Kidapawan City: Five days after losing a fight that he could have won had he listened to his corner, world featherweight contender Lorenzo ?Thunderbolt? Villanueva, his head bowed in regret and humility, came to me Thursday and sought forgiveness for the fatal mistake that cost him the world boxing championship.
Villanueva, 26, who went up the ring in Marina Bay Sands Singapore with a perfect record of 24 wins with 23 knockouts, caught Indonesian Daud Cino Yordan with a powerful left 30 seconds into the first round sending his opponent crumbling to the canvas like an empty sack.
?I got over-excited. I knew I hurt him and I kept telling myself ?one more solid hit and he will go down?,? Villanueva told me yesterday, his voice ringing with deep remorse.
As he pursued the dazed Indon fighter around the ring for the remaining two and a half minutes of the first round like a crazed bull. Ignoring the yells from his corner to set up his punches for the ?kill?, he threw about 50 wild punches more than half of which missed.
At the end of the round, Villanueva was gassed out while the veteran Yordan was able to recover as he moved around the ring.
Starting the second round with an almost empty oxygen tank, Villanueva was an easy target for the pinpoint punches of Yordan which, while not as powerful as the ones dished out by the Filipino, hit the button scoring two knockdowns, the second leading to the stoppage of the fight.
Last Thursday, in front of the other members of the small rural boxing club that I and my brothers established many years ago and financed with our personal funds, I had to bring back Lorenzo down to earth for him to realize that he is not invincible and that not all of his opponents would roll down the canvas and be counted out once he connects those hay-makers.
?Not even Manny Pacquiao ignores the instructions of his corner during the fight,? I told Lorenzo and the other boxers who gathered along with the three trainers for an assessment of our fighters and trainers? performances.
For the boxers, we all agreed that there is a need to improve on the head and lateral movements. Braveheart boxers are notorious for being stand up fighters who are willing to take a punch just to be able to hit the opponent.
For the trainers, everybody agreed that the skills level, even after their exposure to the training techniques of Cuba?s Honorato Espinosa, is still way below what is needed to win very important fights.
There was a consensus that the assistance of more experienced and technically skilled trainers like Freddie Roach is needed to win important fights in the future, especially the world championships.
Without the help of experienced trainers, the confidence level of the boxers is also affected during critical fights prompting them to go back to their old comfortable style of fighting when the going gets tough.
This was displayed by Villanueva who reverted to his wild swinging ways instead of implementing what was practiced in the gym in preparation for the fight against Yordan.
While Lorenzo takes most of the blame for the debacle for his failure to listen to the command of the corner during the fight, I could also take the blame for failing to get him the best coach who could have fine-tuned his awkward fighting style.
Well, actually I tried my best but I failed to get a US visa for Lorenzo which would have enabled him to train at the Wild Card Gym of Freddie Roach.
I am not giving up though. While I received a training offer from Australia?s Angelo Hyder for the Braveheart boxers to train in Australia, I am still more inclined to get Freddie to handle the boys, especially the younger ones which includes lightweights Roskie Cristobal, 17 and 5′ 10″ tall (3 wins, 3 KOs); 5′ 10″ Rugen Mamayog, 21 years old (2 wins, 2 KOs); 5′ 9″ Louie Yonting, 21 (4 wins, 2 KOs); and bantamweight Joemer Lumacad, 19 years old and 5′ 6″ tall (9 wins, 1 loss).
If the effort to get these boys to the US to train will fail, I will explore the possibility of getting a Mexican trainer to work with the boys in the Philippines.
In fact, I have already communicated with journalist James Blears in Mexico asking him to link me up with the legendary Mexican trainer Nacho Beristain hoping that I could send Lorenzo and at least two other fighters to Mexico to train under him.
Along with Lorenzo, I also apologize to those who expected so much from Villanueva and who were disappointed when he squandered what could have been a won fight because of inexperience.
We will learn from these mistakes but we will move on and continue chasing the dream of winning a world championship.
