| |
BAUTISTA |
|
Promoters
are hyping it up as some sort of payback time, but it's
going to be the beginning of the road for redemption
as far as super-bantamweight Rey 'Boom Boom' Bautista
is concerned.
Bautista,
whose world almost came to an end when he absorbed a
first-round knockout loss to Daniel Ponce De Leon last
August in Sacramento, California, gets a chance to rehabilitate
his once-flourishing career when he bangs bodies with
Antonio Meza as big-time boxing returns to the Araneta
Coliseum on the morning of Dec. 2.
"Rey is doing great in training and, so far, he
has done more than 80 rounds of actual sparring,"
said Tony Aldgeguer, the Cebu sports patron whose son
Michael represents Bautista.
|
Aldeguer
said Bautista regularly spars with Z Gorres and super-fly
hot prospect AJ Banal, who is also seeing action in the undercard
of the slugfest being put up by Third Force, a new promotional
outfit beefed up by the presence of former pro basketball
league chief Noli Eala.
|
|
|
To
further drum up interest in the Big Dome card, Bautista
and Banal are flying to Manila from Cebu to meet up
with their foreign counterparts on Nov. 27.
"Bautista
is the second most popular Filipino fighter next to
Manny Pacquiao," said Eala, who is confident that
the 20-year-old Bohol-born, Cebu-based banger is very
much capable of bouncing back.
"He
is young and he is fun to watch," said Eala.
Banal,
a knockout artist like Bautista, faces Jovanny Soto,
also of Mexico.
|
Apart
from the two Mexicans, an Indonesian and a Tanzanian would
also be imported.
Third
Force is promoting the event is coordination with Aldeguer's
famed ALA Boxing Club.
While
the traditional practice in staging boxing shows will be followed
to the letter, Eala's group is introducing innovations in
holding high-profile cards.
Amy
Hayes, the world's most beautiful ring announcer, will make
the formal introduction, while the Kitty Girls, whose singing
and dancing style mimic the Pussycat Dolls, have also been
signed up to add spice.
|
