THE ?Duel in Dubai? card last Friday proved to be another successful enterprise for ALA Promotions, and if anything, this proves that Philippine boxing is alive and well.
Manny Pacquiao fights sparingly nowadays, and he is set to hang up the gloves in a couple of years, but already fans are flocking in droves to boxing cards abroad, featuring fighters of a lesser ilk.
Of course, with around 450,000 Filipinos currently living in Dubai, you can do no wrong with a Pinoy Pride card.
SERVANIA. ?Azukal? started out strong, and despite Jose Cabrera?s efforts to live up to his ?matador? epithet, the bull-strong Servania got to him in the second round and deposited him to the canvas.
Eager to give the crowd the stoppage win they were pining for, Genesis pushed for the knockout in the third round. However, the wily Cabrera took advantage of the Pinoy fighter?s spotty defense by timing his counters and by the middle rounds, the tide had turned somewhat.
Luckily for Servania, a precious second wind would regain him control of the fight and an accidental headbutt would lead to its denouement. At the time of the stoppage, Servania was back to his aggressive ways and Cabrera was hurting bad. Ergo, even if the headbutt had not occurred, Servania was on his way to a win, nonetheless.
VILLANUEVA. A costly mistake in the second round would almost prove to be fatal for ?King Arthur? as he got caught flush with a nasty counter as he went for the kill after wobbling Henry ?El Crespo? Maldonado.
Though he flashed an impish grin to indicate his embarrassment at the knockdown, Villanueva would later on admit he was hurt, and so he opted to engage in close quarters for the remainder of the fight.
For a smooth boxer like Villanueva, this was uncharted territory, but I guess a fighter has to do what he has to do. It was a nip and tuck battle with both fighters landing their fair share of leather but Villanueva?s combinations proved to be more crisp and this was reflected in the facial damage inflicted on Maldonado.
There appeared to be a slight outcry at the scoring for such a close fight, but I thought Villanueva had the edge by at least 3-4 rounds.
BAUTISTA. Perennial crowd favorite ?Boom-boom? Bautista tried to go for the finish, but his opponent Juan Jose Martinez failed to live up to his reputation as a prodigious puncher with 15 stoppages in 19 wins.
Also, Bautista appears to be more relaxed now that he is a bit older and wiser. As we all know by now, he is not the smoothest of boxers, but that is not the reason we egg him on.
He showed up with better head movement and timing with his punches, but ?Boom Boom? cannot resist the urge to slug.
As we have seen in most of fights though, that natural aggression would often lead to headbutts and this fight was no exception. The fans were a bit disappointed when the fight had to be stopped in just the seventh round, but Bautista was leaking too much for the fight to continue.
CONDITIONING. Ever since a new conditioning coach came on board, I have been quite interested how this has impacted ALA Gym?s fighters. This started with Donnie Nietes? spectacular performance when he knocked out Moises Fuentes last May.
In that fight, Nietes admitted that his excellent performance was due in part to the spectacular condition he was in, however, Nick Curson?s rating will not be determined by one fighter alone but by the performance of several in the stable over time.
Among the ALA fighters, Servania, Villanueva and Bautista have shown pretty decent stamina in the past, and so it was difficult to discern any appreciable improvement.
Although Servania suffered some leg cramps, still his energy reserves seemed to be plentiful. Ditto with both Villanueva and Bautista.
At least the three of them showed some consistency and Curson seems to know what he?s doing. But I think the big metric for him will be AJ ?Bazooka? Banal.
LAST ROUND. It?s on my triathlete/lawyer big bro Ramsey who spent his birthday with kids afflicted with cancer. Keep it up bro. May you continue to be both a blessing and an inspiration. Cheers! ([email protected])
