Manny Pacquiao? adopted town mate Richie Meprnaum gets another chance to hit pay dirt as he is penciled to fight in the undercard of the Pacquiao-Margarito super welterweight championship.
For Richie, this will be a new lease for his fledgling boxing career.
In June this year, Richie failed in his first bid to capture a world title. He lost by technical knockout in the fifth round in Mexico against local boy Julio Cesar Miranda.
Richie was a shadow of his foxy self in that fight. He lost steam right after the first round and was never into the bout. Richie took the fight in barely three weeks notice. He was not able to log as many sparring sessions that are a must for one vying for a title. Video tape of his first convincing loss showed Richie was very slow and was already catching his breath after the first round. He obviously lacked preparation.
One of the most underrated boxers in the country today, Richie is a fine and polished boxer. He is not a power punching flyweight but he never backs out from a slugfest.
The 23-year old boxer from Maasim, Sarangani took Las Vegas by surprise when he fancifully won his debut fight in the US in 2008 as an under card in the De la Hoya-Pacquiao megafight. Although Richie?s fight was not shown on television, it immediately preceded the main event of the evening giving him a good exposure to live boxing fans.
He would fight twice more ? one in another preliminary fight in the Pacquiao-Cotto fight and a day before Pacquiao fought Joshua Clottey ? winning all of them by decisions.
Then that sorry loss against Miranda.
Richie will go up against Anthony Villareal who once lost to Milan Melindo.
For Richie, it will be his comeback fight after that stinging loss. Richie cannot afford to drop this one again. Otherwise he will lose whatever chance he has for a second title fight.
Richie was seen hitting the road with Pacquiao in Baguio last week. Mepranum, who has the tendency to fade in the later rounds, needs to build up his stamina for him to stay in the thick of the fight as he is not a noted one-punch knockout artist.
He should step up against Villareal and prove that he can keep the promise as the next big thing for boxing in Sarangani.
