By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Well known international referee Raul Caiz Jr has been named as the third man in the ring for the World Boxing Association super flyweight title fight between AJ “Bazooka” Banal and Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion of Panama at the Cebu Coliseum on July 26.
WBA Ratings Committee chairman Jose Oliver Gomez officially informed international matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz about the referee as well as the judges who will be Phillipe Verbeke of Belgium, Francisco Marrtinez of New Zealand and Charlen Prayasab of Thailand.
The fight supervisor named by Gomez is Yang Sup Shim of Korea.
The WBA officials are scheduled to arrive in Cebu on Thursday, July 24.
Raul Caiz Jr refereed the January 26 title fight between WBA featherweight champion Chris John and Panama’s Roinet Caballero in Jakarta, Indonesia. Caiz Jr stopped the bout after Caballero’s corner three in the towel before round eight.
A popular referee and the son of Raul Caiz Sr, he also was referee in the WBA lightweight title defense of then champion Juan Diaz against Fernando Angulo of Venezuela in November 2006 which Diaz won by a unanimous decision over twelve rounds.
Caiz deducted a point from Angulo for holding in round six and warned the Venezuelan for a head-butt in round eight.
The Banal-Concepcion title fight as well as major fights on the undercard will be telecast by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN "live" over Studio 23 beginning at 7:30 p.m. and replayed on Sunday morning over the pre-eminent Channel 2.