CEBU CITY -- Thinking that his career was going nowhere, Christian Araneta had entertained the idea of hanging up his gloves for good. 

But things have dramatically changed for Araneta, and so from being on the verge of quitting boxing, the Cebuano boxer now finds himself on the brink of becoming a world champion after he scored a sensational first-round knockout win in the main event of “Kumbati 16” on Friday night, Jan. 26, at the convention center of Nustar Resort and Casino here.

Araneta, the prized stalwart of Omega Boxing Gym made short work of Marvin Magramo as he sent the Elorde Boxing Gym stalwart to dreamland with a vicious left uppercut and a right hook, quickly ending the fight at the 1:50 mark of the very first round.

With the win, Araneta became the mandatory challenger for the IBF junior flyweight title, which is currently being held by Mexican Adrian Curel.

Curel will defend the title next month against Araneta’s former tormentor Siventhi Nontshinga of South Africa.

“I’m very happy because we have finally achieved our goal. This is my third world title eliminator. I have been praying hard to achieve this because I already thought of quitting especially if I don't win this third world title eliminator,” Araneta said in Cebuano.

With the impressive win, Araneta hiked his record to 24W-2L, 9KOs. Those two losses were world title eliminator fights.

The easy win was something that Araneta, a native of Borbon, Cebu, didn’t expect.

“I know he also prepared hard for this. In fact, I was actually hit with a solid uppercut and I felt it. We both hit each with an uppercut but mine was more solid,” Araneta said.

Magramo went home with only his second loss in 19 fights. He has 11 knockout wins.

Omega Gym chief trainer Julius Erving Junco, said the victory was badly needed by Araneta.

“It’s a sweet victory. Before the fight started, he told me that because of injuries, he will just quit boxing. He said that it’s a shame that he kept on losing because of injuries. But we told him not to get discouraged. We will find a way. That’s why there are doctors, there are rehabilitation and sports science and finally after third attempts, we finally got this world title eliminator,” said Julius Erving Junco.

Omega Sports Promotion chief Pio Paulo Castillo said the plan is to bring Araneta’s world title fight to Cebu.

“We will do our best but I cannot say it’s guaranteed that we can bring it here because there are a lot of parties that will be involved. But at least, Araneta won already and there is now a possibility that we can bring it here,” Castillo said.

In the main supporting bout, Froilan Saludar (34W-8L, 24KOs) of Cotabato del Sur failed to defend his OPBF bantamweight belt after suffering an eighth-round knockout loss to Japan’s Keita Kurihara (18W-8L16KOs).

Apart from avenging his first-round KO loss to Saludar in their first meeting, Kurihara snatched just the Filipino’s OPBF belt but also the vacant IBF Asia bantamweight title.(Calvin D. Cordova)