By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Respected international referee Ferdinand Estrella has been chosen to referee the WBA Intercontinental title fight between Milan Melindo and Carlos Melo at the Cebu Coliseum on Saturday.

Games and Amusements Board boxing division chief Dr.Nasser Cruz informed Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today that the three judges picked to officiate were Silvestre Abainza and  Teddy Alivio and Edward Ligas of Cebu who are both recognized for their competence.

International matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz earlier disclosed that the WBA wished to show its respect for the Chairman Eric Buhain and the GAB giving the agency that supervises and controls professional sports in the country, due respect.

It is evident that the World Boxing Association is striving to regain a foothold in the Philippines which has, up to now, been working closely with the leading boxing organization in the world, the World Boxing Council, the World Boxing Organization and to a much lesser extent the International Boxing Federation.

The Milendo-Melo fight is an eagerly awaited bout between two excellent boxers and is expected to be one of the highlights on the undercard of the WBA interim super flyweight championship between AJ “Bazooka” Banal and Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion of Panama.