By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Z "The Dream" Gorres is slated to make his US debut against Mexican veteran Marcos "El Rojo" Badillo on October 29 in San Diego, California , while Philippine super featherweight champion Bobby Pacquiao’s scheduled bout was postponed to November 12.
The fight is expected to be a good workout for Gorres, the Philippines No. 1 super flyweight who is also ranked No. 1 by the Orient Pacific Boxing Federation. Badillo is 31 years old and has lost a string of fights recently against tough opponents. He has a total of 51 fights, winning 18, losing 32 and drawing 1 with 7 knockouts to his name. Badillo’s most impressive performance in recent months was a split decision loss to undefeated Gabriel Elizondo who has a record of 17-0 with 8 KO’s.
Gorres, with a record of 17-1-1 with 10 knockouts has been training under Freddie Roach at his Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles for over one month and has impressed Roach, promoter Murad Muhammad and Manny Pacquiao’s business manager Rod Nazario. In a recent sparring session with undefeated, world-rated Brian Viloria, Gorres bloodied his nose in what Nazario described as a "one sided sparring session." Filipino trainer Buboy Fernandez said Gorres "battered" Viloria who refused to spar with him again.
Badillo, in his last fight on September 10 dropped a ten round decision to Samuel Lopez while Gorres is coming off a lopsided ten round decision over highly-rated Thai Sairung Suwanasil. Gorres is likely to figure in the undercard of the planned December 4 bout featuring Ring Magazine featherweight champion Manny Pacquiao, should it push through otherwise he may be included in the undercard of the WBC featherweight title defense of South Korea’s Injin Chi against a Japanese contender in mid-December.
