PINOY PRIDE?S Interesting Undercard
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 29 Oct 2010
It?s been more than two years since Mark Jason Melligen fought in Cebu,winning a unanimous decision over Tia Koswara of Indonesia. His last fight in the Philippines was on July 2008, a first round knockout win over Cris Alag for the Philippine lt.welterweight title in Bacolod City.
He has fought eight times abroad under Top Rank Promotions with a 7W (4 KO's)-1L record. Trainer Tony Martin feels he is a couple of fights away from a big high profile bout. But Melligen(19W ? 2L, 1 KO's) needs an impressive win against Mexico's Bladimir Hernandez (18W-3L, 16 KO's).
Jason Pagara (23W- 1L, 11 KO's) has also caught the eye of Top Rank Promotions. The teenage lightweight prospect has had his ups and downs, and even struggled against Indonesian Eddy Comaro early this year. But he looked impressive against Young-Bin Kim of South Korea in his last outing. It will interesting to see if the lure of fighting in the U.S will fire up Pagara when he takes on Thai Sapapetch Sor Sakaorat(20W-6L, 11 KO's ).
Unless you?ve been regularly attending fight cards in Cebu or religiously reading articles on philboxing, the name Larry ?Bon Jovi? Canillas (14W-3L, 12 KO's)won?t ring a bell. But the power punching superbantamweight has been tagged by local pundits as a future crowd drawer. Standing in his way is former WBO Intercontinental superbantamweight titlist Ramie Laput(38W-4L, 17KO's) of Digos, Davao del Sur.
The 31 year old Laput who will not only give Canillas his first real test but Laput is also going for a career course changing win. Laput scored wins against Ratanachai Sor Vorapin and Eric Macas last year in Cebu.He climbed up the rankings but suffered a 7th round knockout loss in Austria to to Zsolt Bedak last December. He has not fought since then. Laput told this writer yesterday that there were no boxing promotions in Digos and he had a hard time getting fights in Cebu.
Jun ?Flash? Entor is expected to provide laughter and excitement in his four round fight against Romano Gelig of Bohol. Promising flyweight Welbeth Loberanis of Mandaue City will fight Joel Lagusan of Leyte in 6 rounds.
Ryan Canillas, the brother of Larry Canillas, will face Renie Sabanal of Siaton, Negros Oriental (4 rounds) and Rey Melligen ,brother of Mark Melligen, will fight Evelino Valleser of Bohol (4 rounds).
The main event of course is the compelling match up between world ranked AJ ?Bazooka? Banal (22W (18 KO?s) -1L-1D) and former two division world champion Luis ?El Demoledor? Perez (26 W(KO 17) - 4L)of Nicaragua.It was quite an understatement when ALA Promotions Pres. Michael Aldeguer called this match-up "the fight every one has been waiting for.
Banal said that he has totally forgotten his loss to Rafael Concepcion three years ago. Perez on the other hand plans to use Banal's world ranking as a vehicle for getting big fights.
The casual fan goes to a fight card to watch the main event. Many paying customers watch the fights immediately preceding the headliner. But the guy who sits along a row of empty seats watching a four rounder is the guy that makes Philippine boxing thrive.
(Header photo: left to right - MELLLIGEN, PAGARA and CANILLAS)
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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