What Sean lives for
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 02 Nov 2021
Sultan screams after hearing his name the winner over Caraballo.
It was last Sunday, the morning after Jonas Sultan escaped what would’ve been a hometown lynching if not for scoring four knockdowns to win a hairline unanimous 10-round decision over heavy favorite Carlos Caraballo of Puerto Rico at the Hulu Theater of Madison Square Garden, New York City. MP Promotions head Sean Gibbons woke up with a huge smile on his face and tears in his eyes. Sultan, a big underdog who was supposed to be dog food for Caraballo, defied the oddsmakers and got the job done.
“I do boxing for moments like this,” said Gibbons who has been involved in the fight game initially as a boxer himself and now as an all-around, do-it-all conductor for over 35 years. “I do boxing for guys like Jonas who trust you unconditionally for your guidance. They do the fighting and I do the rest. I live for moments where I change lives. It’s what drives me more than anything else. In a year or so, Jonas will be up there fighting for the world championship. I’m so happy for him. He’s earned it.”
Dropping Caraballo four times was totally unexpected. Caraballo had just signed a contract with Top Rank the week before and was touted to be the next big thing in boxing with a 14-0 record, all by KO. In New York, he was the new Golden Boy and Sultan was brought in to be another victim. That’s how the three New York judges must’ve thought because from the way they scored the fight, it looked like they tried to find every excuse for Caraballo to win. Sultan floored Caraballo once in the second, third, sixth and ninth rounds. The third was an aberration because just as the bell sounded to end it, referee Johnny Callas ruled a knockdown on Sultan whose glove touched the canvas on a stumble without Caraballo landing a punch. Judges Kevin Morgan and Tony Paolillo scored that round 10-9 for Sultan, giving more weight to his knockdown than Caraballo’s. But judge Waleska Roldan saw it 10-9 for Caraballo, a totally unjustified score. With four knockdowns, Sultan won by a hairline 94-93 in the three scorecards. If he scored only two knockdowns, it would’ve been a draw and if he had only one knockdown, Caraballo would’ve won, 95-94.
Gibbons said it should’ve been 95-91 for Sultan. The three judges awarded six rounds to Caraballo and Gibbons said it should’ve been the other way around. “Two days before the fight, Jonas’ jaw was swollen because of a bulging wisdom tooth so he fought with that pain,” he said. “He’ll go to (dentist) Dr. Ed de la Vega this week. Then, he wrapped both ankles like a basketball player but you don’t do that in boxing. By the fourth round, he couldn’t even feel his feet. But credit to Caraballo, I think he’ll be a world champion someday. I don’t know about his chin though. What he learned from Jonas in that fight was a lot more than what Caraballo learned from his previous 14 fights. He can punch, that’s for sure. And in the seventh and eighth, Caraballo was scary. I thought Jonas got hurt with a punch to the throat. A lesser man would’ve gotten knocked out.”
Gibbons said his son Brendan took care of Sultan’s nutrition, strength and conditioning. “Memo Heredia gave Brendan the plan and Brendan executed it,” said Gibbons. “The running, drills, vitamins, training, food----everything came from Memo and Brendan did it. Thanks, too, to Jerwin (Ancajas) and Joven (Jimenez) who were with Jonas all the way, even in his corner.”
Sultan said different killer punches produced the knockdowns----right uppercut in the second, right hook in the third, right straight in the sixth and left hook in the ninth. “Dapat natapos ng fifth round kaya lang sumakit ang paa ko,” he said. “First time ko nag-wrap sa ankles ko kagaya ng ginagawa ng basketball players. ‘Di ako makagalaw at sumakit ang paa ko. ‘Di ko na siya gagamitin next fight.” Sultan and his traveling party left New York for LA yesterday. Gibbons said as a treat, the Sultan team will watch the LA Lakers host the Houston Rockets at the Staples Center tonight (tomorrow morning, Manila time).
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Joaquin Henson.
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