Jade Bornea swears there is pressure building up in the final weeks before his much-awaited world title shot.
But the undefeated Filipino puncher insists he is looking forward to the day he gets to face defending International Boxing Federation super-flyweight champion Fernando Martinez of Argentina on 24 June at the Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“But I am not bothered by the pressure because I have been getting ready for this fight for so long,” Bornea said from his Las Vegas training camp he shares with former world champion Jerwin Ancajas and Jonas Sultan, who also serve as his sparring partners.
Supervising Bornea’s training is fast-rising tactician Ernel Fontanilla, who played a pivotal role in making Marlon Tapales a two-belt world super-bantamweight titleholder last month in San Antonio, Texas.
Bornea, 27, packs an 18-0 win-loss card with 12 knockouts.
Martinez, 31, who dethroned Ancajas and beat him in his first defense of the IBF 115-lb crown, sports a 15-0 mark with seven knockouts.
Bornea’s title crack will come a month after another Filipino, World Boxing Organization minimumweight king Melvin Jerusalem, makes a mandatory defense against Oscar Collazo of Puerto Rico.
The Jerusalem-Collazo battle is taking place on 27 May in Indio, California.
A bronze medalist in the 2012 World Youth Championships in Yerevan, Armenia, Bornea has been living and training in Las Vegas for more than a year, waiting impatiently for his opportunity to shine on the big stage.
That chance happens in a little over a month when Bornea attempts to avenge Ancajas’ painful losses to the South American punching machine.
The Martinez showdown will be Bornea’s second fight on American soil, having made his US debut in Washington, in 2020.
In his last two outings, Bornea saw action and won in Monterrey and La Paz, both in Mexico.
Bornea fights out of the MP Promotions stable manned by do-it-all boxing guy Sean Gibbons, who also represents Tapales and Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist Eumir Marcial.
