AROY TO FIGHT SOUTH AFRICAN AGAIN
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 18 Oct 2007
MAASIN CITY, SOUTHERN LEYTE ? Maasin Bomber Alex Aroy was all despair when he paid a courtesy call to this writer after his South African debacle. With a WBC international title going to the naught because of a hoax in South Africa at a time when Aroy was evidently dominating and winning the bout in the seventh round of his fight with Zukisani Kwayiba. He could have done what boxers from Maasin City had never done before, bringing home an international title, with no les than the prestigious World Boxing Council sanctioning it.
Rex ?Wakee? Salud stable matchmaker Willie Flores called me after the controversial bout and announced they are arranging a rematch with Kwayiba since the international boxing community is clamoring for a return bout to erase all controversies of a championship fight halted by a puzzling power outage.
Branco Milenkovic of Branco Sports Production was very eager to give Aroy a chance to prove his mettle against the South African champion in a rematch. Salud initially wanted to have it in held the Philippines co-promoted by MP and RWS Promotions in time for the WBC convention in Manila this coming November.
But the next WBC international fight involving Aroy and is scheduled on November 30 in South Africa again upon the invitation of promoter Malenkovic. This time it will be in the next higher division. Aroy is destined to fight anew in South Africa, which is famous for hometown decisions and controversial outcomes in boxing.
In a telephone conversation with Anol Jaca, Aroy?s trainer, the stable is also pushing for a title fight with WBC international light-flyweight champion Phumzile Matyhila, also a South African like Kwayiba. Aroy had a hard time making the minimumweight of 105 lbs. during the Kwayiba fight and they opt to battle an opponent in his natural fighting weight of 108 lbs. After all, the Maasin Bomber is the current Philippine Boxing Federation light-flyweight champion.
During the South African fiasco, the lights went out and the fight went to the official scorecards according to WBC rules. The fight started with the champion dominating the first two rounds. Towards the end of round two there was an accidental head butt on Kwayiba although it caused no injury. But after this incident Kwayiba?s performance plunged in the next two rounds. Aroy allowed Kwayiba to recover after the fourth round.
In the third and fourth rounds Aroy picked up rapidly to score with some good punches to the body. The fight was stopped when the blackout came at the time when Aroy seemed to dictate the tempo of the fight and there was commotion among the organizers and the audience. Because the fight had gone beyond five rounds, in agreement with the WBC rules, the scores were announced and Kwayiba retained his title by a Majority Technical Decision in round seven.
On the other hand, Matyhila has a professional record of 15-0 with 10 KO?s. He represented South Africa in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. He failed to win a medal and was defeated by Suleiman Bilali of Kenya in the preliminary round. Matyhila was pounded by Bilali and the fight was stopped seconds before the end of the first round under the 15-point mercy rule. In that time, Bilali had applied two standing eight-counts on the outclassed South African.
Matyhila won the vacant WBC international belt against fellow South African Sizwe Sinyabi in East London, South Africa on June 29, 2007 by a unanimous decision. Among the champions who held the international belt in the light flyweight division were Filipinos Juanito Rubillar and Little Baguio.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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