Another Road Battle for Rocky Fuentes
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 19 Aug 2011
Battle-hardened road warrior Rocky Fuentes of Mambaling, Cebu City will fight for the fifth time inside a Japanese ring when he makes the fourth defense of his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) flyweight title this August 20 in Osaka, Japan against Hirofumi Mukai.
Fuentes (28W-6L-2D, 17 KO?s) has made two successful OPBF title defenses in Japan since winning the title by majority decision against Masafumi Okubo in Tokyo last March 9, 2010. His first trip to Japan was in 2006, when he won by split decision over Yuki Nasu in a ten round non-title bout.
The hometown boy and WBC number ten ranked flyweight Mukai (5W-0L) is unbeaten but has less experience with all of his wins coming by decision. Familiar names on his record are world ranked Filipino Sony Boy Jaro and Jin-Man Jeon of South Korea. This is same Jeon who was knocked out by Milan Melindo in two rounds last year at the Waterfront Hotel.
ALA Gym trainer Edito Villamor informed that both Fuentes and Mukai weighed 50.7 kgs during the official weigh-in.
Fuentes, who fights out of the ALA gym of Cebu, turned pro in 2003 and was already fighting in Thailand and Indonesia in his second and third years as a prizefighter. His third successful defense of his OPBF belt was a homecoming fight at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel last November 2010, stopping Thai Inthanon Sithchamuang with a highlight-reel left hook in two rounds. Fuentes is ranked in the top ten of the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO.
(Photo ? Fuentes vs Ikehara)
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