Mark Melligen Confident of Beating Michael Rosales
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Filipino welterweight Mark Jason Melligen is confident of a knockout victory over tough, 5’11” Mexican Michael Rosales in their battle on an exciting Top Rank fight card at the Mandalay Bay House of Blues later tonight.
ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer and both Melligen and bantamweight Z “The Dream” Gorres spoke to BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports after a hearty meal at the well known Filipino restaurant “Nanay Gloria” in Las Vegas which Gores said they enjoyed very much.
Aldeguer said Melligen tipped the scales at the 147 pound limit while his opponent Rosales came in half-a-pound lighter at 146 1/2 while Gorres and his opponent Juan Melendez both checked in at 118 ½ pounds. .
Aldeguer said Rosales looked “much taller than I expected and was “about six inches taller than Mark (Melligen) while the opponent of Gorres ( Melendez) looked good.”
However, Melligen exuded supreme confidence pointing out that the result “doesn’t depend on how tall you are but how hard you hit.” The southpaw who has devastating power said he expects his body shots to take their toll and jokingly added “when I hit him with a body shot he’ll shrink to 5’9”. Melligen said he had been pushed to the limit in his training at the Floyd Mayweather Jr gym in Las Vegas under former Cebu resident Tony Martin and felt “very good.”.
Melligen told ALA Gym’s respected patron Tony Aldeguer after the weigh-in “I will knock him (Rosales) out” even as he told us “I am ready to fight now Sir” but made it clear he was not over-excited or tense. In the other major attraction Z “The Dream” Gorres who has moved up to bantamweight, clashes with Colombia’s relentless puncher Juan Melendez
Gorres was in very high spirits and said that while his opponent “appeared to be well prepared” he planned to “use my skill as a boxer to beat him.” Melendres, like Gorres, had fought and lost to WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel although Gorres dropped a hugely controversial split decision to the Mexican in Cebu City in February 2007. .
The fights will be telecast by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN which recently signed an agreement to acquire the fights of Top Rank although the fights of Manny Pacquiao will remain with Solar Sports.
ABS-CBN vice president for Sports, Peter Musngi said the fights will be telecast on their pre-eminent Channel 2 at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday and will serve as an exciting prelude for fights fan who will later watch the “Fire Power” war between Pacquiao and WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto. The Gorres and Melligen fights as well as the IBF title eliminator featuring Federico Catubay against Juan Alberto Rosas will be replayed on Studio 23 at 3:00 p.m. on Monday..
