By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Two fighters identified with Team Pacquiao have scored impressive TKO victories two days before Manny Pacquiao himself steps into the ring against Marco Antonio Barrera, determined to keep the winning streak going.
North American Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion Bernabe Concepcion scored a ninth round TKO over Salvador Garcia in a ten round bout while Mercito Gesta won by a fourth round TKO in a scheduled six round bout against Carlos Vinan at the Hard Rock Hotel and Restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The 19 year old Concepcion improved his record to 23-1-1 with 13 knockouts while the 28 year old Garcia dropped to 14-6-2 with 7 knockouts. It was described as a blistering fight with several furious exchanges but the talented Concepcion proved to good and too strong for Garcia and the end came at 47 seconds of the ninth round.
Concepcion had won the NABF title last August 4 with a fourth round TKO over highly-rated Gabriel Elizondo. Concepcion may crash into the top ten in the WBC ratings following his victory. He is managed and trained by Aljoe Jaro who is also
The manager of IBF minimum weight champion Florante Condes whose career appears to have been stalled over a dispute between Jaro and his co-manager as well as his American promoters who have apparently done nothing to further the career of Condes.
Gesta, the 19 year old southpaw was also impressive in scoring a TKO at 1:20 of the fourth round improving his record to 12-0-1 with 4 knockouts while his Ecuadorian opponent fell to 7-5-3 with 1 KO. In his US debut last August 4, Gesta scored a six round majority decision over Carlos Madrid
In the meantime Wilson Alcorro (25-8-3, 17 KO’s) who replaced Filipino Allan Visayas in a scheduled ten round bout against undefeated WBC No. 2 lightweight Urbano Antillon (19-0m 12 KO’s) was knocked out in the second round.
Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today requested Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Lee Samuels of Top Rank to remove Visayas as an opponent since the fight was a terrible mismatch. The 33 year old Visayas hadn’t fought for seven years and in his return bout a few months ago was knocked out in the fourth round by “Speedy” Gonzales. Both Kizer and Top Rank took note of the concerns and brought in Alcorro as a substitute.
In the main event WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel retained his title with a twelfth round stoppage over a game Luis Mendez of Colombia in an action-packed battle. Melendez staggered Montiel in the third, was decked near the end of round six and in turn dropped Montiel in the seventh. The champion who was bleeding badly over both eyes finally ended his misery by taking Mendez out with a vicious body shot at 1:58 of the final round.
Montiel is the same fighter who was given a boxing lesson by flashy southpaw Z “The Dream” Gorres but somehow got the nod of the judges in Cebu last February 24 in what was regarded as a highway robbery.
