LOSING ON THE ROAD
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 25 Jul 2010
Johnriel Casimero of Ormoc City,Leyte lost his WBO interim light flyweight title to Ramon Garcia Hirales of Mexico by split decision in a fight held at the Polideportivo Centenario in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico Sunday morning Philippine Time.
One judge scored it 115-113 for Casimero while two judges scored it 115-113 for Garcia. The 20 year old Casimero (14W-1L, 8 KO?s), who fights out of the Omega Boxing Gym of Cebu, suffered his first career loss. He was accompanied by trainers Christopher ?Pingping? Tepora and Danny Bactol
The 27 year old Garcia (13W-1L, 8 KO?s) prevailed in a tactical battle of positioning, feinting and counterpunching battle and was the better conditioned fighter in the second half of the fight.
Federico Catubay of Zamboanga del Norte lost to Rodrigo Guerrero of Mexico by 12 round unanimous decision in their IBF junior bantamweight elimination bout. Catubay gave a good fight but faded in the last three rounds. The scorecards read 116-112, 115-113 and 117-111 for the Mexican boxer known as ?Gatito?.
Catubay's loss was expected. He is gutsy but limited. Casimero's defeat is another matter and will elicit a stream of lamentations from fans and pundits.
There is always a risk when a boxer fights on his opponent's home turf. We Filipinos are not innocent in terms of giving close and even not so close fights to the hometown boy. Manny Pacquiao's fame and success has given local promoters and managers more chances to showcase the talents of our boxers abroad. Of course, they grabbed it. Who wouldn't? Chances like these were not available a decade ago. To use as an example, Gerry Pe?alosa spent his best years fighting in Japan and Korea instead of New York and Las Vegas.
We can always talk about conditioning coaches and better trainers. But people with brains cost money. Most pro boxing stables operate on a shoestring budget and most local promotions are not really earning. I have been to promotions in Cebu where less than two hundred people showed up. And to think this island is the boxing capital of the country.
There is money in this country for sports from corporate sponsors and networks. But it is spent the wrong way in the wrong sport.
So, don't blame the boxers. And please, before you start using the word ?bum?, do some soul searching and see if you have the same level of courage as Z Gorres.
Despite Pacquiao's unprecedented success, our world champions and aspiring contenders still cannot fight on home turf on a regular basis. Every local promoter will tell you how envious they are of the pro boxing promotional budget of countries like Mexico and Japan.
At the rate we are going, we will continue to be envious a little while longer.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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