Thursday, November 27, 2008 Back to square one By Edri K. Aznar
IT’S not the end of the line for ALA star Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista’s boxing career as his handlers will be assessing what went wrong in his unanimous decision loss against former world title contender Heriberto Ruiz last Sunday so that he will return to the ring a stronger fighter.
“We will go back to the drawing board. We will look into the whole team Bautista. We will have a thorough evaluation on him and the whole team. We are going to listen to what Rey has to say. We will do everything to bring Rey back,” said Aldeguer in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
“He needs to rest. He’s okay but is feeling disappointed with his loss and letting down his country,” he added.
Even if Bautisa suffered a loss in his comeback fight in the US, Aldeguer said he isn’t ashamed of his ward’s performance because the 22-year-old did his best against Ruiz, who has fought the best of the division, and never surrendered until the end of the bout.
Tough fight
“We knew it was a tough fight. We knew it was a test for Rey as to where he is at right now. We give credit to Ruiz. We have no excuses for our loss. Rey never gave up, he fought until the end. He failed. But he failed with dignity,” said Aldeguer.
This was Bautista’s second straight loss in the US, his first loss was a devastating technical knockout against former World Boxing Organization super bantamweight king Daniel Ponce De Leon.
Aldeguer clarified that cutman Tony Martin was unable to impede the bleeding on the gash that Bautista acquired following an accidental clash of heads with Ruiz, because Bautista was cut in three different places—above the right eye, the left eye and a huge wound on the forehead.
“The cut on Rey was impossible to stop because it was bleeding profusely. The third cut above the forehead was very big,” said Aldeguer, who said that a bleeding on the forehead is usually very difficult to stop.
There will be a possibility that Bautista will reside in the US and learn the modern scientific ways of training to improve his boxing skills.
“We are looking for our options. There will be a big chance that he will be having a strict training regimen,” said Aldeguer.
Meanwhile, WBO Oriental bantamweight champion Michael Domingo will be tested once again here in the Philippines, for his Hepatitis B ailment.
“We had Michael tested in another hospital in the US and he still came out positive. We will have him tested here in the Philippines and see how it goes and how to treat his ailment,” said Aldeguer.
Domingo was supposed to battle Nestor Rocha last week but was replaced by Oscar Andrade after he was found to have Hepatitis B.
