AFTER PACMAN AND VILORIA, BATAWANG VIES FOR WORLD CROWN
By Salven L. Lagumbay
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 10 Feb 2006
Another Filipino aims to become the country's next world champion as Cebuano Bert Batawang of the SGG Stable challenges International Boxing Federation light-flyweight king Ulises "Archie" Solis on March 25 at the Centro de Espect?culos, Guadalajara, JAL, Mexico.
This information was relayed yesterday by Mexican press people, who revealed that the IBF no. 3 Batawang will replace no. 5 Eric Ortiz in the card due to unspecified reasons. The no. 1 and 2 spots of the IBF 108-lb rankings are vacant, making Batawang the highest ranked contender.
Guillermo Brito, the matchmaker for the Mexican promotional arm Zanfer, has informed that next week a press conference will be held in Guadalajara to officially announce the bout.
Brito says that due to the popularity of Philippine boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, with two explosive victories over the Mexican stars Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, the 108-lb Batawang "would be a very marketable foe for the fans of Guadalajara, which has not hosted a world championship since March 1996 when ex-WBC champ Luisito Espinoza defended his WBC title with a fourth-round knockout over Alexander "Cobrita" Gonz?lez.
"Yes, Batawang trains everyday since he has a big fight coming," replied Batawang's manager Sammy "Don King" Gello-ani, when asked yesterday if his ward is in good shape to face a very dangerous world champion like Solis.
ALA Gym trainer Jeremiah Quijano, who handles Batawang's workouts and training, also confirmed that indeed, the power-punching ban ger has been frequenting the gym and doing well in sparring.
Reports coming out of the ALA Gym indicate that the Solis-Batawang rumble has been made possible through the representation of American agent Michael Koncz, who also arranges fights for WBO Asia-Pacific bantam boss Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista.
The tasked will not be easy, however, for Batawang as the 24-year-old Solis obviously packs a wallop in racking up 20 wins, 1 loss, 1 draw with 15 KO's. Add to that the highly-partisan Mexican crowd expected to root for their local boy against Batawang.
The southpaw Batawang (35-12-3, 28 KO's), a veteran at age 34, is expected to give Solis fits as he always comes to fight under his best physical conditioning.
"This is an opportunity I've been waiting for. This is the biggest fight of my life, and I know what to do," Batawang said in an earlier interview.
END
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