As PH Boxing Return Pends, Pinoys Try to Make Hay Abroad
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 19 Jun 2020
Reymart Gaballo.
As the resumption of boxing in the Philippines hangs in the balance on account of health concerns connected to the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic, a few Filipino fighters are trying to make hay where the sport is starting to shine through again.
After the very promising Mike Plania made a recent successful rousing return to boxing by a Filipino fighter in a foreign ring at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, three more Pinoys are scheduled to display their wares next month in bouts also set in the USA.
Plania was pitted against American top ranking bantamweight contender Joshua Greer in an overweight match and proceeded to pound out a 10 round majority decision victory aided by two hard knockdowns he scored in the first and sixth rounds of their fight.
This time, bannering the Pinoy foreign ring campaigners is fast rising undefeated California-based FilAm featherweight John Leo Dato who is best remembered for his victorious undercard appearance in the Manny Pacquiao vs Keith Thurman pay per view main event July last year also at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Dato impressed boxing fans and Pacquiao himself when he dismantled his Mexican opponent, Juan Antonio Lopez in just five rounds in his first appearance in a huge, high profile boxing promotion under the klieg lights of Las Vegas. He has notched two more wins, one by knockout, since that time.
Born in Bangar, La Union, Philippines, Dato is a son of Filipinos who worked as caregivers in the US. His family migrated to Bakersfield, California when he was seven years of age. He attended Pioneer Valley High School in Santa Maria, California and pursued his career in boxing after graduating. Dato also currently works as a personal trainer.
Dato, who has racked up 14 straight wins, 9 by knockout with one draw since turning pro in December 2016, is set to go up against Angel Luna of the Dominican Republic in the main event of a boxing card to be held at the Chumash Casino Resort in Sta Ynez, California on July 10, 2020.
The two other Pinoys set to fight next month, Reymart Gaballo and John Vincent Moralde, are also no longer stranger to the US, or for that matter foreign, rings.
Born August 24, 1996 in Polomolok, South Cotabato, Gaballo is the former interim World Boxing Association Bantamweight champion. He turned professional in 2014 and won 18 consecutive fights before challenging and beating American Stephon Young for the interim WBA bantamweight title. He was later stripped of the title for failure to defend it even once.
Still undefeated, Gaballo is set to face Hungarian Szelvester Aijtai in one of the ten round bouts set July 17, 2020 in Miami, Florida.
Also appearing in that fight card is Moralde who takes on another Hungarian David Berna.
Also known as Mulawin, Moralde last saw action last December where he scored a first round knockout over Matias Arriagada in the US. He is trying to pick up the pieces of a promising career marred by recent sorry losses to Toka Khan Clary, Xavier Martinez and now WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring, all in the US.
Gaballo and Moralde however are expected to breeze through their less heralded opponents who are both coming off strings of bad losses.
The Games and Amusement Board under Chairman Abraham Mitra is still ironing out kinks with the Inter Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease led by the Department of Health for the safe return of boxing and other professional contact sports.
According to sources, local boxing may be allowed to resume by August at the earliest with strict health and medical protocols implemented to ensure the safety of the boxers and their corners, ring officials and all event participants.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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