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Philippines, 23 Mar 2026 |
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Bantamweight: Former Waterloo, Now Philippines' Glory Division (Second Part: The Breakthrough) By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Fri, 09 Jul 2021  Luisito Espinosa. Knowingly or otherwise, Nonito Donaire recently pulling out of a fight versus countryman Johnriel Casimero quashed--I hope just postponed or delayed-- what could have been a historical milestone in Philippine boxing history, i.e. for the first time two popular Filipino world champions in the same weight class duking it out in a major global title unification. To the naive and uninitiated in international professional boxing--expressing a misguided sense of Filipino nationalism and brotherhood--what happened was a relief, seeing that two Filipinos will no longer have to fight and hurt each other. But to the knowledgeable and perceptive, the fight falling through was an unfortunate waste or even loss of rare opportunity to showcase the Filipino global competitiveness in pro boxing. And what makes the opportunity loss more regrettable is that we could have showcased such premium quality in what was formerly regarded as our waterloo division or weight class in boxing: the bantamweight. Many so called local boxing fans just are not aware of or do not realize those long years of futility and heartbreaks we have to go through before our fighters finally made the breakthrough in this weight class, one of the original eight traditional divisions in pro boxing. FINALLY, THE BREAKTHROUGH AND MORE For nearly five decades since Dado Marino was last recognized at least in the United States as world bantamweight champion in 1940, Filipino fighters in the division could show nothing but big fat egg despite being given a crack of an average of once every five years. After Elmer Magallano was shamefully given an undeserved crack at the inaugural world bantamweight title of the then fledgling IBF in 1984 which he naturally botched, came a Filipino fighter who would finally win a world title in the division, redeeming the Espinosa fighting clan in the process. He was Luisito Espinosa, son of former postwar boxer Deo and nephew of Leo and Bonnie Espinosa, who were both victims of then long reigning world bantamweight champions Manuel Ortiz and Raul Macias in the 1950s. Espinosa started fighting professionally as flyweight in 1984. In 1989, he won the WBA bantamweight title by knocking out Thai defending champion Kaokor Galaxy in the very first round. Earlier, the Philippines was devastated by a strong earthquake and the shock of his easy victory inspired Filipinos to call Espinosa 'Lindol' or earthquake in English. He was then managed by famed boxing analyst and businessman Hermie Rivera. Espinosa defended the title twice before losing it to Israel Contreras of Mexico by a fifth-round knockout in 1991 at the Araneta Coliseum. The defeat seemed to serve as a rude reawakening to the jinx American and Mexican fighters had over Filipino fighters as before and after Espinosa finally made that breakthrough in Thailand in 1989, three other Filipino bantamweight title challengers made it to our long list of sob stories in the division. In 1988, Ernie Cataluna challenged American Kelvin Seabrooks for the latter's IBF world bantamweight crown in Sicily, Italy and was stopped inside four rounds. Cataluna had scored a knockdown in the first round and was slightly leading on the scorecards after three rounds. But the rugged American downed him twice and proceeded to stop him in the fourth round. In 1992, Samuel Duran challenged Mexican American Orlando Canizales for the IBF crown Canizales had wrested from Seabrook. Duran who earlier defeated countryman Gerry Peñalosa in defense of his Philippine bantamweight title, fought competitively for majority of the rounds but Canizales proved superior in many aspects of the game. Canizales proceeded to retain his world crown via unanimous points decision. And in 1994, Rolando Bohol was less lucky losing in Texas by 5th round knockout to the same Canizales in the latter's record 15th defense of the IBF world bantamweight title. It would take nearly two decades after Espinosa in 1991 before another Filipino would win a world bantamweight crown when Gerry Peñalosa the same guy who lost in a Philippine national title fight to Samuel Duran in 1992 wrested the WBO title by upset bodyshot knockout of Mexican Jhonny Gonzales in 2007. But Peñalosa who earlier reign as world titlist at super flyweight, would be stripped of his title for failing to defend it on time. Hence, the Philippines would be titleless again for the next four years until Nonito Donaire came to the scene. PEAKS AND VALLEYS AT 118 Donaire had earlier won the IBF flyweight championship by shock knockout of the dreaded Armenian Vic Darchinyan in 2007. After a couple of tough defenses, Donaire moved up to challenge another heralded foe, Mexican WBC-WBO unified titlist Fernando Montiel in February 2011. Montiel was himself feared for having caused the death of an opponent inside the ring and for stopping the respected Japanese WBC titlist Hozumi Hasegawa in their own unification in 2010. But Donaire was unfazed having dispatched a lot of toughies including Mexican Tyson Marquez and Moruthi Mthalane at flyweight. Nonito Jnr proceeded to lay an ambush and knocked out Montiel inside four rounds to become unified WBC-WBO world bantamweight champion in what will be the first of now three reigns. Donaire though would immediately move up to junior featherweight leaving us again without title in the bantamweight but he would be hugely successful especially at 122 lbs. earning Fighter of the Year award in 2012. Into the vacuum would come Marlon Tapales who was unstoppable as Philippines and Orient Pacific bantamweight champion knocking out foes regularly. Known as the Maranding Nightmare, Tapales would wrest the WBO bantamweight title by knocking out Thai defending champion Pungluang Sor Singyu, himself a KO artist, in Thailand in 2016. Sor Singyu won the WBO title left vacant by Donaire in 2012 by stopping another Filipino A J Banal in Manila, while defending it against yet another Pinoy Jethro Pabustan adding another chapter of failure for Filipino bantamweight campaigners. But Tapales would be hounded by weight problems. Although he would be successful in defending his crown by knocking out Shohei Omori of Japan, his title would be stripped from him and declared vacant. To fill the vacancy, the WBO designated South African Zolani Tete and Filipino Arthur Villanueva to fight for the title. In another story of failure, Villanueva was soundly outclassed by the tall Tete. With Donaire and Tapales both fighting above 118 and Villanueva already defeated, the bid to win another world title at bantamweight fell upon Mark John "Probinsyanong Intsik" Yap, the then long reigning OPBF titlist fighting out of Japan. But in an OPBF title defense that also served as WBC title eliminator, in 2018 Yap was outpointed by Takuma Inoue, Naoya's younger brother. Hence, it was Takuma that challenged then WBC champion Nordine Oubaali of France in 2019 in a losing title try. To be continued... The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.  |
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