Need to rough it up

After talking about how boxing is turning quiet with minimal activities toward the end of the year, the only thing left worth talking about is Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista’s fight against veteran Heriberto Ruiz today. We also have the sudden cancellation of Michael Domingo’s fight due to Hepa B and Sammy Gello-ani’s second run of “Daytime Boxing” next Sunday. But for now, Boom Boom is on the spot.

So what’s up for Boom Boom? If you’ve been reading the boxing news of late, you can’t help but notice how Bautista is very slowly being re-packaged and re-developed in his second attempt back at the spotlight after a humiliating first round KO loss to Daniel Ponce de Leon for the WBO super bantamweight championship. The big question that everyone is asking is whether or not Boom Boom is still capable of winning a world championship. I’ll use the word “still” as many doubts have been thrown at Boom Boom’s chances of following Manny Pacquiao’s footsteps. And this is something we’ll all need to analyze very deeply.

For starters, one has to look for benchmarks at the current scene of the super bantamweight division. Acknowledged as the best in this division for 122-pounders is Israel Vasquez who had a huge trilogy against Rafael Marquez. Very close behind him is Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez who took Ponce de Leon out in a one round demolition job. Then there’s Steve Molitor who’s also a holder of a title belt but isn’t “recognized” to be at par with Vasquez and Juanma. Somewhere in the mix, Ponce de Leon is also on deck even if many doubt if he can ever recover from his devastating loss to Juanma. Ironically, he now finds himself in the same situation as Boom Boom.

And this brings us back to where he belongs or ranks in the division. By simple logic, if Juanma crushed de Leon in one round and de Leon KO’d Boom Boom also in one round, we can’t expect Boom Boom to be at the same level as Juanma. And you might as well add Vasquez to this list. This is why bringing Boom Boom back to a realistic world championship level is going to be one steep climb to the top. Don’t get me wrong. I’d love to see Bautista win a world championship, but we need to be realistic with evaluating how far or near he is to such a level. I hate to say this, but he’s nowhere near Juanma and Vasquez at this point of his career. His last three wins were not exactly the kind of wins that will prove his stuff as a world-caliber boxer and I’m not sure if today’s fight will be just a replay of his past three fights. Sure, he’ll need what boxing people call as “confidence building” fights in order to prepare his self-esteem as faces tougher opponents. But he’ll also need top-notch opponents to see how far he has progressed since the loss to de Leon.

Going to the tough way is the only way to go. If you’ll look at the recent fights of the world’s elite, they stayed at the top by fighting the best in their division. Case in point in Vic Darchinyan, someone with whom may can relate. Like him or not, even since his draw against Z Gorres here in Cebu , the “Raging Bull” shot up straight to the top with KO wins over Dimitri Kirilov and Christian Mijares. He didn’t go down to fight easy opponents after his trip here to Cebu . He went for the top with nothing lesser in mind. He now wants a fight with Jorge Arce and even Gerry Penalosa. Gary Darchinyan’s promoter Gary Shaw has even mentioned a fight with Oscar de la Hoya. I believe in always thinking big when going for the top, and Darchinyan is on the right track.

I’m afraid I can’t say the same for Bautista who I feel is being lined up with too many easy fights that will look good in the short term, but will be detrimental for his career in the long run. If he’s truly destined for the big time, then he might as well be fed with big time foes. If he isn’t, then I guess it’s a different story. Boxers make a lot of progress when made to face opponents who give them a “real fight.” The toughest opponents bring out the best in any boxer especially when he’s made to dig deep down to look for all his tools, strategies and arsenal. Easy opponents don’t and won’t ever do this since there’s no need to do a lot in defeating them.

So what will it be for Boom Boom? Another easy fight? I think it’s time to separate the men from the boys, don’t you?

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