IBF Champion Alvarado 107.3, Japanese Challenger Konishi 107.8 in Japan

By Carlos Costa

IBF Light Flyweight World Champion, Nicaraguan Félix Alvarado, and his challenger, tough Japanese Reiya Konishi, made a successful appointment with the scale ahead of their world title fight set for today Sunday, May 19, at the Portopia Hotel in Kobe, Japan.

The hard-hitting 30-year-old Alvarado (34-2, 30 KO’s) of Managua, Nicaragua, weighed-in at 107.3 pounds, while the local 25-year-old warrior Konishi (17-1, 7 KO’s), of Kobe’s Shinsei Boxing Gym, weighed 107.8 for their exciting 12-chapter duel.

Both fighters looked strong, fit and in high spirits during the official IBF official weigh-in ceremony.

Alvarado is making the first defense of the title he conquered last October in the Philippines by knocking out in seven rounds Filipino Randy Petalcorin.

Will the heavy-puncher Alvarado overpower Konishi the same way he has ravaged 30 of his 34 opponents for a successful first world title defense?

Or will the strong, local hero, 25, shock and rock the hot Nicaraguan to become the new IBF Light Flyweight World Champion?

The IBF officials of this championship fight are:

The referee is Japanese Michiaki Someya.

Judges: Adam Height of Brisbane, Australia, Masahiro Noda of Japan, and Gil Robiego Co of Caloocan, Metro Manila, Philippines.

The IBF fight supervisor is Tsuyoshi Yasukochi.

The author Carlos Costa is a Panama boxing reporter living in the Philippines. Carlos can be reached at carlos512@hotmail.com and whatsapp/viber/wechat: +639184538152.