WBC president Jose Sulaiman has commended the organization’s founding secretary general, lawyer Rudy Salud for what Sulaiman described as “a very nice gesture” in inviting world title contenders Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista and Z “The Dream” Gorres for lunch at his home with the Salud family last Sunday which showed his continuing love for boxing.
Stating that he was looking forward to visiting Manila for the WBC convention this year, Sulaiman said “its been an honor for me to have had Salud as secretary general of the WBC. Please give my most affectionate regards to my dear friend Rodrigo.” Sulaiman said he was very happy to learn that Salud had recovered well from a serious heart ailment and a stroke and was still very active.
Bautista and Gorres left for Los Angeles along with trainer Edito “Ala” Villamor the following day to step up training at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym where they would spend five to six weeks before returning to the Philippines for the World Cup battle between the Philippines and Mexico set for March 4 in Cebu City.
Villamor said Gorres and Bautista hardly took a break during Christmas and New Year and continued training because of the importance of their world title fights. In fact be said the two fighters had been in training since their last fight.
Villamor said Gorres had “ a very good chance “of defeating WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel. He said Gorres who watched Montiel fight Jhonny Gonzales for the WBO bantamweight title told him “coach we will win against him if we get the chance to fight him for the title. I am sure of that.”
In the case of Bautista, Villamor said super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon was a tough fighter who was always on the attack but that after seeing him spar with Gorres, Bautista said “I am not afraid of him. He claims I am afraid. Of course not. This is the fight I have been waiting for.”
Villamor also said the staging of the World Cup in Cebu boosted the chances of the Filipino fighters because of the huge support from fight fans in Cebu, Bohol and other nearby regions who are certain to watch the fights and support our boxers for the sake of our country. Villamor thanked Salud for his generosity and said “there are many more boxers besides Gorres and Bautista that he has supported and I know will continue to support in the future.”
