By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, the WBO No.1 ranked super bantamweight can’t afford a bust in his crucial, career-defining fight against tough Heriberto ”Cuate” Ruiz of Mexico in their ten round clash Sunday on the undercard of the Paul Malignaggi-Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton showdown at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

In an overseas telephone conversation with insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports, young Michael Aldeguer who now handles the fighters of the famed ALA Gym said Bautista knows how important this fight is.

He said Bautista who made the 122 pound limit along with Ruiz  “is fine and in good shape” and after the weigh- in had a satisfying meal at a Filipino restaurant in Las Vegas .

Aldeguer said Bautista knows “it will be a tough fight and he’s looking forward to it” with fight fans noting that Ruiz had earlier in his career beaten Cristobal Cruz who is now the IBF and IBO featherweight champion and had also beaten southpaw Ricardo Vargas who in turn beat former WBO bantamweight champion Jhonny Gonzalez twice in North American Boxing Federation bantamweight title fights while also overcoming Gerson Guerrero.

Aldeguer said that the Golden Boy Promotions liaison officer assigned to them, Robert Diaz  had told him Ruiz is “a tough cookie, a tough fighter.”

Aldeguer believes “its going to be a good fight” even as he noted there were some observers who wanted to see how Bautista overcomes the first round KO he suffered at the hands of the menacing Daniel Ponce De Leon in a title fight on August 11, 2007.

The loss to Ponce De Leon is the only blemish in the 22 year old Bautista’s career which stands at 26-1 with 19 knockouts while the 31 year old Ruiz has a record of 37-6-2 with 22 knockouts.

Since the De Leon fight the handlers of Bautista led by ALA Gym chairman, respected boxing patron Tony Aldeguer along with Golden Boy Promotions, has brought Bautista along carefully in an effort to rebuild his confidence and to correct the seeming flaws in his style.

According to longtime Cebu resident and trainer Tony Martin who has a gym in Las Vegas, Bautista has shown tremendous improvement in terms of head and body movement and has learned to use the jab far more than he did before. Martin who watched Bautista train at the Mayweather Gym along with trainer Roger Mayweather in Las Vegas will be in the corner of Bautista for the Ruiz fight along with Edito and Edmund Villamor.

In his last three fights following the loss to De Leon, Bautista scored a 12 round unanimous decision over Antonio Meza on December 7, 2007, followed up with a 2nd round KO over Genaro Camargo on April 6, 2008 and then nailed Eden Marquez to score a 2nd round TKO last August 30.

Ruiz, for his part is coming off a twelve round unanimous decision loss to former world champion Eric Morel who is making a comeback as a bantamweight in a WBO Intercontinental title fight. Morel is aiming for a shot at the title of reigning champion Gerry Penalosa, the veteran Filipino southpaw who won the title with a spectacular one-punch KO over Jhonny Gonzalez on August 11, 2007. 

Gonzalez (40-6, 34 KO’s) is himself on a comeback and scored a 4th round KO over Reinaldo Lopez (29-7-2, 21 KO’s) in a super bantamweight clash at the Morongo Casino Resort and Spa in Cabazon, California Saturday morning, Manila Time.

Gonzalez dropped Lopez in the third round and ended the fight with a left hook that dropped Lopez for the full count at 2:17 of the fourth round.

Bantamweight Nestor Rocha (21-2, 7 KO’s) whose fight against WBO Oriental bantamweight champion Michael Domingo was called off after the talented Filipino fighter was found to have Hepatitis “B” and was forced to pull-out of the fight which Domingo had been eagerly looking forward to as a stepping stone to a possible world title fight

Rocha scored a ten round unanimous decision over last-minute replacement, veteran Oscar Andrade (35-32-2, 17 KO’s) . It was a shutout with all three judges scoring the fight for Rocha 100-90.