HEAVY-hitter Kenny Demecillo and his coach, Christopher ?Ping-Ping? Tepora, respect Daryl Basadre?s technical skills but won?t leave anything by chance in the rematch on Sept. 26 in the main event of ?Brawl at the Mall? at the Gaisano Mall Atrium in Gen. Santos City.
?If there?s a opportunity for knocking him out, Kenny will knock him out,? Tepora, head trainer of the Omega Boxing Gym in Cebu City, told Sun.Star Cebu.
?Basadre is very difficult to fight and is very good at piling up points.?
Tepora said that Demecillo will be aggressive and will be in Basadre?s face all night long until he gets the knockout.
?We are practicing throwing a lot of punches because we expect a war. I know Basadre is eager to avenge his loss.?
In their first encounter last June 7 in Gen. Santos City, Demecillo shocked Basadre with a second- round stoppage. Basadre contested that loss and said that the fight was stopped prematurely and that he wasn?t hurt with Demecillo?s flurry. Tepora, however, saw it differently.
?With what I saw, Basadre was really hit and got rocked that?s why the referee stopped the fight. But it?s (situation) better because now we have a rematch.?
The 21-year-old Basadre is dead serious on his plot for vengeance. He has been sparring at the Sanman Gym with some of the most promising young talents under the wing of 22-year-old promoter and manager Jim Claude Manangquil.
?His conditioning is doing okay. He is peaking and is going to start his hard training. He has been sparring with Marquil Salvana, Reymart Gaballo and Romero Duno. They are all young and undefeated, so his sparring has been going really well,? said Manangquil.
Basadre is 14-2-1 with 10 knockouts, while the 23-year-old Demecillo is 9-3-1 with six knockouts.
World Boxing Council (WBC) Asia featherweight champion John Vincent Moralde trades leathers with another Omega Boy Jerry Castroverde (6-1, 3 KOs) in a 10-round main supporting bout, while unbeaten Rinamar Metuda (7-0, 3 KOs) squares off with Jason Tinampay (5-1, 4 KOs).
