MANILA, Philippines – At age 42, Rene Catalan isn’t hanging up his fighting gloves.
In fact, Catalan wants another crack at the ONE Championship strawweight title and aims to launch his bid by beating a younger Alex Silva in the ONE: NEXTGEN III set on November 26 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The former Asian Games wushu gold medalist said he had regrets when fought for the strawweight crown against countryman Joshua Pacio two years ago and lost, saying he had no heart back then to beat a fellow Filipino.
“My heart wasn’t there. I guess it’s always going to be there, that you feel half-hearted because we all want to bring glory to the country but we have to face each other,” said Catalan.
First things first, Catalan would have to hurdle Silva, who is 11 years younger and owns a 10-6 slate against the former’s 6-4 record.
Catalan was also coming off another defeat at the hands of Bokang Masunyane of South Africa last year.
And this fight against Silva could be make or break for Catalan.
“I still aimed to win that match because it really was my dream to win a world championship before I retire,” he said.