‘Pikaboo’ in ROP’s twin title match

Shane “Pikaboo” Alvarez will be fighting for the first time since 2011 when he takes on High Blood Pressure’s Ernie Santos in a featured double main event in the Rights of Passage 18: Warpath on May 15 at the Saipan World Resort’s Royal Taga Hall.

Trench Tech’s Alvarez and Santos (5-0) will be fighting for the vacant 125-lb flyweight belt, while UMA Gym’s Jose “Young Blood” Ramirez (1-1) takes on Guam Muay Thai’s Eric “Gatty” Gatman (2-0) for the 155-lb lightweight strap.

The flyweight belt was vacated after it was stripped from Josh “Chaos” Duenas (4-5) following the former champion’s failure to defend his title for not making weight.

Alvarez (10-2), in a Facebook post, said that he likes fighting in front of his hometown fans on Saipan. He is coming off a technical knockout loss to Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran Darren Uyenoyama (10-5) in Pacific Xtreme Combat last year.

Santos is still undefeated and has beaten the CNMI’s Allan Aguon (1-2) and Mark Nuique (8-4) in back-to-back ROP events last year.

“This is a big and very important fight for me especially since it is for the belt so I have trained very hard these past few months so that I could perform at my best. I am so ready to showcase my skills,” said Alvarez.

“I will keep working hard so that I could keep climbing the ladder and make all of you guys proud. It will also be great night since I will be fighting alongside my cousins Roman and Robert Alvarez. We’ve all been training hard and are ready to put on a great show,” he added.

Roman “Sonic Boom” Alvarez will face UMA Gym’s Ethan “Typhoon” Reyes while “Shiska” Rob Alvarez battles Jarome Cruz of UX.GMT.

Fight promoter Cuki Alvarez said that Frank “The Crank” Camacho won’t be fighting this time due to his work, but 13 undercard bouts will be featured on Friday. The weigh-in scheduled on Thursday, May 14, from 5pm to 7pm at GIG in Garapan.

UMA Gym’s Jayvin “The Prodigy” Santos will open up the fight event when he takes on Zalaka’s Denny Jepen in one of three kickboxing matches. Guam Muay Thai’s Wesly “Baby Bull” Ponio and Kier “The Radical Kidd” Agda of Strikeforce, and Ryan “Snowflake” Perez and Fradley Jepen of Zalaka are the other bouts.

In the other fights, Timothy Salas of Team Zalaka will face Down2Scrap’s Jonathan “The Outlaw” Camacho, Jadrien “Bonbon” Camacho of MCMMMA will collide with A.J. “Mini Mouse” Aldan of Trench Tech, Daniel “Flowmotion” Floor will clash with Josh “Oh My gosh” Cruz, Keigh “K Oz” Ogo of Luta will trade punches with Red Ants Academy’s Jones Langu.

Independent John Nekaifes will test the skills of Team Intense’s Renz “The Intense” Benghit, Lorenzo “Fruity Pebbles” Attao clashes with Trench Tech’s Lucas “The Irish Zombie” Nutting, Cole Morrill also from Trench Tech takes on Derick Asao of Zalaka, while Mike Medic Pacini of Guam Muay Thai will face Strikeforce’s Jamaal “The Striker” Mresbang.