CONDES WINS IN DISAPPOINTING PERFORMANCE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 15 Dec 2008
Former IBF minimum weight champion Florante Condes escaped with a fifth round technical decision win over gutsy Ronnelle Ferreras in a scheduled ten round bout where Condes was lucky to get the decision at the Compostela Sports Complex in Cebu late Saturday.
Condes didn?t do justice to his ?Little Pacquiao? nickname as he stayed on the ropes much of the time and allowed Ferreras to throw numerous body shots while occasionally switching to the head and catching the former world champion with right hooks and uppercuts.
Condes occasionally threw combinations and when he caught Ferreras especially with his vaunted left he appeared to hurt him but instead of backing off Ferreras who is trained by ?Tembong? Del Rosario fought back furiously.
An accidental clash of heads in round five which opened up a nasty cut on the right eyebrow of Condes which bled profusely and forced ringside physician Dr. Jose Onabia to recommend to referee Teddy Alivio to call a hall at :14 seconds
of round five.
The big crowd in the event staged by well-known promoter Sammy Gello-ani and hosted by youthful Mayor Ritchie Wagas clearly didn?t like the decision in which judges Edwin Barrientos and Arnel Pasion had Condes ahead 48-47 at the time of the stoppage while the third judge Noel Flores has Ferreras ahead 48-47. While Condes did catch many of Ferreras' punches on his forearms and gloves, the work-rate of Ferreras and the number of punches he threw and connected with appeared to outnumber those thrown by Condes which were few and far between.
Condes resorted to the same tactics of lying on the ropes and taking punches which led to his split decision loss to Mexico?s Raul ?Rayito? Garcia last June 14 in La Paz, Mexico despite scoring an 11th round knockdown.
Condes who dropped to No. 5 by the IBF after losing the title to Garcia was making his first appearance since that loss and had promised to draw inspiration from the showing of ring icon Manny Pacquiao who overwhelmed Oscar De La Hoya in eight rounds but failed miserably and was lucky to win.
There were those who felt that Condes hadn?t trained hard enough and also that having lost all his possessions when his apartment in Cainta was recently gutted in a fire, was hardly focused. In fact when the decision was announced he shook his head indicating his disappointment which was also echoed by promoter Gello-ani. Condes who even lost all his boxing gear in the fire had to be outfitted by Syrrs Apparel which is owned by Ms. Gello-ani, prior to the fight.
However, undefeated "Marvelous? Marvin Sonsona, the WBO Asia Pacific Youth flyweight champion put on a short but explosive performance to score a first round TKO over Jason Jeda who quit after absorbing a flurry of vicious punches. The end came at 2:51 of the opening round when Jeda surrendered, improving Sonsona?s record to 10-0 with 9 knockouts.
Another promising prospect Anthony?Rocky Marcial dropped veteran Melvin Ayudtud with a cracking right straight in the second round and saw Ayudtud quit at :54 seconds of the second round.
With the win the WBO Oriental super featherweight interim champion upped his unbeaten record to 11-0 with 10 knockouts.
Top photo: Referee Teddy Alivio raises the hand of former world champion Florante Condes after the unpopular technical victory verdict over Ronelle Ferreras (L). Photo by King Catriz.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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