On Saturday, December 10, at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom, Luis Concepcion (35-4, 24 KOs), from Panama City, Panama, meets unbeaten Khalid Yafai (20-0, 14 KOs), from Birmingham, West Midlands, UK, over a scheduled 12 rounds.
The fight was supposed to be a voluntary defense of Concepcion’s WBA World super flyweight title, but “El Nica” came in 2.7 pounds over the 115-pound limit, thereby relinquishing his title on the scale.
Yafai will be at a weight disadvantage if he agrees to fight for the now-vacant title, but this is an opportunity of a lifetime he’s unlikely to pass up.
Thirty-one-year-old Concepcion won the interim WBA World flyweight title in September 2009 by stopping Omar Salado via TKO. After successfully defending his belt three times, he was upgraded to WBA World champion in January 2011, after Daiki Kameda vacated, losing his crown three months later to Hernan Marquez (avenged four years later). Concepcion won the interim WBA World super flyweight title in September 2015 by retiring David Sanchez in the 10th.He won the championship in his most recent fight by beating Kohei Kono via unanimous decision in Tokyo.
Concepcion’s 27-year-old opponent represented Great Britain as a flyweight at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and turned pro in 2012. Kal has won regional and minor titles, most recently the then-vacant WBA Inter-Continental super flyweight belt in March by knocking out Dixon Flores in the first. Yafai last fought on October 22, kayoing Johnson Tellez in the third.
“It has the recipe to be a great fight,” Yafai told Sky Sports after the weigh-in. “He’ll come forward, no doubt, but he’ll meet someone who can really punch.
“He will keep walking into my jab all night long. I can do all sorts of things, but he can only come forward.
“This is all about me, not him. I am 100 per cent confident I will become a world champion.
“Now is the time for me.”
This article was penned by the author who is not related to the WBA and the statements, expressions or opinions referenced herein are that of the author alone and not the WBA.
