Apolinar, Melindo co-headline event
PETE Apolinar and former world champion Milan Melindo co-headline Prime Stags Sports’ “Prime Fight III” on Dec. 29, 2023, at the SM Sky Hall of SM Seaside City Cebu.
Apolinar takes on undefeated Chinese Lingjie Xia for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) Oriental featherweight strap.
The 28-year-old Apolinar’s career has been a roller-coaster as of late. He went 2-2 in his last four fights in the past two years. He kicked off last year with a 10th-round knockout of Jhunriel Ramonal to win the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) super bantamweight belt in Parañaque City. However, he immediately lost his belt in his first title defense with a fifth-round stoppage defeat to Yoshiki Takei in Japan. Later that year, Apolinar went back to Japan and was defeated by Hayato Tsutsumi by a unanimous decision. Apolinar won his latest outing, a convincing unanimous decision over Reymond Empic in Lapu-Lapu City on April 1.
Apolinar is currently one of the sparring partners of World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) super bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales in Baguio City. Tapales is preparing for a world title unification bout with WBO and World Boxing Council (WBC) super bantamweight king Naoya Inoue on Dec. 26 in Japan.
Xia is a former WBC Asian Continental lightweight champion. He won the crown with a first round knockout of Thai Attanon Kunlawong in 2019. He won back-to-back fights against Pinoy pugs Landy Cris Leon and Arnel Baconaje both by unanimous decision in 2019 before taking a long layoff from 2020 to 2021.
The 32-year-old Xia made his return to the ring last April 1 in China. He outclassed Guangheng Luan by unanimous decision in a four-round fight.
Apolinar is 17-4 with 10 knockouts, while Xia is 9-0-1 with two knockouts.
Meanwhile, Melindo squares off with Tanzanian hard-hitter Mchanja Yohana in the co-main event.
The 35-year-old Melindo is eager to bounce back after coming off a tough loss to South Korean Jong Seon Kang in South Korea on July 1.
Melindo is a former International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight champion. He won the IBF belt in 2017 with a first round technical knockout of Akira Yaegashi. Melindo successfully defended his belt once with a split decision over Hekkie Budler before losing it in his second title defense against Ryoichi Taguchi by unanimous decision.
Yohana, on the other hand, is a tough and heavy-handed young fighter who has never been knocked out in his career. He’s eager to return to the winning column after losing his latest fight by a split decision to veteran Haidari Mchanjo on May 27 in Tanzania.
Melindo is 39-6 with 14 knockouts, while Yohana is 14-5-1 with 12 knockouts.