Elorde grandson braces for 'once-in-a-lifetime' title fight

MANILA, Philippines — Being the grandson of Filipino legend Gabriel "Flash" Elorde, Juan Miguel Elorde definitely has boxing prowess in his genes.

Now, Elorde is bracing himself for the biggest fight of his career — a world championship title bout against Emanuel Navarrete in the co-main event of Tyson Fury vs Otto Wallin in Las Vegas.

Elorde, the reigning WBO Asia Pacific super bantamweight champion, will hope to take Navarrete's WBO junior featherweight title on Sunday (Manila time).

"It's a big oppotunity, a great experience for me," Elorde said in the press conference on Friday (Manila time).

"This is my dream, to become a world champion. I think it's coming to reality," he said.

The bout comes on short notice, with Navarrete having his last fight in August.

But Elorde only takes this as a challenge.

"We're ready because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When they called, we accepted the challenge because very boxer wants to be a world champion," he said.

Both boxers sport identical 28-1-0 records. Elorde has 15 knockouts while the champion has 24.

Navarrete will look to bank on his youth, being eight years younger than Elorde.