DONAIRE-MONTIEL TITLE FIGHT MAY END UP ON CHAVEZ-COTTO CARD
By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Tue, 03 Aug 2010
Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire’s wish to get a crack at WBC/WBO bantamweight champion Fernando “Cochilito” Montiel may be fulfilled based on Top Rank promoter Bob Arum’s plans.
Arum told us that he is “figuring where to put it and one of the possibilities is the Julio Cesar Chavez-Miguel Cotto fight, to make that (Donaire-Montiel) a co-feature on the card. Arum said the fight date is December 4 and it would “probably be in Las Vegas.” Donaire who has been chasing the big names in boxing has made it clear he would no longer fight as a super flyweight because of his having to struggle to make the weight and said he wants to move up to bantamweight or even super bantamweight to win a second world title. Donaire is the current WBA super flyweight interim champion and has indicated if he can’t get a title shot at Montiel he would be willing to move up to super bantam to challenge WBO champion Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. Meantime American trainer Rick Stehely who steered Manny Pacquiao to his first world title – the WBC flyweight championship which Pacquiao won by a stunning eighth round knockout over Thai hero Chatchai Sasakul in December 1998, believes Donaire can follow Pacquiao’s footsteps and win “maybe five or six world titles” in different weight divisions. Stehely had predicted before Pacquiao won the flyweight title that he would keep growing and win four world titles but he noted he won seven and maybe can win an eighth. The trainer was totally impressed with Donaire telling us “I think he is absolutely sensational. This guy’s got skills beyond skills. I mean he’s really, really good.” Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
TeamPilipinas.info: Jundel Mazon wins 2010 Guinness World Series of Pool title with amazing comeback
By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Sun, 01 Aug 2010
Jundel Mazon, one of the lesser lights in the star-studded Philippine pool line-up emerged as the newest sensation from the country which is regarded as the epicenter of pool by winning the first ever 2010 Guinness World Series of Pool 10-Ball Championships at Mal Taman Anggrek in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
Mazon who scored a come-from-behind victory over fancied Darren Appleton of Britain in the semi finals did one better in the finals against hometown favorite Irsal Nasution who, cheered on by a capacity crowd, raced to a 5-1 lead in the race to ten and looked set to carve his name in the record books. But Mazon, who is in his mid-thirties, had other ideas and playing aggressively and banking on his exquisite safety shots began to put the pressure on the comparatively experienced Nasution. Nasution took early control of the match capitalizing on a missed bank shot on the green 6 ball from Mazon to go ahead in the 3rd rack 2-1 before the Indonesian giant-killer who looked sharper and calmer stepped up his game en route to rattle off four racks in a row for what appeared to the hometown fans as an overwhelming 5-1 advantage. At that point nobody really gave Mazon a chance but like he proved in the semifinals the unheralded Filipino proved his ability at playing under pressure and slowly but surely clawed back into the match while Nasution, short on experience in fierce international competition saw his game suddenly fall apart. The Indonesian’s solid, aggressive play in the early stages of the match was replaced by uncharacteristically weak safeties and poor pocketing. While Nasution’s game unraveled, Mazon in contrast picked up his rhythm and string together an amazing run of eight straight racks to overtake Nasution en route to a classic 10-5 triumph to pocket the top prize of US $40,000 while the hometown boy Nasution earned $10,000. In a post match interview Mazon said “I could not have hoped for a better result. For sure, it was a difficult uphill battle but I was able to regain my composure in the middle stages of the match. From there, I was on a roll and it was then that I knew I had a chance. So I just kept on pushing until the very end. After this extremely grueling competition, I plan on going home, probably relax for a month or two before going overseas again to compete in the 2010 US Open championship.” The two relatively unknown players surprised everyone with their incredible play all throughout the four day tournament organized by ESPN STAR Sports. The Filipino defeated a number of pool heavyweights such as England’s Darren Appleton, 8 – 6 in the semifinals and Japan’s top-seed Naoyuki Oi, 8 – 6 in the quarters to barge into the final round. Not to be outdone, Nasution, also took down a number of top cue masters on his road to the finals with victories versus 2004 WPA World 9 ball Champion Alex Pagulayan, 8 – 4, former double world Champion Ronato Alcano, 8 – 5, and 2007 Guinness 9ball Tour Grand Champion Chang-Jung Lin to book his finals encounter with the Filipino. Pool patrons Aristeo “Putch” Puyat and Perry Mariano both expressed their joy that despite the loss of the big name stars such as Alcano, Orcollo and Pagulayan among others a lesser known Filipino came through to reinforce the Philippines claim as the dominant force in world pool. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
SYLVESTER LOPEZ RETAINS WBC INT’L TITLE IN TERRIFIC FIGHT CARD
By Ronnie Nathanielsz PhilBoxing.com Sun, 01 Aug 2010
The brightest prospect of promoter Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde, WBC International super flyweight champion Sylvester Lopez retained his title with a smashing 2nd round TKO over tough Wandee Singwancha of Thailand in a terrific, action-packed triple title championship card at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City on Saturday.
