By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, the undefeated 18 year old WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight champion is scheduled to make his U.S. debut in September, either in a fight card in Sacramento, California or if negotiations go well, on the undercard of heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko’s title defense on September 24, possibly at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Bautista’s manager, respected Cebu boxing patron Tony Aldeguer told Viva Sports/Manila Standard that the opponents being lined up for Bautista include Mexicans Gerardo Martinez and Heriberto Ruiz.
The 30 year old Martinez who is trained by the legendary Nacho Beristain has a record of 26-5-2 with 20 KO’s according to the boxrec website. He is coming of seventh round technical decision loss to Fernando Beltran Jr last March 14 when fighting as a super bantamweight. Prior to that he lost by a third round TKO to Ramon Leyte on December 4, 2004 after a July 14, ten round decision over bantamweight Arturo Hernandez.
Ruiz who is 27 has a record of 31-3-2 with 13 KO’s and won a unanimous ten round decision over Eduardo Garcia last June 10. However, Ruiz lost by a third round KO to IBF bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez on July 31, 2004.
