Manny Pacquiao may be the headliner in Kuala Lumpur this coming Sunday for the "Fight of Champions", but there will also be six Filipino pugilists seeing action in the fight card, with two in the main card and one going for a world title.
Cebu's Jhack Tepora will be attempting to snare the interim World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight crown against Mexican opponent Edivaldo "Indio" Ortega in the supporting main bout while Mig Elorde opens the international telecast against Ratchanon Sawangsoda of Thailand bright and early at 7 a.m. local time (6 a.m. Philippine time).
The undefeated Tepora (21-0-0 with sixteen wins coming by way of knockout) is coming off a sensational second round knockout victory over Lusanda Komanisi in his foes home country of South Africa last September for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) intercontinental featherweight title but not without going through a controversial medical misdiagnosis prior to what was his first overseas fight.
Tepora, who was among the top amateurs in the archipelago before turning pro in 2012, received the scare of his life when his HIV test prior to fighting Komanisi and came back positive. The 25-year-old southpaw went from thinking about how to stop Komanisi to thinking about how his life will change after the findings.
"We didn't even care about the fight anymore," Tepora's promoter, Pio Paolo Castillo, president of Omega Pro Sports International (OPSI) told boxing correspondent Ryan Songalia. "We were worried about the kid and his children (two sons). We were worried about the other fighters in our stable. We were worried with his life."
After a retest, it turns out that Tepora was a victim of mistaken identity and he was not infected with the deadly virus at all. He was cleared to proceed with the fight eight hours prior to the bout but still ended up decking Komanisi and silencing the thousands in that East London venue.
While that scenario may not repeat itself in Malaysia on Sunday, Tepora is still looking at a crafty fellow southpaw who is just coming off a convincing triumph over his countryman Drian "Gintong Kamao" Francisco last January in Mexico. He, however, remains confident heading into the bout.
"He has to look out for me. This is ours. We got this," Tepora said in an earlier interview.
While Elorde (25-1-0 with thirteen KOs) may only be fighting in a six-round affair to open the night, the 31-year-old veteran is still looking to make a splash on the world stage.
With his last three fights being held in the confines of his own backyard at the Flash Grand Ballroom of the Elorde Sports Complex in Parañaque City, Mig has been constantly getting ready for an occasion such as this to showcase that the tradition of his grandfather and his older brother Bai still lives on.
Mig's younger brother is Nico Elorde, who plays point guard for the Globalport Batang Pier in the PBA.
Mig and his siblings joined forces recently to fulfil one of his ambitions to apply his learning in the field of culinary arts (the course he graduated from at the College of St, Benilde) by opening "Southpaw", a restobar right outside the facility where he trains.
The tiff against Sawangsoda (12-2-0, all wins via KO), will only be his second sortie outside of the Philippines. His only other stint abroad was in the undercard of the Mercito Gesta vs. Ricardo Dominguez fight in 2011 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and it turned out to be the only setback of his boxing career-losing via unanimous decision against American Jerry Guevara.
Sawangsoda is coming off his second defeat as a professional, though, when he has dropped by Japanese featherweight Sho Ishida in Osaka last February.
The other four Pinoy fighters in the card are: General Santos native Vincent Astrolabio (11-1-0) who will be squaring off against Yuuki Kobayashi of Japan, JR Magboo (under the Touch Gloves boxing stable of Elmer Anuran in Agoncillo, Batangas with a record on 17-1-0) will be going up against Australian George Kambosos, Jr. in a an eight-round lightweight contest, Davao's Jayar Inson (15-1 with ten KOs) takes on another Australian in Terry Tzouramanis and one of the swing bouts will feature up-and-coming superfeatherweight Harmonito de la Torre versus Yongqiang Yang of China.
While the Filipino bets are favored in their respective assignments, the pressure is on all of them to perform and deliver for the country in these times where good news in sports could be essential to the uplifting of the nation's morale. Any victory puts the Philippines closer to major relevance in a sport where more than just Pacquiao can dominate very soon.