Making a World Title Fight
Bleacher Talk
July 6, 2008
Making a World Title Fight
I‘ve always been curious of how Pinoy boxers get that much-sought after chance to fight in a world championship and end up living up to the dreams that they made when they were young upstarts.
Some have been there, while some haven’t. There are even talks of how many Pinoy boxers who have the legitimate potential to become world champions never even get a chance to challenge for a world championship fight due to a number of forces beyond their control: politics, breaks and at times, plain luck.
But times today have changed ever since a boxer named Manny Pacquiao stepped up to the plate to deliver a homerun for Philippine boxing. Ever since Pacquiao scored a major breakthrough, Pinoy boxing is now on the map and is getting the attention of the international boxing scene. Nonito Donaire, Donnie Nietes and Florante Condes proudly carried the colors of the country when they won their world championships, while the recent forays of Bernabe Concepcion, Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, Dennis Laurente, Michael Farenas in the U.S. market have been attributed to the Pacman’s paving the way for other Pinoys to shine.
One of the beneficiaries of this scenario who hopes to make his dream come true is AJ “Bazooka” Banal who fights for the World Boxing Association (WBA) super flyweight championship of the world against Rafael Concepcion of Panama on July 26 at the Cebu Coliseum. Banal, who has been groomed and has already been baptized as the country’s next world champion, has been managed carefully through his young career to get that elusive crack, and now it’s finally there. But how did he get there?
For starters, it wasn’t easy. The politics, negotiating and wheeling and dealing was still there, but it also took some “breaks” to create the opportunity for Banal. The first big break came when Christian Mijares defeated Alexander Munoz for the unified WBC and WBA super flyweight championships. Since the WBA declares a division to have a “super champion” each time a championship is unified by one or two more boxing organizations, the regular world championship became vacant. This is when the hard nego work started.
Banal was rated # 3 when Mijares won, right below # 1Nobou Nashiro and # 2 Kohei Kono of Japan. It was only proper that the two Japanese boxers face off for the regular world championship since they were highest ranked boxers after Munoz. Right, but not quite. Since the WBA frowns on a world title fight involving two boxers from the same country, Banal was a logical choice to fight for the vacant title. We’ve been told that discussions on this had reached the level of the WBA Ethics Committee and the go-signal was given. Another option was to go for the WBO version of the championship, but since Z Gorres was eyed by ALA to go for it, Banal’s path was logically directed somewhere else.
I’m not too sure how and why Nashiro wasn’t that aggressive to grab that option, but the ALA Boxing Gym quietly moved to make Banal available for the world championship. Banal’s managers made offers to #4 Duangpetch Saengmorakot of Thailand and # 5 Roberto Vasquez of Panama, but both weren’t too hot about it. However, Rafael Concepción (#6) was available and willing to take on Banal for the world championship. And so offers were made and negotiations went unnoticed until all the contracts were signed and finally sealed.
We must also cite that Banal’s rising to #3 in the rankings wasn’t a mysterious trip to the top. Alter all, he’s undefeated and has shown his stuff in the U.S. market. Members of the WBA ratings committee have seen him fight and can confirm whether or not he belongs to the world’s top ten in the super flyweight division. In fact, the WBO, IBF and WBC have also taken notice of Banal and have included him in their rankings.
I’d like to believe that should Banal win the championship, the WBA would be glad to welcome him to their collection of WBA champs. They haven’t had a Pinoy champ for quite some time and a Banal championship would be a welcome development that could open the doors for other Pinoy boxers. Could this be the reason why the WBA’s top brass will be coming to supervise the Banal-Concepcion fight?
In a nutshell, that’s what the ALA group had to go through to make this world championship fight happen. But that’s only half of the job. They also had to deal with ABS-CBN, Golden Boy Promotions, the City Government of Cebu, and a host of other important elements crucial in an international boxing event like this one.
So mark your calendars. Months of burning the wires, emails and bargaining will finally see its fruits when Banal faces Concepción on July 26.
It wasn’t easy, but it’s there. A world championship fight is coming to Cebu again and it’s going to be good.
oOo
Time-out: Happy birthday to Pam Uy-Cruz and Erwin & Chiqui Arreza. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
July 6, 2008
Making a World Title Fight
I‘ve always been curious of how Pinoy boxers get that much-sought after chance to fight in a world championship and end up living up to the dreams that they made when they were young upstarts.
