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WBO International flyweight champion and world No. 1 Milan Melindo will battle Indonesia’s No.1 ranked light flyweight Tommy Seran on the blockbuster Top Rank card in Macau on April 6 to be telecast by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN..
WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire is looking forward to his unification bout against WBA king and Olympic gold medalist Guillermo Rigondeaux on April 13, probably in New York. Donaire told BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard - “while its going to be Rigondeaux it makes no difference and doesn’t matter who it is” after the Rigondeaux camp brought up an issue with Top Rank Promotions and Vic Darchinyan was being considered as an alternate opponent.
Renan Trongco has to shed 4 kg or over 8 pounds when he steps on the scales for the official weigh-in for his IBO strawweight title fight against South African champion Hekkie Budler at the Emperor’s Palace in Gauteng, South Africa on Saturday night, Sunday morning in Manila. Super Sport reported that Trongco “ looked slim and trim at a media conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila)but he has problems ahead of the title fight.
Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera will be at ringside when WBO light flyweight champion Donnie Nietes defends his title against Mexico’s WBO minimum weight champion Moises Fuentes at the Waterfront Hotel & Casino in Cebu on March 2 ALA Promotions president Michal Aldeguer told the Manila Standard that Barrera’s brother Jorge Barrera handles Fuentes and that the former world champion who fought Manny Pacquiao twice and lost by an 11th round TKO in their first fight and a unanimous twelve round decision in a rematch “is very much involved” with Fuentes.
WBO/WBA flyweight champion Brian Viloria is training hard for his title defense against Mexican challenger Juan Francisco Estrada of Mexico on the blockbuster Top Rank fight card in Macau on April 6, driven by the fact that he was not honored as a co-“Athlete of the Year” by the Philippine Sportswriters Association.
World Boxing Council president Don Jose Sulaiman has demanded safety changes in boxing in Indonesia. At the same time Sulaiman informed BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard that “due to the great number of accidents in the ring during fights in Indonesia, we must request all the affiliated countries not to authorize boxers to fight in Indonesia, until new methods of medical emergency, ring doctors and ring officials are established.”
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum insists that Juan Manuel Marquez has not turned down a fifth fight with Manny Pacquiao and says the speculation over a possible opponent for Pacquiao - other than Marquez - is unwarranted and suggested that everybody stays quiet. In a conversation with BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard, Arum revealed that he is meeting with Marquez this week, obviously to discuss a fifth fight with Pacquiao which he had planned for September. Arum told us “as long as he’s fighting, he’s not a fool. Of course he’s going to fight Manny rather than fight somebody for a lot less money.”
Aware of the huge odds against earning a decision in South Africa against a hometown fighter the P hilippines hard-hitting Renan Trongco (12-3, 8 KO’s) will go for a knockout when he faces IBO straw-weight champion Hekkie Budler of South Africa (21-1, 6 KO’s) at the Emperors Palace in South Africa on February 16. Trongco who will take a long and grueling fight to South Africa via Dubai instead of the shorter route via Hong Kong with the South African promoter claiming flights were all booked, the southpaw who leaves with trainer and former OPBF champion William Develos and Rolando Angel on Saturday told the Manila Standard that he has been training since December 10 and is in good shape.
World Boxing Council president Don Jose Sulaiman is trying his best to ensure that minimumweight mandatory challenger Denver Cuello gets a step-aside fee for having had to make way for Chinese champion Xiong Zhao Zhong’s voluntary defense which was approved by the WBC board of governors at its convention in Cancun last December. Sulaiman told BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard that Zhong had signed a contract with American promoter Gary Shaw and will be featured in a fight card in Las Vegas, Nevada against a still unnamed opponent.
WBO welterweight champion Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley, who stirred a storm of protests following his controversial split decision win over Manny Pacquiao last June 6, is expected to be too good for Pacquiao’s rugged Russian sparring partner Ruslan Provodnikov when they clash at the Home Depot Center in Carson City, California on March 16. Later today a press conference will be hosted by Top Rank promoter Bob Arum and Banner Promotions at the Millenium Biltmore in Los Angeles. Bradley’s manager Cameron Dunkin who also manages WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire told BoxingScene.com/Manila Standard he believes Bradley “is too fast, too smart and too skilled” for Providnikov.