BOHOLANO phenom Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista yesterday passed his toughest test so far by coming back from a chilling knockdown to score a close but unanimous decision win over Mexican Gerardo Espinoza at the Sycuan Resort and Casino in El Cajon, California.
The 18-year-old Bautista got tagged with an intense right punch by the 25-year-old Espinoza near the end of the second round, giving the youngster his first knockdown of his two-year career.
Bautista struggled a bit in the third round after missing some shots but was able to make up for it by connecting hard blows to Espinoza’s body.
Showing notable maturity for a teener, Bautista remained aggressive but was more on the alert from the lanky veteran Espinoza who remained competitive in the early rounds with his jabs and counters.
In the later rounds, Bautista threw sufficient and incisive punches to confuse and eventually debilitate the now retreating Espinoza up to the final canto of their 8-round non-title battle.
Despite his fleeting tumble, Bautista did well enough to earn the victory from judges Jose Cobian (76-75), Fritz Warner (76-75) and Pat Russell (77-74).
With the win Bautista improved his record 19-0, with 14 knockouts while Espinoza dropped to 28-10, 26 KO’s.
Bautista is expected to improve on his current World Boxing Council (WBC) #10 rankings and at the same time solidify his mandatory dispute of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) crown.
Japanese Hoizumi Hasegawa is the current ruler in the WBC while Jhonny Gonzales of Mexico is the kingpin of the WBO 118-lb class where Bautista is the regional titleholder.
But based on his handlers earlier pronouncements, Bautista needs to get more meaningful fights to fully evolve into a legitimate world beater in a year or two.
Bautista’s manager Tony Aldeguer plans to pit his ward with a world-ranked Mexican boxer early next year or probably defend their WBO Asia-pacific crown against a top-notch challenger.
Several high-profile entities are reportedly keen on staging Bautista’s next fight in the country that include the Araneta Group, Viva Sports, Solar Entertainment and the provincial government of Bohol.
