Kenneth Llover | Facebook photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — One of the brightest young prospects in local boxing, Kenneth “The Lover Boy” Llover, will fight in his first international title bout on Sunday, November 5, 2023, in his hometown in General Trias, Cavite.
Llover of Peñalosa Boxing Stable of former three-division world champion-turned promoter Gerry Peñalosa will fight for the World Boxing Council (WBC) Asian Continental bantamweight title.
He will fight former world title challenger Edward “El Heneral” Heno for 12 rounds in the five-bout fight card of Peñalosa’s Gerrypens Promotions, Inc.
The 20-year-old Llover is undefeated in 10 fights with seven knockouts. His last two bouts weren’t short of being impressive after knocking out Ramel Antaran and went on to win the Philippine Youth bantamweight title against fellow prospect James Pagaling.
Llover knocked out Pagaling (8-1, 5KOs) in the fourth round of their 10-rounder bout for the Philippine youth title, further bolstering his reputation as one of the top bantamweight prospects in the country.
This time, Llover will test a battle-hardened Heno who has a 15-3-6 (win-loss-draw) record with five knockouts.
Heno has fought in Japan, United States, and Thailand. He fought Mexican Elwin Soto for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) world light flyweight title in 2019, but lost via unanimous decision.
Heno is the former Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) light flyweight and Asian Boxing Federation light flyweight champion.
However, Heno hasn’t been winning his bouts lately. He had one draw and back-to-back defeats in his last three fights.
He lost to Cebuano Kevin Jake Cataraja for the OPBF super flyweight title last February by unanimous decision.
Heno went on to lose against Songsaeng Phoyaem in Thailand also by unanimous decision for the IBF Pan Pacific super flyweight title.
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