Promoter Sammy Gello-ani informed the Manila Standard that while the IBF had given Casimero a chance to choose his opponent for his interim title defense they had “problems with the opponent so we have made a decision to put him in a non-title fight just to keep him in shape.”

Fuentes is 22 years old and has a record of 12-2 with 7 knockouts while Casimero who is also 22 years old has a record of 16-2 with 10 knockouts.

Gello-ani said that after the non-title fight Casimero will have to make a mandatory defense of the title he won by a 10th round TKO against Argentina’s Luis Lazarte last February 10 in Mar del Plata in Buenos Aires that was marred by an ugly post-fight riot which resulted in the suspension of Lazarte by the IBF.

The 30 year old veteran Solis has a record of 34-2-3 with 21 knockouts.
One of his losses was when he was knocked out in the 11th round by Brian Viloria at the Araneta Coliseum on April 19, 2009. Viloria has since moved up in weight and is the reigning WBO flyweight champion.

Solis regained the title with a twelve round split decision win over Lazarte in a rematch on April 30, 2011 after their first encounter ended in a majority draw.

Gello-ani told the Manila Standard that he had warned Sonsona that “if he doesn’t come down to the training camp in Baliangao, Misamis Occidental I will not send him to the US.”

The well-known promoter conceded he was “scared because in Cebu, Sonsona had a girlfriend and after training he goes to her house and there’s no control over his weight.”

Sonsona apparently heeded the warning and reported to the training camp. Gello-ani said Sonsona’s weight was okay and they had agreed that before he leaves for the US on June 4 ” he had to be in tip top shape.”

Gello-ani said Sonsona would work out at the gym of Pablo Sarmiento who is the trainer of WBC Diamond middleweight champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez in Oxnard.

Gello-ani’s partner, international matchmaker and promoter Sampson Lewkowicz had informed him that if Sonsona was not disciplined and in perfect shape, “he cannot come to the US” and train under Sarmiento.

He said Sonsona got the message and he (Gello-ani) was “so happy with the developments and everything is good so I prepared his ticket for a June 4 departure to Los Angeles.”

Sonsona has been training under Danny Bactol and has been sparring four to six rounds with Rey Labao, Weng Haya and Chris Rosales who are big boys and put in a lot of good work.”

Cruz, a former Olympian, has a record of 18-2-1 with 9 knockouts. His only two defeats were against top class opponents in Cornelious Locke and Daniel Ponce de Leon.

Cruz scored a sensational 1st round knockout over undefeated Michael Franco (19-012 KO’s) to win the WBO Latino Interim featherweight title on October 14, 2011 after a 20 month layoff.
Cruz caught Franco with a stinging left straight followed by a solid right hook that dropped Franco for good at 2:59 of the opening round.

Sulaiman informed us that the GAB chairman had been appointed unanimously by as a voting member of the WBC Board of Governors as well as International Secretary of the WBC.

The WBC president said he is looking forward to meeting the GAB chairman at the next convention of the WBC in the picturesque tourist city of Cancun, Mexico.

In accepting the appointments Chairman Guanzon said “in behalf of the Filipino people, I humbly accept my appointment with great pride and gratitude and at the same time promise to serve the WBC under your invaluable leadership to the best of my ability.

Sulaiman told us he holds the Philippines in the highest esteem and has always valued the significant contributions made by founding secretary general and the man who wrote the WBC Constitution and By-Laws, the late eminent lawyer Rodrigo “Rudy” Salud, and GAB chairman and WBC president at that time, the late Justiniano Montano Jr.

The WBC president told us “I deeply respect and love the Philippines where I have had countless friends since back at the time of my unforgettable Lope “Papa” Sarreal, Rodrigo Salud, Justiniano Montano, Dominador Cepeda and Eric Buhain and all the people of boxing in the Philippines since my first visit back in the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier and having the Philippines as one of the founding nations of the WBC back in 1953, almost 50 years ago.”

Devastating puncher Denver Cuello, the World Boxing Council straw-weight Silver champion has retained his belt in a title eliminator with a smashing 2nd round knockout of No. 1 ranked Ganigan Lopez of Mexico in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico on Sunday morning.

Cuello, a stablemate of WBC flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro is determined to follow in his footsteps and win another world title for the Philippines and he showed he had the ability to do that with his devastating knockout of Lopez.

The protégé of former boxer and now manager/promoter Aljoe Jaro dropped Lopez in the opening round and ended the one-sided battle by sending the Mexican challenger to the canvas in the second round with a series of vicious shots to the head and body.

