These are great times for Philippine Boxing. In the month of February alone, three Filipino fighters made waves in the US boxing scene inside the ring for the land of the three stars and the sun. And no, none of them were named Manny Pacquiao, although Pacquiao did make a lot of noise outside the ring when he met with US President Barrack Obama and when he unveiled his new ‘Justin Bieber-esque’ hairstyle.
Mercito ‘No Mercy’ Gesta started things off by forcing Genaro Tranzancos to habla “no mas” a second time after three rounds in their rematch that was held at the Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco last week. The next day, ALA Boxing Gym’s Mark Melligen proved too ‘Mighty’ for the formidable Gabriel Martinez, who’s only other loss came at the hands of Saul Canelo Alvarez. Melligen dominated the fight en-route to a lopsided unanimous decision win. And of course, who can forget that superstar-making performance by Nonito Donaire Jr. when he obliterated bantamweight king Fernando Montiel in 2 rounds.
We’ve saved the best for last.
This Friday at the Craneway Pavilion in Point Richmond, California, WBO female super bantamweight champion Ana ?The Hurricane? Julaton (7-2-1) aims to defend her title against the bigger and more experienced Franchesca ?The Chosen One? Alcanter (18-9-1) in her first fight back in the Bay Area since 2009. Julaton is definitely excited to put on a show in front of her hometown crowd once again, and has trained hard for this fight.
Julaton has taken the role of gym rat at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, where she has been working out and sparring almost every single day these last three weeks. Aside from working with her Hall of Fame trainer Roach, Julaton has also benefitted from sparring with top-flight sparring partners such as Rhonda Luna and former WBC men’s world light flyweight champion Rodel Mayol. Yes, you read that right. Julaton has been sparring with a male for the most part of this camp, and according to Mayol, she has more than held her own. “Ana punches like a man. Her punches hurt, that’s why when I spar with her, I also try to stay on my game or else I’ll get hit with a hard punch,” Mayol told me.
This is an extremely dangerous fight for Julaton. Alcanter is by no means a walk in the park. Instead of choosing a pedestrian opponent after two brutal wars in Canada against the best in her division, Julaton went for the opposite. ‘The Female Fighting Pride of the Philippines’ is taking on an opponent who is going down in weight and just went toe-to-toe with the then pound-for-pound best fighter in women’s boxing Ana Menzer. And if that wasn’t challenging enough, Alcanter is also an undefeated MMA fighter, and is familiar with Roach’s system after appearing in his instructional boxing videos.
Julaton, however, is unfazed. In fact, she is shooting for a result as impressive as her Filipino male counterparts’ had in boxing this month. That is simply the type of character Julaton possesses; she aims to tear walls down and break boundaries, and that’s why with only 10 fights, people call her a 3-time World Champion.
Check out my interview with Julaton as we discussed more about her fight with Alcanter (CLICK HERE). I will be commentating this fight for Philippine TV network TV5 together with one of the best Filipino boxing talents to come from the Bay Area in Glen ‘The Filipino Bomber’ Donaire.
