Cataraja Defeats Heno by UD, captures OPBF superfly belt
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 11 Feb 2023
Undefeated Filipino super flyweight KJ Cataraja kept his unblemished record when he defeated former world title challenger and compatriot Edward Heno via unanimous decision in General Santos City Saturday night and captured the vacant OPBF super flyweight belt promoted by Sanman Boxing and streamed live on Sanman's social media account.
Judge Elmer Costillas had it 117-111, Brembot Dulalas 116-112 and Edgar Olalo 118-110 all in favor of Cataraja. Philboxing had it 116-112 for Cataraja.
The Cebu-native Cataraja (16-0-0, 13KOs) piled up points by outboxing and outsmarting Heno (15-2-6, 5KOs) most of the night as Heno found it hard to penetrate Cataraja's solid defensive stance. Heno found some success in round five when he connected on combinations but failed to follow it up in the succeeding rounds. In the 9th round however Heno connected with an uppercut that staggered Cataraja. Sensing his opportunity to seize the fight, Heno went in for the kill but Cataraja held on to survive the round. Heno tried to press on the action in the championship rounds but Cataraja recovered to coast to victory.
Cataraja who is one of Naoya Inoue's regular sparring partners, is inching closer for a title shot as he is highly ranked by the WBO at No. 6 and No. 13 by the IBF in the super flyweight division. With the OPBF belt now in his possession, Cataraja is expected to land in the top 15 of the WBC in their next ranking.
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