Is unbeaten Filipino super-flyweight Jade Bornea being set up for an ambush in Mexico?
Bornea is booked to see action this Friday (Saturday in Manila) in the resort city of Cabo San Lucas.
The identity of his opponent was only made known yesterday.
Ivan Meneses, a veteran of 43 fights, was tapped to battle Bornea but Team Bornea — made up of former Philippine national team trainer Ting Ariosa and US-based strategist Ernel Fontanilla — is not bothered at all.
“We trained as if we are shooting for a world title fight,” Fontanilla told Daily Tribune from Los Angeles.
An ex-amateur standout, Bornea packs a 17-0 record with 11 knockouts and is regarded as one of the country’s brightest hopes for a world crown.
Last time Bornea, 27, was in the ring, the General Santos City-bred boxer stopped Mohammad Obbadi of Morocco in Monterrey, Mexico, early this year.
Now ranked No. 1 by the International Boxing Federation, Bornea is promoted by JC Mananquil’s Sanman Promotions and is represented by Sean Gibbons of MP Promotions.
But it is Probellum — the outfit that also handles Nonito Donaire — that calls the shots in his fights.
Ariosa, once an integral part of amateur boxing in the Philippines in the 1980s, presided over Bornea’s preparation for his second fight on Mexican soil.
“He did 128 rounds of sparring,” a confident Ariosa said.
The entire team is ready for just about anything, including a possible trap that might be in the works.