THE protagonists in the coming World Boxing Council (WBC) international super bantamweight championship fight — Sande Otieno of Kenya and Balweg Bangoyan of the Philippines — nearly came to blows not once but twice Tuesday that heightened the animosity between the two boxers two days before their title fight at the Rizal Memorial Colleges (RMC) Gym.
The near-fistfight took place in two separate incidents, first at the Holiday Gym and Spa Tuesday morning where Bangoyan and Otieno held a live press presentation for a local television network GMA-5.
The second incident happened in the evening when Otieno and Bangoyan were touring the city with another television network — this time ABS-CBN — doing the coverage.
Whether it was just mere publicity stunt, Bangoyan wouldn’t know, except to say that he really got irked after Otieno pushed him and attempted to throw a right hand during the Holiday Spa session.
This prompted Bangoyan to raise his own fists and the two almost went at each other if not for their trainers-handlers and even some television crew, who separated the two just in time before the first punch is thrown.
“He pushed me and I pushed him back. He tried to hit me,” the 21-year-old Bangoyan said in the vernacular when interviewed by Sun.Star Davao.
Bangoyan said he is not used to this kind of situations in his previous fights and admitted Otieno’s antics incensed him no end. So, when the two met again hours later, it was Bangoyan who initiated the first contact by pushing Otieno hard. Cooler heads again prevented the two boxers from going at each other.
“I will just let him feel my power come fight night. Once I hit him, he will really feel it,” Bangoyan said while clinching his right fist.
Bangoyan will challenge Otieno for the latter’s crown on October 10 in a card dubbed “Ring War in Davao.”
During a press conference Monday, both the Bangoyan and Otieno camps hurled verbal jabs at each other that entertain the press people on hand and Jose Abad Santos Mayor Alexander Wangkay, who is co-promoting the fight.
On Wednesday, a pre-weigh in was held at the Games and Amusements Board (GAB) Davao field office, with both Otieno and Bangoyan coming in at 123 pounds, just a pound over the super bantamweight limit of 122 pounds.
The official weigh-in will be held at 2 p.m. today at Metro Lifestyle.
