By Chris Williams: Former lightweight world title challenger Mercito Gesta (27-1-1, 15 KO’s) will be back in the ring next month on July 18th to face 35-year-old journeyman Luis Arceo (28-12-4, 18 KO’s) in a scheduled 10 round bout at the Armory in San Francisco, California.
Gesta, 26, has fought only once since losing a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision to IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez in December of 2012. Gesta looked like he didn’t belong in the same ring with the much more talented Vazquez, and by the time the fight was over, it was just embarrassing to watch how overmatched Gesta was in that fight.
Instead of continuing to stay busy after his schooling, Gesta reacted to the loss by staying out of the ring for the next year and half before coming back to defeat journeyman Edgar Riovalle (37-17-2, 26 KO’s) by an 8th round TKO last April. Now, Gesta is taking on another journeyman in Arceo, and who knows when he’s going to be stepped back up against top tier talent again.
It probably isn’t a good idea to put Gesta in with anyone good for a while because he looked pretty bad against Vazquez, and he might need to have his development restarted in order for him to learn the things he should have learned a long time ago, such as moving his head, jabbing, and using foot movement instead of standing flat-footed all the time.
Gesta does have good power and decent hand speed, but those qualities aren’t good enough for him to win at the upper level. He’s got to have much more than that for him to beat the top guys.
Gesta would be better off moving down to super featherweight where he would have more of a size advantage over the smaller guys at that weight. At lightweight, he’s going to have problems against guys like Terence Crawford, Richard Abril, Miguel Vazquez, Ricky Burns and Omar Figueroa.
Tickets, priced at $150, $85, $65 and $55, not including applicable service charges and taxes, are on sale now and available for purchase by visiting www.pacopresentsboxing.com, Undisputed Boxing Gym (650) 342-7408 and B Street Boxing Gym (650) 342-7408.
Comments are closed.