CISO MORALES GETS A BIG BREAK, CHALLENGES MONTIEL FOR TITLE!
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 20 Dec 2009
Ciso “Kid Terrible” Morales, the reigning WBO Oriental super bantamweight champion gets a big break when he battles reigning WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel on the “Pinoy Power III” fight card of Top Rank Promotions at the Las Vegas Hilton on February 13.
Following his 8th round majority decision victory over Miguel Angel Gonzalez Piedras at the Casino Rama in Ontario, Canada last November 21 Morales entered the top-ten rankings of the WBO at No. 8.
Morales earned the title shot after original opponent Z “The Dream” Gorres had to be pulled out following brain surgery that regrettably ended his career at its peak following a smashing unanimous ten round decision over rugged Colombian Luis Melendez last November 13 at the Mandalay Bay House of Blues.
Morales stepped in after Montiel declined to fight the ALA Gym’s Michael Domingo who was proposed as an alternate for Gorres.
The 21 year old Morales is undefeated with a record of 14-0 with 8 knockouts. Morales whose career has been handled by promoter Sammy Gello-ani won the WBO Oriental title with a close ten round unanimous decision over Marangin “Dinamita” Marbun on February 9, 2008 in Tubod, Lanao del Norte.
Marbun is the same Indonesian fighter who gave Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista a hard time before suffering a 7th round knockout at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City recently.
Morales is a gutsy fighter as evidenced even in his clash with Gonzalez Piedras in which he won in a close fight while the experienced Montiel who was considered lucky to win a split decision over Gorres in Cebu in February 27 is a hard puncher and is vastly experienced.
The blockbuster “Pinoy Power III” card to be telecast “Live” by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN will be headlined by WBA super flyweight interim champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire (22-1, 14 KO’s) against top-rated contender Guerson Guerrero (34-8, 26 KO’s) of Mexico.
Also on the card will be former two-division world champion Gerry “Fearless” Penalosa (54-7-2, 34 KO’s) against another former two-division world champion Eric Morel “Hands of Steel” (41-2, 21 KO’s) of Puerto Rico in a WBO bantamweight title eliminator and hard-hitting Bernabe Concepcion who is now being handled by pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and his adviser Michael Koncz taking on Marion Santiago (21-1-1, 14 KO’s) also of Puerto Rico in a ten-round faceoff of world title challengers.
Top Rank Promotions informed us that a news conference to announce the fight card which will have a four-bout pay-per-view broadcast will be held at the Shimmer Showroom of the Las Vegas Hilton on Tuesday.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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