PINOY POWER CALMS DOWN LATIN FURY, SCORES 3-2 OVERALL
By Rod Mijares
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 16 Feb 2010
With the way Mexicans were chanting “Viva Mexico” after the Pinoy Power 3 vs. Latin Fury 13 boxing event at Las Vegas Hilton Pavilion Center in Las Vegas, one would think that the Latinos prevailed over the Filipinos or the Pinoys in over-all tally of total wins against losses.
After the 2nd and 6th intense bouts of the evening with Filipino welterweight Mark Jason Melligen prevailing over Raymond Gatica via a 6-round TKO and Bernabe Concepcion won over Puerto Rican Mario Santiago by a unanimous decision in their featherweight fight, the score was 2-0 for the Filipinos.
Both Melligen and Concepcion who were both criticized in their respective previous fights for their lack of aggressiveness and for throwing fewer punches came out a different boxer and with a determined purpose to win. British born Tony Martin and Filipino Boboy Fernandez who train Mark Jason Melligen and Bernabe Concepcion, respectively, were echoing the same lesson learned from the loss of their respective boxer, the same plan of teaching their wards how to fight aggressively and add more combination in their arsenal. The result was evident for Melligen and Concepcion as they both win convincingly.
However, the 7th bout of the night saw former world champion Filipino Gerry Penalosa losing to a taller Puerto Rican Eric Morel for the interim WBO bantamweight title on a controversial split decision. Judge Richard Houck scored it 113-115 for Penalosa while judge Duane Ford scored it 116-112 for Morel and judge Paul Smith scored it 115-113 also for Morel. It was a devastating blow for Penalosa as he believed, as well, as the crowd thought he won the fight. Sub-total tally, 2-1 for the Filipinos.
The 8th bout of the night ended with a wink of an eye. Mexican Fernando Montiel caught Filipino Ciso Morales in the very 1st round with a devastating punch that sent Morales in grimacing pain in the canvas and earned him a knockout win. Montiel said he had full confident before the fight that he would win but he didn’t think it would be that quick. “I was basically a counter puncher. He throw a jab, a right over and then a left body shot,” Montiel said through his interpreter, George Estrada. Montiel also sent his wishes to Z Gorres whom he believed will be a good coach, a good trainer. The boxing event’s score after this fight was even at 2-2.
It was now up to Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire to break the score and win the fight for the Filipinos and bring honor and pride to the Philippines. However, with the training that Donaire has prepared for this fight and with the last minute call for Mexican Manuel Vargas to replace Guerrero who was disqualified to fight after a medical examination, no doubt that a win for Donaire was a sure thing and would successfully defend his interim WBO super flyweight title. Not a mile later, Vargas was knock-out in the 3rd round.
“I didn’t expect a short fight as Vargas was tough. He was planning to fight a world championship in Mexico on the same day. He was going to do everything he can, I just figured him out,” Nonito said.
“It’s important to me because I am dedicating this fight to Z Gorres because I knew he is watching. To be able to be here (Gorres) and support me was so meaningful and it gives me a dual purpose of representing the Philippines, as well, in this featured bout,” Nonito said.
Nonito said he is ready to fight Darchinyan at 115 pounds anywhere that his manager negotiated upon with them. If not, he will move up to fight Montiel or anybody else at 118 pounds.
“Before like at the press conference, Nonito was very confused and a little off his game when he found out that Guerrero was not fighting. I believed that he put everything in God’s hand, I knew that. God helped him how to figure how this guy will gonna fight. We didn’t see any tape or anything about this guy. He started catching a bit in the 2nd round then,” Rachel, Nonito’s wife, added.
“In the first round, Nonito was trying to figure out his distance and he wants to see how hard this guy hit. There were a couple of times that this guy kind of hook slopping thing that didn’t affect Nonito. In the second round it’s about timing. I believed Nonito hurt him in the first round that he was afraid to come in in the later rounds,” Rachel continued.
Nonito and Rachel were grateful for all the support of the Filipinos. After a week rest, they plan to travel to the Philippines for a 3-week vacation.
With Nonito’s win and broke the tie for the Pinoy Power, the Filipinos could shout “Mabuhay.”
Top photo: Donaire (L) and Melligen won their respective bouts in Pinoy Power 3.
Donaire an Melligen with trainer Tony Martin (L) and Martin's two sons.
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