WBO ORDERS MONTIEL-GORRES TITLE BOUT
By Salven L. Lagumbay
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 02 Nov 2006
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) has directed its world superfly champion Fernando Montiel of Mexico to defend his title against top Filipino prospect Z 'The Dream' Gorres.
The decision was handed down by the sanctioning body at its annual convention currently sailing on a cruise ship which left Fort Lauderdale in Florida bound for the Bahamas and Conzumel in Mexico.
Oscar De la Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, which owns the promotional rights over Gorres, had reportedly tabbed December 15 as the possible date for the Gorres-Montiel showdown in the United States.
The bout features the hard-hitting 27-year-old Montiel (32-2-1, 24 KO's), who hails from Los Mochis, Mexico, against the technically-gifted Gorres (26-1-1, 14 KO's), the 24-year-old southpaw from Mandaue City.
The talented Gorres, who earlier relinquished his OPBF title after signing up with De la Hoya, has been installed by the WBO as Montiel's mandatory challenger, and there were initial plans to have the champion take on a choice defense in Nicaragua this month, but apparently, the WBO had ruled that Gorres' mandatory status should be honored.
No less than WBO president Paco Valcarcel, a top-notch lawyer, reportedly ordered for the Montiel-Gorres bout to take place.
Gorres' manager, Cebu sportsman Antonio L. Aldeguer, said in an interview yesterday that Golden Boy Promotions, which also promotes Montiel, have yet to reach an agreement with Montiel's group, and that the champion has yet to sign the dotted lines.
"Yes, that's true, but GBP has yet to negotiate with Montiel and until Montiel signs the contract, anything can still happen but the date has been set on December 15," said Aldeguer.
Montiel, the tenth fighter in his family and the first world champion, had won the WBO flyweight title in 2000, defended it thrice, before moving up in weight to win the WBO superfly title against Pedro Alcazar in 2002, a fight which resulted in the latter's death.
In his initial defense, Montiel defeated Filipino Roy Doliguez on a second-round TKO, before losing the title to Mark Johnson in 2003. Two years later, he regained the title by disposing of Ivan Hernandez, defended it twice, before deciding to move up into the bantamweight ranks where he was defeated by WBO champion Jhonny Gonzalez via split decision.
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