Melindo.
LOS ANGELES ? Besides multi-titled Manny Pacquiao, who will be battling American Floyd Mayweather Jr. May 2 in Las Vegas, two other Filipinos will also be fighting in separate crucial bouts.
Milan Melindo takes a second chance for a world championship for the Philippines when he meets Mexican Javier Mendoza for the International Boxing Federation light-flyweight crown on May 9 in Mexico.
It will be the second crack at a world title for Melindo, who owns an impressive 32-1 win-loss slate with 14 knockouts. He lost to another Mexican, Juan Francisco Estrada, for the WBO/WBA flyweight titles, in his first bid for a world plum two years ago in Macau.
Estrada mastered the 27-year-old Melindo via a unanimous decision triumph, which he said he could have won. Melindo has been training at the Wild Card Gym here since arriving last Monday with coach Edito ?Ala? Villamor.
?Medyo mahaba-haba po ang paghahanda ngayon kaya mas malaki ang pag-asa na makapaghatid na naman tayo ng world title sa ating bansa,? Melindo told this writer during a lull in training.
?He?s been training for two months now in Cebu at the Ala boxing stable,? Villamor said. ?We still have a month additional training here at Wild Card, so his chances para naman makasiguro na makapag-uwi ng isa pang korona.?
The Melindo-Mendoza 12-rounder title bout headlines the Tijuana card.
Meanwhile, another Filipino pug, John Mark Apolinario is fighting Jesus Magdaleno, also of Mexico in a 10-round undercard April 11 in Laredo Energy Arena, in Laredo, Texas. Apolinario is also currently training in at the Wild Card sweat shop here.
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