Tepora gets big break

CEBU, Philippines — Finally, the undefeated Cebuano featherweight contender Jhack "El Capitan' Tepora got a well earned break in boxing spotlight.

The promising Omega Gym fighter has been booked to slug it out with Mexican Edivaldo 'Indio' Ortega for the vacant International Boxing Organization (IBO) featherweight belt on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Lucas Matthysse WBA welterweight championship match on July 15 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tepora, who broke the good news in his Facebook page yesterday afternoon, said he will plunge right away into hard training preparatory for what he describes as the biggest fight of the life.

"I am very thankful to OPSI (Omega  Pro Sports International) and to my manager, sir Paolo Catillo, for giving me this big break," said Tepora. "I can't promise a knockout but I'll do whatever it takes to win this fight."

The 25-year-old southpaw is unscathed in 21 pro bouts spiked with 16KOs. He highlighted his spetacular streak with a crushing one-punch knockout of South African star Lusanda Komanisi to wrest the WBO Inter-Continental 122-pound crown on September 22 last year at the Orient Theatre in East London, South African.

He also once held the WBO Oriental and the WBO Asia-Pacific Youth super bantamweight titles.

Tepora must be extra careful though as his 27-year-old Mexican rival is no pushover.

Ortega sports a 26-1-1 record dotted with 12KOs. Among his most notable victories was against Tepora's fellow countryman and three-time regional champion Drian Francisco by unanimous decision last January 27 at the Auditorio Municipal in Tijuana, Mexico.