By Ronnie Nathanielsz
WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel says even a hostile crowd won’t prevent him from beating mandatory challenger Z “The Dream” Gorres and retaining his belt in their highly anticipated world title fight at the Cebu City Sports Complex on Saturday.
The confident Montiel who has a record of 32-2-1 with 24 knockouts said “once I climb into the ring it will be me and Gorres. No one else.”
Montiel who jogs around the Fuente Osmena Circle at 9:00 every morning with elder brother Pedro and trains at the ALA Gym at 5:00 in the afternoon, began boxing as an amateur when he was a mere five years old. He said “I grew with boxing all around me. My brothers are boxers and all twelve men in my family and relatives are all boxers.”’
Although Montiel claimed he hasn’t watched any fights of Gorres even on tape, his father Manuel Montiel Sr who is his trainer and manager said “He doesn’t have to see Gorres fight to win the bout. Fernando knows how to adapt his strategy to his opponent.”
The flashy southpaw Gorres, on the other hand, has watched Montiel spar and also watched his bantamweight title fight against champion Jhonny Gonzalez which Montiel lost by a split decision. Based on what he saw Gorres expressed confidence he could beat Montiel and give respected boxing patron Tony Aldeguer his first WBO world title.
Montiel, at a press conference two days ago said he would “knock out Gorres in one round. That’s the truth.” But to Gorres there was no way that would happen. The grimly determined 24 year old laughed off Montiel’s claim and said “let’s see what happens on fight night. Let’s do our talking in the ring.”
