Where did it all go wrong for Bernabe Conception?
He was hailed as the next Manny Pacquiao, but Bernabe Conception slumped to a disastrous defeat on the weekend to Juan Manuel Lopez in their WBO featherweight title clash.
Anyone who saw him on action on Saturday would agree that the only thing that Conception and Pacquiao have in common is their nationalities. He labels himself as “The Real Deal” but he looked more like “30% off closing down sale”.
The fight was billed as the coming together of two of the hottest properties in the featherweights, but turned out to be a horrible mismatch.
It wasn’t even a minute in before Conception caught a left hook flush in the face and stumbled back into the ropes. His guard was nonexistent and Lopez couldn’t believe his luck as he nonchalantly swung away and caught The Real Deal with a hook as he tried to duck, dropping the Filipino effortlessly to the canvas.
“Juanma” then started pummelling the challenger in the corner and it looked like it would be a short night’s work. He hounded his opponent around the ring, bullying and taking no shots in return. Somewhat miraculously Conception threw out a wild left when corned and caught the champ square on the side of his head, dropping him with maybe his only clean punch of the fight so far. Lopez bounced straight back up though, looking a little annoyed at the flash-knockdown.
As soon as they came out for the bell in the second round, bang, a straight left from Lopez and down went Conception again. He pulled himself up, then bam, again he was down, but the referee ruled it a slip. Lopez could sense victory, he stalked his rival around the ring like a lion eyeing up a gazelle, and the photographers were virtually in the ring getting ready for their KO shot as Conception threw out in defiance and desperation. He managed to cling on for about a minute while Juanma selected his shot, before electing to just throw a heavy combination and then steam in, sending the hapless challenger to the canvas as the ref waved it off.
This was about as one-sided a fight as you could get. Conception was well out of his depth against the vastly more talented and skilled Lopez which makes you wonders what all the fuss was about.
New Pacquiao? He looked flat-footed, his chin was weak, he frequently dropped his guard, barely threw a punch and had no plan B. This was his first KO which is quite a surprise really because it looked easy for Lopez.
Word is The Real Deal worked with “Pacman” before this fight and has in the past worked with Freddie Roach, but he probably needs full time tutelage from the boxing guru to revive his career now.
Perhaps his problem is the Pacquiao comparisons, he doesn’t fight his own game and goes on the lightning-fast-all-out-attacks that have become Pacquiao’s trademark. Sadly there can only be one Pacman and unless you have his hand speed and footwork as well as power, it’s not going to come off as Conception discovered.
The Real Deal is only 22 and with a record of 28(15)-4(1)-1 he has a lot of experience for someone that age, and he has scored decent wins against the likes of Mario Santiago. As a youngster Pacquiao lost a few and it took time for him to develop into the fighter he is today, so it’s far from over for Conception he just needs to go back to basics and work on his defences.
Hailing him as the second coming may be quite wide of the mark though, because this was far from the immaculate Conception.
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