DESPITE being a former world champion, Milan Melindo believes that he’ll be the underdog going into his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) Silver featherweight fight against Thai Chaiwat Buatkrathok on Jan. 11, 2023, at the Cebu City Sports Center.
“My training has been going well. I’m training hard. This will be a good fight. My opponent won’t be an underdog in this fight. Based on his record, he has an advantage because he has a higher knockout percentage and he’s a regular in this weight division, while I have only fought once in this weight division last April 2022. I believe he’ll be aggressive and strong. I’ll do my best to win and give the crowd a good fight,” Melindo told SunStar Cebu.
The 34-year-old Melindo is fighting his second featherweight fight. He fought for the first time at featherweight last April 2 and stopped Crison Omayao in the sixth round in Zamboanga City.
“Maybe I’m used to the amateur mindset that the smaller the weight division, the more chances of winning a gold medal. At the professional level, you need to balance everything, to where you are strong and comfortable. That’s where I can relate to People’s Champ Manny Pacquiao, that it’s better to move up than to stay in the division, as long as you’re fit in that weight division,” said Melindo.
Melindo is still deciding on what weight division he’ll be campaigning at. He won’t force himself on a small weight division, wherein he has to struggle to make weight.
“What I did was spar with fighters bigger than my weight and then visualize not getting hit by his punches. Being wiser is stronger than power. For me, I just have to get ready for a lucky punch. My mind has to be ready to face danger. We’ll do what we have to do in this fight,” said Melindo.
Before a three-year layoff, Melindo had fought Junto Nakatani at flyweight and lost via a sixth-round technical knockout.
Melindo won the interim International Boxing Federation light flyweight belt with a unanimous decision win over Teeraphong Utaida in 2016. He became the regular IBF light flyweight king after knocking out then regular champion Akira Yaegashi in a single round in 2017. He successfully defended his belt against Hekkie Budler before losing his belt to Ryoichi Taguchi.
Buatkrathok, in the meantime, had a very busy year in 2022. He fought seven times this year and won five fights. He lost to Jufri Kakauhe and to Kazuki Nakajima. Buatkrathok has fought the likes of former interim World Boxing Council (WBC) bantamweight champion Reymart Gaballo, world-ranked Olimjon Nazarov and former world title challenger Tasana Salapat.
Melindo is 38-5 with 14 knockouts, while Buatkrathok is 38-7 with 25 knockouts.
Also seeing action in the second edition of Prime Stag Sports Boxing Promotions’ Prime Fight series is promising unbeaten prospect Kit Ceron Garces.
Garces (5-0, 4 KOs) faces off with Noli James Maquilan (4-1, 3 KOs) in an eight-rounder.