ARUM PRIMES GESTA FOR RIOS'S LIGHTWEIGHT BELT IN 2012; WILL RIOS AND HIS WEIGHT ISSUES ALLOW HIM TO STAY IN THE DIVISION?
By Rich Mazon
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 03 Dec 2011
Mercito Gesta made his wish for 2012 clear to me when I talked to him recently. He wants to fight for a title in the lightweight division next year. "That is my goal. That is my dream," he told me. With this in mind, I asked Top Rank's head honcho, Bob Arum on Thursday morning in New York during the Miguel Cotto - Antonio Margarito undercard press conference of his plans for the undefeated fighter. "We are going to get him a big fight," he replied. "He may fight against Brandon Rios." Arum added. I told him that Gesta has been looking for a title shot, of which he replied, "Yeah. He will get it."
Brandon Rios is the current WBA Lightweight champion of the world. He is present in that press conference that morning as he is scheduled to defend his belt against Englishman, John Murray on Saturday at the Madison Square Garden. His fight with Murray is the prelude to the main event that is Cotto vs. Margarito. I approached Rios and asked him about Gesta and Top Rank's plans to match them in the future. "He needs to prove himself a little more. I am ready for Gesta. If he is ready for me, I'm ready for Gesta anytime," Rios replied. He suggested that Gesta did not want anything to do with him at this point of their careers. "But honestly, I don't think Gesta wants to fight. His manager wants to fight. His trainer Vince, he wants to fight. But all the time, I hear his trainer saying it and not Gesta. I think his trainer is pushing him to the big dogs and he is not ready for that level yet," Rios said.
Gesta is currently in the Philippines where he will spend the holidays with family and friends. He arrived there early this week for a much needed vacation after fighting back to back bouts in two months. I called him and asked for his reactions to Arum's and Rios' statements as well. "That's all good man. I think that's perfect," was his immediate reaction when I relayed Arum's plans for him. "We've been planning to challenge Rios and we want that fight. If that happens, that will be real good and I'm happy to hear that," said Gesta who is 9000 miles away in his hometown of Mandaue City. I mentioned to him that Rios doubts his sincerity to fight him of which he replied, "I am ready. I want to fight Rios not because of him (Vince Parra), but because of me because I am the fighter," He reiterated that "I always wanted to fight the best opponents and with Rios, I am not going to back out. I am not going to say that I am not going to fight him. It's me that wants to fight him and not my manager. "
Gesta reacted to Rios' downplaying of him as a possible opponent in the future. "Every opponent that he and I fought, I think I did better than he did. They know that. I think they are the ones who are avoiding me and not me avoiding them because I am not ready," he laughingly replied. "I am ready for that fight and my team knows that I am ready. Just accept the fight, that is all I ask," the Cebuano fighter affirmed. Gesta was referring to his last two fights. Gesta and Rios shared similar opponents in their division in the past. Ricardo Dominguez and Manuel Perez were two of them and were the Cebuano's last two opponents of late. Rios drew with Perez in their first fight and won via a TKO on their second fight. Gesta won a UD victory against Perez last October in Arizona. Ricardo Dominguez had a split decision loss against Rios in 2008 and a UD loss against Gesta last month in Las Vegas.
Vince Parra told me that Gesta was considered as Rios' opponent on the Cotto-Margarito undercard. "We accepted to fight him on this card but he (Rios) picked John Murray," he told me by phone. "They are talking about going up to 140 lbs., so that might be what happens. I don't really have my hopes of Gesta fighting him but I believe that there will be somebody out there," expressed Parra. "The one thing that strikes me about the whole thing with Rios fighting Murray is that Rios told the press that Mercito is not going to take him to the next level but I asked him, Who is John Murray?" he furthered.
I asked him to comment that Rios' thinks it was solely him that wants the fight and not his ward. "It's not me. I am not the one fighting. But I'm my guy's manager and what do you do in this sport for but to be the best? He should consider it to be flattering that he is in the position where we want him because he is the best." was Parra's answer. He reiterated that it's not him who wants the Rios fight but Mercito himself." He can tell you and It's the fight he wants!" he exclaimed.
Gesta challenged everyone who doubts Gesta to "let the talk stop and put him in there." He believes Gesta's last fight showed a lot of people that "we'll fight to the level of our competition." Dominguez is considered by many as a tough test for Gesta of which he fared well. "The talk needs to stop. And if we fight, we fight. And then they can make their decision then. That can be 5-0-50. Some people believe that he's ready and some people don't," he said. He admitted that there are a bigger number of those who probably believes that Gesta is not ready for a big fight such as Rios but he believes Gesta is ready for one. "If Rios does not want to fight us because he does not think we are ready. If that's his reason then, that is all up to him. He is a good fighter and if he wants to move up and fight a guy like Maidana and play tit for tat and not want to fight a guy like Mercito who is slick and who would beat him, that's really up to him," Parra said. He believes that Rios' turning down the Gesta fight means something. "Something about Mercito showed Cameron Dunkin (Rios' manager) that I don't want my guy to fight him. I'd rather have him fight John Murray. That's what I'll say to the critics, we are after the fight. We said yes, they said no."
Rios made his intentions to move up to the 140 pound division during the presser. He states that this might be his last fight in 135 and is looking to challenge guys like Marcos Maidana and Juan Manuel Marquez. "If it's worth my while to stay and fight another fight at 135, I'll stay," he told the media men gathered around him at the presser. Mercito Gesta surely hopes that he is worth Rios' while to stay a bit longer in the division and fight him.
Note: Brandon Rios failed to make the 135 pound limit at yesterday's weigh in in New York. He tried three times to make weight but failed. He weighed 136.6 on his last try at the scales. He was then stripped of his WBA lightweight belt because of that. John Murray accepted to fight him today when he was offered $20,000 of Rios' purse and the condition that he will be reweighed this morning and that Rios should not gain more than 10 pounds or exceed 147 pounds. John Murray can win the vacant WBA lightweight belt with a win against Rios or at least a draw against the former champ.
You can reach Rich Mazon at rrmaze24@aol.com with reactions to this article.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rich Mazon .
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