Heavy-handed Fajardo gets avoided

It seems that the trend nowadays is to avoid Filipino fighters as opponents.

Miel Fajardo, the mandatory challenger to International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight champion Masamichi Yabuki, is one prime example.

The heavy-handed Fajardo assumed the status as the IBF’s 112-pound mandatory challenger after knocking out Argentine Tobias Reyes last April.

But it doesn’t look like Yabuki is going to have anything to do with Fajardo as he has expressed deep interest in moving up in weight to challenge Australian Andrew Moloney, the IBF super-flyweight titlist.

Yabuki and Moloney fought on the same night last 6 June in Tokoname, Japan, a move seen as a way to hype up their impending showdown.

In the event Yabuki pursues that direction, the IBF will likely order Fajardo to dispute the vacant crown against Mexican Joselito Velazquez, the next leading contender.

In the meantime, Fajardo is already in training mode and hoping to get official word about his much-awaited ring return.

Recently, another Filipino puncher, reigning IBF minimumweight champion Pedro Taduran, was hoping to receive a call from the camp of Puerto Rican pound-for-pound star Oscar Collazo about a unification clash.

Instead, Collazo, who holds the World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Association jewels, made public his desire to go after the flyweight championship of Ricardo Sandoval of the United States.

Collazo easily stopped Mexican Neider Valdez in a flyweight bout in Oceanside, California.