Rise of Ravalaca, Senidoko Returns

We are now coming to the end of the year and lightweight boxer Mikaele Ravalaca has stamped his mark as the country’s top pound-to-pound boxer. 

The 22-year-old boasts a proud professional record of 6 wins and 1 loss. 

Ravalaca’s recent 7th round demolition of Perth-based Francis Chua in Suva, has made the region’s boxing experts sit up and take notice. 

Renowned Australian trainer Angelo Hyder has labelled Ravalaca as a potential world champion. 

Hyder has trained former world super middleweight champion Danny Green and world super flyweight king Vic Darchinyan. 

He was at Chua’s corner that night and to make such comment speaks volume of Ravalaca’s caliber. 

Chua was no pushover and he had beaten World Boxing Organisation (WBO) world lightweight 2nd ranked Kye MacKenzie. 

Now training under Osea Nanovu and Nesta Ranuku with Fiji super welterweight champion Winston Hill as his chief corner man, the way forward for Ravalaca is to fight in his own weight division. Not only that, they must draw up his list of opponents that could lead him to a world title fight. 

Ravalaca currently holds the WBA (World Boxing Association) Oceania lightweight and the Fiji lightweight titles. 

Following closely is Fiji bantamweight and WBA Oceania super bantamweight champion Junior Binnu Singh. 

The Sigatoka boxer scored a 2nd round TKO (technical knockout) win over Thailand’s Apichart Klintai in Suva. This was his first win against an overseas boxer. He lost on a split points decision to Zain Adams of New Zealand followed by that controversial points decision loss to Runqi Zhou. Singh has finally broken that losing jinx against overseas boxers. He has an impressive record of 12 wins and 2 losses. 

Fiji bantamweight and WBA Oceania super bantamweight champion Junior Binnu Singh (left).

Photo: Josua Buredua

The way forward for Ravalaca and Singh is not to fight each other as yet. 

It’s time for them to build-up their career and target for a world title fight in their respective weight division. 

They are now drawcards in the country- people will buy their tickets just to go and watch them fight. 

Also, on the rise is the current Fiji heavyweight champion Semi Dauloloma. 

The 27-year-old will be another drawcard and he needs quality fights to build up his record. 

It’s time for promoters to get in overseas opponents for Dauloloma. It’s best to start with Tongan and Samoan heavyweights before moving on to New Zealand, Australia and the rest of the world. 

Dauloloma looks promising and has been a good role model to young people in the country. After winning the Fiji heavyweight title, he has been reaching out to rural schools in the North Western part of Viti Levu, urging students to stay clean and work hard if they want to become somebody in life. 

Comeback of the Year 

Meanwhile, journeyman Isikeli Senidoko scored the biggest comeback of the year. 

After a string of 7 straight losses-with a professional record of 3 wins, 12 losses and 2 draws- Senidoko stepped in as a last minute replacement to knockout Junior Abhay Chand in the second round to become Fiji super middleweight boxer. 

Senidoko has nothing to be ashamed of from those losses because he had fought two former world champions King Davidson and Renold Quinlan. Also, he had moved up to the light heavyweight and the cruiserweight divisions where he lost against top boxers like Fiji light heavyweight champion Paula Ratumaikoro, Joseph Kwadjo and Ratu Dawai. 

Now Senidoko has moved down to super middleweight, which is his natural weight division and has found his mojo. 

It’s time for him to stick to super middleweight and defend the title against seasoned campaigners like Siliveni Nawai and Jonathan Hill. 

For young Junior Abhay, the loss should be deemed as a learning lesson and a stepping stone for bigger things to come. If I had my way, I would not have approved of this title fight against Senidoko, since Chand had only 2 pro fights and has not fought any big names in the weight division. 

No one denies the fact that Junior Abhay is a promising boxer but is not ready for such big fights. Give him time and he’ll surely deliver.