ANTICIPATION, TRAGEDY AND HOPE
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 05 Feb 2012
The WBC strawweight elimination bout between Denver ?The Excitement? Cuello of Iloilo and Ganigan Lopez of Mexico will be held here in the Philippines. Promoter Aljoe Jaro informed philboxing this morning that he won the purse bid and he plans to stage the fight late April or first week of May at the Ynares Center in Pasig or Antipolo. Cuello is still scheduled to fight a tune-up match in Iloilo March 10.
Cuello (29W-4L-6D, 19KO's) is keen on winning the WBC world strawweight title held by Kazuto Ioka but he will have to beat Lopez (20W-4L, 14 KO?s)to get a crack at the title.
Cuello?s stablemate Sonny Boy Jaro (33W (23KO?S)- 10L-5D) will face long reigning WBC flyweight king Pongsaklek Wonjongkam (83W(44KO?S)-3L-2D) this March 2. Pongsaklek knocked out Malcolm Tunacao of the Philippines in one round to win the title in 2001 and is ranked number 8 in Ring magazine?s pound for pound rankings.
This will be the second time Jaro will fight for a world title against an elite level fighter. In 2009, he was knocked out in a single round by Giovani Segura in a WBA lt.flyweight title bout. Jaro is obviously the heavy underdog but he has stopped his last four opponents since losing to Hirofumi Mukai of Japan.
REST IN PEACE KARLO MAQUINTO
Karlo Maquinto died six days after getting off the canvas twice and rallying to earn an eight round majority draw.
This is the guilt that we ? fans, boxing writers and ring officials ? have to share every time a boxer dies from fight-related injuries.
We can console ourselves in saying that Maquinto died doing what made him happy. Not everyone gets to have that privilege. But that is not enough to comfort his grieving relatives.
Death is always pointless.
EYES ON DONAIRE VS. VASQUEZ
If the animosity between Nonito Donaire,Jr and Wilfredo Vasquez,Jr is not manufactured, then we can expect the hatred and adrenaline to be transferred into the ring. This fight could match the intensity of Oscar de la Hoya vs Fernando Vargas and the Marco Antonio Barrera-Erik Morales trilogy.
For most fans, this will not make up for the disappointment of Pacquiao vs Mayweather not happening. But the hardcore fans realize that stars may come and go, but the sport of boxing will endure.
Boxing has had its share of tragedies and disappointments but a fight or a fighter always comes along and reminds us why we love the sport in the first place.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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