MELENDEZ TRAVEL PLANS PUTS HIM IN A BIG DISADVANTAGE
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 18 May 2010
Luis Melendez, the big hitting slugger from Baranquilla, Columbia who is best known amongst Filipinos as the guy that ?retired? ZC Gorres is coming to Cebu perhaps to prove a point, that is - he can take on any of the ALA Boys on his weight class.
Melendez is booked to fight ALA boy Michael Domingo on Sunday (May 23) at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu.
He is scheduled to arrive in Cebu on Wednesday. That gives him more or less four days to recuperate from a very long tiring flight that starts in South America, goes through Europe down to Hongkong, then to Manila and Cebu. Conceivably, that will be more or less a 20-hour flight that traverses several time zones.
Read: jet lag!
That in effect puts him in a great disadvantage and he puts himself in a position to be badly beaten by the hard punching Domingo.
Having to fight in such a situation is not fair for Melendez.
Certainly, it is not fair for Domingo either.
If Domingo wins (Believe me, he will!) the victory will invariably be open to such questions as - ?What if??
What if Melendez had enough time to acclimate? What if Melendez was not so jet lagged and had time to get back to proper condition, etc., etc.
But what is worse is if by some fluke of nature, Domingo gets beaten by a jet-lagged fighter who only came to the country three days prior to the fight.
What would that do to Domingo?s career which is on the up swing?
I guess what I am trying to say is it would be far better if the Domingo-Melendez fight or any other fight for that matter are made on a ?level playing field?.
I am aware that the same is true in this country. Some boxers come over from some foreign lands and fight under the same disadvantaged positions. Some wins, others lose.
So this ?jet-lag? issue is nothing new.
But that does not necessarily mean that we should not worry about having a ?level playing field? in the Philippines.
We should not allow such to happen and in fact should set the standards for the world to follow.
Admittedly, I am not privy to the reasons why Melendez was not afforded at least a week before the fight date.
Perhaps he has problems with his travel plans or has a lousy travel agent. Perhaps he has visa problems as well. Perhaps that is even what Melendez prefers to do - get into the country, fight and get out.
But be that as it may, we all know that his fight has been scheduled a while ago and Melendez should have been told to come several days early so he can get accustom to the climate and in some small measure, to the food.
A well-rested and a well-prepared Melendez should give Domingo a run for his money.
Thus, the fight fans will truly see ?who is the better man?.
With that, a victory for either him or Domingo would have been well earned as it was fought under the proverbial ?level playing field?.
It will also do wonders to the ?world ratings? of either one of them.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.
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