by R. McCarson
Featherweights Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista (32-2, 24 KOs) and Genaro “Poblanito” Garcia (38-8, 22 KOs) will headline the Pinoy Pride XII fight card on Saturday, March 3rd. The event will be hosted at the Carlos P. Garcia Sports Complex in Tagbilaron City, Bohol, Philippines.
As a Bohol native, Bautista comes into this bout with home-field advantage. Additionally, he’s coming off six consecutive wins—all against fighters with winning records. His last win was over Miguel Angel Mendoza. Mendoza was undefeated at the time, and Bautista sent him to the canvas twice in round one, and then again in round six to the end the fight by knockout.
The win over Mendoza was integral in his continued climb of the featherweight ranks.
In 2007, Bautista was easily one of the most recognizable Filipino boxers of his time, soon to be prince to King Pacquiao. But in August of ’07, all of that disappeared when he faced Daniel Ponce de Leon in a world championship title bout. Ponce de Leon came out of the gates strong, throwing combinations wildly that forced Bautista to retreat. A left hook sent Bautista crashing into the ropes, and his subsequent failure to protect himself ended the fight at 2:30 in round one. A little over a year later, he acquired another loss, this time against Heriberto Ruiz by unanimous decision.
Various injuries have caused Bautista’s camp to move slowly as they progress towards another world championship title bout. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted ALA Promotions President, Michael Aldeguer.
“With the injuries that he had, he needs more time. We are in no rush. He’s still young and it’s not about the number of fights that he has to go through before earning a world title fight, but it’s on how he performs in every fight.”
Saturday, Bautista faces Mexican fighter, Genaro Garcia, who at 34-years-old, is nine years Bautista’s senior. Although Garcia has gone 3-4 in his last seven bouts, he’s faced skilled competition in the ring.
In 2006, he faced Hozumi Hasegawa for the WBC bantamweight title and lost by scores of 110-114 and 109-114 twice. His next bout was against Luis Alberto Perez for a vacant IBF bantamweight title, in which he came away with a TKO 7 loss. He followed that loss with a UD win over Miguel Roman. In 2009, he acquired a TKO 12 loss against current super bantamweight titlist, Toshiaki Nishioka, and a TKO 7 loss against Wilfredo Vazquez Jr.
On the undercard, two of several fights featured will be junior welterweight Filipino prospect Jason “El Nino” Pagara (27-2, 16 KOs) vs. Indonesian Frans “Hands of Stone” Yarangga (10-1-1, 7 KOs) and Michael “Bruce Lee” Domingo (43-16-2, 22 KOs) vs. Marvin Tampus (27-14-2, 18 KOs), both of whom are from the Philippines.
Pagara comes into this bout seven years younger than his opponent at 23 years of age. Since the beginning of 2011, Pagara has come away with knockout wins in three bouts. But, in his last bout, he acquired the second loss of his career when he took on Mexican fighter, Rosbel Montoyak, losing by unanimous decision with scores of 94-96, 91-99 and 93-97.
Although he is the older fighter, Yarangga comes into this bout with little experience, and ten of his twelve bouts have been against fighters making their professional debut. He’s coming off three consecutive wins, and his only loss came in 2010 against a fighter who was ranked 8-8 at the time.
In the bantamweight division, Michael Domingo will take on fellow Filipino fighter, Marvin Tampus, in what his promoter referred to as a tune-up bout. Domingo is scheduled to face fourth-ranked bantamweight Joseph Agbeko in May of this year. Domingo has lost two of his last three bouts, both by unanimous decision. Domingo’s other fourteen losses came prior to 2007.
Tampus has fought in a third less bouts than his upcoming opponent, and most of those fights have come against mediocre competition. The majority of his fourteen losses on record have come in the latter half of his career.
The Pinoy Pride XII fight card will also feature (bouts subject to change): unbeaten Filipino Genesis Servania vs. Kenyan Nick Otieno, Mark Acub vs. Freddie Martinez, Juren Labordo vs. Jessie Dignos, Jimmy Paypa vs. Roel Peligro, Rey Morales vs. Jordan Catubay, and Pedro Balaba vs. Jerome Casas.
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