Banal to fight in Viloria undercard

CEBU, Philippines - Resurgent ALA Stable ring star AJ “Bazooka” Banal faces another tough challenge in his bid to regain lost glamour as he is booked to fight in the undercard of Brian Viloria’s IBF light flyweight title defense against Jesus Aribe on August 29 in Hawaii.

ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer confirmed that they just accepted the offer from Solar Sports, which earned the TV rights to telecast the fight in the Philippines.

Aldeguer said he will give details of Banal’s opponent a day or two from now, but hinted that most likely it’s a Mexican warrior.

The 20-year-old Banal, who holds a 19-1-1 win-loss-draw record spiked with 16KOs, is on a hot comeback trail since suffering his first and only loss, so far, by 10th knockout to Panamian Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion during their interim WBA super flyweight championship match on July 26 last year at the Cebu Coliseum.

In his ring return, Banal quickly restored the adoration of his legion of fans by scoring a fourth round stoppage of Indonesian Nouldy Manakane last January 31 at the Island City Mall carpark in Tagbilaran City.

In his previous bout last May 16 staged at the site of his defeat, Banal further proved before the eyes of his Cebuano followers that he still have what it takes to be a world champion someday when he flattened African Mbwana Matumla in two rounds of one-sided battle.

Banal is currently in the thick of spartan-like training at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, California. He is set to return to Cebu on August 1, but was advised by Aldeguer to stay in the US with this recent development.

Meanwhile, the WBO minimumweight title defense of Donnie Nietes against Mexican challenger Manuel Vargas was postponed for the third time. The match was originally scheduled for May 16, but was reset to July 18 and then August 1.

According to a report by philboxing.com, the Nietes-Vargas showdown was moved anew to September with no confirmed date, leaving the camp of Nietes in the dark. – EBV (THE FREEMAN)