Waengpetch Chuwatana arrived at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Tuesday night with nothing but terse words.
“I want my title back,” said the former Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) champion in a brief conference, attended by match promoter Sammy Gello-ani and ALA Gym trainer Edito Villamor, before retreating to his hotel.
Vacant title
The Thai will cross mitts with ALA boy Z Gorres at the Mandaue City Cultural Sports Complex on Saturday night for the vacant OPBF title.
Waengpetch held the belt until Dec. 5 last year when he lost to Japan’s Masayuki Arinaga, who later relinquished the crown.
“Gorres is now on the threshold of making a big impact in the international fight scene. (He) cannot afford to lose this fight,” an undaunted Gello-ani said in response.
Skill and speed, Gello-ani said, is on the side of the local fighter.
Waengpetch will pay Mandaue City Mayor Thadeo Ouano a courtesy call this morning. Then he’s off to meet the press at Scoop forum at Baseline Restaurant.
Arriving with Waengpetch were Decho and Dechapol Bankluaygym, who are scheduled to fight Czar Amonsot and AJ Banal, respectively, in the undercard.
Amonsot is the WBO Asia-Pacific super-featherweight champion.
Also seeing action will be RP No.1 Jojo Bardon of the Rex “Wakee” Salud stable, who will gamble his Philippine flyweight championship belt to challenger Rocky Fuentes, the RP No.2 contender.
At 32, Waengpetch has a 23-7-2 win-loss-draw record with 14 knockouts delivered mostly in the first two rounds. He has never been knocked out.
Undefeated
He has never been defeated in Thailand, where he twice fought for the national title.
His seven losses came in Japan, where he also had four victories, including the August 2003 match with Eiji Kojima, when he won the OPBF belt via split decision.
He’s only faced one Filipino fighter in his career – Gerard Ubatay, who he defeated via a split decision.
Tickets are now out at USA Sports outlets at SM and Ayala and at the Fight Club in Banilad Town Center.
