VILLAREAL ACTING LIKE A MAYWEATHER
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 13 Jan 2010
WBC Youth Intercontinental flyweight champion Anthony Villareal is beginning to act like Floyd Mayweather Jr on the eve of his title defense against undefeated Milan Melindo who is moving up from minimum weight to take on the bigger American.
Like Mayweather who insisted that pound-for-pound hero Manny Pacquiao undergo so-called Olympic-style random blood tests and bragged that he wanted to whip Pacquiao’s “punk ass” Villareal demanded so-called neutral judges and effectively refused to accept the jurisdiction of the Philippines boxing authority.
Mayweather, the cocky American, also declined what Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said was Pacquiao’s “magnanimous offer” to take a blood test 24 days before the fight and right after the fight in his dressing room which would have surely detected any performance enhancing drugs that the Mayweather camp alleged Pacquiao was taking .
Mayweather, for all his braggadocio backed out of the fight while Pacquiao decided to take on tough and tested Joshua Clottey in what should be a real test at the state-of-the-art $1.3 billion Dallas Cowboys Stadium of sportsman Jerry Jones on March 13.
In the rules meeting after the official weigh-in where he came in at 109 pounds to Melindo’s 109 ?” Team Villareal demanded that “neutral judges” be assigned to the fight obviously insinuating that should the fight go the distance he could be the victim of a hometown decision.
Games and Amusements Board boxing division chief Dr. Nasser Cruz informed the Villareal camp that the fight was under the jurisdiction of the GAB and that the WBC of which GAB Chairman Eric Buhain is a vice president approved the appointment of officials by the host commission.
Villareal who stepped onto the scales and chewed on a pizza before a huge crowd at the Events Center of the sprawling SM Mall has repeated his boast of winning by a knockout claiming he was too fast and hit to hard for Melindo who is rankedNo.1 by the WBO, No. 3 by the IBF and the WBA and No. 5 by the WBC to handle. Villareal said “I will hurt him.”
We pointed out to Dr. Cruz that the term “neutral judges” was both redundant and anomalous because judges are at least supposed to be neutral even as he told the Villareal camp that Filipinos boxing fans and officials are fair and in fact our fighters often suffer not hometown but “visitors decisions” as was the case when Z “The Dream” Gorres lost split decision to WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel in February 2007 here in Cebu.
We also pointed out that Filipino boxers fight in places such as the US, Mexico and Puerto Rico with judges mainly from the country where the fight is staged and our fighters never complain.
Villareal’s team said they would discuss the situation over lunch before getting back to Dr. Cruz who asked them if they wished to contact the WBC to seek clarification.
There was no such problem with the soft-spoken Mexican Cecilio Santos who weighed in at 119 pounds for his ten round co-main event clash with AJ “Bazooka” Banal who tipped the scales at 118.
In the other fights on an exciting card presented by Smart Sports in partnership with the famed ALA Gym of respected boxing patron Tony Aldeguer and son Michael, TV 5 which was recently acquired by the eminent businessman-sportsman Manny Pangilinan and the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines where Pangilinan is chairman and Ricky Vargas, president. Both Pangilinan and Vargas will be at special ringside at the plush ballroom of the Waterfront Hotel for the fights on Thursday in one of the highlights of the Sinulog festival which has drawn thousands of visitors to the “Queen City of the South” amidst a truly festive atmosphere.
Promising junior lightweight James Bacon clashes with tough Thai Thitichon Singwancha with both fighters weighing 128 pounds while colorful Larry “Bon Jovi” Canillas came in at 122 pounds for his bout against another Thai Petch Twins Gym who weighed 121.
There will be two bouts featuring outstanding members of the amateur pool of ABAP with Karina Jane Recaido facing Irish Magno in a clash of female fighters and male pool members Adonis Cabalguinto and Jimmy Vallares kicking off the fight card on Thursday which will be telecast over TV 5 on a slightly delayed basis at 9:00 p.m.
Cebu boxing fans expressed their gratitude to Mr. Pangilinan for bringing such a fine fight card to Cebu, the hotbed of boxing and for the support both he and Ricky Vargas have given to amateur boxing in the country and the early success shown with 5 gold medals in the recent Southeast Asian Games in Laos.
Top photo: The author (L) interviews Villareal (C) and Villareal's trainer Alberto Franco after the weighin this afternoon at The Event Center at SM City-Cebu.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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