ONE: Kingad fight scrapped, Rene Catalan added to undercard

FILE – Rene Catalan. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — The crucial clash between Filipino Danny Kingad and former world champion Kairat Akhmetov originally scheduled to take place in ONE: Big Bang on Friday in Singapore was postponed.

The bout was scrapped after a cornerman from Team Lakay tested positive for COVID-19, according to ONE Championship.

Replacing the fight is a strawweight showdown between former title contender Rene Catalan and Bokang Masunyane of South Africa.

The 41-year-old Catalan (6-3) will fight for the first time since his six-fight winning streak was snapped by strawweight champion Joshua Pacio in November of last year.

Masunyane, who is 15 years younger than Catalan, is undefeated so far after seven fights, including a unanimous decision win over Ryuto Sawada of Japan last December in his ONE debut.

Another Filipino in atomweight Jomary Torres is also competing on the undercard as she goes up against Indian wrestling champion Ritu Phogat.