KJ CATARAJA and Esneth Domingo arrived in Japan from Cebu City on Nov. 8, 2023 ahead of their respective fights this weekend.
Cataraja is set to defend his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) super flyweight belt against fellow world-rated JR Raquinel in an all-Pinoy fight in the main event of 3150Fight Survival Vol. 9 at the Prefectural Budokan in Nagoya on Nov. 11.
Esneth, on the other hand, is up against Keisuke Iwasaki in an eight-rounder.
“They are doing okay. Both of them are just over the weight limit by .4 pounds,” Zip Sanman head coach Michael Domingo told VoxPop Cebu.
The 28-year-old Cataraja will be in a crucial fight with Raquinel, which will dictate his future in the sport. A win could boost him up the rankings and get him closer to a world title shot.
Cataraja is currently ranked No. 8 by the World Boxing Organization (WBO), No. 9 by the World Boxing Association (WBA), No. 12 by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and No. 21 by the World Boxing Council (WBC).
Meanwhile, Raquinel is rated No. 7 by the WBC, No. 12 by the WBO and No. 13 by the IBF.
Cataraja is 16-0 with 13 knockouts, while Raquinel is 15-2-1 with 12 knockouts.
In the meantime, Esneth, the nephew of Michael, is looking to continue his recent success in Japan. He won his last two fights in Japan, stopping Jukiya Iimura and Kosuke Tomioka.
Esneth’s opponent, Iwasaki, is looking to bounce back after losing his last two contests to Kyotaro Yoshida and Yasuhiro Kanzaki both by unanimous decision.
Tje 25-year-old Esneth is 18-2 with 10 knockouts, while Iwasaki is 8-5-3 with three knockouts.
Undefeated hard-hitter Ian Sampan (8-0, 7 KOs) is also seeing action in the same card against Japanese Koshin Takeshima (6-3-1, 3 KOs).