Some have been there, while some haven’t. There are even talks of how many Pinoy boxers who have the legitimate potential to become world champions never even get a chance to challenge for a world championship fight due to a number of forces beyond their control: politics, breaks and at times, plain luck.
But times today have changed ever since a boxer named Manny Pacquiao stepped up to the plate to deliver a homerun for Philippine boxing. Ever since Pacquiao scored a major breakthrough, Pinoy boxing is now on the map and is getting the attention of the international boxing scene. Nonito Donaire, Donnie Nietes and Florante Condes proudly carried the colors of the country when they won their world championships, while the recent forays of Bernabe Concepcion, Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista, Dennis Laurente, Michael Farenas in the U.S. market have been attributed to the Pacman’s paving the way for other Pinoys to shine.
One of the beneficiaries of this scenario who hopes to make his dream come true is AJ “Bazooka” Banal who fights for the World Boxing Association (WBA) super flyweight championship of the world against Rafael Concepcion of Panama on July 26 at the Cebu Coliseum. Banal, who has been groomed and has already been baptized as the country’s next world champion, has been managed carefully through his young career to get that elusive crack, and now it’s finally there. But how did he get there?
For starters, it wasn’t easy. The politics, negotiating and wheeling and dealing was still there, but it also took some “breaks” to create the opportunity for Banal. The first big break came when Christian Mijares defeated Alexander Munoz for the unified WBC and WBA super flyweight championships. Since the WBA declares a division to have a “super champion” each time a championship is unified by one or two more boxing organizations, the regular world championship became vacant. This is when the hard nego work started.
Banal was rated # 3 when Mijares won, right below # 1Nobou Nashiro and # 2 Kohei Kono of Japan. It was only proper that the two Japanese boxers face off for the regular world championship since they were highest ranked boxers after Munoz. Right, but not quite. Since the WBA frowns on a world title fight involving two boxers from the same country, Banal was a logical choice to fight for the vacant title. We’ve been told that discussions on this had reached the level of the WBA Ethics Committee and the go-signal was given. Another option was to go for the WBO version of the championship, but since Z Gorres was eyed by ALA to go for it, Banal’s path was logically directed somewhere else.
I’m not too sure how and why Nashiro wasn’t that aggressive to grab that option, but the ALA Boxing Gym quietly moved to make Banal available for the world championship. Banal’s managers made offers to #4 Duangpetch Saengmorakot of Thailand and # 5 Roberto Vasquez of Panama, but both weren’t too hot about it. However, Rafael Concepción (#6) was available and willing to take on Banal for the world championship. And so offers were made and negotiations went unnoticed until all the contracts were signed and finally sealed.
We must also cite that Banal’s rising to #3 in the rankings wasn’t a mysterious trip to the top. Alter all, he’s undefeated and has shown his stuff in the U.S. market. Members of the WBA ratings committee have seen him fight and can confirm whether or not he belongs to the world’s top ten in the super flyweight division. In fact, the WBO, IBF and WBC have also taken notice of Banal and have included him in their rankings.
I’d like to believe that should Banal win the championship, the WBA would be glad to welcome him to their collection of WBA champs. They haven’t had a Pinoy champ for quite some time and a Banal championship would be a welcome development that could open the doors for other Pinoy boxers. Could this be the reason why the WBA’s top brass will be coming to supervise the Banal-Concepcion fight?
In a nutshell, that’s what the ALA group had to go through to make this world championship fight happen. But that’s only half of the job. They also had to deal with ABS-CBN, Golden Boy Promotions, the City Government of Cebu, and a host of other important elements crucial in an international boxing event like this one.
So mark your calendars. Months of burning the wires, emails and bargaining will finally see its fruits when Banal faces Concepción on July 26.
It wasn’t easy, but it’s there. A world championship fight is coming to Cebu again and it’s going to be good.
oOo
Time-out: Happy birthday to Pam Uy-Cruz and Erwin & Chiqui Arreza. >>> You can reach me at bleachertalk@yahoo.com.
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