MEPRANUM GETS WBO ORIENTAL TITLE SHOT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 14 May 2008
Talented Richie Mepranum, the Philippines No.1 ranked flyweight gets a crack at the WBO Oriental title against Tanzania?s Juma Seleman Fundi in an exciting fight card in Maasim, Sarangani on June 14 as WBO's top man in the Asia-Pacific region Leon Panoncillo continues to move forward aggresively in establishing the world organization's presence in the region.
In a battle for the Interim Philippine super bantamweight title another promising young fighter Donriel Marcos clashes with tough Roel Laguna.
Well known promoter Sammy Gello-ani who is putting the fight card together told Viva Sports/Manila Standard Today that the undefeated Fundi is no pushover although we have no idea of the caliber of the fighters he beat in his record of 7-0 with 4 knockouts.
The Tanzanian is coming off a unanimous six round decision over Shabbani Madlu last March 1 after scoring a first round knockout over Musa Shuza on February 23 and a third round TKO over Chabrota Kassim on February 14.
Mepranum is best remembered for a stunning eighth round split decision over Philippine flyweight champion Rocky Fuentes last December 2 at the Araneta Coliseum in which he impressed fight fans with his boxing ability against the hard-hitting Fuentes..
In his last fight on April 30 Mepranum scored a second round knockout over Roldan Malinao. This followed a ten round unanimous decision over Allan Ranada.
Marcos has an impressive record of 9-1 with 1 knockout which shows he is more of a boxer than a slugger which makes for an interesting bout against Laguna whose record of 8-2-1 with 5 knockouts indicates his aggressiveness.
Marcos will be coming off a unanimous ten round decision over Rico Genon last February 9. Prior to that he scored an upset ten round unanimous decision win over veteran Pedro Malco on December 27 last year. Laguna lost a close twelve round decision to Jun Talape in a Philippine title fight last February 13.
The fights will be covered by Viva Sports and telecast over its top-rated weekly boxing show ?The Main Event? sponsored by Tanduay, the No. 1 Rhum and Pagcor, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and replayed over the cable station Viva Prime which is also carried by Destiny Cable.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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