SOME boxers are never the same after a heartbreaking loss but others come back stronger.
Last Oct. 20, AJ Banal suffered another painful defeat in a world title fight that had critics doubting if he really has what it takes to become a world champion.
ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer, however, has not given up on his 24-year-old ward but his future in the brutal sport of boxing all depends on his drive to fight on.
?It?s really hard to say (if he will be a world champion) because AJ was the superior fighter in terms of talent and skill but the biggest question is ? can AJ take a punch? And that is something that cannot be taught. The critics say that he has no heart but I beg to disagree because AJ showed that he wanted to fight back but his body could not take the punch. It is only AJ who knows if he can come back or not.
Right now, he will have to understand that he has to work harder to contend with the younger, talented fighters,? Aldeguer told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
At 19, Banal had his first crack at a world title against slugger Rafael Concepcion in the Cebu Coliseum for the interim World Boxing Association super flyweight belt in 2008. The young Cebuano fighter was ahead on the scorecards but got knocked out by Concepcion in the 10th round.
History repeated itself last year. Banal was obviously the more talented boxer and outgunned Pungluang Sor Singyu in their World Boxing Organization bantamweight title bout at the SM Mall of Asia Arena. He, however, faded in the later rounds and got tagged with some heavy blows before being stopped in the ninth round.
Banal is once again on a comeback trail and will be seeing action in a boxing event on May 25 in Cebu City, which will be headlined by Jason Pagara, seven months after his loss to Sor Singyu.
?An opponent that may not yet be on the A level as AJ needs to go through the long process again to prove that he still has what it takes to be in the elite level, especially with a lot of young fighters that have shown potential like Jason Pagara, Genesis Servania, Arthur Villanueva and Merlito Sabillo, plus fighters that ALA Promotions will be signing up from different stables,? said Aldeguer.
