Who's the most promising among PH's three pairs of boxing brothers?

Suddenly, the Philippine boxing scene is filled with pairs of boxing brothers who are out to make an impact in the local boxing scene.

First to put on an impressive performance  last June 21 before a sell-out crowd at the plush Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu were the talented Pagara brothers - Jason and Prince Albert Pagara from the famed ALA stable in Cebu.

They were followed last July 26 by the Peñalosa brothers, both undefeated super bantamweights Dodie Boy Peñalosa Jr and Dave Peñalosa, sons of the former two division world champion Dodie Boy Peñalosa and nephews of another classy two division world champion, Gerry Peñalosa.

The latest duo to step into the ring in an effort to continue the winning tradition of brothers are junior lightweight Juan Martin  “Bai” Elorde and his younger brother Juan Miguel “Mig” Elorde who recently moved up to featherweight.

The Elordes are sons of Johnny Elorde and grandsons of the late, great Hall of Famer Gabriel “Flash” Elorde who reigned for almost seven-and-a-half years as world junior lightweight champion and was an Oriental champion at all weight divisions from bantamweight to lightweight.

The 29-year-old grandson who adopted the nickname “Bai” Elorde  is a southpaw like his grandfather.

But while there are resemblances in movement with the late “Flash”, the honest assessment is that the grandson has a long way to go before he approximates the stature and the style of his grandfather, who is regarded as one of the greatest champions of all time.

Flash Elorde was honored  by the World Boxing Council on its 20th anniversary celebrations in New York as the greatest junior lightweight in the history of the WBC alongside Nicaragua’s classy Alexis Arguello.

“Bai” Elorde,  who has a record of 15-1-1 with 7 knockouts won his first title, the WBO Asia Pacific super featherweight title with a ten round unanimous decision over Thailand’s Maxsaisai Sithsaithong on March 24, 2013 at the Midas Hotel along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City.

In stark contrast “Flash” Elorde won the Oriental lightweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Hideto Kobayashi on April 27, 1957 just one month and 12 days after he turned 22.

Amazingly it was the very active Elorde’s 53rd fight.

The stark disparity between “Flash” Elorde and his grandson in terms of their respective boxing careers and achievements underscores the reality that “Bai” Elorde may exhibit his grandfather’s southpaw stance, adopt his nickname and show flashes of his fighting style, but the yawning gap between the two hardly indicates the world championship potential of the revered Elorde grandson.

27-year-old Miguel Elorde has a record of 15-1 with 7 knockouts and appears to be the more talented fighter of the two brothers.

As most fight managers and promoters tend to do, the Elorde brothers, like the Peñalosa brothers, have been nursed very carefully by matching them against opponents who at best could be described as “terribly mediocre”.

While boxrec.com is unfortunately not very reliable in keeping fight records, most of us boxing aficionados tend to depend on these records to assess the quality of opponents which is a often unfair to the Filipino boxers.

Yahoo Philippines gathers that “Bai” Elorde’s opponent, Junistin Simbolon’s record of boxrec.com is 7-11-1 with 3 knockouts while Juan Miguel Elorde’s opponent Paulus Baronsona has a record of zero win against 3 losses on boxrec.

The mother of the Elorde brothers, the indefatigable Liza Elorde who does an incredible job marking the death anniversary of her father-in-law “Flash” Elorde could only dispute the boxrec records in a conversation with Yahoo Philippines.

Liza, as any mother would, sought to protect the reputation of her sons as well as her husband Johnny who is promoting the fight card on Friday, August 22 at the Elorde Sports Complex on Sucat, Paranaque banked on the fight records furnished by Eric Pirih of Surabaya, son of the late respected Indonesian promoter Eddie Pirih.

The manager claimed that Paulus has a record of 6 wins and 2 losses while Juniston has a record of 17 wins, 7 defeats and 1 draw. In both instances the number of knockouts, if any, were not provided.

We have seen similar padding of fight records of Indonesian fighters in the recent past.

Promoter Gerry Peñalosa was faced with the same problem in his Mandaluyong  City fight card last July 26 when Dodie Boy Jr’s original opponent Yon Armed pulled out due to illness and was replaced at the last minute by Dicky Amtiran.

Boxrec.com reported that Amtiran had a record of 3-8 with no knockouts but his manager claimed on an internet site Amtiran had a record of 8 knockouts in 9 wins with 3 losses.

Amtiran’s performance in the ring was utterly disappointing and he was knocked out, as expected, in the third round after being dropped once in the first and one more time in the third.

The saving grace in the Peñalosa fight card were some excellent supporting bouts and Dave Peñalosa’s battle with  Baguio City trained Danilo Gabisay who carried the fight to Peñalosa and used his longer reach to advantage and showed he was not awed by the Peñalosa name.

In fact Gabisay caught Dave with a  cracking right straight and dropped him in round three but Peñalosa fought back furiously and nailed Gabisay with a terrific left straight and dropped him with a hard right with ten seconds left in the round with Gabisay saved by the bell.

After biding his time and after Gabisay connected with two good right hands, Dave unleashed a debilitating punch to the solar plexus to finally end and entertaining bout at 1:53 of the fifth round.

The Dave Peñalosa-Gabisay fight and the farcical Dodie Boy Jr – Amtiran bout suggest that promoters as well as the public would be better served with matching our future prospects against worthy local opponents, not patsies from abroad.

Make no mistake about it, what we saw in sparring as well as in the ring indicated to us that the Peñalosa brothers have the skill, the power and the pedigree to move up in the world rankings and hopefully follow their father and uncle who have gave our country two world titles apiece.

The other set of brothers who have caught the imagination of fight fans are 25-year-old WBO International junior welterweight champion Jason “El Nino” Pagara and his younger brother, 20-year-old Prince Albert Pagara.

Jason’s problem is that the 140-pound division is loaded with exceptional talent including Danny Garcia, Chris Algieri, Ruslan Provodnikov, Lucas Matthysse, Lamont Petersen, Adrien Broner,  Thomas Dulorme and Jessie Vargas among others.

Although Jason scored a fourth-round TKO win over gallant Mexican warrior Marco “Rocky” Meraz, he did look a little shaken up in that same round by Meraz who vehemently protested what he and his corner felt was a premature stoppage with one second remaining in the round and Meraz on his feet and in command of his senses.

While it was an action-packed fight, the night belonged to Prince Albert who looked royal in his total annihilation of the abrasive and cocky Hugo “Olimpico” Partida who head-butted and threw a punch at Pagara during the weigh-in.

But the Filipino issued payback in awesome fashion. Pagara dropped Partida early in the opening round before a flurry of punches had the Mexican reeling against the ropes with internationally respected referee Bruce McTavish correctly ruling a knockdown.

While Partida beat the count it was obvious he wouldn’t escape the wrath of Pagara who finished off Partida with a cracking left hook to the jaw that sent the Mexican crashing to the canvas. McTavish halted the massacre at 1:18 of the opening round.

Fight fans were clearly impressed by the performance of Prince Albert who moved to 21-0 with 15 knockouts.

A fair assessment of the three sets of brothers suggest that among all the fighters the Pagara brothers, particularly Prince Albert, look the most promising considering that they have beaten worthy opponents to get where they are today.

Mainly banking on their bloodline and the style with which they have disposed of their opponents, the Peñalosa brothers are also on the fringes of genuine promise provided from now on they are matched up against opponents who would pose a solid challenge.

Meanwhile, the Elorde brothers, for all the greatness of their illustrious grandfather “Flash” Elorde seem to be lacking in the qualities  that set promising fighters apart from those struggling to make an impression.