UNBEATEN prospect Christian Araneta wants to follow in the footsteps of his teammate, interim World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight king Jhack Tepora, and become a world champion like him.

“Jhack-Jhack is a world champion and I’ll do my best to be like him. I envy him, I’ll work really hard,” Araneta said yesterday.

If the 23-year-old Araneta wants to get his shot at a world title, he has to break into the world rankings and win the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) Asian Boxing Council Silver light flyweight crown against veteran Jerry Tomongdan tonight in the main event of “Double Rumble in Mandaue” in the Mandaue City Sports and Cultural Complex.

Araneta was once ranked No. 8 in the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and No. 16 in the WBC. But because of a shoulder injury that sidelined him for more than a year, he fell out of the world rankings.

“I feel that he’s already recovered from his injury. I’ll just do my best to beat him,” said Tomongdan of his opponent.

Araneta echoed Tomongdan’s sentiments and said that his shoulder is a hundred percent.

“I don’t feel any pain at all. I’m focused on winning this,” he said.

Araneta is 15-0 with 13 knockouts, while Tomongdan is 25-9-4 with 13 knockouts. French fighter Jaber Zayani (14-0, 8 KOs) is up against Eduardo Mancito (16-8-2, 9 KOs) for the vacant WBO Oriental super featherweight title in the co-main event. EKA