LAS VEGAS – On a small, round table at the Orchid lounge here at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, the knights of Team ALA huddled and talked heavily about, surprise, surprise, boxing.
Michael Aldeguer, Team ALA manager and Tony Aldeguer’s heir apparent, graced the gathering with his illustrious presence. SGS top gun and international promoter Sammy Gello-ani was also in attendance.
Ditto with ALA team cutman Tony Martin and WBO exec Leon Panoncillo.
It was already past 1 a.m. when I joined them. But nobody seemed bent on sleeping. Not today. Not when the biggest fight of Czar Amonsot’s life is just a handful of hours away.
“He’s a changed man,” Michael said solemnly of young Czar, who has shed his errant ways and recaptured the essence of his true potential.
During yesterday’s official weigh-in, Czar tipped the scales at 133 pounds, well inside the 135-pound limit. He had taken great lengths to make weight, foregoing meals and attacking the mitts with careful, measured rage.
Czar’s also been a model warrior in training, dutifully following instructions and absorbing everything his trainers—Edito Villamor and Freddie Roach—tells him.
‘He’s in great shape,” quipped Martin. “The best in his career,” Leon chimed.
Michael Katsidis, the WBO lightweight champ whose belt Czar seeks to wrest, is a tough customer. The 5-foot-7, 26-year-old Aussie has an unblemished record of 22 wins with 20 KOs.
Given Katsidis’ slate, plus his advertised power, the odds are against Czar. But make no mistake, Amonsot is ready to go. He isn’t in awe of Katsidis, and at a lean 133 pounds, he has put himself in a position to win.
The knowledge that his fighter is in the best shape possible gives ALA chief trainer Edito Villamor the gratest confidence.
“We have no control what happens inside the ring. But we have control on what happens outside of it. As far as are concerned, we’ve done everything to prepare Czar, physically and mentally. It’s all up to Czar now, plus a little help from the boxing gods,” Villamor told me.
I’ll do a blow-by-blow account of the Amonsot-Katsidis fight at dyAB this morning. Sammy said Czar’s bout should be around 9 am in Cebu. So keep that AM dial stuck at 1215. It might be history you’ll be listening to, unfolding live before your ears.
THANKS TO MAGNA MEDIA. Although the deadline for credential requests for the Amonsot fight, which is one the undercards in the Bernard Hopkins-Winky Wright light heavyweight bout, lapsed last July 3, Magna Media was still kind enough to accommodate me with a ringside seat when I asked for one yesterday.
In behalf of SunStar Cebu, I’d like to thank Scott and Andy Olson.
SHORT PUNCHES. The betting odds were rumored to be tremendously against Amonsot. I tried to look exactly how much the odds were, but the Mandalay Bay sports book was closed when I got there at about 2 am.
A huge chunk of Pinoys will be in the stands today rooting for Czar at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. A few of them are relatives of Czar, who has a brother in Arizona and an uncle from nearby Reno.
Although the media giant has no crew on-site, ABS-CBN will carry the Amonsot-Katsidis bout live via sattelite. To those living in the US, they can watch Amonsot by ordering pay-per-view through HBO.
HECTIC SKED. Michael Aldeguer and Sammy Gello-ani will fly to Cebu tomorrow. But not for long. They will come back to Sacramento, California in early August in time for the Aug.11 World Cup headlining Rey “BoomBoom” Bautista.
Tough schedule, yes. But Sam and Mike have no complaints. It’s all part of running a classy, world-class stable such as ALA and SGS.
