WHAT HAPPENNED TO JUANITO RUBILLAR?
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 09 Jun 2012
LAS VEGAS -- Two weeks after Manny Pacquiao came to the Wildcard Gym to resume training for the fight with Tim Bradley I visited the gym to check things out. As soon as Nonoy Neri saw me he said, "Doc, we need new mouthguards for two undercard fighters.?
Apparently MP Promotions brought two fighters to fight on undercard. One is Juanito Rubillar who was said to be scheduled to fight at the Hard Rock Hotel on Friday evening and Ernie Sanchez, on the undercard on the big fight on Saturday.
Rubillar fights out of the Elorde Gym at Sucat, Para?aque and Sanchez was said to be a personal pick of Manny Pacquiao himself from General Santos.
Without hesitation, I told Neri to just get the boxers to my office and I will take care of the rest.
Juanito Rubillar and Ernie Sanchez were brought to my offices and sure enough they walked away with new mouthguards. Needless to say they got them for free.
With less than a week prior to Team Pacquiao leaving for Vegas, I asked the kids if they are all set for battle. Both of them replied in the affirmative but Rubillar said he did not know the name of his opponent.
I was surprised that Rubillar was still out in limbo with just a few days left. ?Wasn?t that supposed to be on your contract?? I asked.
The kids informed me that even at that late period, they have not seen a contract much less sign one.
So what else is new, huh?
Wow, wasn?t that the job of Michael Koncz who runs MP Promotions for Pacquiao?
I wonder why does Koncz keep on bringing in fighters at the expense of Manny?s company, make them train like hell and have no contracts or opponents to boot?
Are these guys just cannon fodders that will be fed to the lions at the convenience of whoever is setting up the fights?
Sanchez is set on Saturday but Rubillar is out of the picture. He is not even on the Friday night fight at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Rubillar (R) with the author.
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