Zanfer wins purse bids for Ayala Vs Apolinario

Earlier today it was reported by Viva Promotions that Zanfer Promotions had won the recent purse bid for the IBF Flyweight title bout between Angel Ayala (17-0, 7) and Filipino Dave Apolinario (20-0, 14). Doing so with a winning bid of $255,000 and beating the $215,000 bid of Ohashi Promotions.

The bout has come about due to former champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez vacating the title to move back to Super Flyweight, ahead of his highly anticipated clash with Juan Francisco Estrada. The teams for Ayala and Apolinario were given 30 days, back in late March, to negotiate a deal, but failed to reach an agreement, leading to the purse bid for the bout. Going into the purse bid process Ayala was ranked #1 with Apolinario ranked #3 (there was a vacancy at #2).

The 24 year old Ayala has quickly climbed up the rankings following his debut in 2019. In just 17 bouts he has already beaten former world champions Cristofer Rosales and Felix Alvarado, and also holds a notable blow out win over Miguel Angel Herrera. It’s worth noting he has had a number of close fights, with plenty feeling he got lucky against Alvarado, where he was pushed hard and had to show real grit and determination to see out some torrid moments against the aggressive and hard handed Nicaraguan. That bout showed Ayala was tough, but had a lot of areas to work on. It also seemed to show that home advantage, fighting in  Mexico, was responsible for him getting the victory. Despite his flaws he’s exciting, he throws a lot, he’s tough, has the nice mix of skills and flaws that will make his bouts highly entertaining.

Apolinario, who’s slightly older at 25, started his career in 2017 and stuck to the Filipino domestic scene early on, beating the likes of Adrian Lerasan and Romshane Sarguilla. In his first international bout he blasted out veteran Gideon Buthelezi in South Africa. Since that win he has gone 3-0 (2), fighting twice in Japan as he linked up with Ohashi. Under Ohashi he has beaten Mexican fighter Brian Mosinos and Thai Tanes Ongjunta. It seemed clear that Ohashi were looking to secure the bout for Japan, and to add it to one of the numerous cards they have planned for the year, thought he bid of Zanfer has scuppered those plans and will likely see Apolinario heading off to South America, where he will be the under-dog.​