More mandatory challengers
By Joaquin Henson
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 03 Mar 2025
L-R: AJ Paciones, Joey Canoy and Vic Saludar.
In the first of this two-part series, three Filipino No. 1 contenders were featured as mandatory challengers in line to take world title cracks this year----WBO No. 1 superfeatherweight Charly Suarez, IBF No. 1 lightflyweight Christian Araneta and WBO No. 1 lightflyweight Regie Suganob.
Three more Filipino fighters are in the queue for mandatory championship shots. They are WBA No. 2 (No. 1 is vacant) lightflyweight Arvin Jhon Paciones, IBF No. 3 (Nos. 1 and 2 are vacant) minimumweight Joey Canoy and WBO No. 1 minimumweight Vic Saludar.
Paciones, 20, is rated No 2 by WBA with the No. 1 slot vacant. Known as The Sniper, Paciones has a 10-0 record, with five KOs and is based in Ho Chi Minh City. His target is WBA champion Erick Rosa of the Dominican Republic. Rosa, 24, totes an 8-0 mark, with two KOs. In 2021, Rosa scored a split 12-round decision over former WBA/WBO minimumweight king Saludar in a war where both fighters took mandatory eight-counts.
Canoy, 31, is unbeaten in his last eight fights, including a draw. A pro since 2012, the southpaw has failed in three bids to capture the lightly-regarded IBO minimumweight crown, all against South Africans on their home soil. In 2017, Canoy was dropped in the seventh round and didn’t come out for the eighth in losing to Hekkie Budler. In 2018, he floored Simpiwe Konkco in the second frame but the fight was called off in the fourth with the South African bleeding from a cut near the right eye due to an accidental headbutt. It was declared a no-contest. In 2019, Canoy lost to Nkosinathi Joyi on a unanimous decision.
Now, Canoy is on a hot streak and gaining ground in trying to seal a title opportunity. Canoy, however, has to be more active, fighting only once in 2023 and once last year. Canoy’s record is 23-5-2, with 14 KOs. His target is countryman Pedro Taduran who holds the IBF strap. Taduran will stake his crown against Ginjiro Shigeoka in Osaka on May 24.
Saludar, 34, has won his last five outings, all abbreviated, to raise his record to 26-6, with 16 KOs. He’s out to engage WBO ruler Oscar Collazo, a New Jersey-born Puerto Rican, in a rematch after their tumultuous duel in Los Angeles in 2022. In their first meeting, both fighters went down in the seventh round. Collazo, 28, has an 11-0 record, with eight KOs and his victims include two other Filipinos, Melvin Jerusalem and Garen Diagan. If Collazo decides to move up to lightflyweight, Saludar will dispute the vacant throne with No. 2 contender DianXing Zhu of China. Zhu, 28, boasts a 14-1 record, with 12 KOs and his last three victims were Filipinos Jerry Francisco, Marco John Rementizo and Richard Garde.
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