By Adrian Stewart Co
Negrense Roldan Aldea bagged the WBA Asia super featherweight belt following a unanimous decision win over hometown fighter Junior Kauko Raka on Sunday night at the St. John Guise Stadium Indoor Complex in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
This was the first international boxing title of the Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental-native Aldea after failing in his previous attempts for the IBF Asia lightweight and WBO interim oriental super featherweight belts.
Aldea set the tone early as he pummeled Raka with multiple combinations in the opening round before sending the Papua New Guinean to the floor midway in the second period.
Raka, however, managed to keep in step with Aldea the rest of the way but the Negrense fighter remained dominant as he found holes on the former’s defense to eke out a decision victory.
“Matigas ang panga ni Junior,” Aldea told Watchmen Daily Journal after the match. “But masaya ako na nakuha ko ‘yung WBA Asia belt dahil sulit ‘yung sacrifices ko and training ko kahit na may pandemic.”
With the victory, the 27-year-old Aldea increased his boxing record to 16-8-1 win-loss-draw, with nine stoppage wins. This was also the Negrense’s second straight triumph after beating Monico Laurente before the pandemic last year.
On the part of the 28-year-old Raka, he suffered his first professional boxing defeat after winning his first two matches, including a stoppage win over Negrense Allan Vallespin in 2019.
In the supporting bout, Filipino boxer Mark Sales suffered a unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Andrew Aisanga of Papua New Guinea in their non-title bout in the welterweight division.
Sales, who is the holder of ABF middleweight championship, had a tight exchange of punches with the much younger Aisanga but it was the latter who got the favorable score from the judges after six rounds.
With the loss, the 39-year-old Sales saw his record dropped to 23-44-5, including eight wins by way of stoppages, while Aisanga maintained his unblemished record after two pro bouts./ASC, WDJ