The similarities between Manny Pacquiao and Mercito Gesta, at least on the surface, are striking. Both men are left-handed Filipinos who began boxing at an early age. Each signed a promotional contract with Top Rank with the intention of becoming the best in the world.
But while Pacquiao has become one of the elite boxers of this or any generation, Gesta’s career is just starting to get on track 8? years after it began.
Gesta, 24, will put his unbeaten record on the line Saturday in a 10-round pay-per-view lightweight bout when he meets Oscar Cuero at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Gesta (24-0-1, 12 KOs) has received plenty of comparisons to Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire, another Filipino, both of whom are in the Yahoo! Sports Top 10.
Gesta, though, doesn’t want to be the next Pacquiao or the next Donaire. He wants to be the first Gesta.
“People like to compare me to Manny and Nonito, and that creates a little bit of pressure on me,” Gesta said. “I try to block all of that out and focus on what I need to do to get better. It’s good to be compared to guys like that, because they’re the best out there, but we’re totally different.”
Gesta only has 12 stoppages in his 24 fights, but much of that seeming lack of power is explainable by the fact that he began to fight professionally just a week after his 16th birthday. He was fighting men much more physically mature and only registered three knockouts in his first 12 fights. Since, he’s gone 13-0 with nine knockouts and is starting to become a much more dangerous puncher.
Much of that is attributable to his fast hands. Combined with punching accuracy, those fast hands are providing more and more power.
It’s all beginning to come together for Gesta, who has yet to have the defining fight that would mark him as a future star. He’s anxious, he said, to shed the shackles that have been placed upon him by promoter Bob Arum and Top Rank matchmaker Bruce Trampler and increase the competition level.
“We’ve been calling out all the best [lightweights] in the world,” Gesta manager/trainer Vince Parra said. “So far, we haven’t had any luck. We offered to replace [Yuriorkis] Gamboa, (who pulled out of the main event against Brandon Rios in a contract dispute). This fight with Cuero is a good introductory fight on HBO, but it’s not the top opponent we wanted. We’re open to fighting any of the big guys out there, no matter who it is.”
HOOKS AND JABS
? It’s hard to escape the feeling that Gamboa made a massive mistake in judgment by pulling out of the fight. He was to have been paid more than $1 million, but more significant than the money would have been the exposure he’d have received for fighting a top-level opponent like Rios.
? Floyd Mayweather Jr. is a great fighter, but as a promoter? Well, the pay-per-view undercard for his May 5 fight against Miguel Cotto leaves more than a little to be desired. The bouts to be shown on PPV are Canelo Alvarez against Shane Mosley; Jessie Vargas against Alfonso Gomez and DeAndre Latimore against Carlos Quintana. Ugh.
? It appears that with a loss to Shinsuke Yamanaka in a bantamweight title fight on Friday that the career of former world champion Vic Darchinyan has effectively come to an end. The question is: Did Darchinyan do enough to merit induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame? He had two reigns as super flyweight champion and another as flyweight champion, but he couldn’t win a bantamweight belt. He’s 37-5-1 with 27 knockouts. My belief is he didn’t have a defining win and will come up just short. If it was the Hall of the Very Good, he’d make it. As it is, I say no.
? James Toney is one of the great boxers in the history of the game, but I’ll choose to remember him as an intelligent and athletic middleweight, not this 43-year-old behemoth who keeps fighting because he needs the money. In his prime ? and when he was in shape and motivated ? few were better than Toney. But it says something about the man when his prime was decades ago.
? Michael Katsidis faces Albert Mensah on Friday in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock in the main event of ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights.” It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the always-entertaining Katsidis has left after taking brutal beatings from the likes of Juan Manuel Marquez and Robert Guerrero in the past few years.
