Two Filipino fighters face tough battles on the eve of “The Event” featuring pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao and Ghana;’s Joshua Clottey, at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Texas.

22 year old southpaw Richie Mepranum who has a record if 16-2-1 with only three knockouts takes on unbeaten and hard-hitting flyweight contender Hernan “Tyson” Marquez who has 18 big knockouts in 25 wins in the main event of the Top Rank Promotions card.

Marquez won by a 2^nd round knockout over Ricardo Armenta last December 19 while Mepranum scored back-to-back decisions in the US beating Cesar Lopez on December 6, 2008 and then sc oring a six round split decision over Ernie Marquez on November 14, 2009.

Mepranum once h eld the WBO Oriental flyweight title which he won via a twelve round unanimous decision of Tanzania’s Juma Fundi in Maasim, Sarangani on June 14, 2008. Sarangani is where Pacquiao is seeking a congressional seat in the May 10 elections.

Southpaw Dennis Laurente  faces Ghana’s veteran Ben TNackie who has a record of 29-11-1 with 17 knockouts. The 32 year old Laurente who has a record of 33-3-5 with 17 knockouts is coming off an easy 2nd round TKO over Thailand’s Laimongkorn Chuwatana last Januart 23.

Tackie dropped a ten round decision to Matthew Hatton, young brother of Britain’s Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton in his last fight.   

Both Mepranum and Laurente who is a fighter of Johnny Elorde have been training at the Wild Card Gym of Freddie Roach in Los Angeles and are reportedly in good shape and ready to take on two tough opponents.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS FARINA/TOP RANK

IBO president Ed Levine has spared his organization some embarrassment over the patently hometown decision that robbed Filipino veteran Juanito Rubillar of the world light flyweight title which was effectively gifted to South African Hekkie Budler by the three judges who, in stark violation of the IBO’s pronouncements on judges neutrality, were all South Africans.

In a communication to Rubillar’s manager, Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde Jr, Levine noted that while Elorde spoke about filing a protest he actually didn’t. However, Levine informed Elorde “I intend to strongly encourage and recommend to Golden Gloves (the promoter) and Hekkie Budler that they give an immediate rematch to Rubillar.”.

The Philippines Rocky Fuentes of the famed ALA Gym of respected boxing patron Tony Aldeguer has  won the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation flyweight  title with a majority decision over defending champion  Masafumi Okubo of Japan  at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

Japanese judge Kazunobu Asoj scored the fight 116-114 for Fuentes, Filipino judge Ben Necessario had the No.1 rated challenger the winner 115-113 while Australian judge Brad Vocale scored it even at 114-114.

With the win Fuentes improves to 25-6-2 with 15 knockouts while Okubo drops to 16-3-1 with 5 knockouts.

The 29 year old Okuba had successfully defended his title three times after winning the crown by a twelve round unanimous decision over Korea’s Jin Ki Jung on April 14, 2008.

In his last defense on May 2, 2009 Okubu scored a 7^th round TKO over Yuchi Eausampan  after earlier retaining his crown with a unanimous decision over Filipino Jojo Bardon. He kept the title with a 3^rd round technical decision in a fight against Yssuto Aritomi  on August 16, 2008.

The 24 year old solidly built Fuentes was coming off a 3^rd round TKO over Pit Anacaua last January 17 after earlier scoring a 2^nd round knockout over Allan Ranada on June 27, 2009

“Fighter of the Decade” and pound-for-pound superstar Manny Pacquiao is so eager to get on with his WBC title defense against former champion Joshua Clottey at the fabulous Dallas Cowboys $1.2 billion state-of-the-art stadium that adviser Michael Koncz says “too bad the fight is not tomorrow.”

Pacquiao and some 40,000 fight fans who are expected to kick-start Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ stadium into the mainstream of big-time boxing and what Top Rank promoter Bob Arum believes will become the “Mecca of boxing in this centur will have to wait until Sunday, Manila Time,  to get “The Event” underway.

Koncz who appeared to feel a little more relaxed after attending to the needs of Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee and the room assignments of an entourage of some 160 people who were ferried aboard a specially chartered “Air Pacquiao” jet from Los Angeles to Dallas told us that “everything is going fabulous. Manny had a media workout where there was an overwhelming turnout.”

He said Pacquiao “is in fine shape and Freddie (Roach) had to pull him back in training but he went jogging and is looking really good.” Koncz said Pacquiao is “enjoying himself in Texas and the people are very hospitable.

However, Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach has shown a little concern over whether Clottey, the big, strong challenger from Ghana will be as hospitable in the ring as he is friendly and respectful outside.

Although he is confident they have studied Clottey and know how to capitalize on his flaws Roach is concerned about the Ghana fighter’s penchant to use his head when he fights on the inside.

Roach noted that “sometimes he (Clottey) uses his head and if you fall into the pocket with him, his best punch is an uppercut and his second best punch is a head-butt.”

To Roach there’s an obvious answer.”We are going to fight him at a distance and not stand in front of him” he says,  pointing out that “if you stand in front of him you’re an idiot. We are not going to do that. He’s not going to be able to find us.”

Conditioning guru Alex Ariza said earlier that Pacquiao’s bothersome left leg had healed completely and there was no cause for concern which means that the Pacquiao will use his incredible speed, quick in and out and lateral movements to the full and pepper Clottey with punches from all angles.

The Pacquiao-Clottey fight card will be carried on a “live” basis on a number of pay-per-view outlets and on television by Solar Sports including the “Mecca of Philippine sports and entertainment – the Araneta Coliseum where huge, four-sided screens provide the ambiance of almost being at ringside in Dallas.

The fights will also be carried in all Robinson, SM and Rockwell Cinemas and numerous other venues, restaurants, bars and clubs around the country. Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim will also provide “live” telecasts in venues in each of the congressional districts in Manila, free to the public.

Former Philippine super flyweight champion and Philippine Boxing Federation super bantamweight champion Eric “The Maverick” Barcelona has lost in a ten round bout against undefeated former Japanese bantamweight champion Kohei Oba in a fight card at the International Conference Hall in Nagoya.

A veteran for his 28 years of age, southpaw Barcelona fell to 51-17-4 with 19 knockouts while the undefeated 25 year old  Oba who is ranked No. 3 by the WBC  improved to 27-0-1 with 11 knockouts.

All three judges scored the fight for Oba who won by margins of 97-93, 97-94 and 97-95.

Oba had previously won the Japanese bantamweight title with a unanimous ten round decision over Masayuki Mitani on February 24, 2008 and has made five successful title defenses, Oba was making his first ring appearance after relinquishing his title at the end of last year.

A report from Japan said that while Oba used his quickness to launch a solid body attack against Barcelona and caught the Filipino southpaw on occasions with his right uppercut he didn’t hurt Barcelona who is known to be a tough fighter who hasn’t lost a single bout by knockout.

Barcelona has faced some of the toughest fighters in the division including South Africa’s Simpiwe Vetyeka and countrymen Diosdadi Gabi who has returned to train at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym and is looking to make a comeback and Z “The Dream” G ores whose career was tragically ended following brain surgery last November after a smashing win over Luis Melendez of C olombia.

Barcelona was coming off a 7^th round TKO win over Greg Mangan last February 2.

Nicknamed “Tensai” or “Genius” by the Japanese boxing media, Oba is regarded as one of Japan’s top prospects . One report said that newly-crowned OPBF bantamweight champion and former world flyweight champion Malcolm Tunacao was present during Oba’s post-fight interview and rematch between the two was announced.

Tunacao is the only fighter Oba failed to beat when he drew with the Filipino in his first reign as OPBF champion.

Filipino flyweight Rey Migreno may earn a shot at WBA champion Daiki Kameda (16-2, 11 KO’s) if he beats Thailand’s former world champion Denkaosan Kaovichit in Uttaradit, Thailand on March 26.

Denkaosan on the other hand hopes to win over Migreno and earn another crack at Kameda whom he defeated to win the title in a majority decision on October 6, 2009 before losing the title in a twelve round unanimous decision to Kameda in Kobe, Japan in a rematch last February 7.

Thai media quoted Denkaosan’s promoter Niwat Laosuwannawat as saying Denkaosan is still rated No. 2 and can exercise his right for a third fight which Niwat hopes to stage in Thailand at the end of the year.

However, everything depends on the outcome of the fight against Pan Asian Boxing Association champion Migreno, the 23 year old Filipino who won the title with a 3^rd round knockout over Ponluang Sor Tanapinyo in Sara Buri on December 31, 2009.

Niwat was quoted as saying “Although this is a PABA match, we are planning to propose to the WBA that they allow the winner to challenge Daiki Kameda in accordance with our rights.”

The Thai promoter added “Therefore, if Denkaosan is able to win this bout, he will gain an opportunity to reclaim his world title, but should he fail Migreno will instead get the world title chance.”

