Pacquiao-Marquez IV undercard: Gesta-Vazquez, Gamboa-Beltran Jr

By Boxing News - 11/01/2012 - Comments

By Chris Williams: Thus far the December 8th Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez 4 undercard is still taking shape, and hopefully it’ll get better than what Top Rank has currently put together for the HBO televised fight at the MGM Grand, Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Here’s what Arum has put together at this point for the undercard:

Javier Fortuna vs. Patrick Hyland
Miguel Vazquez vs. Mercito Gesta
Michael Farenas vs. TBA
Dodie Boy Penalosa Jr. vs. TBA

Former two division world champion Yuriorkis Gamboa (21-0, 16 KO’s) could be facing Miguel Beltran Jr. (27-2, 17 KO’s) in a Cuba vs. Mexico match-up. Gamboa had left Top Rank earlier this year to sign with 50 Cent, but Top Rank and 50 Cent has made an agreement for Gamboa to fight on the card according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. It’s not really an ideal fight because Beltran Jr. isn’t a star or even close to being a star, and besides that he’s coming off of a 12 round decision loss to Roman Martinez last September on the undercard of the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Sergio Martinez fight. It’s too bad a better opponent couldn’t have been found because it would nice to see how Gamboa would do against a better fighter and a bigger name. For boxing fans, this isn’t a good fight. Arum can do better than this.

Arum has lined up his Filipino fighter Mercito Gesta (26-0-1, 14 KO’s), who some boxing fans think will be the next Manny Pacquiao, to fight for a title against IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez (32-3, 13 KO’s) in a fight that’s likely going to end with controversy. Sadly, the Gesta-Vazquez fight is supposed to be the co-main event and that’s pretty disappointing because Gesta is nothing special but he is the harder puncher of the two. Gesta’s going to get hit a lot more than he lands in this fight and is going to get out-boxed.

However, Gesta will have the large Filipino crowd cheering each time he lands, and he’ll connect cleanly when he does land. It’ll come down to the judges having to choose between the better boxer and the higher work rate in Vazquez or the harder landing shots of the more popular Gesta. I think goes without saying that Gesta will get the nod and look terrible in winning. It’ll be another controversial win for Gesta, and I can’t see it helping the card.

Arum needs to find at least one good undercard fight for this card involving popular fighters that actually have talent. Gamboa is the only good fighter on this undercard, but his fight against Beltran Jr. is not a good fight. Boxing fans won’t get their money’s worth for this undercard in my estimation.



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