'Battle of Mactan' tonight

CEBU, Philippines - One boxer will try to walk his talk, while the other will try to carve an impressive win and defend his title in front of his fellow Cebuano as flamboyant Canadian Tyson "Prince of Hali" Cave and ALA mainstay AJ "Bazooka" Banal will slug it out in the featured fight of the Pinoy Pride 7: Battle at Mactan" tonight at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City.

As expected the flashy Cave continued his verbal assault on Banal during the weigh-in yesterday at the Gaisano Grand Mall in Mactan bragging he has the advantage in conditioning and strength by flexing his biceps and showing his ripped abs, even doing some set-ups during the traditional "stare down".

"I love all the Filipino people, but I came here to win against him (Banal) and after that everybody will love me and from there I'm going to be known as Filipino Tyson Cave," said the 29-year old Canadian.

Banal (24-1-1, 19KOs) and Cave (15-1, 5KOs) both weighed in at 117 ¾ lbs. 

Cave's conditioning coach Karim Collette also believes that his boxer has the upper hand when it comes to endurance as they will reveal their game plan to outbox Banal until the final round.

"You can see he's (Cave) ready, I can see this fight will go till the twelve round with Tyson winning by unanimous decision against Banal," said Collette.

Banal, remains unfazed by Cave's gimmicks, said that tonight will be his turn do his own show to the boxing fans and that is by destroying Cave.

"Kahibaw ko lihay siya pero ako gyung paningkamotan nga madakpan og didto ako siyang suwayan pagkuha (knockout)," said Banal who will be defending his WBO Asia-Pacific bantamweight title for the second time.

"Pero kung moingon siya nga taas nga away, andam usab ko og kondisyon ko bisan og 13 o 15 rounds pa," he added.

Banal also admitted that this fight will be a "make-or-break" fight for him as he is groomed by ALA Promotion for a big fight and a dream rematch against his former tormentor Panamanian Rafael "El Torito" Concepcion.

For his part, ALA boxing patron Antonio Aldeguer sees a tough and competitive fight for the two boxers. "Of course I expect a win from AJ but we can't deny that this guy (Cave) is tough and this will be a very competitive fight for the two of them."

In the equally exciting supporting main event, the come backing Michael Domingo (40-15-5, 18KOs) will prove still what it takes to be a world title contender after a year-long hiatus against Richard Samosir (18-3-3, 7KOs) of Indonesia.

Also seeing action in the undercard is Mindanao knockout artist Lorenzo Villanueva (20-0-0, 19KOs) of North Cotabato, who will once again try to score a stoppage against Eddy Camaro (24-10-4, 9KOs) of Indonesia. (FREEMAN)