Comeback bouts spice Barriga undercard

Comebacking fighters A. J. Banal, Marvin Sonsona and Genesis Servania take on separate Indonesian opponents to headline the undercard of the main event featuring Mark Anthony Barriga against Colombia’s Gabriel Mendoza in a 12-round IBF minimumweight title eliminator at the SM North EDSA Skydome on May 13.

The boxing card is called “Survival Instinct,” a tribute to the no-frills, bare-bones Survival Camp in Magallanes, Cavite, where Banal and Sonsona are holed up in training with IBF superflyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas. Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions and Las Vegas-based international matchmaker Sean Gibbons’ Knuckleheads Pro Boxing Fraternity are staging the 13-fight, 92-round show in cooperation with Joven Sports Promotions. ESPN5 will air the bouts on TV5 and Akyson TV starting at 3 p.m.

TV5 president Chot Reyes called it an unprecedented “wall-to-wall” boxing event where the telecast will open with a live satellite feed from Madison Square Garden in New York City of the WBA lightweight battle between defending champion Jorge Linares and Ukrainian challenger Vasyl Lomachenko. Then, the coverage will shift to the fights at the SM North EDSA Skydome. TV5 will break for a PBA doubleheader but the coverage will continue on Aksyon TV. TV5 will return to SM North EDSA Skydome after the PBA games in time for the last two bouts with Barriga and Banal.

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For Barriga, it’s a chance of a lifetime to earn a crack at the IBF 105-pound belt now held by Japan’s Hiroto Kyoguchi. A win over Mendoza will seal it for the 2012 London Olympian. Barriga said he knows it won’t be easy defeating a grizzled warrior as Mendoza checks in with a 29-5-2 record, including 23 KOs. Mendoza is a dangerous KO artist in the mold of WBA welterweight king Lucas Matthysse who stakes his crown against Pacquiao in Kuala Lumpur on July 15. In contrast, Barriga’s record is 8-0, with 1 KO.

Barriga, 24, said he’s not taking any chances against Mendoza. The diminutive 5-2 fighter, known as “Little Mayweather,” vowed to unleash the power that he has worked on in the gym. Trainer Joven Jimenez said it’ll be a different Barriga in the ring when he engages Mendoza. He won’t just be an elusive Mayweather but also a power-punching Pacquiao. But Mendoza, 38, is a durable gladiator who has been stopped only once in five setbacks. The Colombian is in the twilight of a long career and realizes he’s running out of time to snatch a world title.

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Banal, 29, is coming off seven straight wins since losing to Thailand’s Puengluang Sor Singyu by a ninth round stoppage for the vacant WBO bantamweight crown at the MOA Arena in 2012. He left the ALA camp of Cebu in 2016 and became a boxing instructor at the Elorde Gym in Sucat. Banal returned to the ring last December to pound out a split six-round decision over Jason Egera in Makati then hooked up with Jimenez at the Survival Camp. With his wife and three children resettled in Cavite, Banal hopes to work his way back to title contention. He takes on Indonesian Master Suro, 38, in a 10-rounder with a weight limit of 132 pounds in the Barriga undercard.

Sonsona, 27, was once the WBO superflyweight champion. He lost the title on the scales in his first defense in 2009 and his career has since taken a roller-coaster curve. Sonsona hasn’t fought in three years but now based at the Survival Camp, is determined to open a new chapter in his boxing journey. He faces Indonesia’s Arief Blader, 32, in the Barriga undercard. Sonsona’s record is 20-1-1, with 15 KOs as his last three fights, including a decision over Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. at Madison Square Garden, were held overseas. Blader’s mark is 23-27-2, with 8 KOs.

Servania, 26, lost a decision to WBO featherweight titlist Oscar Valdez in Tucson, Arizona, last September in a brutal fight where the Filipino scored a knockdown in the fourth round but was himself decked in the fifth. Servania has been based in Japan the last three years, working out of the Kashimi stable, and will make his first Philippine appearance since outpointing Mexico’s Juan Luis Hernandez in Davao in 2015. His opponent in the Barriga undercard is Indonesia’s Jason Butar Butar who has a 27-23-1 record, with 18 KOs. Servania’s record is 30-1, with 13 KOs.