UNDEFEATED ARMENIAN CONFIDENT OF WIN AGAINST KATIANGDAGHO IN CHINA

FACE OFF. Sonny “Pinoy Hearns” Katiandagho of the Philippines (2nd from right) and undefeated Armenian Rafik Harutjunjan (extreme left) after their official weigh-in for their championship fight for the vacant WBC Eurasia Pacific Boxing Council welterweight crown on July 9 at the Sichuan Gym in Chengdu, China. (Photo by BRICO SANTIG)

By LITO DELOS REYES

THE undefeated Armenian Rafik Harutjunjan is confident that he can beat Sonny “Pinoy Hearns” Katiandagho of the Philippines in their championship fight for the vacant WBC Eurasia Pacific Boxing Council welterweight crown on July 9 at the Sichuan Gymnasium in Chengdu, China.

Harutjunan said that he knows that Filipinos are very good boxers.

“But rest assure I can give him (Katiandagho) a very bad experience which he will not forget in his boxing career,” said Harutjunjan during their press conference held Friday at the Hotel Sofeitel

Katiandagho, however, is not scared of the 28-year old Armenian, who has a clean record of nine straight wins with five knockouts.

“Just do it!” answered back Katiandagho, who is also the reigning WBC Youth World super lightweight title-holder.

The 23-year old Katiandagho also has 9 wins and 5 knockouts but with 1 loss. The native of General Santos City is accompanied by his trainer Joven Jorda and manager Brico Santig of Highland Promotions from La Trinidad, Benguet.

Katiandagho previously scored a split decision victory over then-undefeated Hyun Woo Yuh (5-0) last April 16, 2016 in Dangjin, South Korea.

Harutjunjan, on the other hand, recently retained his World Boxing Federation World welterweight title via a unanimous decision win over Kelvin Dotel (9-1-0) last October 12, 2015 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Meanwhile, the main event will now be Rogelio Caserez (11-5-0-5KO) of United States against Ronnakit Boontree (8-0-0-5KO) of Thailand for the IBU World Championship super featherweight title.

The main supporting bout is the double championship fight for the WBC Silver and IBU World Female titles between newly-crowned WBC Silver female super featherweight champion Melissa “Little Miss Tyson” St Vil (7-2-3) of Brooklyn, New York against ex-IBF World female super bantamweight champion feisty female super featherweights Katy Wilson “La Super Baby” Castillo (18-1-0) of Dominican Republic.

The undercard: Taizo Ozawa of Japan vs. Tian Jia Chen (135 lbs.-4 rd.); Yuya Nakamura of Japan vs. Fend Fei Long (122 lbs.-4 rd.); Yin Zhiwu vs. Zhong Fan (130 lbs.-4 rd.).

The boxing card is promoted by the Manny Pacquiao Promotions China represented by promoter Jun Tao.