MANILA, Philippines – Filipino fighter Warlito Parrenas will have the opportunity to vie for a world title as he challenges WBO junior bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue in his home-country of Tokyo, Japan on December 29.
Parrenas (24-6-1, 21 knockouts) is coming off a split draw against Mexican boxer David Carmona for the interim WBO super flyweight title this past July and will compete for the second-straight time overseas.
Prior to the anticlimactic draw versus Carmona, the 32-year-old native of Cadiz City, Negros Occidental was riding high on a 7-fight winning streak since yielding to Oscar Blanquet via first-round knockout in June 2012.
During his aforementioned victory parade, Parrenas scored 6 knockouts in 7 outings and captured the WBO Oriental super flyweight belt with a sixth-round stoppage of Indonesia’s Junior Bajawa in June 2014.
On the other hand, Inoue (8-0, 7 KOs) was last seen in action when he violently ended the reign of longtime 115-pound kingpin Omar Narvaez by knocking out the Argentinian pugilist in the second round of their December 2014 showdown.
However, he paid the price of glory through physical pain as he was sidelined for nearly a year due to an injured right hand and was forced to postpone two bouts earlier this year.
The venue of the 12-round championship clash between Parrenas and Inoue is yet to be announced. – Rappler.com