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Z ?The Reality? Gorres


PhilBoxing.com




?The Dream? or ?The Reality? to apply to Z Gorres is the controversy my tennis-buff-boxing-enthusiast-friends discussed after last Saturday?s IBF 115-lb eliminator fight between Z and Vic Darchinyan in Cebu City. ?The Dream? applies either to Z himself or the elusive world championship he is fighting for.

Had Z won, he could have realized for him another shot at a world 115-lb title. A fellow enthusiast commented in jest that the reason Z is failing in his title quest lies in his monicker, ?The Dream?. A dream can be elusive as a song of decades past assertively points out.

Last year, Z lost by a controversial split decision his WBO 115-lb title fight against defending champion Fernando Montiel. The fight was controversial because the referee exacted 1-point deductions against Z in two instances without prior warnings.

A point deducted is too damaging a blow to be absorbed by a fighter in the judges? scorecards. For this reason, the referee is cautioned not to be hasty in ordering a point deduction against a fighter who is laying down his life in the ring for that point.

While in most cases a referee does not score in a fight he referees in, his misjudgment in ruling a slip a knockdown could result in a fighter?s losing 1, or 2, or 3 points in a round. As reported, the 1 and 2 point score differences happened in the 1st round of the Gorres-Darchinyan fight where the judges clearly saw the erroneous knockdown ruling.

The 3-point difference materializes when in a close fight, the fighter having the slight edge is disadvantaged by an erroneous knockdown ruling. A judge may score the round 10-8 for his opponent which round he could have won 10-9.

The referee?s mis-judgments of Gorres? trips to the canvas made the fight controversial. Some in the crowd booed while still some others showed their displeasure by throwing coin and bottled water ?missiles? into the ring.

Z is setting his sight at Dmitri Kirilov?s IBF 115-lb crown and the Darchinyan fight was the stumbling block he needed to hurdle. Z gave his all in the ring to win. We Filipinos, mostly I suppose, wanted Z to win. Even the Filipino fight judge, Jonathan Davis, wanted Z to win.

As a boxing judge, I can identify with Jon?s feeling when after the announcer read his score showing a Darchinyan win, some in the crowd booed. Fight fans should understand the reality. It is the fighter who wins the fight for him and not the judge. I believe Jon when he told me by text message, ?My heart bled for Gorres. My score was tied after the 10th, but I could not give him the last two rounds where he was just clinging for dear life?.

The split draw result doesn?t mean Z failed. Neither did Darchinyan. While neither won the eliminator fight, neither lost. For one to survive a 12-round give-and-take fight against the other is already a great accomplishment for both. This proves that Z and Vic deserve to take on champion Kirilov in the latter?s next title fight.

While a Z-Vic rematch might be considered the fight being an eliminator and neither was eliminated, either fighter could go straight to Kirilov with the winner mandatorily defending his title against the challenger who gives in and waits for his chance.

It would be unfair if Kirilov would stake his title in the meantime against a challenger other than Z and Vic while these two engage in a rematch which takes time to arrange, plan and hold.

The fighters? respective promoters might ask for the title fight with Kirilov now. Look at Jose Navarro. He got to fight twice for a 115-lb title even after previously failing to wrest another?s 115-lb title. Navarro is fortunate in getting title fights though not as such in winning them.

It seems that the monicker ?The Dream? aptly fits Jose Navarro. And not winning his 3 attempts to win a title is the reality he should accept at this point. But being still young, he can continue to pursue his so far proven elusive championship dream.

And so does Z Gorres. Some quarters observe that Z tired in the latter rounds in the Montiel and Darchinyan fights. By putting some more gas in his tank to sustain him in a 12-round fight that goes the distance, Z Gorres could maintain the spring in his legs and the potency in his fists in the later rounds.

Z might just eliminate some controversy and make ?The Dream? ?The Reality?.


Click here to view a list of other articles written by Epifanio M. Almeda.


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