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GESTA vs CUERO Highlights - "Ríos-Abril"
Highlights from the Mercito "No Mercy" Gesta vs Oscar Cuero match on the undercard of the April 14th "Ríos vs Abril" card at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
- Weightclass:
- Lightweight
- Age:
- 25
- Birthplace:
- Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines
- Record:
- 26-1-1, 14 KOs
- Height:
- 5'7"
- Reach:
- 68
- Managers:
- Vince Parra, Joel Coombs
- Trainers:
- Vince Parra
- biography
-
"No Mercy"read more »
Twitter: @MercitoGesta Facebook.com/MercitoGesta mercito-gesta.com
Ranked IBF #5 at 135 pounds…
Former WBO Youth lightweight champion…
At the age of 24, Mercito is an eight-year pro – he made his debut at 16 in the Philippines. A prospect at 135 pounds, he has won 16 fights in a row since having a technical draw in November, 2005.
He is coming off a ninth-round TKO win against Ty Barnett in his last fight on August 3.
After the fight, Dan Rafael wrote on ESPN.com [excerpts]: Gesta, a native of the Philippines living in San Diego, notched a nice win against Barnett, who was in tremendous condition. Gesta is a good fighter who can please the crowd and still can get better. Headlining ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights," Gesta eventually broke him down. He got Barnett's attention in the first couple of rounds by landing wide open left hands until Barnett settled into a bit of rhythm.
There were some exciting moments of back-and-forth action throughout the fight. In the fifth round, Gesta seriously rocked Barnett with a series of blows. His legs went to jelly for a moment, he staggered backward and had to fend of Gesta's aggressive attack for the rest of the round.
Gesta seemed like he was on his way to a 10-round decision win before ending matters in the ninth round. He caught Barnett with two straight left hands that messed up his legs and then unloaded seven shots, including a clean uppercut, that dropped Barnett. He made it to his feet and referee Jay Nady allowed the fight to continue but only until Gesta landed a right and a left that dropped Barnett hard just... - fight history
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Fight by Fight – 2012 - in his last fight on 8-3-12 in Las Vegas, NV, he TKOd Ty Barnett (20-2-1): the bout headlined at Texas Station Casino, and Mercito dominated most of the fight; he rocked Barnett in the 1st and 2nd rounds, but Barnett came back and boxed well in the following rounds; Mercito rallied again and staggered him with a left hand in the 5th round, then rocked him with another left hand in the 7th round; Mercito scored two knockdowns late in the 9th round – the first with a series of punches, the second with a left hand - and the referee stopped the fight at 2:59…read more »
On 4-14-12 in Las Vegas he TKOd Oscar Cuero (15-7): the bout was one of the co-features with the Brandon Rios-Richard Abril main event, and Mercito dominated - he consistently outworked Cuero, landed the harder punches, and steadily wore him down; Cuero was penalized one point for holding in the 5th round; Mercito scored a knockdown with a right hook to the body in the 7th round; he scored another knockdown with a right hook in the 8th – Cuero got up but was unsteady, and the referee stopped the fight at 1:38…
2011 - on 11-11-11 in Las Vegas he won a 10 round unanimous decision against Ricardo Dominguez (34-7-2): the fight was co-featured with the Diego Magdaleno-Emmanuel Lucero main event, and Mercito dominated; he scored a knockdown with a left hand in the 3rd round, and consistently outboxed and outworked Dominguez; scored 98-91, 99-92, 97-92…
On 9-17-11 in Parker, AZ, he won a 10 round unanimous decision against Manuel Perez (16-6-1): the bout headlined at BlueWater Resort & Casino; Mercito was cut over both of his eyes by head clashes, but dominated the fight; he pressed forward, consistently outworked Perez, and landed the sharper punches; scored 98-92, 98-92,... - background
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AMATEUR, PERSONAL BACKGROUND: Mercito said, "I was born in Mandaue City, Philippines. I've got one older sister and one younger brother – I'm in the middle. My dad is a truck driver and my mom, she just stayed home to watch us kids. My dad used to be an amateur boxer when he was a kid. When he grew up, he moved to professional kickboxing and Muay Thai.read more »
"I actually started in Muay Thai and kickboxing when I was five or six before I went to boxing. My dad was fighting as a pro at that time, and he started training me. I started righthanded until I was about nine or 10, and then my dad changed my style to southpaw. He said there’s not that many southpaws out there. It was kind of hard at first, but we practiced and practiced. When I turned pro - I was 16 - I was already southpaw.
"I think I had five or six amateur fights in Muay Thai. I had no amateur boxing fights.
"I moved to the U.S. in November, 2006. I came to Los Angeles to box, and started out on my own. First, I was training at the Wild Card Gym. I went to Las Vegas to training camp, then back to L.A., then I moved to San Diego, I think, in the middle of ‘07. That's when I met Vince Parra. Now my dad is here – I brought him here. Hopefully my whole family will come here, too.
"I didn't speak English when I first moved here, but I learned – it's so hard! I'm single, no kids."…
From Maxboxing.com, by Ryan Maquiñana (Feb. 3, 2011, excerpts]: Similarities to Pacquiao abound; make no mistake. A flashy tattoo adorns his right shoulder and chest. The lightweight prospect has made it clear that while he’s proud of his roots in Cebu, and as low-key and humble as the “Pac-Man” as can be, the visual eccentricities in Gesta’s personality distinguish him from the world’s most famous Pinoy.
“Manny is the one who opened the doors for Filipino fighters,” said Gesta….... - media
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