Moment of Truth
Bleacher Talk
Feb. 26, 2007
Moment of Truth
Kudos, questions, doubts, expected results and surprises. This was the over-all mix of "reactions" when the "Moment of Truth" finally ended close to midnighton Saturday.Before anything else, KUDOS! I take my hat off and take a deep and reverent bow for what I thought was the country's best planned, organized and executed boxing event in the history of the sport.
It was so perfect that I couldn't notice anything that went wrong. From the pre-event activities to the press conferences, media tie-up, accommodations for the visitors to the actual event, everything was so smooth. With Sammy Gello-ani running the show (and the support of the guy they call ALA), ABS-CBN coming in as a media partner, the city government doing its share, Golden Boy coming in from the outside (to Cebu, not Manila), the tremendous support of the Cebuanos and the boxers giving us top-level performance, everything was just perfect.The event delivered just as advertised: world-class boxing for all to see. And going world-class didn't mean only the quality of boxing displayed. Half of the success also came from the right preparation of the venue, the implementation of tight security, maintaining of order, and the strict implementation of seat arrangements/assignments. In the end, it was like the biggest party ever organized for boxing in Philippine history.
And although I described it as perfect, one thing is going to stick out as the only sad part in this party that we all ironically enjoyed. We all cheered and rooted for Z Gorres to become a world champion, but it wasn't meant to be. For Z "The Dream" Gorres, it was a party of a nightmare, losing to WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel. While many thought Gorres won, others thought it was a fair decision. That's how close the fight was. Denny Nelson scored the bout for Gorres, 115-111. However, Raul Caiz scored the bout 115-111 and Chuck Giampa had it 114-112, both for the champion. Adding to this nightmare was referee Sammy Viruet's deducting two points away from Gorres for holding. I'll have to make an apology here when I say that I forgot to keep a personal score of the fight as I was too "busy" enjoying the fight. But in various post-fight chats with colleagues at ringside, I encountered a close 60-40 split consensus favoring a Gorres win.
I felt Gorres had a good chance of winning after seeing Montiel's boxing style. Montiel wasn't a textbook type of a boxer, but he was one tough hombre! He wasn't as fluid and as smooth as Gorres, and also had a somewhat unusual way of throwing punches. But what I thought worked extremely well for Montiel were his left hooks to the body of Gorres that took its toll in the latter part of the fight when Gorres slowed down and turned groggy a couple of times.
Gorres was easily the more gifted and skillful boxer who landed clean punches and evaded Montiel's short and crisp shots (except for the left hook). Gorres controlled the fight when he kept Montiel at a distance, but the champion was better at close range especially with his body shots. I felt the fight was even through the first eight rounds, with a few rounds that could've gone either way (now I regret why I didn't keep score). Montiel took over in the latter part of the fight and had Gorres on the verge of kissing the canvass.
In hindsight, this could've been the turning point in the eyes of the he judges. The body blows early in the fight must have slowed Gorres down that he had become a welcome sight in Montiel's range in the last three rounds. While Nelson saw Gorres comfortably ahead at this stage of the fight, Giampa and Caiz had Montiel slightly ahead on points.
Split decisions are one of the toughest to accept and I'm certain more questions than answers will be still be asked: how the judges scored the fight, why the referee issued a point deduction on Gorres without the benefit of a warning in the tenth round, the effects of Montiel's body shots and how to score Gorres' boxing style of hitting from a distance.Gorres is going to remember this day as his moment of truth (just as advertised) and make it a springboard for bigger things to come. Bottom line for Z is that I'm sure he has realized that as a challenger, he has to do so much more to take away the belt from a defending champion and win without any traces of a doubt. Sure, Gorres gave it his all, but what counts most is that two judges felt that this wasn't enough to win the championship.
The Moment of Truth also turned out to be another set of tune-up/work-out sessions for Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista, AJ "Bazooka" Banal and Bert Batawang. Bautista was devastating in knocking out Marino Montiel Gonzales, thus sealing what will be his toughest date on top of the ring against Sergio Medina of Argentinaon May 5. Banal was just as impressive with his one-round performance over Komrit 3K Batteryand is being poised to join Boom Boom in the May 5 card underneath the Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather main event. Batawang meanwhile, overcame a slow start to take out Sofyan Efendi in the fourth round. Negotiations are now underway for Batawang to challenge for Hugo Cazares' WBO light flyweight belt.
Another highlight that must be cited is the fact that the "Moment of Truth" is just a preview of the much bigger Boxing World Cup (Philippinesvs. Mexico) that Cebuwill host around July or August. I think SGG Sports Promotions and the ALA Boxing Gym have finally found the right formula for staging a world class event, and nothing is going to stop Cebufrom hosting it.
