Underdog Boxing: Landero gets world title shot against Fuentes

Another Filipino fighter will get the chance to capture a world title as Michael Landero of Paranaque (15-5-4, 5 KOs) heads to Mexico to battle Moises Fuentes (14-1-0, 6 KOs) for the WBO minimumweight title this March.   The WBO minimumweight title has been at the hands of a Filipino twice in its 23-year existence. Eric Jamili was the first Filipino to win this title with a victory over Mickey Cantwell from the United Kingdom way back in 1997.   More recently, this title was held by Donnie Nietes of Cebu’s ALA boxing Gym but he has since vacated the title to move up to the light flyweight division.   After Nietes relinquished the WBO minimumweight title, Raul Garcia of Mexico was promoted from interim champion to full champion. However, he lost a split decision against Fuentes in only his second title defense. In that fight, Fuentes escaped with a razor thin decision as two of the judges gave him the nod 114-112 while the other judge scored it 114-112 for Garcia.   The title defense against Landero will be the first one for Fuentes.   Landero is coming off a loss to South African Hekkie Budler. Versus Budler, Landero found it hard to get into his rhythm as the lanky South African kept him away with long-range jabs. But even though he lost, Landero is still in the WBO’s top 10 ranking for the division and this is why he was selected by Fuentes’ camp.   The Filipino challenger is the definitive underdog in this fight. He was selected because he looks beatable and because the champion can opt for a voluntary title defense after he is done with Landero. However, if you look at the fighters’ records, both are pretty even. The biggest advantage Fuentes has is that he towers over Landero. Fuentes stands 5’8’’while Landero is only 5’2’’.   Fuentes is also Ring Magazine’s third ranked minimumweight contender, only behind IBF champion Nkosinathi Joyi of South Africa and WBC champion Kazuto Ioka of Japan. The only blemish in his record came via a painfully split decision loss against countryman Juan Hernandez early last year.   If Landero plans to win this fight, he must devise a plan that will enable him to get inside the defense of Fuentes. He should have learned from his loss against Budler and apply all the changes in his arsenal against Fuentes. Landero also needs to invest on attacking the body early in the fight because taller fighters in lighter weight divisions often tend to be soft around the mid-section.   With the world-title victories of Nonito Donaire and Johnriel Casimero, Philippine boxing is off to a very good start this year. We have suffered from a slump as of late as we saw our world champions dwindle from eight to just three. Now we have Manny Pacquiao, Donaire, Brian Viloria, Donnie Nietes, and Casimero holding world titles. If Landero somehow beats the odds and pulls off a major upset against Fuentes, we can safely say that Philippine boxing is indeed back. - AMD, GMA News