‘Boom Boom’: A Warrior Reborn

Broken bones when healed are much, much stronger at the point of break. The same is true with defeat, in life as well as in boxing. After his devastating first-round KO defeat in the hands of World Boxing Organization (WBO) super bantamweight champion Daniel Ponce de Leon, reigning WBO Inter-Continental titlist Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista is coming back a stronger and better fighter than ever.

Born and raised in Candijay, Bohol, the 10th largest island in the heart of the Visayas, Bautista grew working in rice paddies together with his parents and is no stranger to the difficulty of life in rural Philippines. Feed up with poverty, he turned pro a week shy of his 17th birthday and won his first contest by unanimous decision. From then on, he has developed into a powerful juggernaut and defeated 18 of his 26 opponents by KO.

Bautista turned out to be a well-traveled pugilist in his very young career. With just eight fights in his belt, he campaigned outside the Philippine shores and fought against warriors in Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan. And he won all three.

He became the WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight champion in August 2004 by stopping Thai fighter Saensak Singmanasak. He defended the title twice until he let it go in 2007 when he snatched the vacant WBO Asia Pacific Youth title. At the same time, he took over the vacant WBO Inter-Continental super bantamweight crown.

At age 22 and more than five years in professional boxing, Boom-Boom Bautista kept the flame of his Boholano spirit and has defended his regional super bantamweight rule successfully against two warriors who ended their bids in a note of defeat. The last contender Genaro “Duro” Camargo of Mexico fell into the canvas in less than a minute in round 2.

Come August 30 at the Waterfront-Cebu City Hotel and Casino, Bautista will find himself facing a third challenge on his claim of the WBO Inter-Continental super bantamweight throne against an older foe Eden “Anestecista” Marquez of Mexico, who also defeated Camargo in February 2007.

Defeat has taught “Boom-Boom”  very well. The danger of not losing is to assume invulnerability that leads to the weakening of that hunger that pushes warriors such as Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao to unprecedented heights.

The Bautista-Marquez card will also feature ALA Gym’s first world champion Donnie “Ahas” Nietes, who will make the first defense of his WBO minimumweight belt against Nicaraguan Eddy Castro.

Billed as the “Night of Champions”, the event is presented by ALA Promotions in partnership with ABS-CBN Sports.