Mercito Gesta Sr. (left) says they already have a game plan for Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta Jr. (right) on how to beat Ryan “King Ry” Garcia in their upcoming bout on Jan. 28, in Phoenix, Arizona. | Facebook photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Mercito Gesta Sr., the father of San Diego-based Cebuano boxer Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta Jr., is confident his son will hand Ryan “King Ry” Garcia’s first defeat in the Jan. 28, 2023 bout in Phoenix, Arizona.
Gesta Sr. told CDN Digital that they had already figured out long ago how to beat the younger Garcia.
Now that they’re weeks away from fight night, Gesta Sr. is confident his son will beat the rising boxing star.
The 35-year-old Gesta, a former world title challenger and former WBO NABO lightweight champion, is eyeing a back-to-back winning streak following his sensational unanimous decision victory against American Joel Diaz Jr. last April.
Gesta knocked down Diaz twice in the first round and went on to dominate the 10-rounder bout. Gesta has a record of 33 wins with 17 knockouts, 3 defeats, and 3 draws.
“Tan- aw nako wala niya i-underestimate si Mercito kay gani three times na siya umayaw nga kalabanin si Mercito. Ang nag-underestimate ka Mercito, ang mga fans niya nga dako kaayo ug salig niya,” said Gesta Sr. of San Remigio town, north Cebu.
(The way I look at it is he is not underestimating Mercito because he refused to fight Mercito three times. The ones, who underestimate Mercito are the fans who believe him.)
Gesta and Garcia have been pitted against each other for the latter’s tune-up bout before facing WBA world lightweight champion Gervonta Davis.
Garcia unbeaten
Garcia, an interim WBC world lightweight champion, is unbeaten in 23 bouts with 19 knockouts and currently ranked No. 1 in the WBA world rankings.
“Two months sapat na para sa iyahang training kay dugay na namo nakita ang paagi unsaon pagpildi kay ikatulo na unta ni nila nga pairing sa mga matchmakers, labaw na si Robert Diaz sa Golden Boy Promotions,” Gesta Sr. revealed.
(Two months training will be enough for him because we have long seen how to beat [Garcia] because this is the third time that they have been paired by matchmakers, especially Robert Diaz of the Golden Boy Promotions.)
Gesta Sr. on son’s advantage
For Gesta Sr., they all have the advantage against Garcia, who for him has been avoiding fighting his son.
“Advantage ni Mercito sa ka Ryan ang katalawan niya sa duwa ug kahadlok niya kang Mercito. Mausab iyang duwa kung madayon pa. Plus, dili siya daghan ug combinations. Maayo lang siya sa counter,” Gesta Sr. said.
(The advantage of Mercito from Ryan is his fear of Mercito. His game will be affected if this will push through. Plus, he has not that many combinations. He is only good in counters.)
“Unya nakita namo nakadaog lang siya kang Morales, sa majority decision. Si Mercito hapit na unta maknockout. Tiwasonon na unta pero gihunong sa referee. Maong gitabla ug sa ako mismo nigakos si Morales ug niingon grabe ka kusog ni Mercito kuno maong naglisod siya. Ug nakita namo ang deperinsya sa duwa nila ni Ryan,” Gesta Sr. said.
(And we saw that he only won against Morales in a majority decision. Mercito, he nearly knocked out [Morales]. He was going to finish him but the referee stopped the fight. That is why it ended in a draw and Morales, himself, hugged me and said that Mercito’s punches were really hard and he really found the fight difficult. And we also saw the difference of their fight with Ryan.)
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