by Ronnie Nathanielsz

Respected international referee Ferdinand Estrella has been chosen as the third man in the ring for the Pan Asia Boxing Association light flyweight title fight between champion Randy “Razor” Petalcorin of the Philippines and challenger Samartlek Chaiyonggym of Thailand.

The title fight is the main event on an exciting fight card presented by Active Television or AKTV in cooperation with Mandaluyong City Mayor Ben Hur Abalos and the promotional team of “In This Corner” headed by Rommel Nazario, Moy Lainez and Gerry Garcia at the Mandaluyong Gym at 6:00 p.m. Saturday.

The fights in the second staging of the “Pinoy Knockout” series will be telecast on a slightly delayed basis at 9:00 p.m. over AKTV IBC 13, the free television sports network.

The judges for the fight are Thailand’s well known boxing judge Chalerm Prayadsab and international referee/judge Ver Abainza and Gil Co of the Philippines.

PABA fight supervisor is Games and Amusements Board chairman Guanzon who presided over the rules meeting at his office following the weigh-in Friday.

Four evenly matched bouts, all Philippine Boxing Federation Championship bouts will be featured on the undercard.

Philippine super bantamweight champion Jhunriel Ramonal will face Ariel Delgado in a much-awaited rematch after their first meeting ended in a first round stoppage due to a bad cut received by Ramonal after an accidental clash of heads.

Ramonal came in at 122 pounds but Delgado who is the PBF No.2 ranked super bantamweight and No. 13 in the GAB rankings was two pounds over the limit and had to reduce. He eventually came in ½ pound over but Delgado’s manager/trainer Emil Romano  who said his fighter couldn’t shed off any more weight threatened to pull-out and return the fighter’s purse which had already been paid in full.

However,  the handlers of Ramonal saved the situation by agreeing to fight Delgado even though he was over the stipulated weight limit.

In a battle of warriors Rene Bestudio, the PBF No. 4 contender and Leonardo Doronio who is ranked No. 9 by the PBF will face off in a featherweight title fight.

Doronio who is 5’7” and stands two inches taller than Bestudio is from the stable of Aljoe Jaro whose fighters  have had a run of success with Sonny Boy Jaro capturing the WBC flyweight title via a 6th round knockout of veteran Thai champion Pongsaklek Wonjongkam recently.

Another close fight is expected  between  Christian Abila who stands 5’8” and enjoys a four inch height advantage over Rex Olisa,  battle for the PBF bantamweight title. Abila is ranked No. 4 by the PBF while Olisa is ranked No. 12.

In the fourth PBF title clash two brawlers,  Edison Berwela, PBF No. 15 and Jaymart Toyco , PBF No. 13 will go up against each other  for the flyweight title.