DAVAO boxing suffered a major blow after World Boxing Council (WBC) officials reportedly stripped Balweg "Davao Hitman" Bangoyan of his international super bantamweight crown for his failure to come up with a mandatory defense within a prescribed period set by the WBC.

A highly placed Sun.Star Davao source said WBC is set to announce the stripping of Bangoyan's title soon. With the development, the WBC super bantam division had been declared vacant.

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The 22-year-old Bangoyan, a prized fighter of Jose Abad Santos Mayor Alexander Wangkay, won the WBC international title via a fifth-round technical decision over Sande Otieno of Kenya last October in Davao City but had not defended his belt since then.

Bangoyan was supposed to defend his crown in Las Vegas early this year, but visa problems forced organizers to cancel the fight. There were also reports that the boxer suffered a hand injury during training, which forced him to miss months of ring action.

Bangoyan did show up for a bout last Saturday in Mati, Davao Oriental but was just a shadow of his old self in hacking out a split decision win over former Philippine champion Jaime Barcelona.

Observers said Bangoyan was lethargic throughout the fight, perhaps showing the effects of a long layoff.

It was not known whether Bangoyan will still fight in Hawaii next month. When Bangoyan and his trainer showed up at the regular Davao Sportswriters Association (DSA) forum last month, they announced an upcoming title fight after the Mati clash.

An insider from the Bangoyan camp, however, said they gave up his WBC international super bantam belt as the fighter is moving up in weight.