LOS ANGELES — Bert Batawang Wednesday received the jolting information that his scheduled Oct. 4 world title fight against Mexican IBF light flyweight champion Ulises Solis has been called off again a day after the Filipino challenger was declared perfectly ready for the championship.
The second postponement of the title bout originally slated last Sept. 16 in Las Vegas was harder to take for the 35-year-old Batawang who on Tuesday got hard-earned approval after a guided eight-round tour of the cruel route he had expected to take against Solis.
Rodel Mayol simulated the moves of the Mexican champion during a no-nonsense sparring at the Wild Card gym and readily confirmed the shattering impact of Batawang?s left punch.
Mayol, who lost to Solis in a title match in Chicago last month, claimed that, other than spear punches which he usually slammed, Batawang also displayed sharper defensive moves.
Trainer Nonoy Neri, who has been repackaging Mayol under the patronage of Manny Pacquiao, said Batawang could have not been more set for the championship fight against Solis.
?Malakas talaga, sobra ang stamina (He?s really powerful and he has terrific stamina),? Neri said.
International matchmaker Sampson Lewkowitz Wednesday informed Batawang?s manager Sammy Gello-ani in Cebu that doctors have ordered Solis to refrain from training for at least two weeks due to a shoulder injury.
Gello-ani said he would petition the International Boxing Federation (IBF), which lists Batawang as mandatory challenger, to put his fighter in an interim title fight with the winner next facing Solis.
Lewkowitz however claimed they would reschedule the twice postponed title fight in November, although there was no assurance Solis would not claim injury again.
Batawang had been lined up to fight Gerson Gerrero in a title eliminator as member of the RP team in the Boxing World Cup in Sacramento last month, but his opponent was discovered with a torn retina two days before the bout.
Batawang, who said there had also been an original title eliminator against Francisco Rosas last May, continued to say he would just wait for instructions from his manager, whom he earlier extolled for having finally lined him up for the Oct. 4 championship.
