REY ?Boom-Boom? Bautista had superstar quality written all over him. But in an instant, with a single loss, everything went spiraling down.
After hanging his gloves for a while following a disappointing career, Bautista is due for reinvention, said his trainer Edito Villamor. Bautista was once dubbed as the successor of Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao.
?He has improved a lot. Hopefully he shows it in his fight in Dubai so that the fans will really enjoy it,? Villamor told Sun.Star Cebu.
Bautista will have his second fight since his retirement last year. He is taking on hard-hitting Mexican prospect Juan Jose Montes in one of the featured fights in ALA Promotions? first international event ? Pinoy Pride 27 on Sept. 5 at the Dubai World Trade Center.
Following his knockout loss to Daniel Ponce de Leon 2007, Bautista encountered a string of problems and faced a lot of criticism for his lack of defense and his suspect chin. A serious hand injury also threatened his career.
Since then, Bautista looked like a different fighter. In his latest setback, Bautista suffered a beating in the hands of Jose Ramirez, which forced him into retirement.
?Being a slugger is always with ?Boom-Boom? but what we gave him back is his killer instinct. We want him to become a complete boxer who can slug and box. That is what we are working on to drive out the old ?Boom-Boom,? said Villamor.
With the successful strength and conditioning program that Nick Curson passed on to Villamor, expect Bautista to be better this time around.