In an exciting but short-lived battle of southpaws Cuello showed his hand-speed and precise punching in the opening round and some solid defense against the aggressive Lopez at the start of the second round before nailing the top-ranked contender with a series of combinations.

Lopez was out for the count at 2:37 of the second round. The referee was Frank Garza.
With the win Cuello improves to 29-4 with 14 knockouts while Lopez drops to 28-5 with 13 knockouts.

WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman who earlier predicted Cuello would win although he said Ganigan Lopez was a good fighter told the Manila Standard that “it was a shock here. But yes, Cuello can punch.”

Sulaiman conceded that there was “some confusion” over the world title clash against 23 year old champion Kazuto Ioka of Japan who has a record of 9-0 with 6 knockouts but who apparently doesn’t want to fight Cuello. In fact Ioka is scheduled for a unification title fight against WBA champion Akira Yaegashi (15-2, 8 KO’s) on June 20.

However, Sulaiman said he will sort it out.

A few hours before entering the ring at the Antiguo de la Feria in Celaya, Ganigan Lopez vowed to beat Cuello, citing a double motivation to win the fight.

The No. 1 ranked Mexican said a win will give him a chance to fight for the title of Ioka and it will also help him win the WBC Silver belt.

Lopez said “I’m confident of winning. This is a great shot, I can’t waste it. I will face the No.2 fighter in the straw-weight division in my country and nobody is going to take my title away. I want to fight for the world title so I will perform a great fight.”

The Mexican challenger said he had seen Cuello fight and “he’s strong, he always attacks and he’s ready to counter-=attack. But fighting in Mexico is a great handicap.”

Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz said he had worked on getting Somodio a visa this past week.

Koncz said “his visa is approved so he’ll be here next week some time.”
Roach said he liked Somodio and was happy to include him in his training staff at the Wild Card Gym.

Roach said Somodio “learns really fast and follows instructions very well.” But Roach wanted the young man who has won his first two fights as a pro by knockout to continue his career as a boxer.

But with a chance to work alongside Roach, Somodio is eager to grab the opportunity to work with the future Hall of Fame trainer.

Somodio is a trainer and a physical instructor but not a qualified strength and conditioning coach which is the role filled by Alex Ariza.

A small segment of the American media who were possibly waiting for any opportunity to get at Manny Pacquiao thought they had the chance – and pounced on it – when they were seemingly mislead by an article by Granville Ampong in the Conservative Examiner.

To be fair, the manner in which Ampong inserted the particularly offensive passage from Leviticus was clearly misleading and was an undisguised attempt by him to put forward his own position on gay marriages and his seeming dislike of US President Obama who is seeking re-election . He shamelessly sought to use the hugely popular crossover superstar Pacquiao as the front for his particular biases.
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Pacquiao hasn’t received such a cheap shot even from an opponent in the ring and to think that it came from a Filipino-American rankles even more.

Regrettably, one or two Filipino media people also jumped on the erroneously attributed quote about killing gays when Pacquiao never said anything like it al all.

Pacquiao who is deeply and genuinely into Bible study and values the lessons he learns from the scriptures has completely changed his lifestyle from the past wayward ways marked by late nights, gambling, drinking and womanizing to a good and decent family life and anchors his day on Bible studies and the lessons he learns.

He has had the courage to openly admit his indiscretions and proudly proclaims that the Bible which he refers to as “The Manual of Life” has changed him completely.

Instead of carefully reading the Ampong column and discerning the message Pacquiao sought to get across, some sectors of the US media waded into the “Fighter of the Decade” erroneously and maliciously alleging that he said all gays should be killed which is something he flatly denied pointing out that he didn’t even read Leviticus.

The pertinent passage from Leviticus 20:13 states “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death, their blood will be on their own heads.”

While Ampong admitted that Pacquiao never even mentioned Leviticus and the passage about killing gays which was headlined in the US media, some angry Americans even used it to influence the Grove management to ban Pacquiao who was scheduled to be interviewed on site by his longtime and popular friend Mario Lopez.

In fact, if the story on the ban was true it was an illegal act because to discriminate against an individual because of his beliefs strikes at the fundamental law.

Some even went to the ridiculous extent of asking Nike to terminate his sponsorship agreement while striving to put pressure on other companies whose products he endorses and gives stature to – while increasing sales in the marketplace – to cut off their relationship.

Others criticized Pacquiao for taking issue with President Obama. Surely in the name of the freedom Americans love to claim they enjoy, why cannot Pacquiao come out against gay marriages if Obama can enjoy the right to favor them?

