By Ronnie Nathanielsz
WE can understand and appreciate the decision of the handlers of Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista to give him a comparatively easy fight the first time he steps into the ring on Dec. 2 after the devastating first-round knockout he suffered at the hands of the menacing World Boxing Organization super-bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce de Leon in the Philippines-Mexico World Cup last Aug. 11 in Sacramento, California.
But what we cannot understand is the attempt by drumbeaters of the Sunday event to peddle the fact that the opponent of Bautista, Mexico’s Antonio Meza, who has a record of 23-3 with 16 knockouts, is a really tough opponent. That’s if fight fans don’t look behind the statistics. If you do, then a far more accurate picture of the caliber of Bautista’s opponent emerges. Therein lies the truth, which we believe is essential so that boxing fans, who are asked to pay good money, are not fooled.
Of course, if they are willing to pay for the added frills such as an attractive female ring announcer, ramp models as round girls and the attendant hoopla, then that’s fine. However, for old-time sports fans like our esteemed friend and World Boxing Council founding secretary-general and former Philippine Basketball Association commissioner Rudy Salud and ourselves, it’s the fundamental belief that matters most and that is, the game’s the thing. Regrettably, it seems, in what has been hyped as a show of shows, the fights appear to be secondary. This is reinforced by a check on the records of the two Mexican opponents of the one-time emerging sensation Bautista and AJ “Bazooka” Banal, who is, we believe, a potential world champion.
Meza’s 23 wins, 16 by knockout, look impressive if you don’t bother to check out the fighters he beat and who he knocked out. Fortunately, boxrec.com provides the details. Last June 29, Meza scored a third-round TKO over Romel Aguilar, who at best, had what can be described as a mediocre record of 10 wins, 7 defeats and 4 draws. Prior to that on March 2, Meza won a 10-round unanimous decision over Luis Perez Vicente, whose record showed more defeats than victories—23 losses as against 18 wins. In fact, Vicente had lost 14 fights by knockout.
Boxrec.com also shows that on Jan. 29, Meza won a 10-round split decision over Rodolfo Garay, whose record was 8 losses as against 6 wins. Four of the losses were by stoppage. To go back a little further in the interest of boxing fans, Meza won a 10-round unanimous decision over Guadalupe Hernandez on Nov. 17, 2006. Lo and behold, as of today, Hernandez has a record of 4 wins and 14 losses, 6 by knockout. On July 14 last year, the touted opponent of Boom Boom won by a third-round TKO over Giovanni Urbina. Urbina’s record when he lost to Meza— 6 wins, 11 defeats, with 7 by KO.
Banal, another extremely talented young fighter, faces another Mexican—Jovanny “Bambino” Soto—who has a record of 25-7-1 with 20 KOs. Fairly impressive—on paper. But whom has he beaten? Last July 27, he won by a fourth-round TKO over Ricardo Astorga. Astorga’s record the last time we checked was no wins against 8 losses, 4 by KO. On March 24, Soto defeated Francisco Reyes by a seventh-round KO. At that time, Reyes had 1 win, 5 losses and 2 draws with 3 KO defeats. On Dec. 22, 2006, Soto won by a fifth-round TKO over Ulises Cadena, who was 4-4 with all four losses by KO, although he did have 2 KO wins to his name.
On Oct. 28, 2006, Jorge Romero lost by a sixth- round KO to Soto. Romero’s record to date—7 wins, 34 defeats, 16 by stoppage. Romero did win 3 fights by knockout. We wonder whether that can ever be considered mitigating to turn him from certified patsy to power puncher. As if this was not bad enough, on Sept. 1, 2006, Soto won by a third-round TKO over Eduardo Gutierrez, who to date has a pathetic record of one single win against 32 defeats, 26 by KO!
We have often condemned the Thais in particular for staging mismatches in an effort to pad their fighters’ records and improve their ratings in the various world boxing organizations. Surely, we should not condone our own transgressions if we condemn the transgressions of others.
Like we said before, we realize the need to re-build the confidence of Bautista with perhaps two or three comparatively easy fights and take no issue with that. At the same time, we strongly believe that while there should be some leeway for promoters and publicists to hype a fight card, considering the cost of staging such events and the need to at least recoup their investment, there is a higher fundamental obligation to adhere to the tenets of truth in advertising, which simply translates to being honest and fair with the paying public.
