Cheppy to fight with mighty Choi

BANDUNG (JP): National junior lightweight champion Cheppy Holman has vowed to win the Orient and Pacific Boxing Federation crown.

Cheppy will fight title holder Choi Yong-soo before his home crowd at the Saparua sports hall on Saturday night in a scheduled 12-round match.

The 27-year-old national champion will clear his way to a possible world title bout if he beats Choi, who is ranked second by the World Boxing Association and sixth by the World Boxing Council.

Choi, who has successfully defended the title on six occasions, will step into the ring as the favorite. Choi, who holds a belting 32-4 record, has stopped his opponents inside the distance on 26 occasions.

"But we are very optimistic about the match. Cheppy has improved after 120 rounds of rigorous training recently," manager Indra Cahaya said. He added that his boxer had adhered to strict military discipline during the training program under the tutelage of coaching duo Chairus Sahel and Asep Suganda.

Cheppy recently outpointed Rianto of Malang to stretch his victorious title defense run to nine in a row. The win improved Cheppy's record to 26-3.

Defending champion Choi will earn US$70,000 from the match, nearly 14 times what Cheppy will receive.

Promoter Tourino Tidar will also stage other five cards, vying for national and provincial championship belts in the flyweight, featherweight, junior featherweight and junior lightweight divisions. (kasiran/amd)