ALA Boys Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista and AJ “Bazooka” Banal will be arriving in Las Vegas on Sunday (Monday RP time) in preparation for their appearance in “The World Awaits” boxing card on May 5 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.
The two Filipino ring gladiators will be fighting separate opponents in the undercard of the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. WBC super-welterweight championship.
The Boholano Bautista is taking on the undefeated Sergio Medina of Argentina in a 12-round eliminator bout for the WBO super-bantamweight title, while Banal will meet Mexican knockout artist Jose Alberto Rosas for 10 rounds.
The two will join De La Hoya in his training camp at the Wilfredo Gomez gym in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico and train under the close watch of Freddie Roach and Cebuano trainer Edito Villamor.
Bautista is said to have formulated a fight plan that would take by surprise the Argentinian champion Medina, the WBO No.2 contender who is unbeaten in 28 fights and is packing a record of 16 knockout victories.
Bautista, the top contender, carries a 22-0, 17KOs record.
As for Banal, his handlers believe that Rosas will be the toughest test yet for the 18-year-old rising star.
Promoter Sammy Gello-ani said he believes the Mexican national champion, Rosas, who has a 25-2, 22KOs ring record, can bring out the best in Banal who will be making his US debut in this fight.
During the last part of their training in Puerto Rico, Banal and Bautista will get to spar against each other after their regular sparring partners backed off after taking beatings from the Filipino fighters.
Banal, who broke the nose of a Puerto Rican sparring partner, sparred with Australian Billy Dib and WBO minimum-weight champion Ivan Calderon. But this week, Banal and Bautista will get to test each other since nobody wants to spar with them anymore.
