Interim or regular, a championship is a championship.
The other day when the World Boxing Association released a resolution declaring tomorrow?s fight in Cebu between AJ Banal and Rafael Concepcion of Panama as a fight for the ??interim” WBA super-flyweight crown, not a few were shocked and disappointed.
All the while it was thought that the knock-out artist from Bohol and Cebu would finally be going for a world championship belt.
Apparently, the influential Japanese promoter Akihiko Honda suddenly decided to promote a fight between the top contenders, who incidentally ? are both Japanese ? on September 15.
Initially, it was thought that since there was no word on a fight involving the top contenders, the fight between Banal and Concepcion was to fill in the vacancy in the WBA 115 lb. division. Banal is ranked #4, Concepcion #7.
ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer, who characteristically exudes a cool demeanor, was still unruffled when I sought a reaction by long distance yesterday.
“Of course we were caught unawares because we prepared long and hard for a championship. But there?s really nothing we can do about it. Anyway, the path to glory for AJ is still there. He only has to make sure he doesn?t get side-tracked,” said the youngish manager/promoter.
Per the WBA resolution, everything else smacks of a championship except that whoever wins, will have to defer to the winner of the September match promoted by Honda?s Teiken Promotions.
However, he will get first dibs on that champion?s crown in December. It?s a more circuitous path, but it leads to the same thing.
Happily, this late development has not diminished the enthusiasm of boxing fans that have become enamored by the clinical and impressive manner in which Banal has stopped his previous opponents (14 KO?s in 17 wins, no losses).
Ticket sales for the fight are reportedly going briskly and the Cebu City police have already designed a traffic re-routing scheme in anticipation of a gridlock around the New Cebu Coliseum.
Banal, who moved to Cebu at a tender age from his Corella, Bohol hometown, has gathered a strong following in the Visayas and Mindanao for his power and spunk.
He started his professional boxing career only three years ago and yet his name has become familiar with anyone who claims even a moderate interest in Philippine boxing.
I was fortunate to see him in only his 6th pro fight in Cebu in early 2006 when he fought a foreigner for the first time.
No first time jitters there for “Bazooka,” as he bamboozled his hapless Thai foe right in the first round. I think Hermie Rivera had to remind me to close my mouth as I sat mesmerized at the precision by which AJ destroyed his opponent. A vicious left hook to the body that left the latter in a heap on the canvass did the trick. It took sometime before they could bring the hurting boxer out in a stretcher.
I recall there were Golden Boy Promotions people at ringside that night, and they were immediately all over Tony Aldeguer, asking him to give their firm the promotional rights to Banal.
Aldeguer coyly asked them to pipe down as the boy was raw and that he was barely 17 at the time. De La Hoya?s people were persistent and would not be appeased until Aldeguer gave them his word they would get first promotional crack at AJ if and when he fights in the States.
Fourteen months later, AJ Banal debuted at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He had not even fought in Manila at the time. Last year he also fashioned a 3rd round TKO in Sacramento, California.
Things have moved fast for AJ Banal, but if you compare his style now to his earlier fights, you will notice that there has been a subtle but marked change. The power in both his hands remains lethal, but his game has matured in such a short period of time.
-We have always held that comparisons are tenuous and most times unfair, but the excitement and anticipation I feel every time there is a Banal fight brings me back to the days when Manny Pacquiao was making his way up from the days when I used to cover him from the old “Blow by Blow” days.
-As the Aldeguers ? father and son ? consistently argue, there can only be one Manny Pacquiao and to compare an aspiring pugilist to him may not only be presumptuous but downright blasphemous.
-I hasten to clarify that what I refer to is the giddy feeling of excitement and anticipation both fighters elicit whenever they fight.
-And it?s a good feeling.
