Saturday, July 12, 2008 Banal will be the new WBA king By Franklin Douglas< Mabolo, Cebu City
AJ Banal will be the new WBA super flyweight Champion in approximately 15 days. Certainly it is time for him to shine. Moreover, it would be advantage for him, since the said title fight will be held right here in Cebu City, with the Cebu Coliseum as the venue.
Though only 19 years young, he definitely has an edge with regards to ring experience which stands at 17-0-1 draw with 14 KOs compared to Rafael Concepcion with only 10-2-1 draw with 6 KOs.
And this is where the marked advantage lies. These all occurred when the No. 1 and No. 2 contenders from Japan declined to fight AJ for the championship recently vacated by Alexander Munoz.
Muñoz fought and lost a split decision in a title unification with Christian Mijares. I can already predict that Concepcion, the Panamanian, will have a very rough night with Banal.
Incidentally, AJ will also be the overwhelming favorite, come fight night. So hopefully he will be the champion on July 26. Congratulations is now in order in advance for this young man from Ermita and so with the ALA Boxing Gym.