NIETES, GORRES, LEHOULLIER TREATED LIKE ROCK STARS IN NAYARIT
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 11 Sep 2009
TEPIC, NAYARIT -- Visiting boxers WBO minimumweight champion Donnie Nietes and Z Gorres of the Philippines and Jason LeHoullier of Portland, United States were treated like rock starts when they visited the Centro Escolar Presidente Aleman primary and secondary school at noon today.
The visiting fighters, together with local compatriots Manuel Vargas, Alejandro Valdez and Jesus silvestre, were invited by the director of Prevention el Delito' (Crime Prevention) Luis Jimenez Argus to speak to the students about the importance of living a clean life.
Jason LeHoullier, who will face popular Mexican fighter Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr in Saturday's main event, talked about the importance of hard work and determination in achieving anything in life. "So I got the opportunity to fight Julio Cesar right now because of these qualities," LeHoullier told the applauding students.
Nietes, for his part, told the students to stay away from drugs. "Stay away from drugs because it's not good for you," Nietes told the students.
Gorres, who has become highly popular here, told the students how he had started to box at the age of 11 years and responded to a question that his most important fight was with Mexican champion Fernando Montiel.
'TEAMO Z' (I LOVE YOU Z) -- One student holds a sign during the boxers' visit at the Centro Escolar Presidente Aleman in downtown Tepic, Nayarit.
Organizers Luis Jimenez Argus (5th from left), director of 'Prevention El Delicto', and Sarah Berta Valdez (6th from left) of Riviera Nayarita, pose with the boxers at the presidential table during the boxers' visit at the Centro Escolar President Aleman in downtown Tepic.
The Centro Escolar Presidente Aleman students react during the boxers' visit in their school.
WBO minimumweight champion Donnie Nietes addresses the students.
Nietes signs autographs.
Gorres is being deluged with fans as he was going out to the vehicle.
?Qu? usted piensa en Manny Pacquiao? (What do you think of Manny Pacquiao?), Gorres was then asked by a 10-year-old student, proof that the Filipino ring icon's popularity has pervaded even to the younger Mexicans to which Gorres quickly replied, "I'm very proud of him because he had opened the doors for us in America and here in Mexico."
But what is astonishing was how the students embraced the boxers as their heroes. "I was very impressed by how they treated and looked up to the boxers as their idols," ALA Promotions Vice-President Dennis Canete said.
"This just shows that Mexico is well ahead of us as far as how boxing is already part of their everyday lives. This never happened in the Philippines."
Est? en la sangre
"It's in the blood," said Anabel Garcia Lizarraga of the Nayarit government, who herself is leading a campaign for the students to stop using drugs. "Soccer and boxing are the two most popular sports amongst us so we grow up and look up to soccer players and boxers as our heroes."
The 'Furia Latina Dos', so titled because this is a sequel to a previous event promoted by Top Rank and Zanfer Promotions here, although Top Rank is calling this 'Latin Fury XI' in their own Latin Fury series, explodes this Saturday (Sunday in Manila) at the El Palenque de Feria. Mexican junior middleweight Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr will go up against Jason LeHoullier of Maine, USA in the evening's main event while the Donnie Nietes vs Manuel Vargas and Fernando Montiel vs Alejandro Valdez, both world championship fights, round up the TV bouts.
The weighin will be held tomorrow, Friday 1 p.m. at the VIP Zone of the 'Recinto Ferial' in Tepic, Nayarit.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
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