Filipinos have always been in the backside of the match, either in life or in the ring. And on Saturday night, an emerging young boxer is set to flip that again.
Just like the living legend Manny Pacquiao, a native of Cotabato City named Romero Duno started fighting in the backyards until he saw himself in probably the biggest break of his early boxing career, fighting as the co-main event of the anticipated fight between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Sergey ‘Krusher’ Kovalev at the historic MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
The 24-year old Filipino will fight Ryan Garcia for the vacant WBC Silver lightweight title.
The fight was an answered prayer for Duno after failing to get the match with Garcia on the first attempt.
On the final press conference of the undercards, Duno was all but grateful for the opportunity that the Golden Boy Promotions handed him, but that does not mean he’s not all business, in fact, he is far more motivated.
“It is a very big opportunity for me to show the world that not only Manny Pacquiao can do history in boxing in the Philippines. There are a lot of Filipino fighters that can do that,” Duno said.
Photo by Ponciano Melo Jr
Indeed, there are still a lot of talents in the country
Going back to the fight, Duno was asked why he chose Garcia, in which he is an underdog.
“I want to give the fans what they want. They said they want me to fight King Ryan then [I’ll fight him]. I am always ready, born ready,” he added.
Duno currently has a record of 21 wins in 16 knockouts with one defeat.
On the other side, Garcia is 18-0 with 15 KOs.
Their bout is a 10-rounder scheduled on Saturday night.