Catanduanes Forum

Next for Concepcion? Shot at world crown
01/12/2009 | 05:00 PM

MANILA, Philippines – Although buzz about Bernabe Concepcion being the next Manny Pacquiao is premature, there were Pacman-esque moments in his five-round butchery of visitor Sande Otieno late Saturday night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Concepcion forced the Kenyan fighter to surrender before the start of the sixth round (similar to how Oscar dela Hoya discontinued his match with Pacquiao last month).

As a result, Concepcion took home the World Boxing Council International featherweight title (much like the belt Pacquiao wore four times but at 130 pounds).

Concepcion, a Catanduanes province native who is promoted by -- you guessed it -- Pacquiao's MP Promotions outfit, improved to 28-1-1 (win-loss-draw). His short work of Otieno was his 17th victory by knockout.

He will turn only 21 on January 20.

Otieno could have just wrapped himself as a fitting birthday present in the one-sided bout.

The right-handed Concepcion was all over Otieno in all the rounds, with the foreigner doing all he could to avoid being embarrassed but failing monumentally.

In the fifth round, Otieno suffered a cut above his right eye and then a bleeding nose. Referee Bruce McTavish called the physician to check on Otieno's condition.

Game over.

"We are now looking into the possibility of pitting Bernabe against either Daniel Ponce de Leon or Steve Luevano to be added in the March 15 card," Aljoe Jaro, Concepcion's manager, told Philboxing.com, referring to the date proposed for Nonito Donaire's clash tentatively set against Fernando Montiel.

Ponce de Leon, of Mexico, is a slugger with a 35-2-1 career record and a former World Boxing Organization super-bantamweight champion. Luevano, of California, is a technical boxer with a 36-1-1 slate and the current WBO featherweight holder.

"Either fight for Bernabe will be exciting," Jaro noted.

With a world title on the line, either fight will give credence to the Pacquiao comparisons. – GMANews.TV