Jeo Santisima, Vince Paras, and Froilan Saludar. | Facebook photos
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Three Filipino former world title challengers will showcase their vaunted boxing skills in the undercard of John Riel Casimero-Yukinori Oguni duel on October 12, 2023, at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
Jeo “Santino” Santisima, Vince Paras, and Froilan Saludar will take on separate Japanese foes in the card promoted by Treasure Boxing Promotions.
Santisima battles young, unbeaten Japanese
Santisima who fought for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) world super bantamweight title in 2020 will face Japanese up-and-comer Kenji Fujita in an eight-rounder bout. This will be Santisima’s fourth bout in Japan.
The 27-year-old Santisima of ZIP Sanman Boxing Team based in Cebu has a roller coaster experience in Japan.
He won a single bout against Hiroshige Osawa in his first fight there, but lost twice against Toshiki Shimomachi and Hayato Tsutsumi in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Santisima, though, has the upper hand when it comes to experience against Fujita with 22 wins including 19 knockouts and six defeats. Fujita has a young 4-0 (win-loss) record with three knockouts.
Among Fujita’s Filipino victims were Daniel Nicolas, Ronnie Campos, and Jestine Tesoro in 2022.
Paras guns for 7th straight win
Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Paras of General Santos City who fought for the IBF World minimumweight title in 2018 will square off with Kai Ishizawa in another eight-rounder.
Paras has a 19-2-1 (win-loss-draw) card with 15 knockouts and hasn’t lost in his last six bouts, while Ishizawa has a 11-2 record with 10 knockouts.
Ishizawa recently defeated Filipino Jaysever Abcede via a fifth-round knockout in June in Tokyo.
This will be Paras’ first fight in Japan.
Saludar guns for OPBF bantam belt
On the other hand, Saludar (33-7-1, 23KOs), a former WBO World flyweight contender, will return to Japan for the third time. This time he takes on Keita Kurihara (17-7-1, 15KOs) in a 12-rounder bout for the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight title.
Also featured in the undercard is Filipino prospect RV Deniega (9-0, 6KOs) who will fight Latin-American Saul Sanchez (19-2, 12KOs) for eight rounds.
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