International Boxing Federation (IBF) light-flyweight king Milan Melindo of the Philippines eyes to annex the World Boxing Association title when he faces Ryoichi Taguchi on Dec. 31 in Tokyo.
Taguchi, holder of the WBA 108-lb crown, has agreed to battle Melindo in a scheduled 12-rounder at the Ota City General Gymnasium with Watanabe Promotions as lead promoter in coordination with ALA Boxing of Michael Aldeguer.
The Melindo-Taguchi encounter was formalized yesterday when the two camps held a joint press conference with Taguchi, 30, doing his in Tokyo and Melindo, 29, holding a similar event in his homebase of Cebu City.
Aldeguer said giant station ABS-CBN is working on doing the live telecast of the world title fight that will take place hours before the New Year celebrations.
Melindo (37-2 with 13 K0s) won the IBF plum last May with a first-round knockout of Akira Yaegashi of Japan. A few months ago, Melindo narrowly escaped mandatory challenger Hekki Budler of South Africa.
Taguchi (26-2-2 with 12 KOs) has defended the WBA belt six times since winning it in 2014 and has made the Ota City General Gymnasium as a venue for his performances.
Melindo is just one of three reigning Filipino world champions at the moment. The others are ALA Boxing stablemate Donnie Nietes and Jerwin Ancajas, who defends the IBF super-flyweight diadem early tomorrow morning in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
?Milan has kicked off the strength and conditioning phase of his training and he is expected to go full-blast in sparring next week,? said Aldeguer.
