CHRISTIAN Araneta must fight a perfect fight if he wants to beat Mexican Daniel Valladares in his hometown in their International Boxing Federation (IBF) light flyweight title eliminator on Sept. 7, 2019 at the Jose Sulaiman Arena in Monterrey, Mexico.
“We will beat him up. If we knock him out, the better. There are no room for errors. This is a must win fight,” Araneta’s coach Jinggoy Junco told SunStar Cebu.
The winner of the title eliminator becomes the mandatory challenger of current IBF light flyweight king Felix Alvarado.
Araneta, ranked No. 3 in the IBF bantamweight category, has been sparring with the likes of Jeronil Borres, Danrick Sumabong, former amateur standout Daniel Maamo and veteran Renoel Pael at the Omega Boxing Gym.
“We are ready,” said Junco.
The 24-year-old Araneta fought three times in 2018, beating Ian Ligutan, Jerry Tomongdan and Vincent Bautista. He hasn’t fought in 2019.
Valladares, rated 4th in the IBF bantamweight division, is a winner of his last nine fights. He won both his fights in 2019, beating young prospect Gilbert Gonzalez by unanimous decision and knocking out former world champion Merlito Sabillo.
Junco has seen a clip of Valladares in action and believes that Araneta can beat him.
“I have seen his fight. He is short. I believe we can beat him. We have nothing to worry about because we trained hard. We can fight anybody,” he said. “He’s a slugger with average power. Our advantage is our speed, power and footwork.”
Araneta has a perfect 17-0 slate with 14 knockouts, while Valladares, a native of Monterrey, is 20-1 with 12 knockouts. (EKA)