MELLIGEN OFF TO COLORADO
By Rod Mijares
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 07 Mar 2009
LAS VEGAS -- Mark Jason Melligen took a Southwest plane bound for Denver, Colorado last night, March 5, 2009, for his first fight in America. He was accompanied by Las Vegas based trainer, Tony Martin with his son Edward Martin, in tow.
Mark Jason Melligen, one of the top boxing prospects of Ala Gym in Cebu City, arrived in America in November of 2008 to hone his boxing skills by training at the famous Mayweather Gym in Las Vegas under the watchful eye of Tony Martin.
After training for almost four months with no fight in sight, he was already scheduled to return to the Philippines in the first week of March with all his hopes of landing a fight in America dashed. However, with a sudden twist of fate in his favor and with the persistent work of his trainer Tony Martin, Top Rank finally offered to give him a chance with a fight on March 7, 2009 in the state of Colorado.
He will be fighting in the undercards of an 8-bout boxing event billed ?The Mile High Throwdown III? at the Mile High Event Center, Commerce City, Colorado which is being promoted by Delgado Promotions in association with Top Rank and will be televised live by Azteca TV. The main events are between local boy ?Mile High? Mike Alvarado (24-0, 17KO) vs. Juaquin ?Killer? Gallardo (18-7-1, 5KO) and Robert ?Red Hot? Frankel (26(4KO)-9(2KO)-1) vs. Ricardo ?Pelon?Dominguez (26(15KO)-4(2KO)-2) both fights in the light welterweight class. Frankel defeated Filipino Bobby Pacquiao last November
20, 2008 in San Jose, California.
?He is in excellent condition having sparred over a hundred rounds with various sparring partners whose weights ranges from 140 to 160 pounds, ? Martin said of Melligen. ?He also ran in the rugged terrain of Red Rock mountain to somehow acclimatize himself to Colorado?s high elevation.?
The 20-year old Melligen is scheduled to fight Mexican Gerardo Cesar Prieto (6-5(2 KO)-1) who usually fights in the super middleweight class.
Top photo: L-R: Edward Martin, Mark Jason Melligen and Tony Martin at the Las Vegas airport before their departure for Colorado Thursday night.
Rod Mijares also writes for www.Fil-AmBoxers.com and LV Valley Balita newspaper.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rod Mijares.
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