Sanman Promotions has taken its scouting efforts to the grassroots level in pursuit of potential world class Filipino boxers. As a concrete step in achieving this goal, it will be launching “The Next Contender”, a bi-monthly amateur boxing event aimed at discovering the next Filipino world boxing champion. Each season will be culminated by a three-day boxing tournament wherein champions will be awarded.
According to Sanman CEO Jim Claude Manangquil, the program will focus on finding raw local boxing talents and future world champions. “This project will bring out the crème of the crop from the local boxing talents and will help kids focus on sports rather than vices like drugs and alcohol. We hope this effort will merit support from good sponsors and from the government. Everyone is excited for this to start,” Manangquil stated.
Meantime, after scoring a decisive second-round stoppage of the great Nonito Donaire on Tuesday in Saitama, Japan, Naoya “The Monster” Inoue became the new pound for pound no. 1 boxer.
By a 5-4 margin in a Ring ratings panel debate, three-weight world champion Naoya Inoue has made history by becoming the first Japanese national to sit atop the mythical rankings. The reigning unified heavyweight titleholder Oleksandr Usyk will drop from No. 1 to No. 2, while Terence Crawford moves down a spot to No. 3.
As the numbers reflect, this was not an easy choice. Usyk is a former undisputed cruiserweight champion and his skillset is beyond reproach. The sophisticated Ukrainian lefty won an assortment of 200-pound titles on the road before scoring a historic points win over Anthony Joshua to put the glamor division on notice.
The unbeaten Inoue (23-0, 20 KOs) is the reigning Ring, IBF, WBA and WBC bantamweight titleholder. The 29-year-old has been feasting on world-level opposition for eight years and holds signature wins over Adrian Hernandez (TKO 6), Omar Narvaez (KO 2), Jamie McDonnell (TKO 1), Juan Carlos Payano (KO 1), Emmanuel Rodriguez (TKO 2) and Nonito Donaire (UD 12, TKO 2).
The rematch victory over Donaire was a massacre. Most analysts predicted the win but few foresaw a one-sided blowout. Yes, Donaire is 39 years old, but that cannot be overplayed. He’d never lost at bantamweight and was on great form, having halted two unbeaten opponents – Nordine Oubaali (KO 4) and Reymart Gaballo (KO 4) – since suffering a competitive points defeat to Inoue in October 2019. Subsequently, The Ring rated Donaire as the No. 1 contender at 118 pounds and, thanks to the Oubaali win, he was the WBC titleholder.
