By Ricardo Ibarra
Just two months after scoring the most impressive victory of his short professional career, undefeated Jr. lightweight prospect Giovanni Cabrera-Mioletti (15-0, 6 KOs) will look to add another win to his growing resume on March 23rd at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington, taking on hard-hitting Filipino fighter Recky “The Terror” Dulay (11-4, 8 KOs). The bout will headline Brian Halquist Productions’ 120th edition of the long-running ‘Battle at the Boat’ series.
Cabrera-Mioletti, who fights out of Chicago but is originally from Seattle, kicked off the new year with a resounding win over once highly touted former world title contender Antonio Escalante in January, stopping him in the third round. The victory was his third consecutive win inside the distance and came after a highly productive 2018 that saw him defeat unbeaten fighters Ray Lampkin, Elijah Pierce and Headley Scott, as well as claim a win against former USBA lightweight titleholder Tyrone Harris. The decisive nature of the win over Escalante sparked some buzz in the Pacific Northwest over the young fighter’s prospects as a possible future contender. The slick twenty-four-year-old boxer has continued to display improvements as he steps up his level of opposition. He’ll look to continue his trajectory against a durable opponent.
Dulay, of Makati City, Philippines, made some noise in 2017 when he upset then undefeated Panamanian prospect Jaime Arboleda, knocking him out in the third round at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Dulay went on to challenge Darden Zenunaj for the WBO-NABO Jr. lightweight title in September of that same year, losing in the third round. Dulay is currently training out of Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing gym.
“This is another step for Gio towards his ultimate goal of winning a world championship,” promoter Brian Halquist said. “We are in our third decade of holding fights at the Emerald Queen and we’ve never had a more electrifying young fighter than Gio appear on any of our cards. This should be a great test for him and another exciting show for the fans. This is a very tough fight for Gio.”
Cabrera-Mioletti and Dulay will face-off in a ten round bout fought at the 130 lbs. limit. A five-fight undercard will round out the remainder of the card.
Tickets to the event are available at the Emerald Queen Casino box office and all Ticketmaster outlets. For more info visit www.halquistproductions.com and the Battle at the Boat Facebook page.