by Ronnie Nathanielsz

Undefeated Filipino southpaw Mercito Gesta is winding up training camp as he prepares for the toughest fight of his career against Ivan Valle of Mexico in the main event of a fight card presented by Golden Boy Promotions and Don Chargin Promotions at the 4 Points Sheraton Hotel in San Diego, California in a fight to be telecast over  Telefutura’s “Solo Boxeo Tecate” on October 22nd.

Gesta’s current trainer and co-manager Vince Parra said “sparring has been excellent against a variety of fighters” including former amateur featherweight standout Aaron Garcia who has a pro record of 9-1-2 with 2 knockouts and No. 1 ranked WBC lightweight Antonio DeMarco who has a record of 24-2-2 with 18 knockouts.

Parra said Gesta sparred with the taller DeMarco who is also a southpaw and indicated the sparring has been “real spirited and  high level and makes Mercito razor-sharp.”  He said the final day of sparring at the Chula Vista  would be Saturday (Manila Time) after which they will engage in light gym work and be ready when Gesta battles Valle.

Parra said that they picked Valle who has a record of 24 knockouts in 28 wins with 9 losses and 3 draws  “because he’s tough”  but stressed that “we plan on dominating him and taking him out.”

In his past two fights Gesta traveled to Freddie Roach’s famed Wild Card Gym to train but since Roach is in the Philippines preparing pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao for his November 13 showdown against Antonio Margarito, Gesta decided to set-up training camp in San Diego which is now home to the 23 year old fighter from Cebu.

Gesta said in the absence of Roach it would have been difficult to get sparring since it was Roach who figured on the match-ups in sparring for his last two fights but that he got some good sparring with DeMarco. He said DeMarco “ has been a lot of help despite the fact that he is a southpaw like me.He is taller like Valle and applies a lot of pressure. I don’t think it matters that he is a southpaw, we have a plan for Valle and all we have to do is change it a little bit.”

Gesta was quoted as saying that Garcia who was smaller has been “helping me with speed and more movement. He has been a lot of help too, like I said, great sparring here.”

In his last fight Gesta scored a 7th round knockout over journeyman Genaro Trazcanos in Tucson, Artizona on August 20. He earlier scored an impressive 4th round stoppage of rugged Oscar Meza to win the WBO North American Boxing Organization Youth lightweight title on June 4 when Meza called it quits after being nailed with a vicious body shot. The win sent Gesta into the top fifteen in the WBO lightweight rankings and his handlers are looking to a title shot sometime next year but realize they have to first  get past the durable and experienced Valle.