TOKYO — Filipino puncher Rodel Mayol is convinced nothing can stand in his way to stardom as he guns for the world title Saturday night at the Korakuen Hall even if the guy in front looks as though he was culled from the fragments of a metal ball.
On the eve of his scheduled 12-round duel with defending World Boxing Council (WBC) minimum weight champion Eagle Kyowa, Mayol sounded and appeared undaunted on the prospects of squaring off with the Japan-based Thai titleholder.
“He (Kyowa) has a great body but I am not afraid because I am in very good shape and this is not a body-building contest so it doesn’t matter if his body looks carved in stone,” said Mayol on Friday afternoon after weighing in officially at 104.5 lbs.
“I had excellent sparring while I was still in Cebu and I added 30 more rounds when I came here,” said Mayol, who enters the ring armed with a 22-0 win-loss-card with 17 knockouts.
Mayol arrived here on April 24 accompanied by his Japanese chief handler Yasuo Matsuoka, who has been busy attending to the needs of his fighter and a small Filipino contingent the past few days with the help of his Cebuana wife Gina.
Kyowa, making the second defense of the WBC 105-lb title, is cognizant of what Mayol, the top ranked and mandatory challenger, is capable of doing.
But he declined to predict a knockout win.
“The opponent is strong and it would all depend on timing if I can score a knockout,” said Kyowa through interpreter Kunio Takano, who studied Tagalog in the University of the Philippines.
Kyowa brings to the ring a 15-1 slate with only six knockouts, but his low knockout percentage belies the champion’s punching prowess.
“Kyowa’s straight and uppercut are dangerous. I should look out,” noted Mayol, whose title bid will be witnessed by his wife Lira.
Mayol’s trainer Brix Flores is also upbeat that Mayol would return home with Kyowa’s head.
“Mayol’s doing fine and I won’t be surprised if Kyowa ends up on the floor,” said Flores, who bared that Mayol consumed a big bowl of ramen noodles the night before the weighin.
Shortly after passing the weight test, Mayol ordered another big bowl of noodles in a Korean restaurant located within the confines of the sprawling Korakuen complex that houses the 43-story Tokyo Dome Hotel, the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome and amusement park complete with a roller-coaster, Ferris wheel, countless kiddie rides, restaurants and shops selling toys and sports items and memorabilia.
The Kyowa-Mayol match will be refereed by Vic Drakulich of Nevada, who will work his 26th world title match. The three judges are Gale Van Hoy of Texas, Chuck Hasset of California and Alejandro Rochin of Mexico.
The main event will be held between 8:15 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Tokyo is one hour ahead of Manila) and a huge crowd expected to turn out at the historic venue despite tickets being pegged as much as Y50,000 (approximately 0).
The Philippines doesn’t have a legitimate world boxing champion although Manny Pacquiao is considered the best super-featherweight in the world. Brian Viloria is 100 percent Filipino, but he is a US citizen.
In the main supporting bout, Malcolm Tunacao defends his Orient-Pacific Boxing Federation bantamweight title against a kamikaze Japanese rival.
Solar Sports will beam the fight to the Philippines on channel 13.
