Hopefuls Above 122 Lbs.; Elephant in the Room
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 30 Apr 2024
Let me start with an odd observation:
Much has been discussed in the US sports media about Ryan Garcia weighing 3.5 lbs above the super lightweight limit of 140 in the day-before-the-fight weigh-in of his recent bout with Devin Haney.
But nothing was raised about the Elephant in the Room - that is, both Garcia and Haney weighed more than 160 lbs in the actual fight!
There's no doubt that Filipino fighters are world-class, even world-beaters in the lighter weights, from 105 lbs through 122 lbs.
But it seems, with few exceptions, we plateau beyond the super bantamweight or junior featherweight. And it is for a weighty reason, I guess.
Of course, we still have Mark Magsayo, who briefly held the WBC featherweight championship, beating no less than a long-time titlist American Gary Russell Jr. We also have former Olympian Charly Suarez, who is still undefeated as a pro. Both are campaigning at super featherweight and maybe just a big fight away from a crack at a major world title.
But other than them, who else do we have?
At featherweight, we have the undefeated and very promising Lienard Sarcon, who has already fought and won impressively abroad. There's also Mike Plania, who is bent on a comeback after two bad losses moving up from 122 lbs.
At lightweight, we still have the veteran Mercito Gesta, but he may have seen better days. Then there is Genesis Servania, but again, his world-class quality at 122 lbs that troubled Oscar Valdez may not be enough for 135 lbs.
Currently, we have two unbeaten young prospects, Jerald Into and Ryan Racaza, who both have notched up wins over veteran fellow Filipino international campaigners who were once upon a time among our top lightweights. But there is still much work to turn them at least into fighters who can vie for any major regional championship.
However, more than the task of exposing these young fighters to world-class training to develop their potentials is how to carefully match them against American and other opponents, especially in the US.
It appears in the US, as long as fighters meet the limit during the day before the fight weigh-in, organizers would care less about how heavy they are at fight night, especially if there are no so-called rehydration clauses in the contract.
Given that Caucasians are naturally bigger, they could pack more weight - and power - in their bodies to the detriment of us, Asians, and Filipinos.
That's the only explanation I could deduce from the stoppage losses of Servania and Plania, both world-class fighters moving up.
There ought to be stricter regulation and monitoring on the part of the sanctioning organization. Or else, boxing as a fair sport degenerates into the Stone Age where he who has the bigger, larger stick wins.
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.
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