MANILA – Four Filipino boxers are set to see action in the undercard of the world title clash between Manny Pacquiao and WBA welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse on July 15 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Among the four, Cebuano Jhack Tepora is the one up for a big challenge as he will try to annex the vacant IBO world featherweight champion against tough Mexican Edivaldo Ortega.
Tepora, from the Cebu-based Omega Boxing Stable, said he is very excited and at the same time tensed by the rare opportunity to fight for world championship in a Pacquiao co-main event.
“Nagpapasalamat ako sa stable ko at sa manager ko sa napakalaking break na ito sa career ko,” Tepora said. “Hindi ko sasayangin ang opportunity kaya maaga talaga akong nag-start mag-ensayo.”
Aside from Tepora, also set to see action in the fight card are Juan Miguel Elorde (25-1-0, 13 KOs), Jay-R Inson (16-1-0, 11 KOs) and Vincent Astrolabio (11-1-0, 7 KOs), but their opponents have not yet been named.
Tepora, who recently captured the WBO Inter-continental featherweight belt with a knockout win over South African Lusanda Komasini, has an unbeaten 21-0-0 win-loss-draw with 16 stoppage wins.
Aside from the WBO Inter-continental belt, the 25-year-old Tepora has also previously handled the WBO Oriental, WBO Asia Pacific and Philippine Boxing Federation super bantamweight championships.
The 27-year-old Ortega is not a pushover, with an impressive 26-1-1 win-loss-draw with 12 knockout wins. He came from a unanimous-decision win over Filipino Drian Francisco in January./PN
