By Rene Bonsubre,Jr Filipino contender Genesis Servania (32-1,15KO’s) will risk his lofty world ranking when he takes on unbeaten Carlos Castro (21-0,9KO’s) of Phoenix, Arizona in Fresno, California on February 10. The 27 year old Servania collected three straight wins since suffering his only career loss in a world title bout against WBO featherweight champ Oscar Valdez in Tucson, Arizona two years ago. Servania was in China last December sparring with Chinese boxer Xu Can, who would go on and dethrone Jesus Rojas of Puerto Rico for the WBA featherweight world title. Servania’s lone loss was actually an impressive performance and earned him a contract last year to fight under Top Rank Promotions. He is currently ranked the number one featherweight contender by the WBA and WBO and number five by the IBF. If Servania gets past Castro, it would be interesting to see if he will go for a rematch against Valdez or target the newly crowned Xu. Servania’s last fight was at the Oracle Arena in Oakland last September and he showcased the power in his right hand by decking Carlos Carlson of Mexico in three rounds. Servania has arrived in the United States accompanied by his Japanese manager Naoyuki Kashimi and trainer Mark Gil Melligen. “My training went very well,” Servania told this writer, “I only looked at Castro’s fight video only once, but we prepared for his fighting style.” The 24 year old Castro beat Alexis Santiago by TKO in the tenth round to capture the vacant WBC USNBC super bantamweight title last year. All of his fights were held in his native Arizona. Servania vs Castro will be on the undercard of the WBC world super lightweight title bout between Jose Carlos Ramirez and challenger Jose Zepeda set at the Save Mart Arena. Servania was one of the headliners of ALA Promotions in the Philippines before he transferred to the Kashimi Boxing Gym in Japan three years ago. He joined a long list of Filipino boxers and trainers who decided to seek greener pastures in Japan. This trend that has been going on for decades. Now, Filipino boxers and trainers are also going to China to earn more money. Boxing in the Philippines may have been boosted by the worldwide popularity of Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire but most Filipino boxers and trainers still do not earn enough to support their families. Very few promoters are making a profit. Even in the island of Cebu, long considered the boxing capital of the Philippines, two prominent promoters are no longer active. The Philippines will continue to produce talented boxers like Servania, but it is tragic that local boxing continues to suffer from lack of sponsors. Photo – Genesis Servania with trainer Mark Gil Melligen celebrating their win last September
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Guests!These articles are submitted by guest writers and sites. They aren't submitted by the usual folk behind Asian Boxing and don't fall in line with our editorial stance, giving a fresh view on various boxing issues from the Asian boxing scene. Archives
August 2021
Categories
All
|