North American Boxing Federation (NABF) super bantamweight champion, Bernabe "The Real Deal" Concepcion knocked-out Adam Carrera with 2:14 gone in the third round of their scheduled 10-round non-title fight at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas. That's despite the fact that Manny Pacquiao is not at the ringside as earlier announced.
Abe lived up to his promise when he gushed "I want to make you all happy on the fight night" during the presentation. During the fight, he has silenced the partisan croud that loudly cheered for Carrera.
On Bernabe's corner is trainer Freddie Roach who instructed the 20-year-old native of Virac Catanduanes to pepper carrera with uppercuts in the second round. Manager Aljoe Jaro is also in the corner serving as a cutman. He blurted that Abe is "hinog na talaga siya for world championship" (he's ready for the world championship).
With Bernabe Concepcion's convincing win against Carrera, he has come nearer to a coveted world championship fight. He also improved his record to 26 wins(15 by KOs) and with 1 loss. He has also somehow cemented his position as the "next Manny Pacquiao" with the unfortunate loss of AJ "Bazooka" Banal to Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion in the Philipppines.
Concepcion was leading in the scorecards of the three judges—Eric Cheek, Glenn Trowbridge, and Duane Ford—who all logged 20-18 apiece
Fightwriter.com picks Bernabe Concepcion when he fights against Adam Carrera, from Cathedral City, CA. Carrera is a crowd-pleaser who once looked promising but has lost two of his last three fights.
Below is part of what Graham of FightWriter.com has written.
Concepcion is usually aggressive but lately he has been showing good boxing ability. I think he might well use a counter-punching style against Carrera, who will almost certainly be bringing the fight to him. I do not wish to dismiss Carrera out of hand, because he does have some good wins on his record, but he seems to have reached his level whereas Concepcion seems to be improving nicely, and the Filipino has career-momentum going for him. I expect a fairly convincing win for Concepcion, perhaps on a stoppage in the later stages.
North American Boxing Federation (NABF) super bantamweight champion Bernabe Concepcion will fight against Adam "El Torito" Carrera of Cathedral City, California on a 10-round non-title scrapper underneath the Miguel Cotto-Antonio Margarito WBA Welterweight Title unification bout. The fight will be held in Las Vegas and shown on HBO PPV. That will leave most of the Filipino fans of Bernabe Concepcion to settle for sports news on the outcome.
Carrera, 25, has a 19-3 record, with eight KOs, and lost his last outing to Juan Carlos Burgos on a third round stoppage in August last year. Concepcion, 20, has not lost in his last 18 fights and boasts a record of 25-1-1, with 14 KOs.
It is said that Manny Pacquiao, who allowed Abe to temporarily stay on his La Brea apartment, will be on the ringside to watch and support Abe. But before that, Pacquiao is in the Philippines to visit and give aids to the victims of typhoon "Frank". Pacquiao is helping chart Concepcion's future as a prizefighter.
The July 26 fight will allow Bernabe Concepcion, currently rated No. 4, to come nearer to a world title shot. Abe's handlers are waiting for the Daniel Ponce de Leon-Juan Manuel Lopez bout for the WBO super bantamweight title. If ever, The Real Deal may be chosen to take on the eventual champion.
Other fights for July 26 are as follows: Miguel Cotto vs. Antonio Margarito, 12 rounds, for Cotto's WBA welterweight title; Giovanni Segura vs. Cesar Canchila, 12 rounds, for interim WBA junior flyweight title; Michael Alvarado vs. Cesar Bazan, 10 rounds, junior welterweights; Bernabe Concepcion vs. Adam Carrera, 10 rounds, junior featherweights; "Kid Diamond" Almazbek Raiymkulov vs. TBA, 8 or 10 rounds, lightweights; Jesus Rojas vs. TBA, 8 rounds, junior featherweights
Nicknamed Abe on his childhood, Bernabe started boxing at an early age. Thanks primarily to his two older brothers who were also professional boxers. They were Abe's inspirations as a child and he eventually trained with them as he grew older. After a brief stint as an amateur, he almost immediately turned professional when he turned 16.
Despite a lanky frame, Abe has a good combination of power and solid boxing fundamentals he learned as a kid. His uncanny power and long reach afforded him five first-round KOs early in his career. That's more first-round KOs than fellow Filipino prospects Boom-boom Bautista and AJ Banal. These makes him one of the Philippine Boxing's hottest prospects. What's scary is the fact that Abe is not even on his prime yet. His body is still developing and for that's another concern for his would-be opponents.
Even so, you'll hardly see with Abe that his age because if you watch him fight, you can see maturity in him as a fighter. He thinks, he adjusts, he never gets jittery or over-excited. That's something that sets him apart from his contemporaries. On top of that, Abe also has more international exposure that most upstart Filipino boxers today. He has already captured two international belts to his name and he made it before he turned 20. Manny Pacquiao isn't even as successful.
Abe's only loss was a close majority decision to veteran Mark Sales early in his career. It was a fight that could have gone either way. He was knocked down once (on a lucky punch) but showed that he has a solid chin, rising from the canvas to get back at his opponent. Concepcion also hasn't been KOed yet.
With all these qualities and pontential, it's no wonder Bob Arum was so impressed that Concepcion was immediately signed with TopRank. It's another testament for the kid's talent as the head honcho of TopRank doesn't easily get impressed. Arum is a very good judge of boxing talent. Bernabe Concepcion is definitely the next big star of Philippine boxing.
Nicknamed Abe on his childhood, Bernabe started boxing at an early age. Thanks primarily to his two older brothers who were also professional boxers. They were Abe's inspirations as a child and he eventually trained with them as he grew older. After a brief stint as an amateur, he almost immediately turned professional when he turned 16. 
Even so, you'll hardly see with Abe that his age because if you watch him fight, you can see maturity in him as a fighter. He thinks, he adjusts, he never gets jittery or over-excited. That's something that sets him apart from his contemporaries. On top of that, Abe also has more international exposure that most upstart Filipino boxers today. He has already captured two international belts to his name and he made it before he turned 20. Manny Pacquiao isn't even as successful. 
