BOBBY PACQUIAO IN MAKE OR BREAK POSITION
Millbrae, CA-This Saturday June 10th, Madison Square Garden will be alive and popping when Miguel Cotto defends his WBO belt against the slick boxer Paulie Malignaggi. The entire six fight televised pay-per-view card is stacked with fighters from all parts of the world. Bobby Pacquiao, the brother of the most popular Filipino (not just fighter) in the world, Manny Pacquiao, will represent the Philippines. Bobby will face a rejuvenated featherweight great, Kevin Kelley. Pacquiao has a record of 26 wins 11 losses and 3 draws, which means this super featherweight has no room for errors. Bobby’s action in the Philippines can best be described as a “Yo-Yo” career, with many highs and equal lows. Top Rank, which has co-promoted Manny Pacquiao’s last three bouts, is gambling on Bobby by recently signing “The Sniper” to a nine fight contract.
KEVIN KELLEY LOVING LIFE AT 130 LBS!
Before Manny Pacquiao ruled the featherweight division, Kevin Kelley held the title of the best featherweight in the early 90’s. This 18-year-veteran has only one world championship, but he has thrilled boxing fans with some of the best featherweight bouts of the past twenty years. His bouts against Alejandro “Cobrita” Gonzalez, and Derrick Gainer were both great fights. Against Gainer, Kelley’s eye was swollen shut and his corner threatened to stop the fight. Yet, KK somehow was able to pull off a one-punch KO of the young contender. That bout featured four knockdowns and Kelley became the talk of the boxing world in 1996.
RUMBLE WITH NASEEM WAS UP & DOWN AFFAIR!
A year later, he and Prince Naseem Hamed knocked each other down three times before a sold out Madison Square Garden crowd. A little over a decade later, Kelley will return to the Garden to avenge the knockout loss to Hamed. Since 2000, and in the late stages of Kelley’s 56-6-2 (39 KOs) career, he has a loss only to Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. There are very few fighters at the level of Morales and Barrera, and Kelley has handled the majority. The New York native credits his recent success to moving up four pounds to super featherweight and 130 lbs. The 38-year-old spent the vast majority of his career fighting at featherweight, thus the move up in weight has been the crucial factor says KK. Now, Kelley will face his toughest opponent since Morales and Barrera. A loss to Pacquiao will likely end “The Flushing Flash’s” last run at a title.
PACQUIAO UNDEFEATED IN THE UNITED STATES
One of the reasons why Pacquiao was signed to a long-term deal was based on his last two performances on U.S soil on televised bouts. His second fight in the United States was the first time television viewers got a glimpse of him. He slipped and slid (due to faulty shoes) his way through Carlos Navarro, forcing Navarro to count himself out. In his Showtime debut, on the under card of the second (and now most likely the last) fight between Jose Luis Castillo and Diego Corrales, he defeated former IBF guy Carlos Hernandez, earning a top-ten ranking in the WBC. In that fight, Pacquiao jumped out to an early lead, which included a rare knockdown against the granite chinned Hernandez. However, the lack of stamina slowed Bobby down, and in many eyes Carlos Hernandez rallied in the middle and late rounds to seemingly win the fight. Two of the three official judges disagreed with the majority of the ringside reporters and awarded Pacquiao with the ten round decision win. The general feelings after the decision was that although Hernandez lost on points, he won the crowd and the night. In reality though, eight months later, Hernandez is still without a fight and Bobby Pacquiao has not only a promotional deal, but has a fight against a marquee name on a big PPV show. A major reason for Pacquiao’s success has been the guidance of Freddie Roach. Sparring with Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood has given Bobby the proper training to face a fellow southpaw in Kelley.
“BOOM-BOOM” BAUTISTA STAYS ON PACE
The now anointed “Next Filipino Champion,” Rey Bautista extended his unbeaten streak to 20 wins by dominating Roberto Bonilla, 22-8 (11 KOs), on the Marco Antonio Barrera card May 20th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. At only 19-years-old, many of his fans want to see “Boom-Boom” challenge for a world title at his new weight division of 122 lbs. Trainer Freddie Roach has made it clear that time is on their side right now, and rushing the teenager would do more harm than good. The super-bantamweight division is a wide-open division with no real dominate fighter. The world champion of the division right now is Israel Vasquez.
MANO-A-MANO FOR $39.99 IS A DEAL…IF YOU’RE A PINOY
HBO was supposed to televise Manny Pacquiao’s bout against Oscar Larios in Manila on May 20th. However, political turmoil scared off the suits at HBO who publicly stated their unwillingness to travel to the Philippines. Then the executives at ABS-CBN, a Philippines based television network, gleefully jumped in and bought the television rights to Pacquiao’s fight. The deal occurred even when frequent guest of “Ring Talk Radio,” HBO commentator Larry Merchant, revealed that HBO was willing to pay Pacquiao top dollar (over one million dollars according to Merchant) to fight in San Francisco or Los Angeles instead of Manila. The plan was to have a double main event including Barrera and Pacquiao to drum up a potential rematch in the future. Instead, ABS-CBN, which bought the rights to broadcast Pacquiao last bout, will offer the fight along with four undercard bouts on pay-per-view in the United States for $39.99. Although it is Philippines vs. Mexico, Oscar Larios is not nearly as beloved as Morales or Barrera. The Pacman has never been in a bad fight, but he has yet to show that he can be the “main star” on a pay-per-view show. Look at it this way, Barrera’s pay-per-view fight against MIS-mandatory Mzonke Fana sold less than 190,000 buys, and if Pacquiao’s pay-per-view show is able to draw that, it would be a successful promotion. But, just because the expected PPV buys will be low, does not mean this PPV is not worthy of your $40 bucks. That is, of course, if you’re a Philippine boxing fan. Any Filipino-American would pay more than $40 to get a chance to see Gerry Penalosa, in my opinion the most complete fighter in the last 25 years, and Rey Bautista, the “Next Filipino Champion” on one card. Of course, all Filipinos will tune in to see the iconic Manny Pacquiao fight a “better than a tune-up” fighter in ex-champion Oscar Larios. While most of America will be celebrating the country’s Independence Day, you can bet all the Filipinos in America will have “Super Bowl” like parties, hopefully celebrating another Pacman victory.
Jason Aniel
“The Pinoy” appears exclusively for www.RingTalk.com He is currently wrapping up his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science at San Francisco State University. Comments regarding this story can be left below.
