JACA IN GREAT SHAPE, DOWN TO 129 1/2 LBS
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 07 Nov 2006
Hard-hitting Filipino southpaw Jimrex Jaca who left for Los Angeles last week without informing his manager Rex “Wakee” Salud weighed in at 129 ? pounds after a sparring session with a tough Mexican at an undisclosed gym in Los Angeles yesterday.
In an overseas telephone call to this reporter, Golden Boy Promotions vice president and international matchmaker Eric Gomez said Jaca was looking “very, very good, is very happy and excited about the opportunity to fight for the title (of featherweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez) and make the most money ever” of $50,000.
Gomez told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today that Jaca did “very well in sparring against a Mexican kid and looked sharp." Gomez said that the Filipino super featherweight champion has “a legitimate chance because he has a good punch and as you Manny Pacquiao was able to drop Marquez three times in the first round. Marquez is a master boxer but Jaca says he’s here to win.”
Gomez quoted Jaca as saying “I never agreed to a fight on November 18 because I wanted this title fight all along. I don’t know why they are claiming I was supposed to fight on November 18. I never signed anything, I never agreed to anything.”
Gomez said many good fighters go through their whole careers without getting a title fight but Jaca “deserved it because he is a fine boxer and that’s what Golden Boy is here for. Like Oscar (De La Hoya) put it himself we are here to give fighters opportunities and after that its up to them. Its in their hands. But we are making sure Jaca is well taken care of.”
Gomez stressed that Jaca was “very calm, focused and has got all the sparring he needs. I have a personal assistant who is helping me with Jaca, driving him, getting the sparring together for him” while his Filipino trainer Jun Bubuli was always with him. Gomez revealed that he had to move Jaca out of De La Hoya’s gym because the moment the story broke that he was training in LA he was “forced to move him from there because he wanted to be safe and free from distractions since Mexican reporters came over and I don’t think its fair for him to have any people snooping around to see what Jaca is working on.”
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