By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Filipino welterweight Mark Jason Melligen knew his fight against previously undefeated American Raymond Gatica of Austin, Texas would decide whether he would remain in the fold of Top Rank promoter Bob Arum or would have to shop around for someone else to promote his future fights.
That’s because Arum was visibly upset over Melligen’s split decision loss to Michel Rosales last November and gave him one last chance to prove he deserved to be in the Top Rank roster of Filipino fighters.
Melligen realized the crucial nature of his fight against Gatica who had a record of 11-0 with 6 knockouts and got to work early, throwing more punches than he did against Rosales and used a vicious left to work the body of Gatica from the opening bell.
Melligen rocked Gatica with a left hook to the side of the head in round two and continued to hurt the Texan with some solid body shots in rounds three and four.
A looping left following a flurry of punches dropped Gatica for the first time in round five before Melligen, egged on by a predominantly pro-Filipino crowd cracked him again in round six and sent him to the canvas for a second time.
Melligen whose main drawback appears to be the lack of a killer instinct suddenly found the nerve to hammer Gatica and stagger him once again before referee Kenny Bayless stepped in to call a halt at 2:36 of the sixth round.
Arum told us later that although he missed the fight since he was waiting to check on his prized possession Manny Pacquiao’s arrival, all the reports he received from his people confirmed that Melligen looked terrific, thereby sealing his continued stay with Top Rank.
With the win Melligen moved to 17-2 with 13 knockouts while Gatica who suffered his first setback dropped to 11-1 with 6 knockouts.
