Mercito Gesta Wants To Avenge Roach, Eyes Brandon Rios
by Ronnie Nathanielsz
Mercito “ No Mercy” Gesta, the undefeated Filipino southpaw would love to face Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios whose verbal insults hurled against both pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach have fired up Gesta.
Gesta who is enjoying a well deserved vacation in his hometown of Mandaue after a four year absence and his co-manager Vincent Parra told BoxingScene.com/Inquirer that they would “love to shut him up.”
The 23 year old Gesta has a record of 20-0-1 with 10 knockouts while the 24 year old Rios has a record of 26-0-1 with 19 kinockouts.
Parra said Rios’ “disrespect for Roach got us both mad. Freddie is a good friend and helps us a lot.” Gesta had previously trained at Roach's Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles but didn't train there for his last fight since Roach was in the Philippines preparing pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao for the fight against Antonio Margarito.
However, Parra conceded that Rios is “the toughest 135 pound guy out there and his style is tailor-made for Mercito.” He disclosed that some sort of politics is involved and it “would have to be worked out” before a possible Gesta-Rios fight takes place.
The co-manager who has also trained Gesta in his recent fights said he is confident that Gesta will be a world champion next year and that if Brandon Rios “is a champion too and in our way, he’ll be dominated and knocked out.”
Rios is coming off a 5th round TKO over Omri Lowther in the Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito undercard after previously winning by a 7th round disqualification over Anthony Peterson in a WBA title eliminator on September 11 when Peterson was disqualified for repeated low blows.
Gesta on the other hand won by a 2nd round TKO over tough Ivan Valle on October 22 after scoring a 7th round knockout over Mexican journeyman Genaro Trazcanos on August 20. Prior to that, Gesta scored an impressive win over Oscar Meza to win the WBO North American Boxing Organization Youth title. Meza retired in the fourth round after being dropped by a vicious body shot last June 4. Meza had previously lost to Rios by a 5th round TKO.
