ON THAT fateful night back in July 2008, when Cebuano boxing fans came home with heavy hearts after Rafael Concepcion knocked out the hometown fighter in a bout, the latter was winning on all the cards, little did we know that Concepcion was about to quit somewhere in the 6th round.
But ?El Torito? drew strength from the memory of his little baby who, at that time, was in the hospital and he soldiered on, winging brutal body shots to the rapidly fading AJ Banal.
He told himself he would return to Panama a world champion and make his family proud.
He gained some traction with that moment of inspiration and fought back, inch by inch, blow by blow and regained momentum.
His brutal body assault weakened Banal and by the 10th round, ?Bazooka? ran out of gunpowder and checked out.
FAST FORWARD. Five years later, Concepcion is back and will be taking on Banal?s stable mate Genesis Servania this Saturday at the Cebu City Waterfront Hotel.
That seminal win against Banal propelled Concepcion onto the world stage, and during the interim period he would go on to fight world champions like Nonito Donaire, Fernando Montiel and Jorge Arce.
In the press conference yesterday, he revealed a welcoming and soothing piece of information for ALA Gym: Banal hit him harder than all those world champions.
Of course, he could probably have been serving up some baloney too, in order to spice up his world title-clinching effort, but I think he made an interesting point coming into Saturday night?s fight.
With 8 knockouts in 20 wins, Servania apparently is not the puncher that Banal is, or was.
Concepcion has also vowed to stop Servania and proclaimed that he is even a better fighter than when he first made his first visit.
To liven things up, he came bearing gifts. Concepcion brought with him a pillow, as he promised to put ?Azukal? to sleep.
Concepcion doesn?t keep many secrets from his opponents. They know where to find him and he brings it to you all the time.
The key for Servania will be to maintain his composure and let his hands go. The feral Concepcion will no doubt be coming in to exert suffocating and unrelenting pressure but his defense is porous and Servania should be able to catch him coming in.
The question is: Can Servania outlast ?El Torito?? Can?t wait to find out on Saturday. See you there Last Rounders.
CASIMERO. We?ve got a stacked and significant Saturday for Philippine boxing. Aside from the aforementioned duke-out, Johnreil Casimero will also defend his IBF lightweight crown at the Makati Coliseum- his first chance to do so before his countrymen.
If you recall, he won that belt when he stopped Luis Alberto Lazarte in an emotional 10th round TKO that proved too much to bear for the Argentineans at ringside, some of them stormed the ring and attacked Casimero and his team.
Casimero then defended his crown two more times, once in Sinaloa Mexico against Pedro Gueverra where he won via split decision, and in his latest defense, he traveled all the way to Panama City where he repulsed the challenge of Luis Alberto Rios via unanimous decision.
This Saturday, Casimero will be facing Mexican Felipe Salguerro who sports an impressive record of 18-4, with 13 KOs.
Salguerro lost to ALA Gym?s Donnie Nietes last year but it was a very close fight where Salguerro came on strong in the second half, but was also rocked by ?Ahas? in the championship rounds.
The heavy-handed Salguero comes forward behind a jab and likes to throw left and right hooks when in range. He?s your typical Mexican banger who likes to trade shots and apply pressure.
Speed will be the decisive factor here as he doesn?t have Casimero?s fast hands plus the latter is infinitely a smoother boxer with better technical skills. As long as our ?Quadro Alas? doesn?t get goaded into a slugfest, he should take this one via unanimous decision.
LAST ROUND. It?s on Panama?s boxing leviathan Carlos Costa who is in town for the fight. Good luck for the fight on Saturday, mi hermano. Cheers!