Wandee, the former WBC interim light flyweight champion appeared to be getting the better of the exchanges in the opening round with some solid body shots before Lopez dropped the Thai challenger with a cracking counter-left hook seconds before the bell sounded. Sensing he had Wandee in trouble Lopez caught the Thai with another perfect combination to drop him again in round two even as Wandee tried to retaliate by throwing a couple of blows to the body but a perfect right by Lopez dropped the game Thai for the second time and American referee Gene Del Bianco had no hesitation in calling a halt at 2:10 of the second round as Wandee was in no position to continue. In a post-fight interview with Dennis Principe and Rey Danseco of the TV panel that covered the fights to be telecast on Monday at 3:00 p.m. over Solar Sports, Lopez said that at the beginning he studied his opponent and when he dropped his hands he caught him. At the same time Lopez conceded that Wandee was “strong but even when he connected with body shots I didn’t think about his power but how I could hit him.” The champion said he didn’t rush after Wandee in the second round but “waited for the right time to catch him and end the fight.” Although there were reports that Lopez had a little difficulty in making the 115 pound limit he said “I trained well and I was in great condition so making the weight wasn’t really a problem.” With the impressive win Lopez improved to 14-2-1 with 10 knockouts while Wandee dropped to 63-12-1 with 15 knockouts. Lopez who won the title with an 8th round TKO over Korean champion Jong Nam Park on April 5, 2009 successfully defended the title also at the Ynares Sports Arena with 5th round TKO over Japan’s Katsumi Makiyama on November 28, 2009. Wandee who lost in almost identical fashion to Marvin Sonsona on May 28, 2009 but since then won six fights in a row, the last three by TKO. In another cracking fight Ryan Bito won the WBC International flyweight championship with a 10th round TKO over another tough and rugged Thai Sooksan Caichan Saenmuangloie in an absolute war which was close all the way up to the end. Under the open scoring system two of the three judges had Bito ahead 37 while the third judge had it tied at the end of the fourth round. Bito resorted to throwing punches in flurries both to the body and the head but Sooksan absorbed every punch that landed but continued to push forward continuously working to the body and occasionally catching Bito with shots that jarred his head back. In a see saw battle after eight rounds one judge had Bito in front 77-75 while the two other judges had it even ay 76-76 reflecting the closeness of a fight that thrilled fight fans, including former world bantamweight title challenger, Commonwealth champion and Australian champion for a record 18 years Paul Ferreri who once beat Rolando Navarette in a ten round bout in Cebu and top Australian promoter and award winning TV boxing host Peter Maniatis. Bito who stole some rounds by his flurries in the final seconds suddenly exploded in the tenth round and caught Sooksan with a series of vicious punches to the body and head sending the Thai reeling back across the ring and as Bito went after him with a flurry of at least 12 unanswered punches to the head, the Thai looked helpless and referee Gene Del Bianco very correctly called a halt to prevent the Thai from getting unnecessarily hurt. However, in contrast, referee Virgilio Garcia delayed in calling a halt in the preceding title fight in which WBC International light flyweight champion Jonathan Tachuning wore down Warlito Parrenas with a relentless body attack and dropped him with a devastating combination in the seventh round and although Parrenas beat the count it was obvious he was in no position to continue and was unable to even comprehend the instructions of Garcia who inexplicably let the fight continue only to see Tachuning batter the hapless Parrenas for a few more seconds before deciding to stop the bout at 1:59 of the seventh round. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
