By Ronnie Nathanielsz
The odds appear to he stacked against Filipino Bert Batawang in his bid to win the IBF light flyweight title and avenge the defeat of countryman Rodel Mayol when he battles champion Ulises Solis this Sunday, Manila Time but the Filipino veteran isn’t bothered.
To begin with, the fight will be staged at the Auditorio Benito Juarez in the champion’s hometown of Guadalajara, Mexico. However, Batawang’s manager Sammy Gello-ani said they had no choice but to grab the chance for the 36 year old veteran who is ranked No. 6 by the IBF to end his career as a world champion and to add to the Philippines four world titles at present. Indications are that Batawang earned the status of mandatory challenger due largely to the efforts of the astute matchmaker Samson Lewkowicz of Golden Boy Promotions.
Aside from seeking to dethrone Solis who has successfully defended the title five times since winning it via a unanimous twelve round decision over Will Grigsby on January 7, 2006 in his home territory, Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today learned that one of the judges picked for the fight was Rafael Lopez Santos, a member who is registered by the Mexican Boxing Commission. The other judges are Oldemor Soto of Panama and David Robertson of Texas while the referee is Pat Russell of California.
Santos was criticized for his judging when Julio Diaz wrested the IBF lightweight from Javier Jauregui in San Diego after he scored the fight a 114-114 draw while the two other judges Chuck Hassett and Lou Fillipo both had Diaz winning by a huge 118-110 margin in a fight that Diaz clearly dominated.
However, Batawang has maintained that he will try not to leave the decision to the judges by going for a knockout if he sees an opening. Gello-ani shares his fighter’s confidence in winning and giving the Philippines its fifth world title. The current world champions are WBO minimum weight champion Donnie Nietes, IBF minimum weight champion Florante Condes, IBF/IBO flyweight king Nonito Donaire and WBO bantamweight champion
Gerry Penalosa.
Batawang draws some confidence from the fact that countryman Rodel Mayol had Solis on the verge of a knockout in the sixth round of their title fight last August 4 but couldn’t finish off the champion who survived a knockdown and came back to score an eighth round TKO.
During his training at the Wild Card Gym prior to the several postponements which forced Batawang to return and train at the ALA Gym in Cebu , Mayol gave him some valuable pointers on how to defeat Solis who has a record of 25-1-2 with 19 knockouts. Batawang’s record is 50-6 with 34 knockouts.
