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.