JOSE Abad Santos Mayor Alexander Wangkay on Friday confirmed reports that Balweg Bangoyan had indeed been stripped of his World Boxing Council (WBC) international super bantamweight crown.

But Wangkay, who promotes Bangoyan, said his prized fighter will seek redemption when he climbs the ring on August 15 in Manila to go after the crown of the same division which was earlier rendered vacant by the WBC.

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"Yes, Balweg was stripped of his belt, but he will be fighting for the same title in Manila," Wangkay told Sun.Star Davao.

The Manila showdown will be a joint promotion of Wangkay himself and well-known promoter Bebot Elorde.

The JAS mayor said WBC gave Bangoyan a chance by sanctioning the August 15 fight. He said they earlier received a letter from the boxing body directing Bangoyan to defend the crown in July.

"Balweg cannot defend the crown in July as he had just fought in Mati, Davao Oriental against Jaime Barcelona. Besides, my fighter also hurt his hand prior to the Mati bout," Wangkay said in explaining their decision not to defend the crown this month.

The WBC stripped Bangoyan of his WBC belt for his failure to make a defense of the title since winning it over Sande Otieno in October last year.

Because of the nine-month layoff, WBC was forced to stripped Bangoyan of the crown.

Wangkay, who is more popularly known as Zander Khan, said the stripping of Bangoyan's crown is just temporary as his boxer will hit the spotlight again beginning with the Manila bout. (CRAM)