ANOTHER young boxer?s career has ended after a life-threatening head injury.
At 23 years old, Larry ?Bon Jovi? Canillas?s dream of making it big in boxing has been shattered, cutting short his up-and-coming career, following a scary injury that required surgery.
Most mishaps happen during a fight but Canillas?s injury occurred in his training camp at the ALA Gym. After a routine sparring session, Canillas felt wobbly on his way to the showers and fainted. He was immediately rushed to the Cebu Doctors? Hospital last Feb. 22.
?Yes same as Z?s (Gorres) but not as severe. It was after sparring that he felt pain and fainted. He had to be operated on but thank God everything went well,? ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer told Sun.Star Cebu.
Just last month, a Filipino fighter, Karlo Maquinto, suffered a similar head injury and died after his fight. Canillas?s fellow ALA Gym fighter Z Gorres also suffered the same life-threatening head injury after a bout in 2009 but luckily survived and is recovering well.
?He can?t fight again,? said Aldeguer. ?(We will give the) same as the support we have given to Z Gorres. In case he wants to be a trainer or work in any of our companies, they will always be given a priority like most of our retired fighters.?
ALA Promotions has doled out more than P100,000 for Canillas? hospital expenses but the young boxer still has a balance of more than P300,000.
Canillas was one of the most passionate fighters from the ALA Gym. What he lacked in talent he made up for with his determination and his huge heart.
?Definitely it would make him depressed but what is important is that he is now on the road to recovery and can spend more time with his family. He also knows that we will be there to support him as we always have done with all our retired fighters,? said the Cebuano promoter.
Canillas, 17-4 with 14 knockouts, was one of the promising young fighters at the ALA Gym. Although he started out with virtually no basics in boxing, ALA Promotions saw something in Canillas and gave him a shot with the reality boxing series ?Idol? in 2007.
Canillas brawled his way to a unanimous decision over Rexon Borga in the first round of the ?Idol? series, his first fight as a pro. However, he was eliminated from the tournament in his next fight after being stopped in the third round by Alde de Zosa, who would go on to win the super featherweight championship of the reality series.
Canillas won his next seven fights then suffered a stumbling block after losing to Reman Salim via an eighth round technical knockout in 2009. He would ride another seven-fight winning streak before a unanimous decision defeat to veteran Ramie Laput in 2010.
Canillas would have his biggest career break last year, challenging for the Pan Asian Boxing Association super bantamweight belt against then unbeaten Thai Sukkasem Kietyongyuth in Thailand. The brawler from Toledo City was impressive and stopped Kietyongyuth in the ninth round.
Later that year, Canillas would then win a technical decision over veteran gatekeeper Jaime Barcelona before losing by unanimous decision, on what would be his last fight, to Japanese Yuta Uetani.
