Mercito Gesta ready for the best, but waiting patiently

Vincent Parra, the manager/trainer of undefeated Filipino lightweight prospect Mercito Gesta, stated several times before finalizing his thoughts that he didn't intend to come off as cocky or arrogant. He says he was just making an assessment of where he felt he and his charge were in the 135 pound landscape. "Robert Guerrero is sharp and really good and Michael Katsidis is a tough guy, but we didn't see anything from either guy that told us we couldn’t handle them," said Parra regarding this past weekend’s clash between two of the top three boxers in the 21-0-1 (11 KO) Gesta’s division. "We're at a point where Mercito knows he needs to move up. We look at the best guys and we watch them and critique where we feel we are. We just feel really confident," added Parra. Gesta, the 23-year-old Mandaue City native has been working out for the past four weeks at his base gym Alliance Training Center in San Diego, California, the same gym where Filipino-American UFC star Brandon Vera trains. Gesta is coming off a three-round trouncing of previous knockout victim Genaro Trazancos in February. He has stopped his last four opponents. Gesta and Parra would like to get back in the ring around late May to early June, but know that they must wait their turn before getting the big fights they crave. "If it was up to Mercito, he'd fight anybody but that's not the game," said Parra. "You have to earn your way up. He understands that. He's ranked number seven in the WBO, and we'll fight anyone in the top five. It's gonna be someone in that range." For the moment, Team Gesta is ironing out their promotional situation. Gesta is currently handled by long-time promoter Don Chargin, who is strongly aligned with Golden Boy Promotions. Gesta fought several times on Golden Boy's Solo Boxeo cards last year, and Parra expressed his desire to officially link "No Mercy" to the California-based promotional outfit. That isn't the last piece that Parra is hoping to add. "We've had great success, but Freddie Roach is someone that we would love to add to the team," Parra said. Parra took over as head trainer after Carl Penalosa returned to the Philippines to help train his brother Gerry Penalosa for his last few bouts. Gesta has wound up the final month of training for his last four bouts at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, relishing free moments with the time-pressed Manny Pacquiao trainer. "If Mercito has an opportunity to go and learn with Freddie, I welcome that. If and when Freddie takes charge of the corner, it would help my guy even better. I want him to have the opportunity to have the best education in boxing he can get," Parra stressed. "Mercito is a different fighter from Pacquiao, and even Freddie knows that. Everything that works for Pacquiao isn’t going to work for anyone else. Mercito is very much his own fighter," he added. - JVP, KY, GMA News Ryan Songalia is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and contributes to GMANews.TV and the Filipino Reporter newspaper. From January through April, he will cover the Daily News Golden Gloves tournament for the New York Daily News. He can be reached at ryan@ryansongalia.com . An archive of his work can be found atwww.ryansongalia.com . Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ryansongalia.