Condes Leaves, Determined To Earn Another Title Shot
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Former IBF minimumweight champion Florante Condes left for South Africa on Saturday determined to earn a title shot in a rematch with Raul “Rayito” Garcia who won the title from Condes with a split decision in the Mexican’s hometown last year.
To earn the rematch Condes who was accompanied by promoter Sammy Gello-ani will have to beat undefeated South African Nkosinati Joyi in an IBF title eliminator in East London's Orient Theater on June 26 (Saturday Manila Time ).
Prior to his departure Condes said he had trained hard and was sharply focused in an effort to win the eliminator and then face Garcia to avenge his title defeat.
The trainer of Condes, Joven Jimenez who couldn’t travel with the fighter because of his failure to secure a visa on time said the game-plan for the Joyi fight is to “start aggressively and make Joyi feel the power of his punches.” In fact, Jimenez said his arms hurt every time he does the punch-mitts with the southpaw Condes who carries the monicker “The Little Pacquiao.”
Jimenez said that from the start he had impressed on Condes the need to stay focused on his fight and indicated that Condes had responded well.
Since they hadn’t seen a tape of Joyi who is undefeated with a strinf of knockouts to his name, Jimenez said they merely anticipated what the South African would do and practiced how to counter.
Jimenez said he had worked on Condes’ movement so as to be able to avoid getting hit while at the same time teaching him how to cut off the ring and catch his opponent.
The trainer was confident that Condes who was sharply focused on the fight would win saying he was “ninety percent sure that Condes will win because I have seen his face. He’s smiling, he’s happy and his ready.”
Joyi who is undefeated is a hard-hitting southpaw with a record of 15 knockouts in 19 wins, including a second round KO of Filipino Arman Dela Cruz in a battle for the vacant IBO title on November 4, 2006 and a first round knockout over Gabriel Pumar in a title defense on November 16, 2007.
In his last fight, Joyi who is ranked No. 3 by the IBF scored a second round knockout over Mexico ’s Lorenzo Trejo.
Condes who won the title from Rachman by a twelve round split decision lost the crown on June 14, 2008 also by a split decision to Raul “Rayito” Garcia in Mexico on June 12, 2008.
