VETERAN Carlo Demecillo will go up against undefeated Japanese prospect Jun Ikegawa in an eight-round bout on May 13 at the Okada Manila Hotel and Casino in Parañaque City.
The 27-year-old Demecillo hasn’t had much success against Japanese opposition. In three fights in Japan, he lost to former world title challengers Sho Ishida and Hisashi Amigasa, and Satoshi Shimizu.
But now, he’ll have a slight advantage because he’ll be fighting against a Japanese foe in front of a Filipino audience.
“It will be a good fight for Carlo. The good thing is the fight will be fought here,” Demecillo’s coach Christopher “Ping-Ping” Tepora told SunStar Cebu. “Carlo has a huge chance of winning this fight.”
Demecillo had mixed results last year. He started 2022 with an eighth round stoppage loss to Ishida, fought undefeated prospect BJ Wild to a split draw and then defeated Kim Lindog via seventh round technical knockout.
The 25-year-old Ikegawa, in the meantime, just made his pro debut in 2021 with a unanimous decision win over Kakeru Yoshikawa. He’s coming off a Ryo Hino in Tokyo, Japan.
“Right now, we’re studying his style. We want to outbox him and catch him when he boxes and runs. Carlo is ready,” said Tepora.
Demecillo has been sparring with Rhonvex Capuloy and Ulymark Moras at the Big Yellow Boxing Gym in Guadalupe.
Demecillo is 16-6-2 with nine knockouts, while Ikegawa is 4-0-2 with a knockout.
In the main event, three-division world champion Johnriel Casimero (32-4, 22 KOs) challenges World Boxing Organization (WBO) Global super bantamweight king Fillipus Nghitumbwa (12-1, 11 KOs).
Also in the same show, unbeaten super welterweight prospect Weljon Mindoro (10-0, 10 KOs) locks horns with Takeshi Inoue (19-2-1, 11 KOs) and one-time world title challenger Vince Paras (18-2-1, 15 KOs) trades leathers with Ayumi Hanada (10-1-1, 8 KOs). (EKA)