By Ryan Songalia
Carlos Tamara's head trainer Butch Sanchez is quick to offer a nice word about Milan Melindo, the upstart flyweight contender whom Tamara will face on November 27 at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu City, Philippines.
"The kid is not bad," says Sanchez. "He can fight."
Sanchez concedes that Melindo - unbeaten at 22-0 (7 KO) - is quick, technically gifted and "no pushover." He speaks of friends in the Philippines who have told him about the class of Melindo, and how they feel this clash will be the best matchup to take place in the country of 2010.
That's as far as the praise goes, however. Sanchez feels that Tamara is on another level from Melindo and that the gap in experience will be too much to bridge.
"Let's say you have a ladder and the ladder has ten steps," Sanchez begins. "We feel that Melindo is at step five and all of a sudden they're jumping him up to step ten. There was no in between. Melindo hasn't fought anybody on Tamara's level.
"Look at Melindo's record, he ain't fight nobody. Now look at Tamara. He's fought Giovanni Segura, Brian Viloria, Omar Narvaez. Tamara's fought them all."
If the 22-year-old Melindo is being put in too tough too soon, it wouldn't be the first time his promoter ALA Promotions has been criticized for such practices (Ciso Morales and Rey Bautista jump to mind).
Still Melindo is undaunted by the task of facing the vastly more experienced former IBF light flyweight champion Tamara (21-5, 15 KO) from North Bergen, NJ by way of Sincelejo, Colombia.
"He's a former champion but I'm not scared of anyone," says Melindo. "I just trained hard so no worries."
Despite having not faced opponents that American boxing fans might be familiar with, trainer Edito "Ala" Villamor is quick to argue that Melindo has been in with quality opposition in his five year professional career.
"Milan fought Carlos Melo, former IBF [minimumweight] world champion Muhammad Rachman, Jin-Man Jeon who fought former world champion Takefumi Sakata. That's a big factor for Milan that he has fought world caliber boxers.
“And we know Tamara is an aggressive fighter, strong and tough, and shows a big heart. We will try our best on this coming fight."
"I always think when I fight inside the ring to get experience," Melindo says. "Win or lose, the important thing is to gain knowledge in boxing."
Melindo has been a fighter since he could comprehend the concept of fighting.