We must also remember that many times political leaders in the US have taken issue with other leaders in the rest of the world including the Philippines. It should never be a one-way street.

Ampong himself has suggested if not demanded that those who falsely attributed to Pacquiao the quote from Leviticus which advocated death to those of the same sex who live as man and woman or husband and wife, apologize.

It is doubly incumbent on Ampong to show the way and apologize profusely for what he did, or what he failed to do because he clearly hurt the wonderful image that Manny enjoyed not just among Americans but people around the world who admire his humility, his ability to break away from the bondage of his childhood poverty and to emerge as an eight-division world champion and one of the most influential athletes and a role model worth emulating.

We have known Manny Pacquiao from the time he was a 16 year old kid with explosive power in his fists and a Filipino blessed with indomitable courage.

We gladly bear witness to the change within him and reflect on the passage in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 which states “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ. He is a new creation; the old one has gone, the new has come!” This is the Manny Pacquiao of today. God bless him and all he stands for.

In an interview with the Manila Standard, Ariza said that although the sparring went well “every day is not going to be the best day, but it went relatively well.”

Ariza said Pacquiao went four rounds with Russian welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov (21-1, 14 KO’s) and another four rounds with lightweight Rustam Nugaev (22-6-1, 12 KO’s) and two rounds with who the strength and conditioning coach refereed to as “the young black kid whose first name is Kevin” but whose family name he didn’t know.

Ariza said Pacquiao “is not backing off” and was physically in good shape at the end of the sparring session although Ariza clarified “I thought he looked phenomenal on Tuesday, I thought he looked phenomenal on Thursday but he looked okay today.”

The strength and conditioning coach pointed out that “hopefully they will recognize that this is the time when we start to push too hard close to the fight and we end up sliding backwards.”

Ariza said he would like to see Pacquiao “give boxing a little bit of a break” stating that since he’s been sparring well he should “take a few days off and go do something else” pushing for a greater effort in Pacquiao’s physical conditioning program.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum who made a quick visit to Los Angeles to check on how Pacquiao was doing told us “Manny looked fine and he’s coming along great” in preparation for his showdown against undefeated junior welterweight Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on June 9.

Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz said the sparring on Saturday went “fine, fabulous.”

Photo: Chris Farina, Top Rank

The 25-year-old Australian was making the first defense of the title that he won in Perth in Western Australia last November.

Tomlinson was awarded a unanimous points decision after he put on a solid performance before some 2,000 fight fans.

When the lights went out at the end of the seventh round as a result of a blackout in the area, Tomlinson was well ahead on points.

He had dropped Ruiz with a left jab in the opening round but it seemed the fight would go the full 12 rounds when the electricity was knocked out.

After deliberating for about ten minutes and with no backup source of lighting, the officials declared Tomlinson the winner.

The Mexican matchmaker/agent who foisted a “fake” Genaro  Garcia on unsuspecting ALA Promotions, their featherweight regional champion Rey “Boom Boom” Bautista and some 40,000 fight fans in Tagbilaran City, Bohol has at long last found.

World Boxing Council president Don Jose Sulaiman had summoned Correa to a hearing after he sent a fake Genaro Panterito” Garcia instead of the genuine Genaro “Poblanito” Garcia who had been contracted to fight Bautista which resulted in a scandal, but Correa was nowhere to be found.

However, Sulaiman informed the Manila Standard today that “finally we could find where Hugo Correa is licensed. He has a license in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Sulaiman noted that Correa “he has been called for a hearing six times and he has not answered or attended.”

In the wake of his refusal to attend the WBC hearing on the fake Garcia case, Sulaiman said he is “asking the boxing commission in Ciudad Juarez to suspend him (Correa) until he complies with the WBC rules and regulations.”

ALA Promotions, determined to give Filipino fight fans a chance to see the real Garcia who is a many-time world title contender in action, have signed him  up to fight promising, undefeated super bantamweight Genesis Servania in a blockbuster fight card at the Resort World Hotel and Casino on the June 2 “Pinoy Pride XIV” card headlined by the WBO light flyweight title fight between champion Donnie Nietes and challenger  Felipe Salguero.

The real Garcia has vowed to erase the damage created by the fighter who misrepresented him. He said “Someone tried to  take advantage of my international fame. I fought the best bantamweights and super bantamweights in the world and I fought for world championships.

“Poblanito” Garcia said the Garca who pretended to be me “affected my reputation because he gave no fight” and was stopped in the 2^nd round. He added, “I resent the situation and I am set to make it clear who the real Genaro Garcia is. The Filipino fans will see when I get there that I an strong and thgrow many punches.”