"No Mercy"

• Twitter: @MercitoGesta  Facebook.com/MercitoGesta mercito-gesta.com

• Ranked IBF #10 at 135 pounds…
• World championship fights: 0-1…
• Former lightweight world title challenger…
• Former WBO Youth lightweight champion…

At the age of 25, Mercito is a nine-year pro – he made his debut at 16 in the Philippines. A contender at 135 pounds, he challenged IBF lightweight world champion Miguel Vazquez for the title in his last fight on December 8, but lost a 12-round decision.

Mercito gave a good effort – he pressed forward and had a few rallies, but Vasquez kept him off-balance with almost constant movement. After the fight, Mercito said, "He's awkward - I never got a rhythm going in the fight."

He has made some changes in his team as he prepares for his next fight – his father, Anecito Gesta Sr., is now his head trainer, and Mercito is moving up to the junior welterweight division.

BoxingScene.com’s Ryan Maquiñana wrote [May 16, 2013 – excerpts]: After the loss, he took some time off in his native Mandaue City, Philippines, before returning to San Diego, Calif., and making a change in his corner as he moves up in weight.

“He’s working with his dad [Anecito Sr.] more on conditioning and training, and I’m sitting back and focusing more on the management side,” Vince Parra said. “I’m still going to be assistant trainer, but this is something he’s always wanted as a kid, especially since his dad is now here from the Philippines. With him moving up to 140 [pounds], it’s something he wanted to try out, and I support him 100 percent.”

Gesta’s father isn’t the only addition to camp. Mercito’s little brother Anecito Jr., a junior lightweight, is in San Diego.

“Mercito’s really excited about his brother being here, too, and I think it’s motivating him to work harder in the gym,” Parra said.

As for Gesta, Parra is optimistic that his fighter’s best days are ahead. “He’s trying to get back in the mix to fight for a title,” Parra said. “There’s a lot of good fights at 140 and this is the quickest way back to the top. It’s a new year and he’s ready to come back out and surprise some people.” [End Maquiñana item]

Regarding his own style, Mercito said, "I would describe myself – I adapt to the style of my opponent, how to fight the guy. I can be like a puncher or a boxer, it depends on my opponent. I'm just going to go there and fight and if there's a knockout, try to knock him out."

Regarding his nickname, Mercito said, "It was given to me by my team around my 10^th or 11^th fight. It kind of rhymes with my name, too, so I was like, "I'm cool with that."

His webpage address is: mercito-gesta.com.

Fight by Fight – 2012 – IBF L WORLD TITLE CHALLENGE - in his last fight on 12-8-12 in Las Vegas, NV, he lost a 12 round unanimous decision against defending champion Miguel Vazquez (32-3): the bout was one of the co-features with the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez IV main event; Mercito gave a good effort – he pressed forward and had a few rallies, but Vazquez kept him off-balance with constant movement and scored with counterpunches; scored 118-110, 117-111, 119-109…

On 8-3-12 in Las Vegas he won by TKO (9^th round) against Ty Barnett (20-2-1): the bout headlined at Texas Station Casino, and it was a good fight; Mercito pressed forward, landed the harder punches, and rocked Barnett with left hands in the 1^st and 2^nd rounds; Barnett boxed and moved well and rallied in the following rounds, but Mercito staggered him with a series of punches in the 5^th round; Barnett recovered and rallied again, but Mercito scored two knockdowns in the 9^th – the first with a series of punches, the second with a left hand; Barnett got up both times, but was very unsteady after the second knockdown and the referee stopped the fight at 2:59…

On 4-14-12 in Las Vegas he won by TKO (8^th round) against 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 5^th round; Mercito scored a knockdown with a right hook to the body in the 7^th round; he scored another knockdown with a right hook in the 8^th – 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 3^rd 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, 99-91…

On 7-9-11 in Carson, CA, he won by knockout (3^rd round) against Jorge Pimentel (23-11): the fight was on the undercard of the Brandon Rios-Urbano Antillon main event, and Mercito quickly overpowered him; Mercito scored a knockdown in the 1^st round, then scored another knockdown in the 2^nd; he scored another knockdown in the 3^rd round, and Pimentel was counted out at 2:23…

On 2-18-11 in San Francisco, CA, he won by TKO (3^rd round) against Genaro Trazcanos (22-13-1): this rematch was co-featured at Longshoremen’s Hall, and Mercito dominated; he rocked Trazcanos repeatedly in the 1^st and 2^nd rounds; he staggered Trazcanos with a left uppercut in the 3^rd round, then rocked him with a series of punches, and Trazcanos did not continue after the round…

2010 – on 10-22-10 in San Diego, CA, he won by knockout (2^nd round) against Ivan Valle (29-10-3): Mercito scored two knockdowns in the 1^st round, and stopped Valle at 0:26 of the 2^nd round…

On 8-20-10 in Tucson, AZ, he won by knockout (7^th round, 0:53) against Genaro Trazcanos (22-11-1)…

