By Chris Robinson

According to trainer Vincent Parra, in a few days’ time his lightweight charge Mercito ‘No Mercy’ Gesta will be back in San Diego, California after spending nearly a month back in his native Philippines.

The 24-year old Gesta now sees his record stand at 24-0-1 with 12 knockouts after having gone 4-0 in 2011 while also making noise by signing a promotional contract with Top Rank this past June.
 
The talented southpaw from Mandaue City in Cebu, Gesta had shown interest in a title opportunity at 135 pounds yet Parra doesn’t know for sure where the pieces will fall just yet.

Speaking to me on Tuesday night, Parra touched on a few subplots surrounding Gesta’s return to the States, including his training while overseas, the expectations that Top Rank has from him in 2012, whether or not they will again be spending part of their camp at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles like previous regimens, and more....

In his own words, this is what Parra had to share…
 
False reports of a March 10th fight in Puerto Rico between Gesta and Jose 'Chelo' Gonzalez…
“That report came out a couple weeks ago and we never heard of it. I just kind of said a couple things about, but I’m still told by Carl Moretti, he’s telling me that we’re going to fight in March, I’m thinking more towards the middle or the end it’s looking like.”
 
Still open…
“The opponent is still open. I know I’ve asked for numerous guys, tough guys, even this guy 'Chelo', I mean, he came over here that would be fine. Someone in that range, the best that is available. I kind of leave that to them and they want me to more so focus on getting Mercito back here and making sure he’s 100% ready to go.”

Whether it’s hard keeping in touch with Gesta while he’s in the Philippines…
“Well, he’s actually on the other side of the world. No, it’s not [hard] because Mercito grew up in the gym. He knows how to handle his fitness. He goes back every year, so his father works with him. That’s the person who raised him and helped develop him as a fighter as well. This time around he did work with his former coach here, Carl Penalosa. They did a little bit of work out there and got together with Carl and Dodie Boy and his boy Dodie Boy Jr. and they all got to work out for a couple of days. He’s just staying in shape. Nothing’s changed but the day. We still go about our business the same way when he gets here and he’s a real versatile cat. He just goes over there and does his work and I come back here and we do our thing and it always meshes together.”

Gesta’s return to San Diego…
“I actually got all his stuff handled. He’ll be here January 26th. So next week. He’s already been in camp over there since about the first. He’s anticipating a real hard fight. He’s hoping to get the call and fight the toughest out there. Whatever they want to bring.”

Whether or not some more time at the Wild Card will be in store…
“It kind of depends on the kind of work that I can provide here. Also the kind of opponent we’re going to fight next, those factors are going to determine if we’re going to go to L.A. We go to L.A. just for the work, the sparring. We do most of our conditioning here in San Diego and there’s some good fighters here in town right now. It just depends on the opponent, when I found out who we’re fighting and if I’m able to set up a good enough camp here with the sparring partners then we may not have to go north. Some other things might factor, if we think we got to get him out of town and focus. It can be a little too much because he has a lot of fans here in San Diego. Those things will all factor.”

Respecting the boss’ decision on where to train…
“Once [Mercito] gets home he’ll take a few days to acclimate. Then we’ll just talk about it. He’s the boss, so ultimately if I see something I might recommend it if I’m together with him but he knows what’s at stake. And this time around his Dad is coming back with him. We just set up his visa through Top Rank to help him. His Dad will be here a few weeks later and he’s kind of a strict disciplinarian.”

Ready to break out…
“It’s really about making him break out. Even though we went 3-0 with Top Rank in our first three fights, they made it pretty clear to me that they’re expecting more from him than just decisions. So Mercito knows we need to step it up and go for those knockouts. I think that’s what we’re kind of basing this camp on. Bringing in his Dad is a big piece of the puzzle.”

Tags: Mercito Gesta