Tuesday, December 18, 2007 Retirement beckons Batawang
BERT Batawang’s dream of coming home a world champion was shattered into pieces when he lost to Mexican Ulises Solis by a 9th round technical knockout last Sunday at the Auditorio Benito Juarez in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico—the hometown of Solis.
That fight could also be Batawang’s last fight.
“We will assess everything about his future. Probably I will give him one more fight (at home) and assess if we he should continue to fight and seek another chance for the world title,” said his manager Sammy Gello-ani.
Gello-ani told Sun.Star Cebu that Bert did his best and stayed on with their gameplan but the Mexican proved to be quicker and better-prepared than his boy, who came into the fight with high hopes and huge determination.
“I gave it to Bert. He lost to a better fighter and a true world champion. Solis was good and better prepared. They’ve done their homework,” Gello-ani said.
The Solis fight could probably end Batawang’s 17-year boxing career.
At 36-years-old, with dreams half fulfilled, Batawang might not see action in the ring anymore.
Before he went into a five-year hiatus, Batawang failed to win any boxing title. But when he came back and was taken into Gello-ani’s fold in October 2000 —his lifelong dream of becoming a world champion started to take shape.
First he won the Philippine Boxing Federation (PBF) title after eight comeback fights, later he became the legitimate Philippine national light flyweight champion in January 2003. He was able to challenge for the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) title but lost. He later became a regional champion after winning the WBA Pan African 108-pound belt in November 2004.
The world title fight did not come easy for Batawang as he also had a lot of frustrations to go through before it pushed through.
The Solis fight was canceled three times and was also moved a week later than the original Dec. 8.
Team Batawang left Guadalajara yesterday and is scheduled to leave Los Angeles, California on Dec.18 (Dec. 19 RP time). (RCM)
