Filipino Jade Bornea knocks out Moroccan foe in IBF Title Eliminator

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Filipino rising star Jade Bornea continued his stellar boxing run after knocking out Moroccan Mohammed Obbadi in the third round of their International Boxing Federation (IBF) super-flyweight Title Eliminator bout.

The crafty and heavy-punching Bornea stunned Obaddi in the 1:25 mark of the third round after connecting on a solid right hook-left uppercut to the body combination.

Obaddi grimaced in pain after receiving Bornea’s vicious left uppercut that went straight to his ribcage, causing him to kneel while failing to beat the referee’s 10-count.

It was Bornea’s main strategy from the start in hopes of slowing down the surging Moroccan who loved to trade punches from the get-go.

Soon as the Filipino sensed his game plan worked, he immediately flipped the switch and was the one who was already dictating the pace of the match at the start of the second round.

Bornea’s huge victory earned him the mandatory challenger seat to kababayan champion Jerwin Ancajas who is currently preparing for his match against undefeated Fernando Daniel Martinez of Argentina.

If Ancajas will be able to hurdle Martinez’s challenge, then his bout against Bornea will most probably take place.

However, Manny Pacquiao (MP) promotions president Sean Gibbons previously announced that the postponed unification world title showdown between Ancajas and WBO champion Kazuto Ioka will take place if he wins against the Argentinian.

Ancajas and Ioka were supposed to vie for the super-flyweight unification world titles but border restrictions in Japan due to the recent surge in Covid cases postponed the highly-anticipated bout.