By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Former world minimum weight champion Roberto Carlos Leyva says he will live up top the true tradition of Mexican fighters and wage war in the ring when he battles Z “The Dream” Gorres who makes his debut as a bantamweight fighter in the “Judgment Day” fight card at the plush Waterfront Hotel ballroom, on Saturday.
At stake is the vacant WBO Oriental title although an interim champion was recently crowned. Both fighters were forced to shed of excess weight during the official weigh in at the SM City Entertainment Center. Gorres was one-half pound over the limit while Leyva who was three pounds overweight on Thursday night had to shed one pound . But both he and Gorres after a run outside SM City made the weight limit without too much trouble.
Leyva, a former world champion who has battled some of the elite in his division as well as such noted bantamweights as Ivan Hernandez who had a record of 21-1-1 ith 13 knockouts at the time Leyva lost a majority decision in a WBC title eliminator in April 2006, says he has come well prepared for the Gorres showdown.
The tough-talking Mexican said that while he respects Gorres particularly after watching his WBO super flyweight title fight against champion Fernando Montiel where Gorres appeared to be the victim of a bad decision, he has trained for two months precisely because he wants to get back into contention for a title shot.
Gorres told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports that he has had a hard time in the past making the 115 pound limit and feels “much stronger and far more confident” fighting at 118 pounds.
Respected boxing patron Tony Aldeguer said the coaching staff of the stylish southpaw headed by Edito “Al;a” Villamor have made some changes in style to make Gorres a more aggressive fighter who will overcome his tendency to fade in the so-called championship rounds as he did against Montiel and also in his IBF title eliminator against Vic Darchinyan which ended in a controversial draw last year.
While Leyva promises to wage war and Gorres is ready to fight fire with fire, most boxing fans are looking to the minimum weight showdown between undefeated WBO No.1 ranked Milan Melindo (17-0, 5 KO’s) and former champion and Indonesian toughie Muhammad Rachman.
Rachman has vowed to use the comparatively inexperienced Melindo as a “stepping stone” to a possible world title fight with Oleydong Sithsamerchai of Thailand and said he will make sure the decision will not rest in the hands of hometown judges by scoring a knockout.
Melindo for his part said that while Rachman is aggressive he himself is an excellent counter-puncher adding “when he comes forward to knock me down, I will catch him with a counter and knock him down too." After both fighters made the weight Melindo said "I won't have a problem beating him even if he is the former world champion."
Veteran trainer Fernando Lumacad who trained Indonesian fighters fopr some ten years including Rachman said that during his time Rachman was "a good boxer who had power" but believes that the Indonesian is no longer the fighter he was.
As respected TV boxing analyst Moy Lainez has said this fight will determine whether Melindo is ready for a world title shot. Lainez who watched Rachman battle southpaw Florante Condes in a fight where the Indonesian lost his world title by a split decision said “Rachman is tough and aggressive while Melindo is good” maintaining that for the 21 year old Filipino this may well be a career-defining fight.
Former WBO Oriental bantamweight champion Michael Domingo (37-14-2, 16 KO’s) makes a ring comeback after a temporary setback due to claims in the US that he was found to have hepatitis “B” but several subsequent tests have proved to be negative with the Games and Amusements Board clearing him to return to action.
Domingo hopes to get back into the bantamweight picture when he faces 24 year old Monico Laurente (reportedly 8-4, 1 KO) in one of the undercard bouts to be telecast by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN over Studio 23 at 9:00 p.m. Saturday with a replay on the network’s pre-eminent Channel 2 at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.
