{"id":271761,"date":"2018-03-13T06:02:59","date_gmt":"2018-03-12T20:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=271761"},"modified":"2018-03-13T06:02:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T20:02:59","slug":"boom-defend-title-vs-russian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/boom-defend-title-vs-russian\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Boom\u2019 to defend title vs Russian"},"content":{"rendered":"
Roman \u201cSonic Boom\u201d Alvarez works the bag in this file photo while training at the TrenchTech Gym in Garapan. Alvarez will be making his second defense of the featherweight title against Russian Andrei \u201cThe Venus Project\u201d Zaitsev in next month\u2019s Rites of Passage 23: Beatdown. (Jon Perez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Roman \u201cSonic Boom\u201d Alvarez will be making his second defense of the 145-lb title belt when he faces Andrei \u201cThe Venus Project\u201d Zaitsev in the featured main event in Rites of Passage 23: Beatdown set on April 27 at the Marianas Business Plaza.<\/p>\n

Alvarez (6-1, 3 knockouts) got the featherweight crown when he knocked out former champ Robert Wusstig in Trench Warz 18: Rock and Rumble in December 2014 and avenged the loss of his cousin, Shane, to the fighter out of Guam. Wusstig (7-10, 2 KOs) defeated Shane \u201cPikaboo\u201d Alvarez (12-5, 3 KOs) by split decision in Trench Warz 15: Supremacy on Dec. 16, 2011 to clinch the flyweight belt for his third win in eight matches.<\/p>\n

Roman Alvarez then successfully defended the title after beating Guam\u2019s Robin Eclavea (1-3) by rear-naked-choke submission in the semi main event of a 13-fight card in ROP 22: Rampage last Sept. 15, 2017.<\/p>\n

While Roman Alvarez is aiming to extend his reign in the division, Zaitsev, on the other hand, is still looking for his first win after three matches with all of his losses\u2014against Mikhail Korobkov, Yadong Song, and Nikita Podlubniy\u2014ending up by unanimous decisions.<\/p>\n

He made his debut against Korobkov in ProFC 58: Battle of Champions on Nov. 8, 2015 in Russia and fought for the second time a few months after that loss when he faced Song in WLF-EPIC: Elevation Power in Cage last January 2016 in Henan, China. Zaitsev remained unlucky against Podlubniy, losing in MFP Amur Challenge 9 at the Grand Arena Ostrova, Blagoveshchensk Russia.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, ROP 23: Rampage will also feature two boxing matches, two kickboxing fights, and 10 other MMA bouts with \u201cPikaboo\u201d also set to climb the cage against a still unnamed Korean warrior at 135 lbs.<\/p>\n

TrenchTech founder Cuki Alvarez said the fight card is tentative and is still subject to changes, depending on the availability of each fighter.<\/p>\n

Guam\u2019s Jason Henderson will face TrenchTech\u2019s Nick Cruz in a boxing match, while Jom Ibo is still shopping for an opponent at 145 lbs.<\/p>\n

GuamMuayThai\u2019s Tonisha \u201cQueen T\u201d Cruz and Eric Lacambra will take on Jessme Jones and Atiron Norita in separate boxing matches, a preview for the 10-card MMA fights.<\/p>\n

RedAntsAcademy\u2019s JBoy Langu will duel Steel Athletics\u2019 Angel Oliveras, while Zombie MMA\u2019s Manny \u201cThe Kid\u201d Camacho will take on GMT\u2019s Don Lujan, and Team Tinian\u2019s Austin John King will clash with TrenchTech\u2019s Andres \u201cThe Tanapag Beach Bad Boy\u201d Camacho.<\/p>\n

TrenchTech\u2019s Wildon Camacho and Ken Evans challenge Greg \u201cPeskadude\u201d Sasamoto and Sitchiro Langu, respectively, while Young Sam Son of Korean Top Team will test the mettle of Ryan \u201cTrobz\u201d Ngirbabul in a light heavyweight showdown.<\/p>\n

Mark \u201cThe Dark\u201d Nuique hopes to end a string of three straight losses when he collides with GMT\u2019s Austin Petrus, while Vince \u201cThe Clinch\u201d Masga battles Shang Hyun Park of Team ACE Korea.<\/p>\n

Roland Meno, Corey San Nicolas, Vince Torres, Misaki Kitami, Napu Reyes, Josh Muna, Austin Gaspay, Kyle Gumataotao, and Bradlee Manalili are all standby fighters with Cuki Alvarez still looking for their respective opponents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roman \u201cSonic Boom\u201d Alvarez will be making his second defense of the 145-lb title belt…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":271820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6409,7783,51,2476],"class_list":["post-271761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-cuki-alvarez","tag-gmt","tag-guam","tag-trench-warz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}