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MAGSAYO-AVALOS: QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED TONIGHT By Dong Secuya PhilBoxing.com Sat, 23 Apr 2016  CEBU ? Filipino rising star Mark 'Magnifico' Magsayo will take on world title veteran Chris Avalos of the United States for the vacant WBO international featherweight title on the undercard of the Donaire-Bedak WBO world super bantamweight championship tonight at the Cebu Sports Center. Local fans and experts alike are divided on whether the 20-year-old Magsayo has been rushed too soon or it is the right time for him to take on a formidable foe like Avalos. Magsayo, a bemedalled amateur whom ALA's Antonio L. Aldeguer himself said was the best boxer in his stable he saw in 40 years, performed according to expectations as he tore through opposition in his 13 professional fights thus far stopping 10 of them inside the distance, the most impressive one was against erstwhile unbeaten Mexican Yardley Suarez whom he disposed in only two minutes during ALA Promotions inaugural event at the StubHub Center in Carson, California on Oct. 17, 2015. And ? Filipino fans are generally reserved on embracing Magsayo as the next boxing star and for good reasons ? they have been burned a couple of times before. Wasn't Rey 'Boom-Boom' Bautista once touted as the next Manny Pacquiao? Fans riding on the Bautista bandwagon were delirious when Boom-Boom scored knockouts after knockouts over boxers whose names are like Obote Ameme, Roberto Bonilla, Giovanni Andrade and Marino Montiel. Bautista's star shone brightest when he won over Sergio Manuel Medina of Argentina in Las Vegas on May 5, 2007 televised live on HBO on the undercard of the Oscar de la Hoya vs Floyd Mayweather Jr. megafight. Medina was then undefeated at 28-0 before the fight while Bautista improved to 23-0 after the fight. But everything went crushing down for Bautista and Filipino fans when Boom-Boom was destroyed by then WBO world superbantam champion Daniel Ponce de Leon in one round on Aug. 11, 2007 in Sacramento, California. Bautista, although he fought 15 more times afterwards scoring 13-2, he never quite recovered after the Sacramento trashing. Then there was AJ Banal who was involved in two blockbuster but extremely painful fights for the Filipino fans. Banal twice fought for world title fights, which in the eyes of boxing experts and fans alike, were extremely winnable fights for Banal but ended up Banal kissing the canvas in both occasions. First was the fight against Rafael Concepcion of Panama for the WBA interim super flyweight title on July 26, 2008 that filled the Cebu Coliseum to the rafters and gathered some of the most important personalities in the boxing industry under one roof where Banal went down in the 10th round and the second one was against Pungluang Sor Singyu of Thailand for the WBO bantamweight title at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila on Oct. 10, 2012 where Banal was stopped in the 9th round. The Bautista and Banal debacles may have prompted Magsayo's handlers, Antonio Aldeguer, whose devotion to boxing have put Filipino boxers in the world boxing map for decades and son Michael, who is now expertly handling the promotional aspect of the business, to test their promising fighters as early as possible in sharp contrast to what previously came up as building up their fighters for up to 20, 30 fights but were going nowhere in the end. 
Magsayo and Avalos during Friday's weighin at the Ayala Center Mall in Cebu. So it is now up to Magsayo, who started boxing at 8 years old after giving up selling ice cream in the streets of Tagbilaran City in Bohol, to show to the world that he is up to the task and that he can perform in the big stage. If you really look at it closely, his opponent Chris Avalos, 26 wins, 4 loses with 19 knockouts, have been performing dismally lately when he lost to IBF super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton by 5th round knockout, won by unanimous decision over Filipino journeyman Rey Perez and lost by 5th round knockout over Mexican prospect Oscar Valdez. Also, all of Avalos's loses were against undefeated fighters which indicate that 'The Hitman' falters when faced with elite oppositions. A win over Avalos should put Magsayo in the mix of the world's top featherweights; a fighting loss would not necessarily derail him but a disastrous loss similar to what Bautista suffered against Ponce de Leon or Banal against Concepcion and Sor Singyu, would put a big question mark on Mark, the Aldeguer's decision to take on Avalos or even to the ALA Gym's boxing program itself. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.  |
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