ARQ Boxing’s Piala and Gura brace for title fights in first tour of duty abroad
ARQ Stable’s undefeated prospects Rodex “The Tank” Piala and Yeroge “The Scientific” Gura brace for tough championship bouts in their first tour of duty on foreign shores next month in Japan.
According to ARQ Sports press relations officer Roger Justine Potot, Piala will challenge Japanese defending champion Kenji Fujita for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Asia Pacific featherweight title topbilling a fight card by Teiken Promotions slated on June 1 at Tokyo’s historic Korakuen Hall.
The 29-year-old Piala holds a perfect 10-0 record with 1KO, while Fujita is unscathed in six matches with 3KOs.
Piala won by unanimous decision against Marjhun Tabamo in his previous assignment underneath the “Kumong Bol-Anon XII” show of PMI Bohol Boxing Promotions on August 15 last year in Tagbilaran City.
Fujita, for his part, beat Piala’s fellow countryman Joseph Ambo by unanimous verdict to clinch the WBO regional crown last January 20 at the Korakuen Hall. In all, the Japanese champ is 5-0 against Pinoy fighters with former WBO Oriental super bantamweight titleholder Jeo “Santino” Santisima as his most notable victim.
On the other hand, Gura will shoot for the World Boxing Council (WBC) Youth super flyweight belt against Ayumu Sano on June 23 at the Twin Messe in Shizuoka, Japan.
Gura sports a clean 8-0-1 slate with 3KOs, while Sano is unbeaten at 8-0-1 with 4KOs.
Sano has already fought twice against Filipino opponents, knocking out both of them. He dismantled Romeo Tenorio in just two rounds, and then scored a smashing first-round stoppage of Mateo Handig last March 16 in Nagoya. –