When junior flyweight titlist Rodel Mayol of the Philippines and Mexico’s Omar Ni?o met in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Feb. 27, the fight ended in bizarre fashion with Mayol retaining his belt but leaving the ring on a stretcher. The bout was declared a three-round technical draw.
Late in the third round, Ni?o (28-3-2, 11 KOs) cracked Mayol with a low blow and as the referee was moving in to call a timeout, and had grabbed Ni?o’s right arm to pull him away, Ni?o unloaded a left hook that knocked out Mayol (26-4-2, 20 KOs).
Now, they will meet again in Queretaro, Mexico, on Saturday in the main event on “Top Rank Live” (Fox Sports en Espanol, 10 p.m. ET), and Ni?o is determined to reclaim the belt he held briefly in 2006 after upsetting Brian Viloria.
“I am going to take what is mine and this time nobody will stop me,” Ni?o said. “We are training hard, we know Mayol’s weakness, and this time there will be no excuse. I will be the winner. I will try to make it by KO because I do not want surprises in the point issue. There must be no doubt.”
After Ni?o defeated Viloria to claim the belt four years ago, he outpointed Viloria again in an immediate rematch. However, Ni?o failed a post-fight drug test. He was stripped of the title and the result was changed to a no decision.
Now he has another chance.
“I want to recover the green and gold [WBC belt] and return it to Mexico,” Ni?o said. “We are sure this will happen. We can’t fail in our country again. We have to knock out [Mayol], clearly be the winner.”
Mayol, who will be making his second title defense, won the belt from Edgar Sosa on a second-round knockout in November. Then came the technical draw with Ni?o.
“I am more than ready,” Mayol, a Manny Pacquiao prot?g?, said of the rematch. “I prepared myself much better than the last time with Omar. I am desperate to climb [into] the ring and show everybody why I am the champion. I did not want that end. I was winning the fight but the Mexican gave me an illegal punch to my body and then to the face. I was helpless. Fortunately, the referee [stuck] to the rules.”
