By Rene Bonsubre,Jr Filipino boxing fans will be energized during the last three months of 2019 with four world title bouts, intriguing regional contests and the national amateur boxing team intending to dominate at home. First up among the Filipino fighters is Edward Heno (14W-0L-5D,5KO’s), who will challenge WBO world junior flyweight champion Elwin Soto (15W-1L, 11KO’s) of Mexico. Heno just arrived in the U.S. for the October 24 fight set at the Fantasy Springs Casino in California. Heno has a lot of luck fighting overseas. In 2017 he had a draw and a 7th round TKO win in Okinawa against Seita Ogido which earned him the vacant OPBF light flyweight title. He returned to Japan this year to defend his OPBF crown and beat Koji Itagaki by unanimous decision. Last year in the Philippines, he beat former WBO world miniflyweight champ Merlito Sabillo by split verdict and erstwhile world ranked Jessie Espinas by unanimous decision. This will be Heno’s first appearance in the United States. The champion Soto won the title last June against Puerto Rican Angel Acosta by KO in the 12th and final round. This will be his first title defense. On November 2, Jerwin Ancajas (31-1-2,21KO’s) will make the eighth defense of his IBF superflyweight world title against Mexican Jonathan Javier Rodriguez (21-1,15KO’s). Rodriguez gained some notoriety in his last fight when his opponent, fellow Mexican Felipe Orucuta, collapsed in the ring after the fight was halted in round ten. The ring doctor was reported to have performed CPR inside the ring to revive him. Orucuta underwent emergency brain surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain. Ancajas has been training away from distractions in a new camp in Zambales. This will be Rodriguez’s first shot at a world crown and the fight will be held at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. November 7 is a highly anticipated date for Filipino and Japanese fight fans.Future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire (40-5,26KO’s) will face Naoya Inoue (18-0,16KO’s) in the bantamweight finals of the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS). This intriguing battle between an aging legend and a young dangerous puncher has been the talk of boxing circles for months. The fight also carries with it historical significance as one of the important match-ups in bantamweight history. Donaire holds the WBA crown while Inoue is the IBF champ. Inoue will have homecourt advantage with the fight set at the Super Arena in Saitama. Donaire has transferred his training camp to Metro Manila while Inoue has tapped Filipinos Albert Pagara and Genesis Servania as sparmates. John Riel Casimero (28-4,19KO’s) will fight to remove the ‘interim’ tag when he squares off against WBO bantamweight champion Zolani Tete (28-3, 21KO’s) of South Africa. The fight date has not yet been posted in boxrec as of this writing but reports state that it will be November 23 London Time. Casimero, who has held the interim title for almost six months now, earned the right to fight Tete after knocking out Mexican Cesar Ramirez in ten rounds in Manila last August. Tete was supposed to face Donaire in the WBSS semis but suffered a shoulder injury. He has not fought since October of last year when he defended his title by unanimous decision against Mikhail Aloyan of Russia. Tete’s camp won the purse bidding and the fight was reported to be set in the U.K. For the regional contests, the match-up to watch is between prospect on the rise Joe Noynay (18-2-1,7KO’s), who will defend his WBO Asia Pacific junior lightweight title in Tokyo against Japanese Kenichi Ogawa (24-1,18KO’s) on December 7. Ogawa fought American Tevin Farmer for the vacant IBF junior lightweight world title in 2017; a fight that ended in controversy after Ogawa failed a drug test and the fight was eventually declared a no contest. Ogawa was suspended and was inactive for the whole of 2018 before returning and beating Filipinos Glen Medura and Roldan Aldea. Noynay is on a hot streak with back to back TKO wins in Japan this year. On November 10, Harmonito dela Torre (20-2,12KO’s) will face Japan’s Shuichiro Yoshino (10-0,8KO’s) for the OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific lightweight belts while on December 2 Filipino Jheritz Chavez (9-3-2,7KO’s) will face Koki Inoue (14-0,11KO’s) for the vacant WBO Asia Pacific junior welterweight title both also in Tokyo. The Philippines will host the Southeast Asia Games from November 30 to December 11. AIBA World Championships middleweight silver medalist Eumir Marcial and back to amateur lightweight Charly Suarez will lead the Philippine boxing team. Thailand is the Philippines’ main rival for regional supremacy in amateur boxing. Still no official word if Denver Cuello will really get a shot at the IBO world flyweight title and if Giemel Magramo next fight will be an IBF eliminator or a title shot after his eliminator against Thailand’s Eaktawan Krungthepthonburi was cancelled due to the Thai’s illness. Four division champ Donnie Nietes has been inactive since New Year’s Day. Manny Pacquiao’s rematch against Floyd Mayweather remains elusive. Photo – Clockwise left to right – Edward Heno, Jerwin Ancajas, Nonito Donaire, John Riel Casimero
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