Leading junior flyweight contenders Randy ‘Razor’ Petalcorin 29-2-1 (22) and Felix ‘El Gemelo’ Alvarado 33-2 (29) have both made weight ahead of their clash for the vacant IBF 108-pound title at the Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila, Philippines tomorrow night.
The fight will be promoted by MP Promotions, Sanman Promotions and Peter Maniatis Events and will be broadcast by ESPN+ in the United States and ESPN5 in the Philippines.
The 29-year-old Nicaraguan has not been extended past the third round in his past nine fights and is predicting another early night against Petalcorin.
“I am the fittest I can be. This fight is not going to the scorecards. I will knockout Petalcorin and be the new world champion,” said Alvarado to Fightnews, who weighed in at a trim and ready 107-pounds.
Southpaw Petalcorin, 26, has strung together six victories with four stoppages since his highly contentious split decision loss to Omari Kimweri in Australia in 2016.
Fighting in front of his home crowd with his family in the audience, Petalcorin believes the local support will give him the lift he needs to get through any tricky moments in the fight.
“I have trained hard for this fight and will have my son and wife at the fight as well as my father,” said Petalcorin, 108-pounds. “I feel blessed to get this opportunity. I would like to thank Peter Maniatis, JC Managquil and MP Promotions for making it happen in Manila and I will see Alvarado in the ring at fight time!”
Australian promoter and manager Maniatis, who has been involved in Filipino’s career for a number of years, believes the match-up will be explosive with two of the biggest bombers in the 108-pound division going toe-to-toe.
“The fight will be shown live on ESPN 5 from 7pm tomorrow night local Manila time and I think it’s the best two biggest punchers in the light flyweight division fighting each other,” said Maniatis.