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CONCEPCION LOOKING FORWARD TO A KNOCKOUT By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Sun, 14 Feb 2010  World rated featherweight Bernabe Concepcion is looking forward to a knockout win in his crucial showdown with Puerto Rico’s hard-hitting southpaw Mario Santiago when they open the pay-per-view telecast of the exciting “Pinoy Power III/Latin Fury 13” Top Rank fight card at the Pavilion of the Las Vegas Hilton on Sunday morning Manila Time. A Concepcion win will kickoff the Philippine telecast by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN on its pre-eminent Channel 2 at 10:30 a.m. in style and will hopefully set the stage for another successful showing on the international stage by Filipino fighters inspired by the achievements of the “Fighter of the Decade” and pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao. Three other Filipinos will battle three tough Latinos with undefeated Ciso “Kid Terrible” Morales taking on Mexico’s Fernando “Cochulito” Montiel for his WBO bantamweight title, former two division world champion Gerry Penalosa going up against another former world champion Eric Morel in a WBO bantamweight interim title fight and WBA super flyweight Interim champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire squaring off with last minute replacement Manuel “Chango” Vargas of Mexico in the main event. In an interview with Dyan Castillejo and this reporter who will serve as the broadcast team for the ABS-CBN telecast, Concepcion conceded that while Santiago is good “I am looking forward to a knockout victory.” The come-on for both Concepcion and Santiago is the promise of a world title fight against WBO champion Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez who raised the hands of both fighters after they made the 126 pound limit with no trouble. Concepcion said he had no problems in training, was in good condition and felt strong and was happy about his weight. Concepcion said the promise of a title shot at Juanma Lopez motivated him “to win impressively so I can move up and fight Lopez. I want to give a good fight so the fight with Lopez will push through.” The 22 year old fighter with a vicious right hand said he was not bothered by the fact that Santiago is a southpaw having fought then champion Steven Luevano and having sparred with southpaws while training in the Philippines prior to arriving at the Wild Card Gym where his training was handled by Restituto “Buboy” Fernandez. He revealed that together with his trainer they had studied the style of Santiago "so we know how to counter effectively and well." Fernandez told us that Concepion was in good condition since he reported early to the Wild Card Gym after training in the Philippines. The popular trainer said “I hope what we worked out in training will come out in the fight." Fernandez conceded that Santiago was “a tough opponent with considerable experience and he has fought for the world title but we Filipinos will not allow ourselves to be beaten.” Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz who handles Concepcion’s career in the US along with Pacquiao told Dennis Guillermo of Examiner.com “I just know that Bernabe is going to go in there and he’s gonna give it the best he can and we’ll see what happens. I feel confident he will win but how, I don’t make those predictions.” Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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