ALEX AROY WILL LEAVE FOR SOUTH AFRICA TODAY
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 25 Nov 2007
Alex Aroy a.k.a. Batang Maasin will leave for South Africa today to challenge WBC international light-flyweight champion Phumzile Matyhila. This was disclosed to this writer by Aroy?s trainer Anol Jaca during the ?Maasin Mayor?s Cup ? Maasin vs. Cebu? promotion last November 22.
Juanito Ablaca will accompany Aroy together with Rex ?Wakee? Salud matchmaker Willy Flores. This was also confirmed by Flores himself during the said Maasin boxing promotion.
The title fight will be held at the Carousel Hotel & Casino, Temba, North-West, South Africa. The same place was where the controversial ?lights-out? encounter between Aroy and WBC strawweight champion Zukisani Kwayiba.
South African boxer Kwayiba was on the verge of getting floored by the hard-hitting Aroy in rounds six and seven, but the lights in the boxing ring mysteriously went off. While the other parts of the hotel-casino were still well with electricity.
When the ring power failure occurred, Kwayiba immediately went down and took off his gloves, sensing the lights will never return, while Aroy stayed on top of the ring waiting for the power to be restored.
Seven minutes have passed and the judges decided to go to the score cards per WBC rules and Kwayiba won by Majority Technical Decision in round seven. Very oddly, the lights were back immediately after the verdict was announced.
Unfortunately Aroy was behind on points as he was known as a slow starter and is relying heavily on his superb knockout punch. But South Africans were not all highly-partisan as they booed the notorious outcome of the fight.
Aroy became an instant hero in South Africa forcing promoter Branco Milenkovic to let him fight again in this country. Everywhere he went in Temba, boxing fans would be shouting ?Aroy!Aroy!?
Although the rematch with Kwayiba seemed impossible because Aroy took a lot of effort in reducing to get the 105-lb. mini-flyweight limit. It also contributed to the sluggish first few rounds he had with Kwayiba.
The 108-lb. light-flyweight limit is the natural fighting weight for Aroy as he is the current Philippine Boxing Federation light-flyweight champion. Thus he is slated to face the next higher weight category champion who is also a South African. Like Kwayiba, Matyhila is undefeated with a record of 15-0-0 with 9 KOS and is said to be tougher than Kwayiba.
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