Denkaosan said he did not have much time for training but would not underestimate the Filipino.

He also said he did not accept his earlier defeat to Kameda and would like to have another rematch, which would become the third fight for him and the Japanese.

Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao looked flawless in his final workout at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles on Monday before taking the flight to Dallas, Texas aboard a specially chartered plane along with his charming wife Jinkee and a planeload of 160 people.

Pacquiao and his entourage arrived in Dallas late at night with the passengers thrilled at the special touch where Pacquiao’s photo and logo were on the seats as well as the cups in flight. The plane was chartered by Pacquiao.

Pacquiao and Jinkee checked in at his spacious suite at the Gaylord Hotel and according to ABS-CBN’s Dyan Castillejo who was with the team said Pacquiao was “really excited.”

She quoted trainer Freddie Roach as saying that after four rounds of sparring with Raymund Beltran and some furious flurries on the punch mitts before leaving for Dallas, that Pacquiao was “the best I’ve ever seen him.”

Castillejo reported that Pacquiao was “aggressive and sensational on the punch-mitts” and by all accounts looked ripped and ready for the performance of his life against the backdrop of the fantastic, state-of-the-art  $1.2 billion Dallas Cowboys Stadium of owner Jerry Jones who is determined to make it the “Mecca of Boxing” in this decade.

Roach indicated he and conditioning expert Alex Ariza had to on occasions hold Pacquiao back because he “didn’t want to burn him out.” Roach said that he “normally averages 150 rounds of sparring but will average around 100 rounds for this fight.”

The celebrated trainer revealed that the more he watched Ghana’s former world champion Joshua Clottey as well as Pacquiao “the more confident I get that Manny will be the first person to knock Clottey out. I like Clottey, he is a nice kid and I don’t want to talk trash about him,  but its just my feeling and I am very confident in my fighter.”

Roach said Pacquiao has studied the game-plan and “he knows how to fight this guy . He’s watched the tapes now, not just 30 seconds when he gets bored and walks away. He  sees the effect.”

Clottey who arrived ahead of Pacquiao looked comfortable as he checked out the ring at the Gaylord Hotel where a fight card in which Filipino boxers Richie Mepranum and Dennis Laurente will see action on the eve of “The Event” headlined by Pacquiao vs Clottey where two more Filipinos - Eden Sonsona and Michael Farenas will be on the undercard.

Clottey didn’t seem bothered by Roach’s prediction of a knockout win by Pacquiao, believing in his own ability to take a punch. Clottey remarked “I have a good chin and we African fighters take a lot of punches but I have a good chin. I never expect myself to get in the ring to get knocked out. I never expect that. No.”

Clearly the big, tough and strong Clottey’s fight plan is to use his size to overcome the smaller Pacquiao who may well enter the ring on fight night giving away at least ten pounds in weight to the challenger who some expect to come in around 160 pounds although his trainer Lenny De Jesus told us he wants to send Clottey into the ring at around 155 pounds.

However, Clottey seems to have other plans and while predicting a “tough fight for both of us” he added “I will be stronger than him because after the weigh-in I am going to eat and I am going to blow up.”

Clottey said he hasn’t felt better and “this is the best I felt. It started when I went to Africa where I was training on the beach. I came to America, went to Florida and we went to the beach all the time. So I was training a lot.”

 Clottey’s manager Vinny Scolpino and trainer de Jesus who worked in Pacquiao’s corner for six fights and ended his ties when Shelly Finkel took over as Pacquiao’s promoter,  both realize that Clottey probably lost a fight he should have won against Miguel Cotto because he didn’t throw too many punches in the last two rounds which is something they say they have corrected.

Scolpino noted that tings changed during training camp and Clottey “is throwing more punches and combinations and knows he has to let his hands loose in there” even as he indicated they were happy seeing the change in his work on the mitts.

Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz told ABS-CBN  in an interview that  they are not underestimating Clottey and that “Manny is not taking it  lightly.” Koncz said all these years they had gone through the same routine of press conferences, interviews and media workouts but this time he hadn’t “seen him (Pacquiao) so excited  when we were Dallas at the stadium. At least five times a week he’s telling me about the stadium so he’s very excited about that. He knows this is the first boxing match there and its important to make a big showing.”

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum who was on hand in Dallas to welcome Pacquiao conceded that while Pacquiao is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world he will be facing “what may be his toughest, toughest test when he takes on Clottey who is a really rugged, tough welterweight that most fighters are afraid to fight. Clottey comes to fight.”