CONCEPCION HURT BY CRTICISM
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 19 Feb 2008
Bernabe Concepcion is clearly hurt by criticism over his performance against tough Juan Ruiz in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico last February 10 when he retained his North American Boxing Federation super bantamweight title with a close but unanimous decision.
Some fans claimed in their assessment that Concepcion should have lost while others claimed it was not an impressive performance. In an overseas telephone conversation with Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today from the home of Dr. Allan Rectoin Texas, the 20 year old Concepcion said ?why do some people say I lost. I didn?t.?
He said ?let the critics say what they want but I will just train hard.? Concepcion said he would arrive on Tuesday and stay in Manila for a week before returning to Los Angeles to resume training at the Wild Card Gym of Freddie Roach in preparation for a fight scheduled on April 26. However, he said he didn?t know who his opponent was.
WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman said Concepcion ? looked very good but he had a very, very difficult opponent who was like a bull and wouldn?t let him him box.? He said Concepcion ?threw lot of combinations and very clean, powerful punches and the judges game him the decision very fairly although it was a close bout.?
Top Ran promoter Bob Arum who staged the fights also praised Concepcion saying he is a ?terrific fighter and the Mexicans love him.?
Concepcion won the NABF title with an impressive fourth round TKO against the highly fancied Mexican Gabriel Elizondo on August 4, 2007. His victory over Ruiz in what was described as a sometimes brutal and foul-filled bout that was entertaining with all three judges giving the young Filipino the nod..Two judges had Concepcion winning by a 114-112 margin while the third judge scored it for Concepcion 114-111.
Concepcion now has a record of 24-1-1 with 13 knockouts.It was Concepcion?s first fight in Mexico and to the credit of the judges he was not a victim of a hometown decision in a close fight. Concepcion had previously won three fights in the US since making his debut on April 14 last year when he scored a unanimous ten round decision over Benjamin Flores in San Antonio, Texas on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Jorge Solis fight card.
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