FILIPINO prospects climb the ring on April 1 during the annual Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) convention at the El Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City.
Bohol pride Carlo Magali and hometown standout Mark Gil Melligen square it out for the OPBF super-featherweight interim title at fight night, where one of the VIPs is World Boxing Council (WBC) President Mauricio Sulaiman.
The other championship bouts feature local bets Rey Singwangcha Megrino against Jonathan Baat for the OPBF bantamweight interim belt and Rene Dacquel against undefeated Lucky tor Buamas of Thailand for the OPBF super-flyweight interim title.
“Siyempre, hindi dapat maging kumpiyansa. Magiging matindi ‘yung labanan. Pero alam ko naman na pinaghandaan namin ng maayos itong mga labang ito,” said Joven Jorda, trainer of Magali and Megrino, in Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at Shakey’s Malate.
Magali has a record of 19 wins, seven losses and three draws with 10 knockouts, while Melligen packs a 21-6-1 win-losss-draw record. Megrino, on the other hand, has a 22-win and 20-loss record with 19 knockouts.
Sulaiman, meanwhile, will be the special guest on Tuesday night’s Gabriel “Flash” Elorde Annual Awards at Sofitel Hotel. He flies to Bacolod City the following day to serve as speaker and observer of the annual symposium of OPBF member-countries and representatives.
“The WBC bigwigs and the top promoters in Asia and the Pacific will be treated to an exciting boxing action,” OPBF President and Games and Amusement Board Chairman Juan Ramon Guanzon said. “We will show them that Filipino fighters deserve to fight abroad and get a chance to be world champions.”
Approval of the revised OPBF rules will be tackled, along with the discussions of fight judging, refereeing principles and application and implementation of interim championships.