Z “The Dream” Gorres Wins Big

Z “The Dream” Gorres of the Philippines scored what may well be a defining victory in his young ring career when he hammered former World Boxing Federation champion Sairung Suwanasil over ten rounds to win a lopsided decision before a large crowd at the Manduae Sports and Cultural Center late Saturday.

The win earned Gorres a ticket to Los Angeles where he will train under American ace Freddie Roach at the famed Wild Card Gym. Gorres’ manager, WBC founding secretary general Rudy Salud had promised to send the flashy southpaw to hone his skills under Roach and to have one or two fights in the US provided he won and in the process showed he had the talent to become a future world champion. Despite hurting his right hand in the second round after he caught Suwanasil on the head with a hard right, Gorres was in complete control of the fight and didn’t appear to be bothered by the showboating tactics of the Thai slugger who was extremely durable and caught Gorres with a couple of solid punches of hisown.

Gorres who is rated No. 1 super flyweight by the Orient Pacific Boxing Federation won on the scorecards of all three judges, Edwin Barrientos had Gorres by a shutout 100-92 while Nonoy Contrias and Ben Necessario had Gorres the winner 99-91. With the victory Gorres improved his record to 18-1-1 with 9 knockouts while Suwanasil who is ranked No. 8 by the World Boxing Organization lost his first fight in six years and dropped to 31-5 with 20 KO’s.

Among the special guests at ringside who were there to assess the performance of Gorres was respected South Korean businessman-sportsman Kusung Lee, manager of WBC featherweight champion Injin Chi and another Korean boxing man and businessman Chi Soon Park who both agreed that Gorres had a lot of potential but needed to be “more aggressive and throw more combinations.” Salud himself noted that his protégé who is managed in partnership with respected Cebu boxing patron Tony Aldeguer was “a little rusty because he had only fought four rounds in the last seven months and it affected his timing.” Salud also said he had to throw “more combinations and not back off once he hurts his opponent” which is what Gorres did a couple of times against Suwanasil.

Aldeguer who has discovered and developed a number of excellent fighters at his beautiful ALA Gym which is regarded as the best in Asia at the very least, said Gorres “needs to develop a killer instinct if he is to go far.”

Gorres set the tempo of the fight and caught Suwanasil with right straights and crosses and occasionally nailed the tough Thai with solid uppercuts but didn’t press the attack after he hurt his hand which was sore. Gorres was in command of the fight until round seven when the Thai fighter decided to slug it out and caught Gorres with a couple of solid punches. But Gorres quickly weathered the attack and came back strong all the way to the end of the fight.

Gorres leaves for Los Angeles on Wednesday with featherweight "People's Champion" Manny Pacquiao and his younger brother and Philippine super featherweight champion Bobby Pacquiao. Pacquiao's business manager Rod Nazario is hoping to finalize details of a Pacquiao fight sometime in November as well as work out fight plans for Bobby Pacquiao and Gorres.