Wednesday, October 17, 2007 Domingo to fight tough Mathias
PHILIPPINE bantamweight champion Michael Domingo is facing a new challenge when he sees action against a tested traveler Anthony Mathias of Tanzania under the card featuring the return of Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista in the ring.
Domingo, who just made a successful title defense last Saturday in Calape, Bohol, will fight Mathias of Dar Es Salaam a tough customer.
Mathias carries an 18-7-1, 9 KOs record when he faces Domingo who has a 33-14-2, 13 KOs slate.
The new member of the ALA Boys is all psyched up after he pulled a stunning unanimous decision win over the erstwhile undefeated Miguel Roman, a protégé of the Golden Boy Promotions, during the Boxing World Cup last August in Sacramento, California.
However, Mathias who has fought in Thailand, England, Kazakhstan and Kenya is a dangerous opponent who is also capable of pulling upset wins.
Picked as an easy challenge, Mathias has scored two upset wins over Thai fighters by knockouts.
His first was a fourth round knockout win over Komrit Lukkuongmuekol to win the Pan-Asian Boxing Association (Paba) super flyweight title in April 2005.
Three months later, he scored an 11th-round knockout over the erstwhile undefeated Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat for his first title defense of the WBA affiliated regional belt.
However, his third try in Thailand was not as successful as the previous two, he lost to Pramuansak Posuwan by unanimous decision in December 2005 for the WBO Asia Pacific super-flyweight title.
He took a shot for the vacant Commonwealth (British Empire) flyweight title but lost by second round TKO to Lee Haskins.
Mathias then lost his Paba 115-lb. belt after losing to Marat Mazimbaev of Kazakhstan in March this year by a knockout in the ninth round.
Mathias then scored three straight knockout wins this year following his defeat to Mazimbaev.
While pride is all that is at stake for Domingo, his future international stints also depends on his performance on this fight.
In the main event, Bautista will take on Mexican Antonio Meza for 12 rounds while AJ “Bazooka” Banal will slug it out with Mexican Jovanny Soto for 10 rounds. (RCM)
