Z Gorres falls victim to bum decision

The smell of cheating was so pervasive Saturday night that diehard boxing fans thought the WBO stood for World Boxing Odor, and not as World Boxing Organization.

The Puerto Rico-based governing body came under fire following Z Gorres’ controversial defeat at the hands of WBO super flyweight Fernando Montiel of Mexico at the Cebu City sports complex.

The Filipino challenger dominated the first eight rounds of the scheduled 12-rounder, but still ended up the loser by split decision.

While Gorres appeared to have lost steam in the closing rounds, the skillful Mandaue native piled up enough points with precision-punching in the first eight rounds that not even the two-point deduction could have made a difference if the two judges saw it fair and square.

Montiel won on the scoresheets of Chuck Giampa (114-112) and Raul Caiz (115-111), while Gorres triumphed in the scorecard submitted by Denny Nelson (115-111).

The Bulletin had Gorres winning a close decision.

Referee Samuel Viruet, a Puerto Rican from New York, slapped a point each against Gorres for holding in the 10th and 12th rounds without prior warning, drawing the ire of Tony Aldeguer, Gorres’ chief handler.

"The referee should have warned Gorres first before deducting a point," Aldeguer argued.
Aldeguer organized the world-class boxing card that could rival Las Vegas.
With the way the two judges handled the scoring, Montiel would have still retained the crown by split draw even if there were no deductions.

Still, Aldeguer could not hide his disappointment even if all of his other fighters emerged triumphant.

Rey ‘Boom Boom’ Bautista secured a place on the May 5 Oscar dela Hoya-Floyd Mayweather show with a vicious third-round demolition of last-minute replacement Marino Gonzalez of Mexico while fast-rising super-fly AJ ‘Bazooka’ Banal flattened Komrith 3k Battery in less than a round with a hybrid left hook-uppercut.

In the other title match, Jimrex Jaca stopped Simson Butar-Butar of Indonesia in seven rounds to claim the WBO Intercontinental superfeather crown.

In a four-round special attraction, Bai Elorde, grandson of the late-great world junior-lightweight king Flash Elorde, defeated Joseph Mateo in the two fighters’ pro debut.
For his brave effort, Gorres would still remain the No. 1 contender status, officials of the WBO assured his handlers. Montiel will go home with a purse of 0,000, while Gorres will savor every cent of his ,000 paycheck.

Reality Bites for Z “The Dream” Gorrez

Mexican world champion Fernando "Cochulito" Montiel proved to be a classy champion from the day he set foot in Cebu. On fight night, Filipino challenger Z “The Dream” Gorres turned out to be the more skillfull fighter.

But when the verdict was announced, the 24-year-old Gorres’ hard work went for naught as two of the three judges tallied controversial scores that spoiled a virtually masterful performance by the worthy Filipino title challenger.

The southpaw Gorres, a huge underdog going into the fight, demonstrated a brilliant, all-around performance that baffled a usually cool and calculated Montiel to the delight of more than 20,000 Filipino fight fans at the Cebu City Sports Center.

However, judges Raul Caiz and Chuck Giampa contentiously gave three crucial rounds to Montiel that were clearly won by Gorres.

Caiz had a final mark of 115-111 while Giampa had it 114-112, both for Montiel.
Denny Nelson saw it 115-111 for Gorres while this writer penned it 114-112 for Gorres.
Referee Sammy Viruet deducted a total of two points from Gorres, one each in the 10th and 12th round for excessive holding as the Filipino challenger tried to hang on after being caught by a solid right straight by Montiel middle of the 10th round.

“The referee should have given Gorres a warning before any deduction was made. It’s an instinct for fighters to clinch if hit by a real good punch,” said boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao who witnessed the fight at ringside.

Meanwhile, the contentious scoring happened in the 5th to 7th rounds that can actually be considered as Gorres’ best rounds.

In the fifth canto, Montiel looked clueless after being peppered by Gorres’ stiff combinations. Gorres’ fluid defense made the Mexican miss a good number of his usual deadly hooks and counterpunches.

Giampa and Nelson gave the fifth to Gorres while Caiz went for Montiel.

