MANILA – Roldan Aldea grabbed the World Boxing Association’s (WBA) Asia super featherweight belt against hometown fighter Junior Kauko Raka via unanimous decision on Sunday at St. John Guise Stadium Indoor Complex in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
This was the first international boxing title of Aldea after failing in his previous attempts to snatch the International Boxing Federation’s Asia lightweight and World Boxing Organization’s interim oriental super featherweight belt.
Aldea – a native of Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental – set the tone early to pummel Raka with multiple combinations in the opening round. He sent Raka to the floor midway in the second period.
Raka managed to keep in step with Aldea for the rest of the round but the Negrense fighter remained dominant as he found holes on the former’s defense to eke out a decision victory.
“Matigas ang panga ni Junior,” Aldea told Panay News after the match. “But masaya ako na nakuha ko ‘yung WBA Asia belt dahil sulit ‘yung sacrifices ko and training ko kahit na may pandemic.”
With the victory, the 27-year-old Aldea increased his boxing record to 16-8-1 win-loss-draw with nine stoppage wins. This was also his second straight win after beating Monico Laurente before the pandemic last year.
The 28-year-old Raka, on the other hand, tasted his first professional boxing defeat after winning the first two matches, including a stoppage win over Negrense Allan Vallespin in 2019.
In the supporting bout, Filipino boxer Mark Sales suffered a unanimous decision loss to the hands of Papua New Guinea’s Andrew Aisanga in their non-title bout in the welterweight division.
Sales, who is the holder of the ABF middleweight championship, had a tight exchange of punches with the much younger Aisanga however, it was the latter who earned the favorable score from the judges after six rounds.
The 39-year-old Sales dropped his record to 23-44-5 including eight wins by way of stoppages, while Aisanga maintained his unblemished slate after two pro bouts./PN
