Philippine basketball

Boxing: Randy Petalcorin returns with eye on IBF belt

Ryan Songalia

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Top junior flyweight contender Randy Petalcorin will face Mark Anthony Florida on February 25 at SM Convention Center in General Santos City

WAITING FOR HIS SHOT. Filipino boxing contender wants a shot at the IBF junior flyweight title, whoever ends up holding it. File photo by Arvee Eco/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – Top-rated junior flyweight contender Randy Petalcorin will take the ring for the third time in 5 months on February 25 when he faces Mark Anthony Florida in an 8-round bout at the SM Convention Center in General Santos City, Philippines. 

Petalcorin (25-2-1, 18 knockouts) is rated number 7 by The Ring magazine at 108 pounds and is looking to make his case for a shot at the IBF junior flyweight title currently held by Japan’s Akira Yaegashi, Petalcorin’s promoter Jim Claude Manangquil of Sanman Promotions tells Rappler. 

Yeagashi must first get past Filipino boxer Milan Melindo, who is the IBF interim champion, and Manangquil hopes his IBF number 13 ranked boxer is lucky enough to climb up the ratings to meet the winner. 

“Yaegashi is the champ we want, anytime, anywhere,” said Manangquil. “But we understand Melindo is scheduled to fight  him. Whoever wins, we don’t care. We just want the IBF belt.” 

The hard-punching southpaw Petalcorin should have little resistance from Florida (9-6, 7 KOs), who has lost 6 of his last 7 fights and hasn’t fought since being stopped in 7 rounds by Melvin Jerusalem nearly two years ago.

The event will be Sanman Promotions’ sixth “Brawl at the Mall” installment but the first in partnership with SM GenSan. The show is free to the public and can seat 2,000 fans. Manangquil believes that the show will be heavily attended like his 5 previous mall shows, which have helped reestablish GenSan as a boxing grassroots hub.

“Mall shows have been really successful for us. Mall are accessible to boxing fans and are in the heart of the city so boxing fans,” says Manangquil.

Undercard

The rest of the card figures to be more competitive, particularly the bantamweight showdown between Ben Mananquil (12-1, 3 KOs) of Zamboanga del Norte against Glenn Porras (29-5, 17 KOs) of M’lang, Cotabato del Norte in a 12-round bout.

Mananquil (no relation to the promoter) showed great promise in pummeling world title challenger Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym of Thailand back in 2013 only to have the fight stopped in the second round on an accidental headbutt. 

He signed with Sanman last year and returned from 15 months out of the ring with an 8-round decision over Romulo Ramayan Jr in December. Porras, who is 7 years older at 31, was a top prospect in the Philippines before being knocked out in two rounds by future title challenger Jose Nieves in his third US bout in 2012. Porras returned following nearly 4 years out of the ring last September and has fought twice since, losing a technical decision to Jayar Estremos in November.

Local favorite Jade Bornea (6-0, 4 KOs) will have plenty of fans in attendance from his local Iglesia ni Cristo congregation when he faces ALA-promoted Raul Yu (9-1, 8 KOs) of Cebu City in their 10-round bout for the IBF Youth super flyweight belt.

The 21-year-old Bornea was a bronze medalist at the 2012 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships in Armenia as an amateur.

The Sonsona brothers Lolito and Eden will also be in action in a pair of 10-round bouts. Lolito Sonsona (20-1-4, 9 KOs) will meet Macrea Gandionco (11-4-2, 7 KOs), while Eden Sonsona (35-6-2, 12 KOs) will face Jovany Rota (9-9, 6 KOs). – Rappler.com

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