Gorres continued his dazzling show in the 6th as he made Montiel miss some body attacks. The Filipino sensation also connected some well-timed left straights and counter blows.

Despite Gorres ample executions in the 6th round, Caiz and Giampa gave it to Montiel.
In the 7th round, Montiel connected some body shots and occasional right punches but Gorres never wavered by whacking the Mexican with his own left straights and significant jabs.

Again, Caiz and Giampa ignored the efforts of Gorres by giving the 7th to Montiel.

Had Caiz and Giampa given the fifth to seventh rounds to Gorres, the Filipino would have won the fight unanimously.

“He can be a world champion soon. He did a great performance tonight,” was all Montiel could say when asked by reporters about his thoughts on the verdict.

The 27-year-old Montiel, who had a bad cut on his left eyebrow as a result of Gorres' crisp punches, defended his crown for the fourth time since winning it from compatriot Ivan

Hernandez in April 2005.

Before scoring the controversial win against Gorres, Montiel lost a 12-round split verdict to Jhonny Gonzales for the WBO world bantamweight crown May of last year.

Montiel’s accessibility to media and fans made him also a favorite for Filipino autograph seekers.
Montiel improves to 33-2-1, with 24 KO's while Gorres drops to 26-2-1, 14 KO's.

Montiel not keen on Gorres rematch

AFTER disposing of his mandatory challenger Z "The Dream" Gorres, Fernando "Cochulito" Montiel is moving on to his next target – compatriots Jorge Arce or Christian Mijares to unify the super-featherweight belts.

I want Arce or Mijares. I want to unify all the titles,” said Montiel through his interpreter Maha Farner during the victory dinner held at the Marriot Hotel, Saturday evening.
Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007

However, he only wanted to fight Arce if the later will become champion.
Arce and Mijares will fight for the WBC 115lb belt on April 14, underneath the Manny Pacquiao-Jorge Solis fight at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

With this plan, Montiel is not keen now in giving Gorres a rematch.

“No, I want to move on to another fight. But I am a fighter and I will always fight. If there will be a rematch then I will fight Gorres, anytime, anywhere. Even in the moon, I’ll fight him again,” said Montiel.

Montiel also dismissed talks he will vacate his title to move up to the heavier bantamweight division.

Being the first world champion to successfully defend his belt in the Philippines, Montiel feels proud and honored but admitted he had a tough time against the busy-unching Gorres.

“We pushed him (Montiel) hard and it was his heart that made him win because there was no other way. We only had four days to train against a southpaw and it was a very difficult for us,” said Montiel’s father-trainer Manuel Sr.

Last Saturday was Montiel’s second time to defend his belt in the country of his challenger. The first was in Germany when he fought Zoltan Lunka.

However, it was here when Montiel felt welcome.

“I really appreciate the way the Filipinos treated us. And I wish I could return some to stay. I feel at home here,” Montiel expressed.

Meanwhile, Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez is now planning to hold a Montiel-Gorres rematch in the boxing world cup, which will be held here in August.

“I want to rematch this fight in the Boxing World Cup. We will have a lot of things to talk about regarding this but we will surely work on a rematch,” Gomez explained.

According to him, he had Gorres winning eight rounds over Montiel but two judges—Chuck Giampa and Raul Caiz saw otherwise.

Aside from the controversial two points taken away from the scorecards of Gorres by referee Samuel Veruet, Gomez is impressed with the way SGG Sports Promotions and ALA Boxing Gym organized the event.

“This is a very well organized promotion, and I liked what I saw with regards to the attendance and the way they handled the event. This could even get bigger during the World Cup,” said Gomez.

With Boholano sensation Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista groomed to be the main event of the World Cup Boxing, Golden Boy Promotions and Cebuano promoter Sammy Gello-ani is now back to the drawing board to work on their next big project for Cebu.

The Battle of Cebu Boxing (Moment of Truth)

In the night's first bout, Weng Haya prevailed on a unanimous decision over Romnick Rapista, 39-37 from all three judges.

In the night's second bout, Bai Elorde looked impressive in a four-round unanimous decision over a taller Joseph Mateo. All three judges saw the bout 40-36 for a one-sided win.
In the third bout, ALA Boy Joseph Omanz dominated Markyll Taroja, scored a knockdown in the first, before prevailing on a unanimous decision over four rounds.

