Vincent Astrolabio could be the next big thing of Philippine boxing.
Veteran trainer Nonoy Neri revealed over the weekend that no less than eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao marveled at the 25-year-old bantamweight nicknamed “Asero” (steel).
Astrolabio is booked to face Jason Moloney of Australia for the vacant World Boxing Organization 118-lb crown on 13 May in Stockton, California.
Neri showed Pacquiao a video of Astrolabio and was utterly impressed.
“Manny rarely gives praise but when he saw Astrolabio, he told me that Vincent has what it takes to make it really big,” Neri said.
To rev up for the biggest bout of his young career, Astrolabio will set up camp in Las Vegas and begin strength and conditioning work with renowned fitness expert Memo Heredia as soon as he arrives there.
Astrolabio, holder of an 18-3 win-loss card with 13 knockouts, insists that he just got a 50-50 chance of beating Moloney doesn’t know what he is capable of.
“My chance of winning is more than that,” he said during a recent chat at the Elorde Sports Center.
Moloney packs a 25-2 mark with 19 knockouts and beat all ten of his Filipino rivals, including two-time world title challenger Aston Palicte.
His two defeats came at world championship-level.
In 2018, Emmanuel Rodriguez of Puerto Rico beat Moloney on points and in 2020, he was knocked out by Naoya “Monster” Inoue.
Since the Inoue setback, Moloney has racked up four straight wins.
Astrolabio, who hails from General Santos City, catapulted to No. 2 of the WBO ratings by virtue of his big wins over Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux and Russian Nikolai Potapov last year.
Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc., which promotes the WBO No. 1-ranked Moloney, is staging the fight.
