By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Buoyed by the resounding success of its recent “Pinoy Pride” fight cards and its having won the right to stage the first world title fight at the Mall of Asia Arena when AJ “Bazooka” Banal battles Thailand’s Pungluang Sor Singyu for the WBO bantamweight title, ALA Promotions moves forward with another exciting card at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino on September 22.

Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation flyweight champion Rocky Fuentes takes on Japan-based North Korean Myung Ho Lee who has an impressive record of 15-1 with 5 knockouts while undefeated  WBO No.1 ranked flyweight Milan Melindo (27-0, 11 KO’s) clashes with former world champion Jean Piero Perez (19-4-1, 14 KO’s) of Venezuela for the WBO International flyweight title.

The 31 year old Perez won the WBA world interim title with a twelve round unanimous decision over Jesus Jimenez of Mexico on January 29, 2011 but lost the title when he was knocked out by Juan Carlos Reveco of Argentina with a crippling punch to the liver in the 2nd round on June 10 last year.

The  29 year old Lee who stands 5’7” is coming off an 8th round technical decision over Sho Nazakawa last March 20 which was his thirteenth successive victory since he suffered a 2nd round knockout at the hands of Filipino, Alfred Nagal in Osaka, Japan on September 10, 2006.

However, the top rated challenger had a big 6th round TKO win over Albert Alcoy on October 3, 2010.

Fuentes, nicknamed “The Road Warrior” is a hard-hitting, world rated 26 year old with a record of 33-6-2 with 20 knockouts. Fuentes is ranked No.3 by the WBO, No.2 by the WBA, No. 4 by the WBC  and No. 9 by the IBF.

He won the OPBF title with a hard-fought twelve round majority decision over Masafumi Okuba in Tokyo on March 9, 2010  and has successfully defended his title four times since then and also won non-title bouts against Jemmy Gobel of Indonesia and scored a 6th round knockout over Javier Franco in his last fight on March 24 this year.

Franco who came in 2 ½ pounds over the 114 pound contracted weight limit was forced to wear ten ounce gloves which is mandated by the rules.