DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 17 Sep 2005
From a distance, Pingping Tepora looks like a boy who has just finished high school.
Lanky and boyish-looking, one would never mistake him for a young man involved in a sport where cauliflower ears, crooked noses and scarred eyebrows are the common distinguishing marks of the members of the club.
But the truth is that the 21-year-old Cebu native is a boxer and while his frail looks may be deceiving, he is one good fighter.
When he traveled to Magpet, North Cotabato last month to engage our prot?g?, junior flyweight Dennis Juntillano in a 10-round non-title fight, I did not think he would last the distance.
I told Inqiuirer sports columnist Recah Trinidad who was with me in the TV panel that Tepora was just too thin to be able to withstand the body punches of Juntillano.
Juntillano, 21, a product of our amateur boxing program in North Cotabato and a former outstanding boxer in the National Youth Boxing Tournament a few years ago, was fighting his third 10 round bout. Prior to the Tepora fight he carried a record of 5 wins, 1 loss and 2 knockouts.
Juntillano’s only loss was in the hands of the veteran Philip Parcon whom he floored in the first round only to fade in the succeeding rounds. He lost by decision, a sad development in his career but nevertheless a source of many important lessons.
Tepora, on the other hand, sported a record of 7 wins, 2 losses and 5 draws with 3 knockouts. Not a very impressive record. Besides, his career was seemingly in the doldrums as he had just parted with his manager, Cebu-based American Terry Carter and had just joined the team of my friend Wakee Salud.
My impression of Tepora changed when the fight started. I saw him unleash sharp and crispy jabs and stinging right straights, one of which almost knocked out Juntillano in the second round.
For three rounds, Juntillano looked bewildered until he decided to go to the midsection in the fourth round. One big punch to the body sent Tepora to the canvas. He was knocked down again in the sixth and I thought he would give up but he managed to finish the fight.
Tepora indeed lost the fight but both Recah and I saw in him a diamond waiting to be polished to become a real gem.
I immediately called up Wakee Salud and asked him whether he wanted me to help in charting the boxing career of Tepora.
Now, Tepora has joined the Braveheart Boxing Club and will train under my brother, Noli, who is now an understudy of Cuban coach Honrato Espinosa. Noli intends to give him a little more heft and muscle.
When Tepora fights under us for the first time on Oct. 22 in Manila, he will carry a new monicker. He will be known as “The Sting.”
But more than just a repackaged name, Tepora will be slowly developed into a world caliber fighter that I believe he is. We will harness his potentials and guide his career.
I really believe I have discovered a diamond in the rough in “The Sting.”
See him on Oct. 22 at the San Andres Gym in Manila during the staging of a fundraising card for former world champion Louie Espinosa.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Manny Piñol.
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