexican champion Marquez, a southpaw, was seen keeping his right gloves high up apparently to cover his right face which could be vulnerable to the Filipino's left hook while throwing a lot of left straights and uppercuts.

 

"They have studied Bungis (Dapudong's nickname) a lot and they know that the left hook could flatten Marquez," said Bruce Lerio, Braveheart Boxing Club's assistant trainer who will be at the corner of the challenger, along with cutman Nonito Donaire, Sr., on fight night.

 

The Filipino camp, on the other hand, are prepared for the heat. Food with considerable amount of salt and chocolates, and electrolytes have been prepared for the Filipino challenger to take right after the weigh in.

 

ALA Boxing Promotions vice president Dennis Canete, Dapudong's promoter, has prepared three pails full of bottled water and ice for fight night.

 

While the Filipinos are prepared for a long fight, they have one other option: end the fight early.

 

With all bases seemingly covered by both camps, it will be seen on fight night who between them has prepared better for the perceived problems.(pr)

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