Bert Batawang knocked down Indonesia's Sofyan Efendi twice in the fourth round to score an impressive TKO win at the 2:12 mark.

At this point, superstar Manny Pacquiao arrives with his big entourage, and receives both boss and cheers from the crowd. Must be due to his political aspirations.
Alex John Banal unleashed a big left to Thailand's Komrith Evereadygym to win by KO in the first round.

JACA DETHRONES SIMSON BUTAR-BUTAR

Jimrex 'The Executioner' Jaca stopped the very durable Indonesian Simson Butar-Butar to snatch the WBO Asia-Pacific superfeatherweight crown on a seventh-round knockout.

MONTIEL RETAINS CROWN OVER GORREZ BY SPLIT DECISION

Fernando Montiel retained his WBO superfly title with a somewhat controversial split decision over Filipino Z 'The Dream' Gorres.

Raul Caiz scored the bout 115-111 for Montiel, Denny Nelson penned it 115-111 for Gorres, while Chuck Giampa saw it 114-112 for Montiel.

Referee Sammy Viruet made two deductions on Gorres throughout the fight, a decision which may be questioned by the Gorres camp.

Bautista Stops Mexican Gonzales in round 3

Undefeated Boholano Rey 'Boom Boom' Bautista continued his undefeated streak, stopping Mexican Marino Montiel Gonzalez in the third round of their scheduled 12-rounder in Cebu City last a few minutes.

Bautista unleashed a huge left to the midsection in the third, sending Gonzalez down on his knees for good as referee Bruce McTavish tolled the count and waived off the fight.
In the first, Bautista scored an early knockdown with a big right that sent Gonzalez on his knees for the first time.

By the second, a confident Bautista continued to press the attack, although the Mexican countered with shots of his own to somehow keep himself in the fight.

The win improved Bautista's unblemished record to 22 wins, no loss with 17 KO's, and lines him up for a big May 5 bout with Argentina's Sergio Mediana in a 12-round WBO superbantam title eliminator.

"I am very thankful to the support. See you on May 5," said Bautista in an interview with the media after the fight, referring to the huge 'The World Awaits' card featuring Oscar De la Hoya against Floyd Mayweather Jr. where he is fighting on the undercard.
Golden Boy Promotions international matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz, in an interview, said that De la Hoya himself had personally picked Bautista to be included in the card, and up to this writing, only the Filipino star is a lock for the card.

AJ BANAL ANOTHER SPECTACULAR WIN OVER THAI Lukkuongmuekol

AJ "Bazooka" Banal registered another spectacular knockout win after he made short work of Thai visitor Komrit Lukkuongmuekol during last night's 'Moment of Truth' boxing event at Cebu City Sports Complex here.

Banal (12-0-1 10 KOs), who stopped ten of his 12 victims inside the distance, disposed Komrit (15-3-0 11 KOs) in 2:11 of the first round with a vicious left that sent the Thai sprawling to the canvas and stayed their for a good few minutes after failing to beat the count.

Komrit, also known as 3K Battery Eveready Gym, is himself a dangerous knockout artist having stopped 11 of his 15 victims, 8 of them Filipinos including Banal's stablemate Sherwin Paro. Paro, fighting Komrit on Sep. 2003, had racked 11 successive wins by then including 8 knockouts and was looked up as Cebu's fast rising prospect when he was stopped by Komrit in the 5th round.

Thus 'Bazooka' Banal avenged Paro's loss and continues to blast the opposition amazingly against a very tough lineup which was thrown at his very young career. The 18-year-old Banal have now battled and disposed 5 Thais and 2 Indonesians, knocking all of them out except one.

Banal sports a solid defensive stance which is very hard to penetrate in addition to an awesome one-punch KO power from both hands and a highly technical boxing and counter-punching abilities.

Golden Boy Promotions Vice-President Eric Gomez, watching at ringside, disclosed after the fight that he will work for Banal to fight in the undercard of the Oscar de la Hoya-Floyd Mayweather superfight on May 5 in Las Vegas.

Matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz, on the other hand, said that Banal might fight for a world title as early as this year.