By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Randy Suico, regarded as one of the more promising Filipino fighters with prospects for a crack at the world title currently held by legendary Mexican Marco Antonio Barrera should face no problems in his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation super featherweight title defense against Thai challenger Muangfahlek Kiatwichean in Lapu Lapu City, Wednesday.

At the official weigh-in the Thai had to reduce after he stepped on the scales and was found to be one pound overweight. Both Kiatwichean and Suico eventually tipped the scales at 130 pounds flat.

The 25 year old Suico who blew a chance to fight Barrera for the WBC crown after losing a controversial decision in a title eliminator to South Africa’s Mzonke Fana in Johannesburg last May 28 is currently ranked No. 2 by the WBC and hopes to earn a possible shot at the title with an impressive win over Kiatwichean who has a record of 10-4 with 7 knockouts, three of which were over the same opponent Mahasamut Kiatpakpanung who himself has a record of only one win against eight defeats according to the website boxrec.com.

Most boxing experts believe that Suico’s development has been stymied by the fact that he hasn’t really been tested by worthy opponents and that his loss to Fana who in turn was demolished by Barrera in two rounds exposed Suico’s weakness. In fact, boxrec records indicate that Kiatwichean lost two fights last year by unanimous decisions against Takanori Kariya on April 29 in Sendai and Ryuhei Sugita in Nagoya on October 30.

Suico is coming off an eighth round TKO victory over Indonesia’s Ibrahim Aroby last October 23. He also scored a second round KO over South Korea’s badly overmatched Seung-Won Baek on January 30 last year before travelling to South Africa where he lost to Fana despite having decked him twice and having Fana on the verge of a knockout in the final round.

Suico’s trainer Juanito Ablaca told Viva Sports/Manila Standard during a workout by Suico at the famed ALA Gym last Saturday that the lanky Filipino fighter’s problem was getting the rated fighters to take him on. Ablaca said the top-rated fighters in the OPBF including Manny Pacquiao’s brother Bobby Pacquiao who was rated No. 1 before losing to WBO International champion Fahprakorn Rakkiatgym, have been avoiding Suico.