CARRERA VOWS TO GIVE BERNABE CONCEPCION ?A HELL OF A FIGHT?
By Alex P. Vidal
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 25 Jul 2008
LAS VEGAS, Nevada ? Unfazed by the accolades heaped upon North American Boxing Federation (NABF) super bantamweight champion Bernabe ?Kamaong Llave? Concepcion by Top Rank promotion big boss Bob Arum during the press conference of ?The Battle? at the media center of the MGM Grand here Thursday afternoon, Adam Carrera vowed to give the Filipino visitor ?a hell of a fight.?
?I?ll do a hell of a fight because Bob Arum and the Top Rank promotion deserve only a good show in the network,? declared Carrera (19-3, 8 KOs) of Cathedral City, California.
He did not make any prediction but he promised to win the 10-round non-title fight which is one of the three undercards of the 12-round world welterweight title main event pitting Antonio Margarito (35-5, 26 KOs) of Tijuana, Mexico versus Miguel Cotto (32-0, 26 KOs) of Caguas, Puerto Rico covered by HBO?s pay-per-view show on July 26.
For his part, Concepcion, 20, of Virac, Catanduanes but is fighting out of Aljoe Jaro stable in Binangonan, Rizal in the Philippines, almost brought the house down when he gushed a one liner, ?I want to make you all happy on fight night.?
He thanked Arum for giving him the opportunity to be included in the card as well as ring physician and cut man Dr. Allan L. Recto, his manager Aljoe Jaro and boxing agent Michael Koncz who were seated beside him in the stage.
Earlier in the introduction, Arum, 76, described Concepcion as ?people considered as the next Manny Pacquiao.?
?He is a joy to watch and his every performance is extremely exciting like Pacquiao,? Arum volunteered. ?Concepcion and Carrera are very competitive and I don?t care what you say about these fighters.?
Arum noted that so popular is Concepcion in the Philippines that some boxing websites devote their stories about him more than the main event.
Both Carrera and Concepcion did not see each other eyeball to eyeball during the entire press conference. When Top Rank executive Lee Samuels requested all the boxers to pose for photographers, Carrera disappeared.
?What can we do now? He is not around anymore,? Samuels offered as excuse. Carrera went back when the show was over to pay his license.
Also present during the hour-long press conference were former world champion Cesar Bazan (48-10-1) of Mexico City and rival Mike Alvarado (21-0, 14 KOs) of Thornton, Colombia, both super lightweights, who will fight for 10 rounds.
In the main undercard, Giovani Segura (19-0-1, 15 KOs) of Bell Gardens, California engaged Cesar Cancila (26-1, 21 KOs) of Monteria, Colombia in a brief exchange of words. They will battle for 12 rounds for interim World Boxing Association (WBA) light flyweight title.
Another Filipino, featherweight Vernie Torres (27-11, 15 KOs) of Davao City, has been inserted in the card in the eleventh hour. He will tackle Benjamin Flores (18-3, 6 KOs) of Houston, Texas for 8 rounds.
TOP PHOTO: Carrera (L) and Concepcion (R) pose with Filipino promoter and manager Aljoe Jaro after the press conference.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Alex P. Vidal.
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