ALA fighter Milan ?Milenyo? Melindo is determined to prove former world champion Muhammad Rachman wrong and show that their Saturday night fight at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino won?t be just a simple tune-up for the visitor.
Rachman said earlier that his fight with Melindo is just a way to get busy for a world title fight with World Boxing Council mini-flyweight king Oleydong Sithsanerchai.
However, Melindo isn?t too keen on playing second fiddle and plans to teac h the Indonesian veteran a lesson.
?For him this is just a tune-up fight but I?ll give him my all and let?s see if it really is just a tune-up fight or not,? the 21-year-old Melindo said during the final press conference at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino.
Rachman also wants to give the younger Melindo the first blemish of his spotless professional boxing record and wants it to be by stoppage.
?This is his stepping stone for Oleydong. We want to fight the best in the Philippines and knock him out. We have no choice but only go for a knockout,? said Rachman?s manager Martinez Dos Santos on behalf of his ward.
Skills
But Melindo is confident that with his skills, he can respond to anything the 37-year-old Rachman brings into the fight.
?I?m a counter-puncher so if he?ll knock me down I?ll also knock him down,? said Melindo.
On the other hand, Z ?The Dream? Gorres, who will co-headline the boxing event, assured that he will be a better fighter in his new weight category, the bantamweight division.
?I feel confident and so strong at 118. I?m ready to fight,? said Gorres.
He will clash with ex-International Boxing Federation mini-flyweight titleholder Roberto Leyva for the vacant World Boxing Council Oriental bantamweight crown.
Best fighters
Leyva, who has fought some of the best fighters in the lower weight categories like current world champions Ivan Calderon and Edgar Sosa, is prepared to give Gorres a difficult fight.
?I?m a former world champion and I?m ready for anything. Expect a war that night,? Leyva said in Spanish.
International boxing writer Lee Bates served as the Mexican?s interpreter.
According to Leyva?s trainer, former two-division world champion Raul Perez, the 29-year-old Mexican has prepared meticulously for this fight, sparring with an array of technical Mexican southpaws, and will be ready even if the fight goes the distance.
Leyva also admitted that Gorres is well-known and respected in Mexico because he gallantly fought Fernando Montiel. On the other hand, the Cebuano?s camp said they?ve done some revisions in his training and his trainer Edito Villamor has been teaching him how to pressure his foes better.
?We?re improving on how to pressure the opponent. You?ll see it this coming Saturday night,? said Villamor.
Included in the undercard of this boxing extravaganza are veteran ALA boy Michael Domingo, who will be trading leathers with Elorde Stable upstart Monico Laurente and up-and-coming fighter James Bacon, who will be in a rematch against William Jorge.
