MERCITO DOMINATES GONZALEZ WITH 70% POWER

By Monty Flores

 I had just finished my shift at work and had to pack up fast to drive to Las Vegas at 1 in the morning.

We had to avoid the morning rush in Los Angeles and got to  our destination in 5 hours.  It was unfortunate

that my son and i missed the first 2 preliminary bouts but was on time for the Gesta vs Gonzalez 10 round

co main event.  This was held at the cosmopolitan hotel and was promoted by Golden Boy Boxing.  You could

feel the energy and excitement when the two fighters walked towards the ring.

     Mercito the “Merciless” Gesta who comes from San Diego, California has a record of 29-1-2 with 16ko’s,

weighing 133.6 pounds respectively.  On the other side which was the blue corner, Gilberto “Flako” Gonzalez

had a record of 27-3 22 ko’s who weighed 134.2 pounds.

     Gesta was moving great the night and kept scoring from all angles.  He would go in and do his combinations

and automatically move out from Gilberto’s deadly right cross. It was in then a combinations of punches and out

the whole 10 rounds.  Gilberto kept squinting and wiping his eyes from the first round on from Mercitos jabs, hooks,

right cross and overhands.  Gonzales’ face was a bloody mess that night but he had a heart of a Mexican champ and

never gave up even for a second.

    Gonzalez had difficulty timing Gesta, it was the lateral movement, ducking and blocking punches that gave him

problems.  Gilberto would score occasionally and the crowd would go wild but Gesta would use angles to avoid his

opponents powerful right cross.  Gonzalez scored big on the end of the  third round when Gesta had a flash knock down

which momentarily excited and rose the adrenaline from the Mexican crowd.   Gesta gets up and beats the count and smiles

at Gonzalez.

     Gesta dominated Gonzalez all 9 rounds but did not use all his power.  He was basically pop shotting his opponent the

whole night and held back because he recently had surgery to his right shoulder.  I could not hear the heavy thud from Gesta’s

punches.   According to his trainer Marvin Somodio, ” Gesta only used about 70% of his power to beat Gonzalez all 9 rounds.

The judges scored a unanimous decision of 98-92 / 96-93 / 99-91 in favor of our pinoy champ Mercito the “Merciless” Gesta.