Christian Araneta (left) is joined by his trainer, Julius Erving Junco. | Contributed Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines— Omega Boxing Gym’s hard-hitting Christian “The Bomb” Araneta showed tremendous optimism to get back on his feet following his unanimous decision loss in South Africa last April 25, 2021.
The 25-year-old Araneta, a proud son of Borbon town in north Cebu, has accepted his fate, moved on from that heartbreaking loss, and will step in the ring again on July 3, 2021.
However, it will not be an easy road to redemption for Araneta because he will be going up against fellow knockout artist Richard Claveras for 10 rounds under the flyweight division in the undercard of “Kumbati 10” on July 3 at the IPI Compound in Mandaue City.
Both Araneta and Claveras have almost identical records. Araneta has 19 wins, two defeats with 15 knockouts while Claveras has a 19-7-2 (win-loss-draw) with 16 knockouts in his resume.
The 32-year-old Claveras, a native of Silay City in Negros Occidental is a veteran road warrior for having fought in Australia, Japan, Thailand, and Mexico.
He also fought for the world title when he squared off and lost to Mexican Pedro Guevara for the WBC world light flyweight title in 2015.
The former WBC international light flyweight champion, Claveras, recently won over fellow Filipino Richard Rosales via a sixth round knockout in Manila last February.
“I’m always ready for a fight. I will do my very best to win this battle. I know that my opponent is far more experienced than me, so I won’t be complacent in this fight,” added Araneta.
He said that he had already accepted his defeat against African Sivenathi Nontshinga via a controversial unanimous decision despite knocking down the latter in the final round in their fight held in Gqeberha, South Africa.
It was the second time that he faltered in a world title eliminator shot.
Despite this, Araneta said he was eager to step in the ring again to prove himself and that he was far from over.
“I will do my very best to get back on my feet and be able to fight for a world title,” said Araneta who also lost in his first shot at a world title eliminator in 2019 versus Mexican Daniel Valladares.
He assured everyone that he was completely fine mentally and physically after his loss to Nontshinga.
“I am very okay even if I lost to that fight. I’m still in good condition. After that fight, I immediately started training for my comeback fight,” Araneta revealed.
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