'The calm before the hurricane': Julaton ready to unleash her wrath in her quest for redemption

Photo by: Rob Cruz

Eat, train, sleep, repeat. Eat, train, sleep, repeat. Eat, train, sleep, repeat. That's been Ana 'The Hurricane' Julaton's life this past 8 weeks. You can say she lived and breathed boxing in hopes to redeem herself from her defeat at the hands of Lisa 'Bad News' Brown last March. Well, she finally gets to break that habit tomorrow night.

Tomorrow she gets to add the reason why she's been doing the same three things this past two months and that is to kick some butt.

 Photo by: Rob Cruz

Perhaps that's why things were relatively quiet today, Tuesday here in Toronto. It's the calm before the storm. In this case, it's the calm before 'The Hurricane'.

Julaton's best fight to date is perhaps her battle with Kelsey Jeffries in September of 2009. Jeffries was flirting around 8-1 as the favorite in that fight. Julaton by all means was not supposed to win that fight. It's safe to say people were treating her like a business expense during tax season- they were writing her off. And why wouldn't they? Jeffries had only lost twice in her last 34 fights while Julaton had all but six fights under her belt. I'm no math wiz but I can tell a disparity when I see one.

During that time, Julaton was also reeling from losing her first fight and title shot against Dominga Olivo. Before the loss, Julaton burst into the scene like tsunami. She made waves and headlines and was the darling of the media. She had the look, the skills and the hype behind her. It was also at a time when Manny Pacquiao was on the up and up and Julaton provided the perfect side story as the female version of the Filipino sensation. But after that first loss, it was almost as if she lost everything. People jumped off her bandwagon like stocks for Enron. The taste of defeat definitely left an indelible mark and a bitter taste in her mouth. 

 Photo by: Rob Cruz

Instead of hanging her head, Julaton used the adversity as motivation. Gone were many of those who once filled her head with hyperboles and flatteries, instead she had to face the truth. There was a lot more work needed to be done and she did it. She took her heat check and used it to fuel her quest for redemption and against Jeffries, everything came together. Julaton silenced her critics and made like the IRS and had those who wrote her off pay for their errors. She defeated Jeffries by majority decision and was back on top of the world in no time.

Well guess what? Julaton's last fight brought her back to those times. Her clash against the veteran Lisa Brown had so much behind it. A victory would have given her 3 of the 4 major world title belts in her division. More importantly, it would've solidified her status as the face of women's boxing in the United States after receiving so much exposure from the likes of ESPN and other major media outlets. 

Unfortunately, road bumps to success happen and when Julaton lost to Brown, she rediscovered a similar feeling of abandonment from the bandwagon types. Her ESPN feature was never aired, allegedly because of the loss. All of a sudden, the media and boxing fans were writing her off again. 

Fortunately, one of Julaton's best attributes is her bounce-back ability, and in her camp for this fight, she was definitely all business and at times even bent backwards just to have the best training she can possibly get from the sports best trainer Freddie Roach, who as prolific as he is, has a full plate in his midst with all his fighters from Manny Pacquiao to Amir Khan, Chavez Jr., Jose Benavidez all the way down to MMA fighters like GSP. What does that mean? Well, you will have to work around the man's schedule- sit down after taking a number. 

But when her number did get called, Julaton took full advantage. She trained hard.. and I mean hard. She did two-a-days, 4 hour sessions, sparred with the baddest girls available like the talented Kaliesha West. She took everything in stride and shut down party invites left and right. Julaton is on a mission that she intends to accomplish at the Casino Rama Wednesday night against Maria Elena Villalobos. And if history is to repeat itself, definitely expect a lot of fireworks on the eve of Canada day. 

Get your popcorns ready... or the chicharon. 

Dennis 'dSource' Guillermo is a freelance sportswriter. You can reach him at dennisguillermo2@yahoo.com.

MY PREDICTION ON THIS FIGHT

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AND ANA JULATON

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