UNDEFEATED prospect Jade Bornea gets his chance of becoming a world champion on Sunday, June 25, 2023, as he challenges International Boxing Federation (IBF) super flyweight king Fernando Martinez at the Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“I’m confident with Jade,” Sanman Promotions chief executive officer JC Manangquil told SunStar Cebu. “You will see why on June 24 (US time).”
Bornea tipped the scales at the super flyweight limit of 115 pounds, while the defending champion Martinez weighed-in a bit lighter at 114.6 pounds.
The 27-year-old Bornea has been waiting for this moment all of his life. He’s been hanging around at the top of the rankings for quite some time. He finally earned his mandatory challenger status after scoring a third-round knockout of Mohammed Obbadi in an IBF super flyweight title eliminator in Mexico last year.
Bornea has been training in Las Vegas under the guidance of coach Ernel Fontanilla. He started his training camp with the Philippines’ only world champion, World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) super bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales. He’s been sparring mostly against Mexican boxers and former world title challenger Jonas Sultan and world-rated super flyweight KJ Cataraja, a former sparring partner of Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue.
The 31-year-old Martinez won the IBF super flyweight strap last year. He dethroned Jerwin Ancajas by unanimous decision on Feb. 26, 2022 in Las Vegas. In their rematch, Martinez outclassed Ancajas and successfully defended the belt by a lopsided unanimous decision in Carson.
Bornea, one of the best prospects at the Sanman Gym, is 18-0 with 12 knockouts, while Martinez is 15-0 with eight knockouts.
Also seeing action in the same card is former IBF super flyweight titleholder Ancajas. He’ll be up against Colombian journeyman Wilner Soto in an eight-round bantamweight contest.
Ancajas, who’ll be making his bantamweight debut, is 33-3-2 with 22 knockouts, while Soto is 22-12 with 12 knockouts. (EKA)