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Philippines, 17 Mar 2026 |
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THOUGHTS ON WEEKEND BOUTS: CONCEPCION, KONCZ, DONAIRE AND SONSONA By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Tue, 13 Jul 2010  The weekend fight cards here in the Philippines and in Puerto Rico have seen just about everybody jump in with their comments and opinions, which they are perfectly entitled to, while a couple have apparently used the Bernabe Concepcion 2nd round KO loss to Juan Manuel ?Juanma? Lopez as a vehicle to get back at Manny Pacquiao?s adviser Michael Koncz for whatever reasons, real or imagined. For the record when we spoke to the pound-for-pound king and ?Fighter of the Decade? ? now congressman Pacquiao on the eve of the Concepcion-Juanma Lopez fight, he told us on TV that he believed Concepcion had ?a big chance to win because he is stronger than Juanma Lopez." He added that "although Lopez is faster, because of his power Concepcion has a good chance of winning.? Like former North Cotabato governor and passionate boxing man Manny Pinol who gave Concepcion a puncher?s chance we ? and many others like us ? had to depend on the reports coming out of the Wild Card Gym where trainers Buboy Fernandez and Nonoy Neri prepared Concepcion and as reported by Dyan Castillejo on site, they all felt Concepcion was doing well in training and had a good chance. The fact that he dropped Lopez at the end of round one and the champion looked wobbly before the bell saved him indicates there was some justification for the belief in a puncher?s chance for Concepcion. Somehow it seems that Koncz with whom we have had our own differences is being pilloried for what happened while nobody dare takes Manny to task or even Buboy for what amounted to misplaced judgment and high hopes. Quite honestly, it seems that some extraneous issues with Koncz that have nothing to do with his being responsible for Concepcion?s matchmaking have provided fodder for those who, to put it bluntly, hate his guts. Here again, Pacquiao who hired him has publicly acknowledged his usefulness, his loyalty as well as his integrity and if he believes in Koncz who are we to question the decisions of Manny? He is with him 24/7 and Pacquiao pays the man. It seems to us that many of the leeches who bleed Pacquiao but can?t have it all their own way apparently with Koncz being the stumbling block to their designs and playing the bad cop role to the hilt, continue to fan the fire against him. Regrettably there are times when people who cannot get what they want such as entry into the inner circle or a role in a fighter?s corner even without the proper credentials, launch all-out attacks on an individual using their access to tolerant internet sites. Sad but true. Frankly, the mistake which is being blamed on Koncz which is quite possible considering his soured relations with Freddie Roach and conditioning expert Alex Ariza, is not having Concepcion and Sonsona handled by the best combination in boxing. We agree. For all his likeable ways and his closeness to Pacquiao, Buboy is nowhere in the same class although he has learned a lot from Roach. He is, unfortunately, very emotional and tends to panic in the corner which hurts the fighter. Beyond that, he is not in the same league as Freddie in working out a fight plan. It seemed to us while doing the TV coverage for ABS-CBN with Atty. Ed Tolentino that they were asking Concepcion to go-for-broke instead of sizing up Juanma Lopez before launching an attack. But, for anyone to crucify Concepcion, especially his countrymen, is utterly unfair and a cheap shot against a nice, young man. Concepcion is not a bum and those who use that term loosely would never ever have the courage to do what he tries to do and that is to bring honor and glory to our country. Remember, that if referee Jay Nady hadn't disqualified Concepcion for hitting Steven Luevano after the bell in their title fight, he would be the champion and Lopez the challenger. If he had won the title then would these individuals have referred to him as a bum? Obviously not. In the case of Eden Sonsona our valued friend and boxing man Moy Lainez and myself were against him moving up to fight at super bantamweight with a possible shot at Wilfredo Vazquez knowing that Eden is a legitimate bantamweight and moving up could be dangerous and we made our sentiments known even directly to Koncz.In the end, despite his being ahead against Jonathan Oquendo, the punching power of the bigger and stronger fighter as well as the referee?s obvious partiality towards the Puerto Rican by failing to call a clear knockdown and to tolerate a series of low blows when Oquendo should have been disqualified, took its toll on Sonsona. Sonsona, we felt, could have beaten the count and boxed his way to victory but apparently, as Lainez whose opinion we respect a great deal pointed out, Sonsona hadn?t the heart. As expected, although we were honestly concerned about how he would feel after having to struggle to make the 115 limit, Nonito ?The Filipino Flash? Donaire put on a masterful performance against the tough little Mexican Hernan ?Tyson? Marquez. Donaire is in a class by himself and it?s about time our good friend and astute promoter Bob Arum gets Donaire one of the big names such as Fernando Montiel or Jorge Arce or even Eric Morel so that Nonito could really demonstrate his remarkable skill against a truly worthy opponent. He was a saving grace on a bad day and a shining light of the future of Philippine boxing. As for Brian Viloria, it would be unfair to write him off merely because he beat journeyman Omar Soto by a split decision which , no matter how we looked at it, could never understand. Brian, on our unofficial scorecard won 96-94 or six rounds to four with the 10th round being his best. How anybody, least of all a judge could score the fight for Soto by a 97-93 margin is beyond comprehension as is the 97-93 margin of the judges who had Viloria the winner because it was closer than that. To have three judges watching the same fight come up with an eight-point swing tells us, something was wrong somewhere. Perhaps its time for the Games and Amusements Board to hold a really good seminar for judges and referees because two other decisions on the Viloria fight card were loudly booed because they were, to put it bluntly, bum decisions. It culminated with another Thai bum ? Wonpichit Twins Gym who didn?t look like a legitimate challenger at all -- getting knocked out in round one by Al Sabaupan. The Thai allegedly had 11 knockouts in 12 wins so Elmer Anuran, his supporters from Batangas and even the IBF officials believed Sabaupan is indeed a future world champion and the real deal. Before getting carried away they should check on the fight records of the boxers the Thai challenger supposedly beat, to realize he was a legitimate patsy. These are the things that are slowly killing the sport of boxing and it?s a crying shame because we have so much talent among our young fighters that they don?t deserve these kind of mismatches and dubious decisions. Viloria, we must understand, had to put away the psychological burden of the disastrous loss to Carlos Tamara and that isn?t easy at all for any fighter let alone someone who had to be rushed to hospital after he collapsed in his dressing room. That surely accounted for Brian?s cautious approach although he did look good in the first four or five rounds and looked his best in the tenth which was the concern of many who feared he would fade like he did against Tamara. But Brian didn?t and closed it out quite impressively considering what the young man had been through. Its too early to tell whether he can win a third world title which he wants and which we hope he can succeed in winning. But there is some ways to go, fights to be won and hurdles to be overcome but the least we can do is cheer him on not try to bring him down. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.  |
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