DESPITE an impressive performance in his latest outing, undefeated budding star Kenneth Llover still needs room for improvement, according to his handler, former world champion Gerry Peñalosa.
“He gained a lot of experience from that fight. But he has a lot to improve on. He has reached about 70 to 80 percent (of his potential),” Peñalosa told SunStar Cebu. “He still needs to improve his explosiveness, stamina, and quickness.”
The 22-year-old Llover faced his most decorated opponent to date, two-division world champion Luis Concepcion, last Aug. 17, 2025, in Manila. Llover dropped the 39-year-old Concepcion twice before finishing him off in the eighth round.
According to Peñalosa, Llover’s next assignment is an International Boxing Federation (IBF) bantamweight title eliminator against South African Landile Ngxeke on Oct. 26, 2025, in Kyrgyzstan.
The 30-year-old Ngxeke is a veteran fighter who is ripe for a world title shot. He’s currently rated No. 5 by the IBF.
Ngxeke is coming off a one-sided unanimous decision win over Mexican Eric Gamboa last June 29, 2025, in South Africa. He won the vacant IBF International and World Boxing Organization (WBO) Inter-Continental bantamweight belts.
“He needs to be 100 percent with his conditioning. He needs to be aggressive because his next opponent is also quick,” said Peñalosa.
Llover is 15-0 with 10 knockouts, while Ngxeke is 16-1-1 with eight knockouts.
The winner of the world title eliminator becomes one of the two title contenders for the IBF belt that was recently vacated by Junto Nakatani. The other world title eliminator should be between No. 3 ranked Jose Salas and No. 4 rated Takuma Inoue. (EKA)