Wednesday, August 08, 2007 Gorrres cleared to fight
ALA Boy Z “The Dream” Gorres was given a clean health bill by the American eye specialist following a successful laser eye surgery that corrected the tear in his retina and Gorres will be able to fight in the World Cup of Boxing this Sunday (RP Time).
Gorres’ re-entry into the Philippine lineup boosted the campaign of the Filipino fighters who are seeking to dethrone Mexico in the World Cup at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California, USA.
Unfortunately, and in an ironic twist of events, Gorres will be facing a different opponent as his scheduled foe, Gerson Guerrero, will have to be replaced by former world champion Eric Ortiz, after Guerrero was found to have a detached retina.
Ortiz, who lost his WBC light flyweight title to Brian Viloria, was earlier scheduled to fight rising star AJ “Bazooka” Banal. However, with the latest twist in the Mexico vs. Philippines saga, Banal will have to wait a few more days to find out who he will be pummeling in an eight-round contest.
At press time, organizers have yet to announce the opponent of Banal.
Meanwhile, Dr. Steve Steinschriber gave Gorres the clearance to go ahead with his scheduled fight.
It was only last week that Gorres was reported to be unable to fight because of up because of the tear in his retina—discovered during a routine checkup. But after the laser surgery the following day, the one-time world title challenger was again inserted into the team.
Another title
It wasn’t the case for Guerrero, who failed to pass his medical checkup.
And instead of fighting Guerrero in a title eliminator contest, International Boxing Federation (IBF) is sanctiong the fight as an Intercontinental super flyweight championship, which is still a 12-round affair.
Meanwhile, members of the Team Philippines, led by its team captain Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista, are now in Sacramento and are billeted at the Vagabond Inn going into the final day of the event.
Seven Filipinos are seeking to unseat the Mexicans as the Boxing World Cup champion.
Bautista will be tested against Mexican warrior Daniel Ponce de Leon for the WBO super bantamweight title, Gerry Peñalosa is seeking his second world title against Johnny Gonzales in the WBO bantamweight championship.
Bert Batawang will fight Geraro Verde in an IBF light flyweight title eliminator bout; Michael Domingo is seeking respect from undefeated Miguel Roman; and Diosdado Gabi will fight Angel Beranza. The other two fights are between Ortiz and Gorres and Banal and a yet to be announced foe. (RCM)
