Luevano vs Concepcion Rematch Likely For December 12
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is excited about staging “Pinoy Power 3” at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on December 12 after what he deemed a successful promotion of “Pinoy Power 2” at the same venue last Saturday.
Arum told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph that “the Hard Rock loved the c ard” and with 70 percent of the fans being Filipinos who were cheering, carrying flags and banners and lighting up the venue with excitement “it was like being in the Philippines.”
Arum said he “got a lovely email from GMA 7” which telecast the fight in the Philippines saying “how satisfied they were with everything. Everyone was a winner.”
Arum said “there were highlights and lowlights” in the fight card but said he thought welterweight Mark Jason Melligen who scored a 4th round TKO over hard-hitting Mexican Ernesto Zepeda was “sensational against a tough guy, for a young guy like him.”
He said Nonito “The Filipino Flash” D onaire who won the WBA super flyweight interim title with a unanimous twelve round decision over Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion of Panama fought “a much heavier guy and he looked alright but Bernabe (Concepcion) was way too tentative. He should have taken the fight to (Steven) Luevano after hurting him in the first round” but added, “I really fault the referee (Jay Nady) for not getting between the fighters and calling time.”
Concepcion dropped Luevano, the WBO featherweight champion whose hands were down with a hard right after the bell and was promptly disqualified by Nady who had no choice.
Arum said he told the Nevada State Athletic Commission that Nady was “a good, good referee but my God he is too big and slow for these little guys. With ten seconds he should have moved in and got close to the fighters and basically separating them and be a shield between them when the bell rings.”
As a result of what happened Arum said “everybody wants a rematch between Concepcion and Luevano” and he plans to put that title fight on the “Pinoy Power 3” card and “if Donaire’s hand is still fine, we’ll get a good fight for him and I want to bring back Mark Jason Melligen. And then we’ll include another Filipino, maybe Z “The Dream” Gorres who is fighting on September 12” on a Latin Fury card headlined by Julio Cesar Chavez in Mexico.
Arum said he may match Melligen with Michel Rosales, the tough 5’11” Mexican who was originally supposed to face Melligen on “Pinoy Power 2” but was replaced by Zepeda some one week before the fight. Although Arum said the opponent was up to his renowned matchmaker Bruce Trampler, he described Rosales as “another experienced, tough Mexican.”
