Catalan wants another crack at ONE strawweight crown

AT age 42, Rene Catalan isn’t hanging up his fighting gloves.

In fact, Mr. Catalan wants another crack at the ONE Championship strawweight title and aims to launch his bid by beating a younger Alex Silva in the “ONE: NEXTGEN III” set on Nov. 26 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The former Asian Games wushu gold medalist said he had regrets when fought for the strawweight crown against countryman Joshua Pacio two years ago and lost, saying he had no heart back then to beat a fellow Filipino.

“My heart wasn’t there. I guess it’s always going to be there, that you feel half-hearted because we all want to bring glory to the country but we have to face each other,” said Mr. Catalan.