By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Trainer Freddie Roach who was instrumental in honing the skills of Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao and turning him into an awesome fighting machine says Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista reminds him of Pacquiao.
Bautista, the WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight champion who is the No.1 ranked contender by the World Boxing Organization was scheduled to leave last night for Los Angeles along with recently crowned OPBF super flyweight champion Z “The Dream” Gorres for their debut on fight cards of Golden Boy Promotions.
Bautista battles rugged Nicaraguan Roberto Bonilla on the undercard of the Marco Antonio Barrera WBC super featherweight title defense against Rocky Juarez on May 20 at the Staples Center while Gorres will see action on the undercard of the Johnny Gonzalez-Fernando Montiel WBO bantamweight title fight at the Home Depot in Carson City. The two promising fighters from the ALA Gym were accompanied by trainer Edito Villamor.
Roach told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today “I love this kid (Bautista). He reminds me of Manny (Pacquiao.) Young, baby face but he’s a killer in the ring. He wants to hurt people.”
Roach observed that Bautista has “the same kind of charisma as Manny. He’s got a good smile and he’s very likeable” adding that “in the two fights he fought in America, they loved him.” Bautista who trained under Roach and Villamor at Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles scored a spectacular third round knockout over Colombian veteran Felix Flores Murillo last September 20 and then got off the canvas in the second round to hammer out a unanimous ten round decision against hard-hitting Mexican Gerardo Espinoza.
Roach also had nothing but praise for Gorres who celebrated his 24th birthday last Tuesday by working out at the ALA Gym in Cebu. Roach said Gorres is “a great prospect and a beautiful boxer. He has to set down on his punches a little bit and use his power a little more because he does have power.” Roach also said Gorres needed to cut the distance between him and his opponent to make his punches more effective which was also the astute observation of the WBC founding secretary general Rudy Salud who at one time managed Gorres in partnership with Tony Aldeguer.
