Monday, July 28, 2008 His body broke down By Edri K. Azanar Sun.Star Staff Reporter
AJ “Bazooka” Banal may have lost the battle but it isn’t the end of the road for him.
After suffering his first defeat at the hands of the Panamanian brawler Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion last Saturday at the Cebu Coliseum, Banal will soon be right back up in the ring but first he must recuperate.
The 19-year-old young rising star was brought to the Cebu Doctors Hospital, Saturday night, after he nearly fainted in the locker room after the war.
Banal was diagnosed to have suffered from extreme fatigue and had low electrolytes.
ALA Promotions President Michael Aldeguer was relieved that his young pugilist didn’t have any permanent damage to his body.
“He was extremely fatigued. He ran out of gas in the later rounds. Maybe he over-trained. But the most important thing is that he’s fine and healthy,” Aldeguer told Sun.Star Cebu in an interview yesterday.
Banal is staying in the hospital to rest and is scheduled to be discharged today.
The tough kid that he is, Banal would have wanted to stand up to continue the fight but his body just broke down according to the ALA Promotions President.
“His mind told him to get up but his body just wouldn’t let him,” said Aldeguer on what Banal was thinking after he was on his knees being counted by renowned referee Raul Caiz Jr.
Emotional scar
According to Aldeguer, had Banal stood up and forced his body to fight, there would be a chance that he would have permanent damage because of the punishment.
The top priority for ALA Gym right now is to assess what happened to Banal that night and study what to do next time.
“We’ll find out what went wrong and evaluate what happened,” told Aldeguer.
The only problem that Banal is facing right now is the emotional scar that the fight had left him.
“The thing that’s bothering him now is that he let the Cebuanos down and his countrymen,” said Aldeguer.
