Beware of Fuentes’ body attack

MANILA, Philippines - It’s no secret that WBO minimumweight king Moises Fuentes will launch a furious assault on the body in trying to sap defending WBO lightflyweight titleholder Donnie Nietes’ energy before going for the kill in their 12-round battle of champions at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu City this Saturday. 

Fuentes, 27, is a known body puncher who subscribes to the Joe Frazier adage “kill the body and the head will die.” He’ll use a 4 1/2 inch advantage in height to look down on Nietes and dig hooks to the side of the body. How Nietes will negate Fuentes’ body attack could determine his fate in making the second defense of the 108-pound crown he wrested from another Mexican, Ramon Garcia, in October 2011. Nietes has so far repulsed seven Mexican opponents, including three challengers in Mexico during his reign as WBO minimumweight champion.

Fuentes said Nietes’ weakness is stamina, insinuating that a sustained body attack will eat up the gas in his tank. “Nietes starts strong and is dangerous in the first few rounds but he fades in the late rounds and slows down,” said Fuentes during an interview in Las Vegas last December. “Nietes is a very smart fighter. I’m not afraid to fight him in the Philippines. I respect all Filipino fighters, they’re the best next to Mexican fighters.”

Last October, Fuentes invaded Puerto Rico to pulverize the legendary hometowner Ivan Calderon at 1:22 of the fifth round. Ignoring the hostile crowd, Fuentes went about his business like a blue-collar worker, pounding Calderon’s midsection until the roof caved in. At first, Calderon ran rings around Fuentes, countering with a sharp left, but he quickly gassed out. With a minute left in the fourth round, Fuentes drove Calderon to the ropes and unleashed a series of vicious body shots. Calderon survived but in the fifth, went down thrice, grimacing from the heavy punishment on his ribs. The most brutal punch was a right cross to the midsection that produced the second knockdown. Referee Luis Pabon stopped the carnage with the 37-year-old Calderon unable to withstand the torment. Writer Kenneth Sam-Bouhairie said Calderon was “a sitting duck for Fuentes’ body blows.”

Fuentes was unforgiving in putting pressure on Calderon from the onset. His plan was to tire out Calderon with a body attack and it worked. Calderon tried to fend off Fuentes with a jab to set up his overhand left but the Mexican just walked through the Puerto Rican’s offense. “It was a matter of time until Fuentes’ relentless pressure and superior size caught up with one of the best defensive fighters of this era,” wrote The Ring Magazine.

Mexican ring legend Marco Antonio Barrera will be at ringside for the Waterfront bout while his brother Jorge will be in Fuentes’ corner with trainers Aaron Dominguez and Genaro Segura. Jorge is Fuentes’ registered manager.

The Barrera brothers learned how to box from their uncle Arturo Luis Miguel Lucas. Marco Antonio said Jorge was a better amateur fighter than him. “Jorge won a lot of titles, the Golden Gloves and some other big tournaments so people really didn’t pay any attention to me,” said Marco Antonio in an interview by Brent Matteo Alderson. “I was always in the background. It really wasn’t until I turned pro that I realized that I had talent because for some reason, my style was better suited for the professional ranks.”

Jorge, 40, turned pro in 1989 and compiled a 20-10-1 record, with 8 KOs. He returned to the ring in 2010 after a 12-year hiatus only to be knocked out by Gilberto Sanchez in the second round. Marco Antonio and Jorge aren’t just brothers, they’re partners in the boxing business.

Hall-of-Fame trainer Freddie Roach said “body punching is a lot art” in Mike Silver’s book “The Arc of Boxing.” “I think that’s the biggest thing missing in boxing – knowing how to break a guy down with a body attack,” said Roach. “These fighters back in the 1940s and ‘50s, they’d work the body and by the eighth, ninth or 10th round, these guys’ legs would be gone. Body shots take a lot out of you, unlike headshots, which you can recover from during the course of a fight. Headshots may put you on queer street a little bit – body punches kind of stay with you the entire night. They take their toll.” Nietes should heed Roach’s warning because Fuentes is out to destroy his body on Saturday.