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MENTAL TOUGHNESS CARRY THE DAY FOR NEW WBO YOUTH FLYWEIGHT CHAMPION EDUARD PENERIO


PhilBoxing.com




Former WBO Oriental Flyweight Champion Eduard ?Big Heart? Penerio (14-1-0, 9 KOs) of the Yraola Boxing Gym, Quezon City, Philippines wrested the vacant WBO World Youth Light Flyweight Title last Sunday, October 2 at Tianjin, China by beating Thai Lookrak Kiatmungmee (7-3-0, 4 KOs) via a spectacular knock out in the very 1st round of the 10-round Youth championship contest. Official time was 1:25.

Penerio was coming off a disappointing loss in his last fight on August 6 against Ryan Tampus via a 6th round TKO in a 6-round scheduled fight. In the process, he lost his WBO Oriental title as per WBO rules. Moreover, the local boxing commission of the Philippines which is the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) implements an automatic 45-day suspension all Filipino boxers who lost by KO or TKO.

A few weeks ago when Penerio was preparing for this fight in China, this writer spoke to his coach, Jhun Agrabio. Agrabio bared that the loss against Tampus was an eye opener for their whole team. He said that his boxer was 100% physically prepared for that fight but lost due to a momentary mental lapse when he was caught with a thunderous punch on the very last round of a fight wherein Penerio was leading on all the judges' scorecards. Hence, in his fight against Kiatmungmee, the Penerio team focused on his mental preparedness. They made the training more fun and made sure the fighter was happy on what he is doing inside the gym.

After the fight against Tampus, the manager of Penerio, Dr. Rajan Yraola, a dentist by profession, was naturally very upset with the loss as his boxer was an undefeated prospect. He was already starting to believe that Penerio will soon be a world title contender after guiding his career despite the honest observation that he was only a "regular" boxer in terms of skills when he started his professional career in the fight game. However, after an open forum conducted among the whole team, they realized that the loss may be a blessing in disguise as they have no pressure now to preserve a pristine record. All of them can let loose and train hard without having to worry about losing.

In an e-mail by Penerio's promoter Sammy Gello-ani, he stated that after this impressive win, "Penerio will be defending his title in China and if he can retain possibly in Manila next year".

In a phone conversation with Yraola earlier today, he told this writer that he wants his ward to defend the WBO World Youth diadem continuously up to the maximum age limit of 25 years old. Then, when he reaches 26, that will be the only time that he will move for a fight on the "next level". Penerio will turn 23 this coming October 8. When pressed for the reason behind this plan, Yraola revealed that he learned his lesson with having a very young champion under his care. He believes that maturity is very important in a boxer.


The writer is a lawyer by profession, a Professional Boxing Referee and Judge from the Philippines accredited by the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC), as well as a part of the pool of officials licensed by the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and International Boxing Federation (IBF). He can be reached at dvtapdasan.assoc@gmail.com


Photo: Coach Jhun Agrabio with Eduard Penerio.



Click here to view a list of other articles written by Atty. Danrex Joseph V. Tapdasan.


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