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Philippines, 22 Feb 2026 |
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A THREE TO ONE SCORE FOR THE WEEKEND AIN”T THAT BAD By Ed de la Vega, DDS PhilBoxing.com Mon, 14 Sep 2009  Tonight, I watched two different fight cards from two different parts of the world via two PPV programs. To say the least, it was money well spent. But for a blue blooded USC Trojan , it was not that easy as the Trojans were on ESPN almost at the same time playing Ohio State. First, I ordered the Nietes-Vargas fight from Mexico and then the Mayol-Calderon from Puerto Rico. Needless to say, I wished they both fights turned out with the same results. The first fight from Mexico involved the likeable Z Gorres versus a wily veteran Cruz Carbajal. It was good while it lasted, particularly for Gorres believers like this writer who have waited for so long to see him pick it up again from where left dating back with his fight with Darchinyan at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu some 18 months ago. Coming back as a bantamweight, it appears that Gorres is well suited for his new weight division. He has not lost his touch, bobbing and weaving out of harm’s way. It was pure Z the way he moved, but better. At the risk of second guessing, I wished Top Rank picked a better opponent for Gorres. Not that I am complaining because Gorres scored a TKO, but I would have loved to see Gorres extended to the limit so that he can get a good feel of being in a higher weight division. With that, when he finally faces the named bantamweights that lurks around, he would be ready to come up with what it takes to beat them and finally bring home a world title. But as a friend who watched with me stated:- “Give him time, he looks good and appears to be well on the way back”. I can hardly wait to see the Z fight again. Hopefully, he gets another shot at the undercard of the Pacquiao-Cotto at Las Vegas in November. The Nietes-Vargas fight was a different story. From my perspective, it was so close that it could have gone either way or at the very least scored differently. I am happy for Team Nietes for the win, but with due respect I did not agree with the 118-110 score of one of the judges. I saw Nietes win the fight, but I know not by that much. Nietes appeared to be doing extremely well in the early part of the fight. But body shots mixed with low blows took the toll out of the ALA gladiator. What was amazing though was the fact that even with the very hard fight, he never lost his focus. Even when he was on the wrong end of the stick, he kept throwing back. He never wavered! That to me is the true mark of a champion. Nietes threw all he can but in a typical Mexican fashion, Vargas kept on coming for more, in many occasions landing his own bombs as well. As mentioned, it was those bombs, some of which went south of the border that visibly took a lot from Nietes. But true to the ALA discipline, he never responded with the same dirty tactics. He simply went along with his game plan. In the end, when his stamina seemed to dither, it was his patience, his determination and his focus that saved the day for him. The change of tactics for each round did not hurt either. Nothing feels better than defending your title in a foreign land and come out a winner. They say the feeling is priceless. For Nietes, it was well deserved as well. In so far as Rodel Mayol is concerned, I only wished lady luck was on his side, even just for once. For Mayol, the title was not really meant to be. He fought as aggressively as he promised and as trained. But given an opponent who would have been better competing against Lance Armstrong in cycling, Mayol can not do much. He lost a close one to Calderon. Again! Calderon proved true to his word. He said before the fight that he learned from the first time he fought Mayol so he is going back to his old winning ways:- to hit and not get hit. But in order to implement that, he must run. And run he did. But along the way he threw some punches that landed, frustrating Mayol as the fight went on. Had it not been for the nasty cut on Calderon that came as a result of a head butt, who is to say that Mayol could not have pulled it out? He was getting in more as the fight went on and was beginning to catch up with Calderon.. But it seems in Puerto Rico, they love the Lance Armstrong style of Calderon. Throw a couple of shots and go take your bike and run. And, it reflected on the way they scored the fight. Mayol lost, but there should be no heads bowed. He did as well as he could given the difficult circumstances. If the fight was not at Puerto Rico, could the results be different? Finally, up in San Jose, Ana Julaton, according to reports won a split decision against Kelsey Jeffries to win the IBA Super bantamweight title. Julaton was trained by Alvin Jugarap at the Kennel Boxing Club in San Leandro and was partially trained by Nonito Donaire, Sr With the title, Julaton is now the sole Filipino woman boxer with a world title. Indeed, an impressive feat. Two wins in Mexico, a new title from San Jose and a loss in Puerto Rico ain’t that bad for the week-end. But it could have been better. Top photo: WBO minifly champion Ival Calderon of Puerto Rico (R) tags Rodel Mayol of the Philippines during their rematch Saturday night in Puerto Rico. Photo by David Infante, BoricuaPhotos.com. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ed de la Vega, DDS.  |
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