READERS ALWAYS WRITE
Dump the sanctioning bodies
Boxing is in a state that it has never been before. Top fighters who avoid fighting other top fighters, fighters who are called champions without ever fighting a championship-caliber opponent, obscene decisions by judges, ridiculous rankings, bogus sanctioning organizations and childish promoters who care nothing about doing the right thing for the sport or its fans. When will it end? What I would love to see is HBO, Showtime, ESPN, Ring Magazine and respected boxing writers get together and announce that they will no longer consider any of the sanctioning organizations (WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO, etc.) or any of their champions legitimate. Not even ever mention them again on their broadcasts or articles. The only three letters before the champion of a weight class should be T-H-E, as in THE middleweight champion, Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Create a real commission, where a respected panel of writers vote on the rankings of fighters and there is one real champion in each division. Create real rules where the champ has to fight the No. 1-ranked fighter in his division every other fight and/or once a year. It is ridiculous that Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao have not fought two or three times already or that Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. can be called champions without fighting a championship-caliber fighter who was in his prime. They should be embarrassed to call themselves champions.
Steven A. Merrick, N.Y.
Steven, I understand your frustrations, but your suggestions won’t work. First, it’s not the job of a journalist to decide who does or doesn’t fight for the title. And there certainly aren’t enough qualified boxing writers who see the fighters often enough. Think of some of your other suggestions: If there were a U.S. boxing commission, what jurisdiction would it have over what goes on in Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, Japan or Germany ? all places where boxing is thriving? I’ll tell you: none. The problem isn’t easily solvable. Ultimately, the public will have to put pressure on promoters to make the matches it wants to see. That’s the only workable solution.
Leonard one of most overrated fighters ever
I’ve read in some places that Sugar Ray Leonard was referred to as a “wannabe Muhammad Ali.” That is a disgrace to compare Ali to someone like Leonard, who ducked Hagler until everything went his way, who refused to fight Aaron Pryor and who was far more about flash than about fighting. I think Leonard is the most overrated boxer in my lifetime, and I’ve watched boxing for more than 30 years. What do you think?
Louis K. Mississippi
I would disagree strongly with you, Louis. I think Leonard is one of the top 10 or 15 fighters who ever lived. Yes, I wish he’d fought Hagler in 1982 or 1983 and not 1987. And yes, I wish he’d fought Pryor. But this is a man who beat Hall of Famer Roberto Duran, Hall of Famer Thomas Hearns, Hall of Famer Wilfredo Benitez, Hall of Famer Marvelous Marvin Hagler ? Are you picking up on what I’m saying? Leonard had his flaws, like any man, but he was a legitimate superstar who deserves every accolade he’s received.
Who wins, Sugar Ray or ‘Money May?’
I read your blog post about the 25th anniversary of the Sugar Ray Leonard-Marvelous Marvin Hagler fight, and it got me thinking: If you pitted Leonard against the current best, Floyd Mayweather Jr., who would win? Could Money have handled Leonard’s pressure? Could Ray have dealt with Floyd’s amazing defense? I think this would have been a fight for the ages.
Kevin Houston
It would be a great fight, but if we’re talking prime versus prime, I’d go with Leonard. Mayweather would have a slight edge over Leonard defensively, but Leonard would have a large edge over Mayweather in terms of overall offense and, particularly, punching power. Mayweather has rarely, if ever, faced anyone with Leonard’s combination of speed and power. I think that would have been the difference in the fight. I wish I could have seen it.
Martinez is blowing it
Here’s what is wrong with Sergio Martinez: He’s sitting around waiting to fight the winner of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Andy Lee. That’s a fight no one cares about. What Sergio should be doing is doing all he can to get a fight with super middleweight champion Andre Ward. Then he’d be proving something if he won. But he’s trying to get a bout with a guy who is nothing but a name [Chavez] living off the success of his father. And Sergio wonders why people don’t care about him? Challenge yourself, Sergio, and we’ll watch.
Timothy W. Las Vegas
I would prefer to see him fight Ward as opposed to the Chavez-Lee winner, as well, but you take what you can get. Ward is significantly bigger than Martinez, though I think the truly great fighters don’t get hung up by size. Martinez showed when he knocked out Paul Williams in 2010 that he can handle big men. That said, at least by having him fight the Chavez-Lee winner it’s creating a way for the top middleweights to fight each other, which ultimately is what we want.
QUOTEWORTHY
“No unheard of fighter like Abril will ever beat me. He’s going to go down and go down real hard. In the boxing world, Abril is in the darkness and I plan to keep him there. I haven’t forgotten what he did to me in Miami. He’s going to pay big-time for that.” ? Former lightweight champion Brandon Rios, talking about his opponent on Saturday, Richard Abril.
