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Philippines, 02 Mar 2026 |
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IT'S BOOM OR BUST FOR BAUTISTA By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Thu, 29 Nov 2007  It will be boom or bust for onetime emerging ring sensation Rey ?Boom Boom? Bautista when he battles Mexico?s Antonio Meza at the Araneta Coliseum on Sunday in a fight card titled ?Payback.? Bautista is expected to win handsomely and help erase the memory of his devastating first round knockout at the hands of menacing WBO super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce De Leon last August 11 in the Philippines-Mexico World Cup in Sacramento, California when he was the only loser after five other Filipinos had won in style. Meza, despite being touted as a dangerous opponent is ranked only No. 18 by the WBC while Bautista, following his defeat to Ponce De Leon has been dropped to No. 8 by the WBO. A Bautista win, as expected, will surely improve his rankings as he works himself back for a title shot in the future. But a loss to Meza will effectively bust his future because while Meza has an impressive record on paper ? 23-3 with 16 knockouts ? he hasn?t beaten any fighter of note. His last win, a third round TKO was over Romel Aguilar whose record was an unimpressive 10-7-4 with 4 KO?s while prior to that he won a ten round unanimous decision over Luis Vicente Perez whose record was 18-22 with 14 knockout losses. Undefeated super flyweight AJ ?Bazooka? Banal (15-0-1, 12 KO?s) may have an even easier task than Bautista as he clashes with Jovany Soto whose record of 25-7-1 with 20 knockouts has only landed him the No. 40 spot in the WBC ratings. Banal, on the other hand, is ranked No. 7 by the WBA and No. 8 by the WBO in clear recognition of his abilities. Philippine bantamweight champion Michael Domingo who faces Anthony Mathias of Tanzania and WBO Asia Pacific minimum weight champion Milan Melindo who takes on Jack Amisa of Indonesia should have no difficulty in giving the Philippines a clean sweep. Domingo?s opponent who has a record of 19-7-1 with 9 KO?s won his last two fights against Juma Afande on August 19 and James Mokiwa on November 3, both of whom hadn?t won a fight. Amisa lost by a third round TKO in his last bout against Filipino Edren Dapudong in a WBO Asia Pacific Youth title fight in North Cotabato. Interestingly, boxrec.com records show that out of Amisa?s 16 reported wins, 14 were against fighters that were apparently making their debut while two were against opponents who had only one fight which were losses. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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