Christian ‘The Bomb’ Araneta, his trainer Julius Erving Junco and Omega Sports Promotions vice-president Jerome Calatrava have flown out of the Philippines for South Africa.
The former World Boxing Organisation (WBO) Oriental junior-flyweight champion, Junco and Calatrava left the Philippines for South Africa at noon on Friday, South African time.
Araneta faces Sivenathi ‘Special One’ Nontshinga in an International Boxing Federation (IBF) junior-flyweight eliminator at the Boardwalk Hotel and Casino in Gqeberha on Saturday, 24 April.
“We will be there early because we have to do quarantine and so that Christian can acclimatise there,” Calatrava told SunStar Cebu.
Calatrava insisted that they are coming to South Africa to win even though they are not looking down on unbeaten Nontshinga.
“Christian has the experience over his opponent, but we do not want overconfidence to derail his chances. He needs to do the game plan and execute it well, defend himself better and if a knockout comes, grab it,” Calatrava said.
“This is very important for him because this will allow him to fight for the world championship and finally reach his goal and ours, which is a world title belt. But let’s focus on the task at hand first, which is beating his African opponent.”
Meanwhile, Junco is also confident that Araneta will hand Nontshinga his first professional loss. Nontshinga has stopped all his nine opponents while Araneta has 19 wins with 15 stoppages and a loss.
This is the second time that Araneta fights in an elimination bout outside his country. He was stopped by Mexican boxer Daniel Valladares in Monterey, Mexico, in 2019.
“We can win this fight, we just need to be patient. We have to watch out for his powerful right hand. We will just wait for the right timing and defend well before we attack when he slows down,” Junco told SunStar Cebu.
