Panoncillo: Showcase Filipino boxers to achieve quality fights

PANONCILLO

SO MUCH was expected from the fourth installment of “Who’s Next?” Pro-Boxing Series, which was held last Saturday at the Pacific Grand Ballroom of the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino — a sprawling venue that has hosted several big-time boxing events in the past.

The high expectations, however, wasn’t met when the two Indonesian fighters in the featured bouts turned out to be duds.

Keeping their unbeaten records intact, Omega Boxing Gym’s Jhack “El Capitan” Tepora and Christian “The Bomb” Araneta hardly broke a sweat in pulling off first-round knockout victories with the former demolishing Yon Armed and the latter crushing Demsi Manufoe.

With the easy wins, Tepora retained his World Boxing Organization (WBO) Oriental junior featherweight title, while Araneta snatched the vacant WBO Oriental junior flyweight belt.

Though he was elated with how the card turned out especially with the action-packed undercard fights, Pio Paulo Castillo, president of Omega Pro Sports International, couldn’t hide his disappointment after watching the two overmatched Indonesian fighters.

“It was disappointing. I don’t need someone to tell me that,” Castillo told a group of sportswriters after the card.

Castillo admitted OPSI learned some lesson from the uneventful undertaking and vowed to bring in more quality fighters in the next editions of “Who’s Next?”

Castillo will not have to look far to find the ideal fighters, according to a top official of WBO.

Leon Panoncillo Jr., WBO’s vice president for the Asia-Pacific region, said that instead of bringing in foreign fighters, it is better to showcase Filipino boxers.

“It’s the first experience for Omega. You cannot expect a big show like this to have an impact when you don’t get the right opponents. They wanted to test their grounds against Indonesians,” said Panoncillo, who supervised the two WBO-sanctioned fights last Saturday.

“What I want to advise them is that, if you want good quality match-ups, you have to find the best Filipino boxers. Let the best Filipino fighters fight against each other. That’s how you get the best results, get competitive matches that would be pleasing to the fight fans,” Panoncillo said.

Panoncillo said bringing in foreign fighters to give a card an international flavor is not enough to achieve quality fights.

“The best fighters will not step outside their country because they are developing their own region. Like in Mexico, the boxers there are known to be tough because they tend to compete against each other first before fighting for a world title,” added Panoncillo.

If there’s a need to bring in foreign fighters, Panoncillo suggested to tap Mexican boxers.

“The quality of fighters in the Philippines is better than Thailand or Indonesia. They must seek Mexican boxers if they intend to pit their boxers against foreign fighters,” said Panoncillo.

As for Tepora, Panoncillo said it is high time to let him fight the best Filipino fighter in the 122-pound division.

“Why not let him (Tepora) fight Miguel Elorde? Tepora is the Oriental champion, while Elorde is the Asia Pacific champion. That would be a great match,” said Panoncillo.

Tepora is still unbeaten in 20 fights, while Elorde only has one loss with 23 victories.