By ADRIAN STEWART CO 

Negrense boxer Aston Palicte returns to the boxing ring as he faces Mexican Jose Salas Reyes on Sunday morning, July 30 (Philippine time), at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The Negros Occidental’s Bago City-native Palicte is on a comeback trail over a year since suffering a technical knockout defeat in a title match with Aussie Jason Moloney in Melbourne, Australia.

Palicte has not seen action in the ring since June 2022, but did not stop with his boxing training in his hometown until he was tapped to fight Reyes in the super bantamweight bout.

This is also a huge opportunity for the 32-year-old Negrense boxer to have his name in the world ratings in the super bantamweight division and possibly land a world championship fight soon.

“I’m very thankful for this big opportunity. This is a good opponent for me. I’ve wanted this fight for a long time. I’m in 100 percent condition,” Palicte said.

Earlier in his boxing career, Palicte fought for the world championship twice — first against fellow Negrense Donnie Nietes for the WBO super flyweight belt, and second versus Japanese Kazuto Ioka for the same belt.

The Negrense boxer enters the match with a 28-5-1 win-loss-draw ring record, including 23 victories by way of stoppages. He has won three and lost thrice in his last six games.

On the other hand, the 21-year-old Reyes has a perfect 12-0-0 win-loss-draw slate, with nine victories via knockouts. This is also his second bout this year after beating Prince Dzanie last April.

Palicte is the second Filipino boxer on the fightcard promoted by TGP Promotion aside from Nonito Donaire Jr., who will vie for the WBC bantamweight championship against Mexican Alexandro Santiago.

The main event of the said card is the world title clash between American boxers Errol Spence, Jr. and Terence Crawford with the IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO bantamweight belts on the line./ASC, WDJ