It has become a tradition for Top Rank to highlight rising Filipino boxing talent the night before a Manny Pacquiao card in Las Vegas, capitalizing on the large Filipino contingent that has come from near and far to see “The PacMan” ply his trade in person. It’s a pretty smart business strategy; Pacquiao won’t fight forever, and perhaps one of these upstarts will catch the audience?s eye and grow into a star.
So far, however, none of the fighters given the ball the night before Pacquiao have run very far with it.
Now it’s unbeaten lightweight prospect Mercito Gesta’s turn.
“I’m really excited, but it doesn’t pressure me with a lot of people watching that fight,” said Gesta (23-0-1, 12 knockouts), an unbeaten 24-year-old southpaw who will face experienced trialhorse Ricardo Dominguez (34-7-2, 21 KOs) on Friday at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. “Right now my emotions are excited and I can’t wait to be in the ring. I’m ready.”
Gesta, a native of the Philippine province of Cebu but now residing in San Diego, Calif., is a rising star in the sport, a fighter whom many are putting stock into as the shining light when Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire Jr., hang up their gloves years down the line. But, in all of the anticipation, it’s easy to overlook the fact that Gesta is still a young fighter, and is a continued work in progress.
No more was this apparent than following Gesta’s last outing in September, when he overcame a sluggish start to overpower a determined Manuel Perez in Arizona. Gesta was a step behind Perez for the first two rounds, but his superior conditioning and punching power told the story over the final eight rounds en route to his first distance victory in five fights.
“My performance is not the one that I wanted, but I went to a decision and I think that’s good for me in the long run,” said Gesta. “I’m not really satisfied, but I’m happy. In a way I’m still glad that I won that fight and I had that experience to get that decision because it’d been a while since I went to the decision. The next fight I want to show more.”
His next opponent, Ricardo Dominguez, is expected to be another step up in competition, all with the direction of guiding Gesta towards a title shot next year. Dominguez, 26, of Tucson, Ariz., is a two-time world title challenger, having lost unanimous decisions to lightweight titleholders Miguel Vazquez and Humberto Soto. Against the latter, Dominguez stunned him briefly with a right cross in the second stanza and caused him fits with his long boxing style, before fading to Soto’s pressure.
