Rodel Mayol's breakthrough performance

Rodel Mayol has been an enigma for Philippine boxing. He has the talent, the speed, and the power to be a tremendous fighter. He has shown us flashes of brilliance, of what he is capable of, but oftentimes he underwhelms. Filipino boxing fans are often frustrated with Mayol as they see that he can be a very good fighter. We know what he’s capable of and we know he’s not meeting his true potential. Mayol won his first 22 fights, most by knockout, before suffering a loss to Japan-based Thai fighter Eagle Kyowa. His career suffered a rough patch after that point. We saw flashes of brilliance in his fights against Ulises Solis and Ivan Calderon but he was unable to pull off the big victories he needed. He finally won a world title with a controversial technical knockout win over Edgar Sosa. True to his inconsistent form, Mayol followed this big win with a draw and a loss to Omar Nino Romero. He came up with four impressive wins after losing his WBC light flyweight title although against sub-par opposition. He got the chance to fight for a world title again when he was picked to challenge Hernan Marquez for his WBA flyweight title. But another Mayol title reign wasn’t meant to be. Marquez allegedly cheated to make weight and Mayol’s team led by Nonoy Neri chose to walk away from the fight and from additional cash offers from the promoters to protect the fighter. While Mayol was training in Baguio for a fight a day prior to Manny Pacquiao’s world title defense against Timothy Bradley, he received a call. He was offered to fight former WBO flyweight champion Julio Cesar Miranda, one of the most feared fighters in boxing’s lighter weight categories. Fighting Miranda would be very dangerous for Mayol, especially with barely two weeks to prepare. But he took the fight; knowing full well that a win over someone of Miranda’s caliber can revive his stagnant his boxing career. It was the supporting main event on Island Assault IV: The Battle which featured the completion of the trilogy between Brian Viloria and Romero. Most of the boxing observers at ringside felt that it will be a tough fight for Mayol. There were even guys who picked Miranda to win the fight via knockout but Mayol had other plans. He floored Miranda in the very first round. He did it again in the second and fifth rounds. The fact that Mayol floored Miranda three times was not surprising. The pint-sized fighter from Mandaue, Cebu has proven time and again that he had dynamite in both hands and Miranda has been floored a few times in his career. What surprised a lot of people was that he dominated the entire fight. He did not let Miranda get any kind of rhythm. He showed us all that this is what he is capable of. This was, and by far, the best performance of his career. This is when we can truly say that Mayol is a force to be reckoned with. But more importantly, we now know that we can rally behind him; that he deserves our respect and adulation. Now, this is the part when we all hold our collective breaths. It was a good performance but will he continue to impress us or will he go back to his inconsistent ways? With his victory over Miranda, Mayol has proven once and for all that he is good enough. But with his talent and athletic ability, we all expect him to be better than just “good enough.” -- OMD, GMA News