By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Promoter and boxing manager Rex “Wakee” Salud who is putting together the local fights on the Mano-A-Mano card headlined by the main event between Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao and Mexican challenger Oscar Larios has picked Philippine bantamweight champion Michael Domingo as a replacement for ring sensation Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista who has pulled out because of a virus infection.
In a telephone conversation with Viva Sports , promoter/manager Sammy Gello-ani of the famous ALA Gym of Cebu confirmed that Salud had decided to pit Domingo against Mexican veteran Alejandro Felix Montiel.
Salud earlier indicated he had narrowed down the choice to Domingo, OPBF and former world champion Malcom Tunacao and Pan Asia Boxing Association champion Benjamin Concepcion.
Concepcion scored a first round KO over veteran Jojo Arnado in what was regarded as a mismatch in Albay, yesterday while Domingo was deep in training for his July 15 title defense against Johnny Lear and was in good shape.
Salud himself admitted that Tunacao while training hasn’t been sparring because there’s no fight lined up for him in the near future and this may prove to be a disadvantage while Concepcion he said “didn’t work out a sweat” against Arnado who was a comparative patsy.
Domingo, on the other hand has looked good in sparring with Bautista, the current WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight champion who is rated No.1 in the world by the WBO.
