October 22, 2004
CEBU, PHILIPPINES-WBC #2 ranked OPBF 130-pound champ Randy Suico (21-1, 18 KOs), Philippines, will defend his regional belt against Indonesian ruler Ibrahim Aroby (14-1-1, 7 KOs) tomorrow (Saturday) in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, Philippines.
The hard-hitting Suico tasted his first setback last May, when he went to Johannesburg to face WBC top contender Mzonke Fana in an eliminator to decide the official challenger against the current champ Erik Morales, losing a hairline split 12-round decision despite dropping the South African twice in the second and fourth and having him groggy in the final session. The Filipino prospect thereafter stayed in Tokyo to train and prepare for this title defense for some weeks at Teiken Gym presided by Akihiko Honda, who has a promotional agreement on Suico. In the weigh-in ceremony Suico tipped the beam at the 130-pound class limit, while Ibrahim had to trip to the scale three times and finally scaled in at 130. The Indonesian is such a classy boxer dependent on switch-hitting and counterpunching-a la Naseem Hamed-that it will be a good fight before a sellout audience at the Lapu-Lapu City Sports Complex. The officials are as follows: scoring referee Kazumasa Kuwata (Japan), Teddy Alivio (Philippines) and Machmud Junus (Indonesia). This show is presented by influential Cebuano impresario Rex Wakee Salud.
(10-22-04)