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INVASION? NOPE! - MASSACRE, YES! By Ed de la Vega, DDS PhilBoxing.com Sun, 06 Apr 2008  Quezon City, Philippines -- The promoters for today?s boxing card at the famed Araneta Coliseum named it: 'Invasion: Philippines versus the World.' Well, boxers from all over, Uruguay, Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia and Korea indeed came but that is all they did. They came to challenge the Filipino champions. All of them sadly failed. Miserably, that is. Ciso Morales, the youngster called ?Kid Terrible? started the ball rolling for the Filipinos. He stopped a game but outclassed Korean named Yoo Shin Kim. Morales rocked and bloodied the Korean so bad that the referee was forced to stop the fight on the fifth round. Morales? performance was simply superb. In fact, even Eric Gomez of the Golden Boy Promotions was visibly impressed. Morales with his massive victory today has indeed written his ticket for fights in the USA. Top photo: From left, Billy Keanne, Gerry Penalosa, Freddie Roach and Manny Pacquiao. 
Boom Boom Bautista. 
AJ Banal. 
Ciso Morales. 
Bert Batawang. 
Michael Domingo. AJ Banal, the most promising prospective champion from the ALA Gym in Cebu followed suit. The undefeated youngster from Ermita, Cebu added another victory to his belt and kept his undefeated status as is. Banal scored a technical knockout in the fourth round beating a fellow undefeated fighter from Montevideo, Uruguay, named Caril Herrera. Herrera was thought to be a big challenge for Banal with no less than famed matchmaker, Samson Lewkowicz, stating that Banal will be in for the fight of his life with Herrera. But that was not meant to be. In fact, the end came as a surprise to many at the Araneta who expected Herrera to put up a fairly decent fight. Rey Bautista came up next. He went up against a Mexican fighter, Genaro Camargo. It was a fairly good fight at the beginning with each fighter feeling each other out. What was obvious about Bautista in today?s very short fight was the fact that he matured since his loss to Daniel Ponce de Leon. Gone was the youngster who had no fear and just kept on coming and throwing punches with the intention of knocking his opponent out. Today he was patient. He was even methodical. The result of course was a quick win for the kid they call 'Boom Boom.' Bautista knocked down Camargo three times and the end came at the 57th second of the 2nd round with referee Bruce McTavish stopping the fight in favor of Bautista. Then it was the big main event. Gerry Penalosa versus Ratanachai Sor Vorapin of Thailand. Vorapin used to hold the title Penalosa now holds, the WBO Bantamweight title. He lost it to Jhonny Gonzales of Mexico, who in turn loss it to Gerry Penalosa via a one punch to the liver that paralyzed Gonzales for a moment preventing him from continuing his title defense against Penalosa. Penalosa holds a previous win over Vorapin. In today?s fight he proved to the mandatory challenger to his title that the previous win was no fluke. Penalosa in a classic display of defense par excellence and counter punching galore beat up Vorapin so bad as if a lawn mover run over the face of Vorapin. In spite of a head wound that happened through a head butt early in the eight round, Penalosa did not feel the urgent need to rush in and finish the fight. He was cunning. He was tactical, and he was at his best. Many thought that after he came off a self imposed retirement a few years ago Penalosa will no longer be the same hungry fighter. But today, on a hot day at Araneta when the lights came off early on the fight card, amidst a mixed reaction from the crowd, Penalosa was simply marvelous. Referee Gino Rodrigues of Puerto Rico stopped the fight at 2:31 of the 8th round to save Vorapin from further punishment. Today was simply a bad day for Vorapin. He run up against a fighter who himself said that he was focused on this fight because he had a bigger fight ahead. After his brilliant victory, Penalosa promptly called on Daniel Ponce de Leon for a re-match. After that, he wants the other two big names amongst the bantamweights, Rafa Marquez and even Israel Vasquez before he finally calls it a career. After the big main event, Bert Batawang took the stage. He was matched against a fiery dynamo from Indonesia, Henri Amol. It took the veteran Batawang seven long rounds to finally stop the little fire bug. Michael Domingo of the ALA Gym then placed the icing on the cake. Domingo took a mere two rounds to score a huge TKO over Themimint Sor Chitapattana of Thailand. Today?s fight card was held by the Golden Boy Promotions in cooperation with the ALA Gym in Cebu, ABS-CBN and the SGG Promotions. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.  |
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