Araneta fails in first world title shot

CEBU, Philippines — Christian “The Bomb” Araneta of Cebu’s Omega Boxing Gym failed in his first attempt to become a world champion.

The Mandaue City-native fighter suffered a heart-breaking loss by split decision to Thai Thanongsak Simsri in their IBF light flyweight title fight on Thursday, June 19, at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.

Araneta knocked Simsri down with a solid counter left hook in the third round.

But that wasn’t enough for Araneta to earn the nod of all judges.

While Leszek Jankowiak of Poland scored the bout 114-113 in favor of Araneta, Japanese judges Masakazu Murase and Koji Tanaka saw it 115-112 and 116-111, respectively, for Simsri, hence, the split verdict.

Simsri improved his record to 39-1 with 34 knockouts while Araneta fell to 25-3 with 20KOs.The camp of Araneta is gracious in defeat.

“We don’t have any regrets because we did everything,” said Omega Gym trainer Julius Erving Junco. “That’s boxing, you’ll never know. Maybe it’s not yet his (Araneta) time.”