MARK Jason Melligen will have his hands full against tough African Anges Adjaho at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada today.
Melligen is one of the most promising Filipino boxers in the US and he plans to make an impact with his handlers, Top Rank, with another impressive win.
He made a name for himself in the tough welterweight division after stacking up four remarkable wins over Gerardo Cesar Prieto (KO 5th), Ramon Montano (UD), Fabian Luque (KO 2nd ) and Ernesto Zepeda (KO 4th), which caught the eye of veteran US promoter Bob Arum.
However, his career hit a snag after he suffered his second loss against Michael Rosales last year.
The 24-year-old prospect from the ALA Gym got back to his winning ways with impressive wins over Mexican Norberto Gonzalez and fellow up-and-comer Raymond Gatica.
Rematch
Melligen was supposed to be in a rematch with Rosales but the Mexican backed out for an undisclosed reason less than two weeks before the fight.
Adjaho, a US-based African, stepped in for Rosales.
Melligen is 18-2 with 13 knockouts, while Adjaho is 25-2 with 14 knockouts.
Both fighters made the weight in yesterday’s weigh-in. Melligen hit the scales at 147 pounds, while the 30-year-old Adjaho was half a pound lighter.
Adjaho is moving up two weight divisions to face Melligen from the lightweight category to the welterweight division. However, this won’t pose a problem for Adjaho because he has been moving up and down in weight in his past few fights.
Adjaho, who left boxing for almost a year, is off from a World Boxing Council lightweight eliminator loss to Antonio De Marco.
His only other defeat was to World Boxing Association lightweight champion Miguel Acosta.