Gorres in crucial US bout today

Cebuano world title hopeful Z "The Dream" Gorres of the world-renowned ALA Boxing Gym hopes to emulate the feat of his stablemate and close buddy Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista in the US recently as he battles Colombian Pedro Rincon Miranda in a non-title bout scheduled for 10 rounds today at the Home Depot Center in Carson City, California.

The Gorres-Miranda showdown serves as one of the supporting bouts of the double World Boxing Organization championship featuring Fernando Montiel and Daniel Ponce de Leon against separate foes.

Montiel will defend his WBO bantamweight belt against Jhonny Gonzalez, while Ponce de Leon collides with Alejandro Barrera for the WBO junior featherweight crown.

A victory over Miranda will surely shore up Gorres' chances to vie for a world title this year, more so if Montiel succeeds in beating Gonzalez and in the process claim the WBO bantamweight plum.

In the event this happens, Montiel will automatically vacate his WBO super flyweight throne, thus, paving the way for the top WBO jr. bantamweight contenders - Gorres and Martin Powers of Australia - to dispute the vacant crown within 90 days.

This is the very reason why Gorres is in a must-win situation against Miranda as a loss will jeopardize his title hopes.

Showing he is fit and ready for his third ring appearance in the US, the Mandaue City-native Gorres hit the scales at 115.5 pounds, while Miranda scaled in 115.75 pounds in yesterday's official weigh-in at the Double Tree Hotel situated downtown Carson.

The WBO ranked No.1 115-pounder Gorres holds a 23-1-1 win-loss-draw record spiked with 12KOs, while Miranda, a 31-year-old veteran warrior from Cartagen, Bolivar, Colombia, carries a 30-10-2 ledger with an intimidating 23 wins via stoppage.

Miranda is a late replacement for Jose Laureano (18-9-1 8KO) of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, who backed out of the Gorres fight after suffering a serious injury in his training.

Gorres and Miranda came off contrasting fates in their previous bouts. Gorres punished Waenpetch Chuwatana of Thailand over 12 heats to win the OPBF super flyweight title last March 18 at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex, while Miranda lost by decision to many-time world challenger Mauricio Pastrana last month in Florida.

On paper, the 22-year-old Gorres is the heavy favorite having racked up 11 straight wins since tasting his first defeat by ninth round KO to Edgar Rodrigo on June 1, 2003 in Makati City. In stark contrast, Miranda lost four of his last five bouts.