On 6-4-10 in Tampa, FL, he won by TKO (4^th round) against Oscar Meza (19-3): Mercito scored a knockdown with a body punch in the 4^th round, and the referee stopped the fight at 3:00…

On 2-25-10 in San Diego he won an 8 round unanimous decision against Cristian Favela (25-24-6): scored 80-72 on all three scorecards…

2009 – on 7-10-09 in San Diego he won by TKO (3^rd round, 1:13) against Devaris Crayton (6-5-1)…

On 5-21-09 in San Diego he won by knockout (1^st round, 0:44) against Alain Hernandez (14-6-2)…

2008 – on 11-7-08 in Tucson he won a 10 round unanimous decision against Cristian Favela (24-16-6): scored 79-73, 79-73, 79-71…

On 4-18-08 in Tucson he won by knockout (1^st round, 1:47) against Benito Zepeda (5-4-2)…

2007 – on 10-4-07 in Las Vegas he won by TKO (4^th round, 1:20) against Carlos Vinan (7-4-3)…

On 8-4-07 in Rosemont, IL, he won a 6 round majority decision against Carlos Madrid (8-3-2): scored 58-56, 58-56, 57-57…

2005 – on 12-16-05 in N. Cotabato, PH, he won a technical decision (7^th round) against Lee Escobido (35-54-3): in the 7^th round…

On 11-5-05 in Manila, PH, he had a technical draw (2^nd round) against Rey Llagas (58-28-2): Mercito was cut on his eyelid by an accidental clash of heads in the 2^nd round, and the fight was stopped on the cut…

On 9-24-05 in Manila he won a 10 round unanimous decision against Alex Guevarra (16-7)…

On 6-12-05 in Liloan, PH, he won by knockout (2^nd round) against Roldan Malinao (5-9)…

On 4-2-05 in Mantilupa, PH, he won a 8 round unanimous decision against Chris Dujali (2-4)…

2004 - on 12-10-04 in Manila he won by TKO (5^th round) against Roy Picardal (3-3)…

On 5-21-04 in Manila he won a 6 round unanimous decision against Sherwin Dagohoy (2-1-1)…

On 4-18-04 in Cebu, PH, he won a 6 round majority decision against Sherwin Dagohoy (2-0-1)…

On 3-25-04 in Taguig, PH, he won a 4 round majority decision against Rene Nival (2-3)…

On 2-7-04 in Taguig he won by TKO (1^st round) against Terry Tayao (debut)…

He debuted at the age of 16 on 10-19-03 in Taguig and won a 4 round unanimous decision against Roy Picardal (debut)…

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. The house I was born in, my dad turned it into a boxing gym when I was maybe four or five - he made the living room like a gym. So I grew up in the gym but later on, when I was about 12, we moved into another house and made the other house completely into a gym, a real gym. 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.

"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 around 35 Muay Thai fights, amateur and pro. In Muay Thai, you can fight amateur and you can fight pro - you can go back and forth. Sometimes there's a headgear, sometimes there's no headgear - if there's a headgear, it's amateur. 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]: Gesta’s story begins in his hometown of Mandaue City in the province of Cebu, where his father introduced him to every combat sport but boxing.

“My dad, Anecito, was a professional Muay Thai and MMA fighter in the Philippines but he used to box amateurs when he was a kid,” recalled Gesta. “I trained in Muay Thai at first but I saw that boxing pays more and it’s more popular. I was 15 and I went to a gym in Liloan, Cebu, to train and I did well, so my dad let me box.”

Without the memory bank of an amateur career to fall back upon, Gesta turned pro only one week after his 16^th birthday….

“As soon as I hit 16, I had my first pro fight. I didn’t have any amateur boxing experience but I had a great coach in Coach Carl and he helped me learn fast.”

He was a quick study, going 9-0-1 over the next two years under the tutelage of Carlos Peñalosa, brother of former two-weight world champion Gerry Peñalosa.

The new surroundings initially made Gesta feel like a fish out of water but he acclimated himself to the environment and realized it was closer to home than he imagined.

“I love it here now,” says the current resident of San Diego. “It’s not crowded. The weather’s nice and it’s peaceful, so I wanted to stay. It was kind of hard to adapt at first because I didn’t have that much friends but when I started fighting and people started knowing me, I met people who spoke [the Filipino dialect] Bisaya and with the large Filipino population here, they started to support me.”

He realized that there was one thing he did miss. “I wish they had the barbecue chicken on a stick they sell on the side of the street in the Philippines,” Gesta slightly lamented. “Here in San Diego, they have Filipino restaurants but the only thing they don’t have is the barbecue. If I get enough money one day, maybe I’ll open a place here. But I like it here.” [End Maquiñana item]

STRENGTHS: A lefthander with an aggressive style, good skills and movement…has good punching power…a sharp, accurate puncher…a good body puncher…

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 28 fights…156 total rounds…12 world championship rounds…

AVERAGE LENGTH OF BOUTS: 5.5 rounds…

KNOCKOUT PERCENTAGE: 53 %...

DISTANCE FIGHTS: 12 rounds  -1 (0-1)…10 rounds – 3 (3-0)…