By Jake Donovan
Marvin Mabait and Alejandro ‘Payasito’ Hernandez easily made weight for their regional bantamweight title fight Friday evening at Foro Palanco in Mexico City.
Mabait, who is angling for a shot at a major title in 2014, came in at a trim and ready 116 lb. for his scheduled 12-round headliner. Hernandez came in at 117 lb, still within the division’s 118 lb. limit.
The bout serves as the main event for Friday’s edition of Boxeo Telemundo. The episode marks the third of four consecutive Fridays in which the series air, with this week’s edition the first time in 2014 the series heads to Mexico.
Mabait came up huge in last year’s Boxeo Telemundo finale, scoring a one-punch 1st round knockout of Johnny Garcia on the road in Mexico to help his cause as a rising bantamweight contender. The Filipino was rumored as a potential opponent for unbeaten bantamweight titlist Tomoki Kameda, but the fight never materialized.
Big plans are in store for 2014, whether revisiting talks with Kameda (Mabait owns a regional title which leaves him as a ranked contender for Kameda’s alphabet belt) or any of the other top bantamweights. First he has to take care of business in his second straight trip to Mexico City.
“If Marvin beats Payasito – and this is a tough test for him – then we are looking at a title shot hopefully for our next fight,” reveals Felix ‘Tuto’ Zabala, Mabait’s promoter. “First we have to win on Friday. After that, we can aggressively pursue those plans.”
Mabait (19-1, 13KO) has won three straight following the lone loss of his career. The wins have all come by knockout, all in 2013 and amassing less than seven total rounds of ring time.
Hernandez (26-10-2, 14KO) has lost three of his past five, but has hometown advantage and is also coming off of a 12-round points win in his last outing earlier this year.
Full weights:
Marvin Mabait, 116 lb vs. Alejandro Hernandez, 117 lb. – 12 rounds, bantamweight
Carlos "Fino" Ruiz, 131 lb vs. Ulises Moreno, 133 lb. - 8 rounds, super featherweight
Alberto Luna, 132 lb vs. Hugo Ledesma, 130 lb - 6 rounds, super featherweight
Victor Lopez, 118 lb vs. Christian Soto, 118 lb - 6 rounds, bantamweight
Luis Alberto Huilot, 141 lb vs. Luis Vidales (140 lb – 6 rounds, super lightweight
Luis Alberto Andrade, 104 lb vs. Luis Alberto Najera, 105 lb - 4 rounds, strawweight
Daniel Romero, 107 lb vs. Raymundo Hernandez (107 lb - 4 rounds, junior flyweight
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com, as well as a member of Transnational Boxing Ratings Board and the Boxing Writers Association of America. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox