Cataraja fights for OPBF super fly crown in February
KJ Cataraja (left) and Edward Heno (right). | Facebook photos
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Unbeaten Cebuano world-ranked prospect Kevin Jake Cataraja will face an equally lethal foe for the vacant Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) super flyweight title on February 11, 2023, in General Santos City.
This will be Cataraja’s first fight since August after he scored a first-round knockout against Ronel Dela Cruz also in General Santos, in an undercard bout promoted by Sanman Boxing.
The 27-year-old Cataraja of Tabuelan town, north Cebu is on the global rankings of the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) super flyweight division.
He is ranked No. 6 in the WBO with Kazuto Ioka of Japan as the champion and No. 13 in the IBF with Fernando Martinez of Argentina currently holding the title.
Cataraja, a former ALA Boxing Gym prospect, now fighting under ZIP Sanman Boxing Team in Cebu, is unbeaten in 15 fights with 13 knockouts.
The last time Cataraja scored a unanimous decision win was in 2018 at the IEC Convention Center in Cebu City. He beat Victor Reyes Bernabe by unanimous decision to clinch the WBO Youth super flyweight title.
After that, Cataraja won all his matches either by knockout, technical knockout, or referee stoppage.
Cataraja rose to fame after he was hired numerous times by Japanese boxing superstar Naoya Inoue as a sparring partner.
Besides that, Cataraja is a favorite sparring partner of other Japanese world champions.
Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Heno of Manila has a record of 15 wins with five knockouts, one defeat, and six draws.
Heno’s lone defeat came in the hands of Elwin Soto of Mexico after they fought for the WBO world light flyweight title in 2019 in the United States. Soto defended the world title by beating Heno by unanimous decision.
Heno is no pushover as he once held the title they are fighting in February. He won the title in 2017 in Japan and defended it three times until 2019 when he earned a world title shot.
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