Astrolabio Should Rein In "Gigil", Employ Calculated Violence
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 17 Jul 2024
There is no question that Vincent Astrolabio packs a wallop in his punches.
Vincent demonstrated it once again in his last fight, a WBC eliminator that he won by stopping Thai erstwhile undefeated Nawaphon Kaikanha in Bangkok.
His punching power will definitely be an asset in his scheduled 12-round bout against Japanese defending WBC titlist Junto Nakatani this Saturday.
However, aside from taking a more composed and cerebral approach against the rangy Nakatani, Astrolabio needs to rein his emotion, gigil as we term it in Filipino (I just learned that there is no one English word for the term).
His gigil getting the best of him we saw in his fight versus Jason Moloney for the then vacant WBO bantamweight title where he was so psyched up to go for the knockout almost from the get go. But he was so gigil that he was wildly missing. That allowed Moloney to pick him apart with more precise counter punching that resulted to a majority decision win for the Aussie.
Looking back, it was the result of the Moloney camp's successful clever psywar tactic before the fight saying that Vincent would only be added to the list of the Aussie's Filipino ring victims. Jason himself further stoke the fire by saying he would knock out Astrolabio.
The Astrolabio corner fell for the ruse. They thought that Moloney as he said would go for the knockout and engage Vincent toe to toe. They were outsmarted hence Astrolabio got outpointed and lost the fight.
The Astrolabio camp cannot let this happen again versus Nakatani whose lean physique belie his quality as a dangerous powerful puncher. The Japanese can also box well enough to victory against a tough costumer as Vincent.
Hence they have to come well prepared not with just a fight plan but series of fight plans to neutralize Nakatani's physical advantages and own fight tactics using those assets. They should be able to put Astrolabio in physical and mental readiness that would check his giddiness and intelligently employ a calculated aggression and violence when opportunities present themselves during the fight.
I am not claiming how to do such but I have seen it done by fighters like Donaire and Casimero before against rangy opponents.
Who would have thought that Casimero would have poleaxed a feared tall and long boxer bomber as South Africa's Zolani Tete?
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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