BAUTISTA SPARS ON CHRISTMAS DAY TO GET READY FOR BARRERA REMATCH
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 04 Jan 2011
Bautista (L) and Barrera go for a rematch on Jan. 29
Taking no chances in his much-awaited rematch with Mexican featherweight Alejandro Barrera, Rey ?Boom Boom? Bautista sparred even on Christmas Day and trained right through the holidays for his showdown with Barrera on January 29 at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu City.
Boxing patron Tony Aldeguer of the ALA Gym told the Inquirer that Bautista had never trained as hard as this because he knows how crucial the rematch against the hard-hitting Barrera is.
In their first clash Bautista won by a controversial 4th round TKO after referee Tony Pesons stopped the fight on the recommendation of the ring doctor after Barrera suffered a nasty cut on his left eyelid.
Barrera?s corner protested claiming the cut was caused by a head-butt but TV slo-mo replays showed that in the accidental clash of heads, Bautista?s head connected on the left side of Barrera and not on the right which was where the cut was. The replay effectively sustained Pesons ruling that the cut was caused by a legitimate punch.
Barrera said he accepted the defeat but would return and not leave the decision to the referee or the judges and would knock out Bautista who had gamely agreed to a rematch.
Aldeguer said Bautista had sparred with bigger fighters such as Jason Pagara and James Bacon and also the brother of light welterweight Mark Jason Melligen and looked good.
ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer said the rematch would be a critical test for Bautista because they wish to know whether ?Boom Boom? can regain his promise as a world title contender following surgery on his left wrist to remove a rotten bone and replace it with a piece of bone from his hip.
It seems that after his surprising eight round unanimous decision loss to Heriberto Ruiz and the subsequent surgery, Bautista has recovered well as shown by his three successive stoppages, one by knockout and two by TKO.
In his last bout before the first meeting with Barrera, Bautista who has a record of 29-2 with 22 knockouts won by a 6th round knockout over Thailand?s Saichon Sotompitak. He earlier won the WBC International interim featherweight title with a 7th round TKO over Marangin Marbun of Indonesia on October 16, 2009.
Barrera who is a cousin of Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera and has in the past sparred with him is coming off an impressive 5th round knockout of Arturo Hernandez which improved Barrera?s record to 21-4 with 14 knockouts. He too has been traning hard in Mexico in preparation for the Bautista rematch which will be telecast by ABS-CBN.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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