“BAKBAKAN sa SINULOG” Presscon Updates: Melindo and Banal vow KO wins
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 12 Jan 2010
Milan “Melinyo” Melindo and WBC Youth Intercontinental Flyweight Champion Anthony “Baby Assassin” Villareal of California, USA met face to face during the press conference held at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Lahug, Cebu City Tuesday morning.
AJ “Bazooka” Banal and Cecilio “Boga” Santos also met and had an initial assessment of what to expect.
Melindo is tagged as a future world champ. He said confidently that “I am 100 percent sure of winning and I will knock him out.”
“Before you knock somebody out, you have to hit him. Good luck on that.” Villareal countered. “I can see punches coming. I will make him miss. I got speed, I got power. I got what it takes to win.”
Villareal was a four time Golden Glove and five time Silver Glove champion. His trainer Alberto Franco also said “Villareal has too much power, too much size for Melindo.”
He has been described as a younger version of Zab Judah but Villareal claims he is a better puncher. Villareal has been training at the Wild Card gym. He obviously plans to take Melindo’s lofty world ranking. Villareal has no problem with the 110 lbs catchweight since he has fought at 108 lbs.
Santos has high hopes for his fight against Banal, “I want to be ranked and take on the best fighters in the world again.”
Banal is very comfortable at 118 lbs and said “I will knock out Santos. I’m 100 percent sure. I am now ready to fight for a world title again.”
Santos also talked about his title shots, and said he could have won against Dimitri Kirilov and also the stoppage loss against Fernando Montiel was premature. Both Team Villareal and Team Santos arrived six days before the fight and have already acclimatized.
They will meet again during the weigh-in on Wednesday at SM Cebu City and then inside the ring on Thursday January 14 as the headliners for the “Bakbakan sa Sinulog” fight card at the Waterfront Hotel.
In the undercards ALA gym rising prospect James Bacon (13-1-0,8 KO’s) will fight Thailand’s Thittichon Singwancha (12-3, 2KO ’s) and Larry “Bonjovi” Canillas (11-1-0 with 10 KO’s) will face Pet Twin Gym (8-3-1, 6 KO’s) also from Thailand. For the preliminary bouts, Jojo Intor will fight Romnick Hoybia in a four round contest and Jonel Gadapan will fight Jayson Inso in another four rounder.
Also attending the presscon were Pato Gregorio of SMART Communications, ALA trainers Rey Caitom and Edmund Villamor, Team Villareal’s Les Bruce Cohen and Raul Bolanos of Team Santos.
Four members of the amateur boxing training pool will also be showcased in Cebu’s first big boxing event for 2010 sponsored by SMART Communications and TV coverage is courtesy of ABC 5. Fight time is at 7 PM. TV 5 will start airing 9 PM.
Top photo (L-R): ALA President Michael Aldeguer, AJ Banal, Milan Melindo, Anthony Villareal, Cecilio Santos and Smart's Patrick Gregorio pose during today's presscon at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City.
Melindo (L) and Villareal ready to start the fireworks for the 'Bakbakan sa Sinulog' on Thursday at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu City.
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