Crowd-drawing Randy “Komong Bato” Suico, the reigning Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation super-featherweight champ, will defend his crown for the fourth time when he faces hard-hitting Thai Muangfahlek Kiatwichean on April 27 at the Lapu-Lapu Sports Complex.
The WBC no. 3 Suico, ranked only behind Erik Morales and Mzonke Fana in the division ruled by Marco Antonio Barrera, is determined to get himself back into the world-title mix with an impressive win against Kiatwichean, a former national muay thai champ from Bangkok.
Promoter Rex “Wakee” Salud, in an interview, has informed of the decision to move the fight date from the original April 9 to 27, citing host Lapu-Lapu’s willingness to move it to a later date.
Suico is in a position to move higher in the rankings, as Morales is set to face Manny Pacquiao on March 19. Should the no. 1 Morales lose to Pacquiao, and in an event no. 2 Mzonke Fana loses to Barrera on April 9, Suico is expected to shoot up into the no. 1 spot for a possible dream bout with Barrera or even Morales.
Suico has not fought since his impressive win over Indon Ibrahim Aroby last October 23, which followed his controversial loss at the hands of Mzonke Fana in their WBC eliminator fight held in South Africa on May 28, 2004 where the Filipino knocked down Fana twice and had the latter almost out on his feet in the final round. Amazingly, two of the three judges had Fana the winner. The WBC, following a review of the fight, retained Suico as its no. 2 contender and moved down only a notch lower to accomodate Morales upon his defeat to Barrera.
Fana, in a conversation with a noted South African promoter months after the Suico fight, had admitted that he indeed lost the fight to Suico and was himself surprised to see himself declared the winner.