* * *
Time-out: Happy birthday to Chuchay Streegan Verches! >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
Feb. 26, 2007
Moment of Truth
Kudos, questions, doubts, expected results and surprises. This was the over-all mix of "reactions" when the "Moment of Truth" finally ended close to midnighton Saturday.Before anything else, KUDOS! I take my hat off and take a deep and reverent bow for what I thought was the country's best planned, organized and executed boxing event in the history of the sport.
It was so perfect that I couldn't notice anything that went wrong. From the pre-event activities to the press conferences, media tie-up, accommodations for the visitors to the actual event, everything was so smooth. With Sammy Gello-ani running the show (and the support of the guy they call ALA), ABS-CBN coming in as a media partner, the city government doing its share, Golden Boy coming in from the outside (to Cebu, not Manila), the tremendous support of the Cebuanos and the boxers giving us top-level performance, everything was just perfect.The event delivered just as advertised: world-class boxing for all to see. And going world-class didn't mean only the quality of boxing displayed. Half of the success also came from the right preparation of the venue, the implementation of tight security, maintaining of order, and the strict implementation of seat arrangements/assignments. In the end, it was like the biggest party ever organized for boxing in Philippine history.
And although I described it as perfect, one thing is going to stick out as the only sad part in this party that we all ironically enjoyed. We all cheered and rooted for Z Gorres to become a world champion, but it wasn't meant to be. For Z "The Dream" Gorres, it was a party of a nightmare, losing to WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel. While many thought Gorres won, others thought it was a fair decision. That's how close the fight was. Denny Nelson scored the bout for Gorres, 115-111. However, Raul Caiz scored the bout 115-111 and Chuck Giampa had it 114-112, both for the champion. Adding to this nightmare was referee Sammy Viruet's deducting two points away from Gorres for holding. I'll have to make an apology here when I say that I forgot to keep a personal score of the fight as I was too "busy" enjoying the fight. But in various post-fight chats with colleagues at ringside, I encountered a close 60-40 split consensus favoring a Gorres win.
I felt Gorres had a good chance of winning after seeing Montiel's boxing style. Montiel wasn't a textbook type of a boxer, but he was one tough hombre! He wasn't as fluid and as smooth as Gorres, and also had a somewhat unusual way of throwing punches. But what I thought worked extremely well for Montiel were his left hooks to the body of Gorres that took its toll in the latter part of the fight when Gorres slowed down and turned groggy a couple of times.
Gorres was easily the more gifted and skillful boxer who landed clean punches and evaded Montiel's short and crisp shots (except for the left hook). Gorres controlled the fight when he kept Montiel at a distance, but the champion was better at close range especially with his body shots. I felt the fight was even through the first eight rounds, with a few rounds that could've gone either way (now I regret why I didn't keep score). Montiel took over in the latter part of the fight and had Gorres on the verge of kissing the canvass.
In hindsight, this could've been the turning point in the eyes of the he judges. The body blows early in the fight must have slowed Gorres down that he had become a welcome sight in Montiel's range in the last three rounds. While Nelson saw Gorres comfortably ahead at this stage of the fight, Giampa and Caiz had Montiel slightly ahead on points.
Split decisions are one of the toughest to accept and I'm certain more questions than answers will be still be asked: how the judges scored the fight, why the referee issued a point deduction on Gorres without the benefit of a warning in the tenth round, the effects of Montiel's body shots and how to score Gorres' boxing style of hitting from a distance.Gorres is going to remember this day as his moment of truth (just as advertised) and make it a springboard for bigger things to come. Bottom line for Z is that I'm sure he has realized that as a challenger, he has to do so much more to take away the belt from a defending champion and win without any traces of a doubt. Sure, Gorres gave it his all, but what counts most is that two judges felt that this wasn't enough to win the championship.
The Moment of Truth also turned out to be another set of tune-up/work-out sessions for Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista, AJ "Bazooka" Banal and Bert Batawang. Bautista was devastating in knocking out Marino Montiel Gonzales, thus sealing what will be his toughest date on top of the ring against Sergio Medina of Argentinaon May 5. Banal was just as impressive with his one-round performance over Komrit 3K Batteryand is being poised to join Boom Boom in the May 5 card underneath the Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather main event. Batawang meanwhile, overcame a slow start to take out Sofyan Efendi in the fourth round. Negotiations are now underway for Batawang to challenge for Hugo Cazares' WBO light flyweight belt.
Another highlight that must be cited is the fact that the "Moment of Truth" is just a preview of the much bigger Boxing World Cup (Philippinesvs. Mexico) that Cebuwill host around July or August. I think SGG Sports Promotions and the ALA Boxing Gym have finally found the right formula for staging a world class event, and nothing is going to stop Cebufrom hosting it.
* * *
Time-out: Happy birthday to Chuchay Streegan Verches! >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
Comments