By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Undefeated lightweight Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta (23-0-1, 12 KO’s) suffered two cuts on his eyebrows in his rousing ten round unanimous decision win over Manuel Perez at the Blue Water Resort & Casino in Parker, Arizona on Saturday.
Gesta’s trainer and co-manager Vince Parra told the Inquirer that “He got a little nick from a head-butt, in fact a couple of little nicks and a half-inch gash over his eyebrows early in the fight when Mercito was going to the body.”
Parra said there is no concern about going ahead with the scheduled November 11 bout where Gesta will headline a Top Rank card on the eve of pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao’s eagerly awaited WBO welterweight title defense against WBA lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez at a catch-weight of 144 pounds.
He said he expects to hear from Top Rank’s Hall-of-Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler later this week on who Gesta’s opponent will be.
The trainer who is back with Gesta in San Diego said “the fight went great and Mercito did exactly what we had planned on doing. We knew this guy (Perez) was tough and had a really good chin so we wanted to get the work and test himself to go into the later rounds.”
Parra said “we were not going to force a knockout but Mercito landed real clean punches and late in the fight, around the eighth round, I had Mercito turn it up and we showed good endurance and let go with a lot of good combinations late in the fight.”
He said although Perez survived it was “a good experience that gave Mercito a lot of confidence It was a good ten rounds for us to look over and study it and see where we can improve and go to the next level.”