JACK ASIS felt the moment had come as early as the fourth round, and he went for the kill in round eight to win the International Boxing Organisation (IBO) world super-featherweight championship in Queensland on Saturday, April 11, 2015.
By JAIME K PIMENTEL
Asis knocked out Australian Kye MacKenzie at 1min 28sec of the eighth when referee Garry Dean put a stop to the scheduled 12-round championship fight.
The Davao-born, Toowoomba-based Filipino accepted the world champion’s belt with an ecstatic: “This is my dream. Through my boxing career, I never lost hope of one day becoming a world champion.
“I owe it all to my trainer and manager Brendon Smtih who made it possible for me.”
Mackenzie was on top of Asis in the early rounds. “I could feel his power, he was very strong,” Asis said. “I was trying too hard in the first few rounds.
But the Filipino settled down, paying more attention to his corner. “And from there, I fought my fight,” he said.
Round 4 was a big round, when they traded big shots. Asis came out of that better for wear. It was the moment: He had MacKenzie’s number.
From round five onwards, MacKenzie’s power continued to fade. “I thereon used my experience and waited for an opening,” Asis said.
It came in the eighth round.
“I landed a left hook and I could see it hurt him,” the Filipino recalls. “So I threw everything at him until the referee stopped the fight.
“To see the look on my trainer-manager Smith’s face and to have all my team rush into the ring was a moment I will never forget.”
It was an even more emotional victory for Asis’ boxing stable Smithy’s Gym in Toowoomba, where his stable mate and sparring partner Brayd Smith had died after losing a bruising 12-rounder against Filipino import John Vincent Moralde fighting for the vacant WBC Asian Continental featherweight title on March14, 2015.
Asis not only had to try and keep focussed on the biggest opportunity of his life as he grieved with his former sparring partner’s family.
The enormity of his personal loss meant Asis missed one week of training, but in the end his will to win overcame any shortcomings from his preparation.
“The preparation wasn’t perfect but there must be no excuses in this game,” he said.
Jack Asis’ journey to the top of world boxing was a tough one. As a child, he was homeless and lived on the streets of Davao City, in Mindanao. At age 12 he was begging for food. Everyday was simply a battle to survive.
He found a better life through boxing, but it still had more downs than ups. At one stage he lost eight of 11 bouts between 2009-2010, including six straight.
But that’s all behind him now. “I have a wife and a daughter in Toowoomba with me now; they’re my life,” Asis says. “I’m so proud to be world champion because it means I can provide a better life for my family.”
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PICTURE:
Jack Asis, new World Boxing Organisation super-featherweight champion with his Belt.
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