Anecito Gesta (left) and Mercito Gesta (right). | Facebook Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Anecito Gesta, the father and one of the trainers of Cebuano world title challenger Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta believes that his son can land a fight against unbeaten American interim world champion Ryan “King Ry” Garcia.
Reports came out earlier this week about the possibility of Garcia facing Gesta, Saul Rodriguez, or Tevin Farmer in his much-anticipated return after suffering a wrist injury last October.
Garcia underwent surgery in October to fix his right wrist. It took him more than three months to fully recover from the surgery and get back into training.
The older Gesta believes that once Garcia’s hand is fully-healed they are willing to face the latter.
“Tingali ug maayo na ang kamot ni Ryan (Garcia). Ug kung mosugot iyahang team magka duwa sila ni Mercito,” said Anecito Gesta who is now based along with Mercito in San Diego, California.
His son, Mercito, the pride of San Remegio, north Cebu hasn’t fought since 2019. Mercito’s boxing career hasn’t been that exceptional the past couple of years.
Despite winning the World Boxing Organization (WBO) NABO lightweight title in 2018 against Robert Manzanares, Gesta followed it up with a loss to Mexican Juan Antonio Rodriguez in 2019 and a majority draw against Carlos Morales in the same year.
Before he won the WBO NABO lightweight title, he faltered in his second world title shot, losing to Jorge Linares for the World Boxing Association (WBA) world lightweight title and World Boxing Council (WBC) Diamond lightweight title via unanimous decision in 2018.
The 34-year old Gesta has a record of 32 wins with 17 knockouts along with three defeats and three draws.
In 2012, he fought Miguel Vasquez for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world lightweight title where he lost by unanimous decision.
Currently, Gesta is regularly training in San Diego and has been seen training at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles alongside other Filipino boxers such as Mark Magsayo.
If selected to fight Garcia, it will be a big fight and chance for Gesta. The 23-year old Garcia (21-0, 18KOs) is best known for his knockout power and speed.
He is best remembered by Filipino boxing fans for his stunning first-round knockout of Romero Duno in 2019. /rcg