UNBEATEN HARMONITO DELA TORRE READY TO DELIVER ANOTHER KNOCKOUT WIN IN THIS SATURDAY'S TOP RANK CARD IN MACAO
By Carlos Costa
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 19 Feb 2014
Celebrating today (Feb 19) his 20th birthday, undefeated Filipino super featherweight Harmonito Dela Torre (R) keeps on sweating and working out hard in pursue of his dream of becoming a future star in the sport of boxing, so his non-title 6-round battle against Indonesian Yakobus Heluka of Suru Suru West Papua this Saturday (Feb 22) at the 15,000-seat Cotai Arena of the plush Venetian Resort in Macao is a golden chance to showcase the kids real potential.
Born in the City of Golden Friendship, Cagayan de Oro, and owner of youth, speed and power, the unbeaten Filipino Harmolito Dela Torre (11-0, 6 KO's) lands into this new challenge from a round three knockout victory over Indonesian 29-fight veteran Jason Butar Butar in one of the undercards of the Pacquiao-Rios welterweight-fight last November 24 in Macao.
In that last success in Macao, the 5' 8" Filipino Super Featherweight (PBF) Champion Harmonito Dela Torre, aka "El Hurac?n de Gensan" impressed well. But Harmonito and his experienced Gensan team wants much more.
For that, the youngster has been training full throttle, bearing in mind that scoring a spectacular win in a high-profile international Top Rank event will no-doubt catapult forward his career. That is why his handler talks about how good those endless sweating sessions have been:
"Training is most important. Basis for success in boxing are in proper training. So for this Saturday's fight against Indonesian Heluka, Harmolito has prepared so well," said Gensan's Jim Claude Manangquil, the manager of Harmonito.
"When the bell sounds, Heluka will come at Harmonito with bad intentions.... willing to destroy my boxer. It will be dangerous as Indonesians are big-heart boxers, real warriors. But Harmolito has gone through top notch training at my boxing facility, the JM Gym in Gensan. So I am confident that Harmonito will be the one to crush and pulverize his opponent.
"Indeed, training went excellent under the supervision of head coach Renie Gabawa, who has been preparing Harmonito and knows him well. So we are positive.
"I share more: during camp, which lasted eight full weeks, Harmonito worked on his physical conditioning as well as on the improvement of his fighting technique and skills. For that job, his main sparring-partner was 22-year-old featherweight Ernie Sanchez (who was supposed to fight Top Rank's Diego Magdaleno last Saturday, but the fight was canceled)," shared the experienced manager Jim Claude Manangquil.
Harmonito Dela Torre ? along with his manager Manangquil and coach Gabawa ? arrived in Macau yesterday afternoon (Feb 18) and now it all comes down to light fine tuning training for Saturday night's battle, being the next big appointment the weight-in this Friday (Feb 21), which will take place at the luxurious Macao's Cotai Arena.
Making the right weight during the weigh-in ceremony should be no problem for the young, disciplined boxer, his team thinks.
Furthermore, If Harmonito emerges victorious, ? as his team expects ? then his promoters at Sanman Promotions (a Gensan-based boxing promotion company owned by Jim Claude Manangquil, John Ray Manangquil and Dexter Tan), aims at continuing the development of Harmonito's fighting career by putting him against tougher opposition in international venues so as to generate exposure and gain valuable experience.
"Sure. If this Saturday Harmonito wins by knockout in the early rounds, then there is a big chance that we will bring him to Australia for a fight in a Victoria card against 26-year-old Andy Letding by end of March. This is an option.
But, there is another thrilling possibility, Manangquil shared
"Our boxing hero Manny Pacquiao has said to us that if Harmonito wins impressively, he'd recommend Harmonito for a good fight in the undercard of his coming world title fight against world champion Timothy Bradley on April 12 at the MGM Grand in Last Vegas. That is a great chance, no doubt. It all depends on Harmolito's performance this Saturday."
So the final question is: Will the 20-year-old Filipino Harmolito Dela Torre score a really impressive win (as his team and Pacquiao wish) to spice up his successful beginning in pro boxing . . . or will the tough 28-year-old Indonesian warrior spoil the birthday celebration of Harmonito and derail the good plans in place for the young Filipino?
We'll find out soon enough.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Carlos Costa.
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