Ana begins trek back to top

MANILA, Philippines – Former two-time WBO female superbantamweight champion Ana Julaton returns to the ring on May 4 in a risky fight that could make or break her quest to regain her throne in the 122-pound division.

Julaton, 31, takes on dangerous Yolanda (La Negra) Segura in Kanasin, Yucatan, Mexico, to resume her journey back to the top. Canadian promoter Allan Tremblay of Orion Sports Management said he will line up another opponent for Julaton after the Segura bout and if she holds up, a title fight will be her reward late this year, possibly in the Philippines.

“We have an ambitious plan for Ana to regain the world title and this is the first step in that plan,” said Tremblay. “Segura is no walk in the park. That girl can punch and we have to focus completely on her for now. However, if we are successful, we will have Ana back in the ring in late summer, hopefully followed by that title fight late in 2012. Ideally, we would like that contest to take place in the Philippines. Ana is long overdue to make her first appearance at home and bask in the reception that it would provide.”

Last March, Julaton lost the WBO crown on her second reign to Yesica Marcos via a unanimous 10-round decision in Argentina. Although the Hurricane floored Marcos in the second round, she failed to sustain the fury. It didn’t help that referee Roberto Ramirez, Sr. appeared to stymie her attack by hastily docking a point for a low blow in the fifth round even as the infraction was inconsequential and came after only one warning. The judges’ scorecards didn’t reflect the competitiveness of the fight as Cesar Ramos and Ignacio Robles saw it 98-92 and Jose Roberto Torres 98-91. It was not surprising that the referee and judges were all Hispanic like Marcos. Ramos, Torres and Ramirez are from Puerto Rico and Robles from Panama.

Julaton, however, made no excuses and promised to come back strong. “That was not me in the ring last time out,” the Fil-Am said. “That environment worked against me in more ways than one and to top it off, I fought my opponent’s fight. We all learn as we go and that will not happen again. I plan to fight to my strengths. This is all about winning. I owe my Filipino fans around the world that title back and that is my mission.”

The Yucatan isn’t unfamiliar territory for Julaton. Last September, she beat Jessica Villafranca on points in Kanasin. Tremblay has staged co-promotions in the Yucatan for years. “Ana’s right at home in the Yucatan,” said Tremblay allaying fears of a hometown robbery since Segura is Mexican. “She brings not only local support in the Yucatan but literally millions of followers back in the Philippines where she continues to deliver exceptionally impressive TV numbers every time out. In the middle of a multi-fight deal with the GMA network, Ana looks to deliver in that category again.”

Julaton’s trainer Angelo Reyes said the defeat to Marcos was a bitter lesson but didn’t mince words in lashing out at Ramirez for coddling the Argentinian challenger. “Ana was never hurt in the fight,” said Reyes. “Ana told me that when she knocked down Marcos, she wanted to press the body and set her feet to land vicious blows. I think the crowd roaring when Marcos was throwing her pitty-pat style punches, which Ana blocked, made it seem that she had stopped Ana’s momentum but in truth, Ana was just setting her feet to continue to put punishing blows to the body. The point deduction was the turning point of the fight but if you re-watch it and actually document how many times Ana was punishing her to the body, you will see the fight the same way we did and had the referee just allowed the flow of the fight, Ana would have had Marcos quitting or getting knocked out.”

Reyes said there’s no doubt in his mind that if Ramirez didn’t interfere, Julaton would’ve halted Marcos.

 “Our gameplan from the beginning was to wear Marcos down,” he disclosed. “We knew that the cards were stacked against us and we would not get the best decision as you saw from the lopsided scoring. We were on our way to knocking Marcos out and had the referee not stopped the flow of the fight constantly against Ana, Marcos would have been down again. We believed going into this that a knockout was our best chance of winning. Ana loves to fight, that is how she is, which is one of the reasons why people love to watch her fight. She will not just run around and waste rounds to preserve a win. She comes to fight every time.”

Fighting in Argentina was a huge handicap but Julaton showed that as a champion, she was willing to go anywhere, even fighting in her opponent’s backyard, to prove herself.