The weekends most obscure world title fight takes place in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines as Filipino youngster AJ Banal (28-1-1, 20) attempts to claim the vacant WBO Bantamweight title as he faces Thai Pungluang Sor Singyu (42-1, 27).
Despite the fact neither fighter is very well known this still promises to be a very good fight as not only do we have two skilled fighters, but we have two young fighters looking to make a name for themselves and we also have nationalistic pride as boxers from two Asian countries battle out.
The highly ranked AJ Banal (WBO #1) has been one of the Philippines' best kept boxing secrets since he debuted way back in 2005 as just a 16 year old. Since his debut he has developed very well and become a very talented young fighter who many with a knowledge of Filipino boxing have tipped as one of their brightest young stars.
Banal's professional career didn't start brilliantly as he suffered a technical draw on his debut, however it didn't take long for him to get things back on track as he rattled off a series of 17 straight wins. Amongst those 17 wins were victories over Juan Alberto Rosas (who would later go on to claim the IBF Super Flyweight title) and the then 25-0 Caril Herrera in an IBF Super Flyweight world title eliminator.
Sadly however for Banal his winning run came to an end in 2008 as he was stopped by the hard punching Rafael Concepcion. Following the loss to Concepcion, Banal moved from Super Flyweight to Bantamweight, accommodating his growing body. Since moving to 118lbs Banal has been unbeaten and scored 11 wins (some of which have been above the Bantamweight limit) including a notable victory over former 2-weight world champion Luis Alberto Perez.
Despite having notable victories against both Rosas and Perez (as mentioned above) Banal is still pretty unknown by all but either hardcore fans or Filipino fans. This is a shame as he's actually fought in the US 3 times (with the most recent of those bouts coming in 2009) and has an eye pleasing style that should really have helped made him a US TV mainstay. Banal has fast, heavy hands and when he has his man hurt he really likes to unleash, as he did against Raul Hidalgo. Despite his aggressive mindset however, he has got decent boxing fundamentals and in his only loss to date, he was actually ahead on the score cards prior to be stopped.
Like Banal, the co-challenger Pungluang Sor Singyu is also highly ranked (WBO #2) and despite having had over 40 fights is also surprisingly young at just 24 years old. In fact the comparisons between the two men are numerous. Not only are both surprisingly young and very experienced for their age, but both men made their professional debuts at just 16 with Sor Singyu debuting back in 2004.
Sor Singyu started his career in excellent fashion and won his first 23 fights as well as the WBC Youth World Bantamweight title. Impressively he remained unbeaten until 2009 when he was controversially beaten by the talented Belgian Stephane Jamoye, in Jamoye's home city of Liege.
Since being beaten by Jamoye, Sor Singyu has run up 19 more successful victories, however they have all been at home and often against nondescript opponents with the best of them being against the likes of Marvin Tampus and Danilo Pena (both of whom are Filipino journeyman).
Sadly for fans wanting to see something of Sor Singyu it's hard to find footage of him in a decent fight, however the footage I have seen has shown him to be an "in your face" type of fighter with a solid guard and powerful looking right hands. His style looks like he'll be hard to force back and that if you remain in front of him, he will happily guide you to the ropes to bounce straight right hands off your hands. The fact he's only been in with poor opponents (Jamoye aside) however doesn't fill me with much confidence as to just how good he really is.
Whilst I do, genuinely like what I've seen of Sor Singyu I can't help but question his opponents and this leads me to feel that Banal will come out victorious, especially with this fight being held in the Philippines. I have to go with Banal by decision in what could genuinely turn out to be the fight of the weekend. I have a feeling that their styles will just play off on each other other as each man takes his turn to land their hardest shots on the other.
Prediction-Banal UD.
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