Mercito Gesta Falls Short in World Title Bid

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Photo by Chris Farina
Photo by Chris Farina

Saturday, Dec. 8, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, 25-year-old contender Mercito “No Mercy” Gesta (26-1-1, 14 KOs) came up short in his first world title bid, losing a lopsided unanimous decision to Mexico’s 25-year-old IBF lightweight titlist Miguel “Titere” Vazquez (33-3, 13KOs), in a 12 round lightweight championship bout on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez’s destruction of Manny Pacquiao in the main event of the pairs fourth meeting, broadcast live on HBO Pay-Per-View.

Offensively, Gesta, of San Diego by way of Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines, seemed to be plagued by paralysis in the early goings, and was never able to get his engine going. Vazquez wore his usual hat into the ring as he was less than willing to engage in toe-to-toe action, but wisely moved around the perimeter of the ring out-boxing Gesta with little difficulty. The style of Vazquez might not be for everybody — or anybody for that matter– but it’s effective and it works.

Vazquez’s jabs were finding their target, and he was having a bit of success with straight right hands to the head of Gesta, who was stalking Vazquez but not untilizing his own jab, or much offense at all. In the 3rd round Vazquez connected on a one-two jab-right hand, to the face of Gesta, which momentarily staggered the southpaw, while at the same time getting his attention.

Gesta found a small amount of opportunity to Vazquez’s body with right hooks to the side of the ribs in the 4th round, but for the most part he seemed to be trying to get Miguel out of there with one big punch.

Between rounds Mercito’s trainer Vince Parra, and father Anecito, plead with Gesta to get to work, and let his hands go. But Mercito wasn’t as responsive as he needed to be, letting more rounds slip away. Whenever the fighters got close to one another — where Gesta could land some of the stout uppercuts and right hooks in his arsenal — Vazquez would clinch and hold, to avoid the danger of Gesta turning the tables by landing a big shot.

Mercito wasn’t using his jab to set up the rest of his offense, but instead lunging forward with straight lefts and right hooks, landing few and far between. In the 9th frame Gesta landed a vaunted left hand and a couple right hooks to the head of Vazquez, who hit reverse-turbo for the remainder of the round, preventing Gesta from closing the distance and capitalizing.

In the waning rounds Mercito pushed forward with more velocity, but failed to incorporate a higher volume of punches to go with the more aggressive pursuit.

Vazquez circled to his left all night, away from Gesta’s big left hand. While dodging the Filipino’s fierce right hooks, he himself maintained success with his jabs and overhand-right’s upstairs, culminating in a recipe for success.

Vazquez won 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111 on the judges’score cards, improving to 33-3 with 13 knockouts, while Gesta, defeated for the first time, fell to 26-1-1 with 14 knockouts.

Vazquez’s performance in defense of his IBF lightweight belt won’t be winning him many new fans. Though he dominated the fight, Miguel hurriedly moved around the ring all night, landing punches yes, but not at a rate that lends to holding anyone’s attention. Vazquez’s offense left much to be desired, which made for a pretty uneventful fight. A fight that didn’t do much to further the champion’s cause.

Gesta had trouble cutting off the ring and seemed lost in there. It was a big step up in competition for Mercito, and when compared with Vazquez’s vast experience at a higher level, Gesta didn’t show the experience needed to figure out the fleeting style of the Mexican.

To slow down and stop a mover like Vazquez, Gesta’s body-snatching ways would need to play a key role in the script if he wanted to go home with the title. Gesta is a great body puncher, who usually softens up his opponents before chopping them down in the later rounds. But Mercito didn’t use the body attack, one of his greatest assets, enough to make a difference.

The bloom is off the rose, and we’ll see what Gesta is made of by how he returns. The talent is there in abundance, and Mercito has the physical gifts to compete in the top echelon. But as they say in boxing, it’s 90% mental. You have to give yourself the opportunity to compete in any competition. In the sport of boxing, the only way to do that is to rise above apprehension and let your hands go. Unfortunately Gesta wasn’t able to rewrite his playbook mid-fight, never finding a solution to the problem of not getting his hands off.

It happens.

Sometimes when young fighters, fighters of promise, reach the pinnacle of the sport on a major platform, these things need to happen in order to for them grow, and truly realize their full potential. It takes more than just physical gifts and confidence in ones abilities to reach the highest plateaus of accomplishment.

It’s far from over for Gesta, who boast the boxing tangibles to continue onward and upward. If Mercito takes this defeat and learns from the experience, he can turn it into his most important victory and a catalyst in defining who he is as a fighter. Gesta will surely get another opportunity to show the boxing world that he has within himself the mental abilities to be great inside the ring. It’s up to him what he does with it.

Great deeds are wrought from great risk.

Mercito Gesta has the physical gifts to put himself within grasp of greatness. It is now incumbent upon him to bring forth the intangibles to attain such a distinction.

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