Gesta decks foe, remains unbeaten

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino lightweight Mercito Gesta continued to shine under the bright lights of Vegas.

The 24-year-old Gesta lived up to his monicker “No Mercy” when he stopped Oscar Cuero of Columbia yesterday noon (Manila time) at the Mandalay Bay Resorts and Casino.

Gesta, a southpaw who’s just getting better scoring knockouts, was all over his shorter opponent who went down twice – in the seventh and eighth rounds.

It seemed that Cuero couldn’t take Gesta’s body blows that in the 1:38 mark of the eighth he went down for the last time. The end came in the 1:38 mark.

Gesta, who sent Cuero down with another body shot in the fifth round, is now 25-0 with 13 knockouts, 10 of them coming in his last 14 fights.

After the referee signaled the end of the fight, Gesta was joined in the celebration by his father, Aniceto, a muaythai and arnis practitioner who recently joined the team.

Cuero dropped to 15-8.

Gesta was a picture of a happy man and as he whooped it up as he talked to the camera.

Gesta made his pro debut in 2003, right after he turned 16, and fought his first 11 fights in the Philippines. He moved to the United States in 2007, and stayed undefeated.

Gesta said he’s ready to take on the big fights, including one against Juan Manuel Marquez. But he said it’s all up to his promoter, Top Rank, to chart his course.

For the meantime, the 5-foot-7 southpaw, who was born in Mandaue City, is happy with his accomplishments even foreign boxing scribes have taken notice of him.

“We’ve been calling out all the best [lightweights] in the world,” his trainer and manager Vince Parra said in an article that came out of Yahoo! Sports days to the fight.

“So far, we haven’t had any luck. This fight with Cuero is a good introductory fight on HBO, but it’s not the top opponent we wanted. We’re open to fighting any of the big guys out there, no matter who it is.”

Good things come to those who wait.