JHACK Tepora disappointed a lot of people by tipping the scales overweight in what would have been his US debut last January as one of the main features of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Adrien Broner show in Las Vegas.
However, former world champion and up-and-coming trainer Rodel Mayol still believes in Tepora’s talent and believes that with a little bit of guidance, the 23-year-old Danao City native will make it big.
“He has a huge chance of becoming a superstar and a millionaire if he focuses on his boxing career,” Mayol, the former World Boxing Council (WBC) light flyweight champion, told SunStar Cebu. “There is no problem with his abilities and his movement because that’s just easy to teach. What I’m teaching Jhack right now is how to be mature. His problem is that he’s still immature right now. I need to let him understand that boxing is his work and profession. Sometimes, he loses his focus as a professional boxer. It’s just like a game for him right now. He still doesn’t realize that with his abilities, and if he just focuses, he could be a millionaire and become the next superstar in boxing. He needs an adviser right now, but so far Jhack has been listening to me.”
Tepora was supposed to defend his interim World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight crown against former world champion Hugo Ruiz at the MGM Grand last Jan. 20. He, however, weighed-in 5.5 pounds over the 126-pound limit, which forced MP Promotions to pull him out of the fight and replace him with Alberto Guevara.
Tepora, 22-0 with 17 knockouts, luckily was given another chance by MP Promotions, who promotes him.
MP Promotions, Pacquiao’s promotional company, placed Tepora under Mayol at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.
Tepora has been training in the US since February in preparation for an upcoming fight still at the featherweight division in the next few months. He has been sparring with the likes of former world champion Jojo Diaz.
“So far, so good. He has been showing good movement and his weight is going down,” said Mayol. “At the end of April, or in the first week of May, he’ll be ready.” (EKA)