Petalcorin to vie for WBC Silver flyweight title

CEBU, Philippines - Randy 'Razor' Petalcorin of the General Santos City-based Sanman Boxing Club will be testing the waters in a higher weight division as he battles Tanzanian Omari Kimweri for the vacant WBC Silver flyweight title on April 15 at the Melbourne Pavilion in  Australia.

"Randy is just testing one fight at flyweight. He is really a light flyweight. We will see if he looks good in 112 but the original plan is to be at 108," said Sanman Promotions CEO Jim Claude 'JC' Manangquil, who handles Petalcorin's career in partnership with Australian TV host and boxing promoter Peter Maniatis.

Petalcorin (23-1-1, 18KOs) is the interim WBA light flyweight champion. He won the belt with a seven round stoppage of Panamian Walter Tello on August 26, 2014 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China and defended it via a smahing first round knockout of Yi Ming Ma on April 24 last year at the Capital Gym in Beijing.

With the way things are going for Petalcorin, Manangquil believes that his prized ward would be the next big thing in Philippine boxing.

"Manny Pacquiao is on his way out and Nonito (Donaire) is getting old. Randy will be the next legitimate star of Philippine boxing. Randy trained hard for this fight and hopes to get another belt for the country. We will also keep him very active this year," said Manangquil.

For his part, the 24-year-old Petalcorin expressed confidence on beating Kimweri, who is on a three-fight winning streal to improve his overall record to 15-3 dotted with 6KOs.

"I'm ready and I'm not scared of Kimweri. We sparred against each other two years ago in Melbourne and I have no problem beating this guy," said the Davao City-native Petalcorin,who shared the 'Boxer of the Year' award with IBO light flyweight titlist Rey Loreto during the Gabriel “Flash” Elorde Boxing Awards “Banquet of Champions” two weeks ago in Manila.— EBV (FREEMAN)