Boxing heats up

The first quarter of the year comes to a close in a few days, and if what has happened both on and off the ring is an indicator of things to come, it sure looks like another rosy year for Philippine boxing. We all know that it all starts with Manny Pacquiao. Even if he hasn’t fought yet, he’s very much in the headlines these days due to his upcoming match against Ricky Hatton on May 3 (Philippine time). More on the Pacman later as it’s also crucial to take note of the positive developments that the Pacman has helped either directly or indirectly.

Of our current world champions, Donnie Nietes was the first to defend his title successfully last month. Easily the least popular among the country’s world champs, the mild-mannered champ from Bacolod braved the odds of a hometown crowd to score a lopsided unanimous decision win over Erik Ramirez. With this latest win, we’re hoping that Nietes finally gets his due and gets equal billing with the other world champs who will also heat up the boxing scene in the second quarter of the year.

The week after Easter will see IBF flyweight champion Nonito Donaire defend his title for the third time against the undefeated Raul Martinez. Donaire is another boxer who’s aching to make it to the big time, but hasn’t been able to get the breaks needed to be widely recognized. The irony of it all is that Donaire victim Vic Darchinyan seems to be more popular than Donaire after landing the big fights against Dimitri Kirilov, Christian Mijares and Jorge Arce. How much luckier can he get? The Raging Bull’s loss to Donaire was actually a blessing in disguise as it opened up the doors for Darchinyan to get the big fights that Donaire has been aching to get. This is something that continues to puzzle us as it doesn’t seem to make any sense. How can someone like Darchinyan land the bigger fights, make more money and gain more mileage in the boxing media than Donaire? All one has to do is check out Donaire’s past two fights and compare these against those of Darchinyan. The most glaring stat is the absence of a big name tapped to challenge Donaire. On the other hand, Darchinyan stepped up in terms of competitive level after his draw with Z Gorres. The big question that I’d like to ask is why Donaire’s management hasn’t been able to move in the same direction.

Seeing action in the same card as Donaire is Fil-Am Brian Viloria, a former WBC light flyweight champ who incidentally faced off against Donaire when they were amateurs in the U.S. The past three years have been tough on Viloria especially after losing his championship after a short reign as world champ. The knock on Viloria is that he isn’t at a level where he stands out among his peers. He’s just like one of the regular guys in the 108-pound division who can’t overpower or outbox his opponents. We’ll see this more glaringly when he goes in as an underdog when he challenges Ulisses Solis for the latter’s WBC light flyweight belt. While Viloria is good, he hasn’t been able to elevate his game to a higher level that will see him wipe out the world-class opposition. This is why his fights against Edgar Sosa and Omar Nino were too close to call. He’s as equally talented as Sosa and Nino but couldn’t do anything extraordinary to score a win. On the other side, we all know that Solis can get hit, but he’s one tough hombre. He has held on to his crown by religiously improving himself and simply outboxing all his opponents.

Gerry Peñalosa will be in the spotlight also in April when he challenges Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez for the WBO super bantamweight championship. Currently the WBO’s bantamweight champ, many people see Gerry going into the fight as a heavy underdog, something that Gerry quickly laughs off. Everything seems to be going against Gerry. He’ll be going into hostile territory in Puerto Rico at a higher division where Juanma is expected to be much bigger. The latest news is that it looks like Gerry will no longer be the WBO bantamweight champ since this weekend’s fight of Fernando Montiel is already being announced as a title fight for the regular (and not interim) championship. Talk about a must-win situation.

And then there is the Pacman. His latest booboo over who should have the TV rights for his fights to be televised in the Philippines will eventually die down although the publicity generated will surely add to all the hype leading to the fight. But that’s what boxing is all about. Every conceivable newsworthy item that can be thrown at the media will see print and hit the airwaves simply because it’s the Pacman fighting. All this hype has been humming since the end of January when things were still uncertain until today, and it will even get bigger by the time May 3 rolls around.

Somewhere in between, Cebu Boxing’s ALA Promotions, SGG Promotions and Manny Piñol’s Braveheart Boxing will be busy promoting up and coming boxers who have the potential to follow in the footsteps of the Pacman.

Boxing’s first quarter has truly been one busy and active period, complete with both on and off the ring developments that keep us boxing fans excited for more. But that’s not it. We’re switching to high gear in the next quarter with even more action. Can’t wait to get it on.

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Time-out: The Milo BEST Basketball Clinic will be held March 30-April 4, 2009 at the Capitol Parish Gym. For more information, please contact 516-9036, 0918-939-4846 or 0923-342-8193. You can reach me at bleachertalk @yahoo.com. – THE FREEMAN