It turned out former world title challenger Vincent Astrolabio was not in his best form when he took on Junto Nakatani for the World Boxing Council bantamweight belt.

The 27-year-old was rushed to a hospital over the weekend and underwent surgery to remove a ruptured appendix at the St. John of the Cross Hospital in Davao City.

It was a medical condition that had been bothering Astrolabio even before the fight but the pride of General Santos City opted to not tell anyone on his team in fear of the fight getting postponed.

“Vincent [Astrolabio] didn’t tell us about it when we were preparing before we went to Japan. Maybe he just ignored it because it wasn’t painful yet at that time and he really didn’t want the fight against Nakatani to be postponed,” said Astrolabio’s trainer Nonoy Neri in a statement

“Even when we arrived in Davao last week from Tokyo, he didn’t tell us anything about it. He kept it,” he added.

There were no signs of pain for Astrolabio and appeared to be in good condition ahead of the July 20 fight at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena in Tokyo.

He, however, yielded to the Japanese champion after a booming body shot that left him grimacing in pain, ending the fight in just two minutes and 37 seconds into the opening frame.

There was no clear indication that the body shot by Nakatani had aggravated Astrolabio’s appendicitis after the bout, but it was absolutely painful that made him kneel on the floor and could not stand up, forcing the referee to stop the fight. 

“The pain already bothered him sometimes before the fight in Tokyo. But he doesn’t regret anything and doesn’t want to make any excuses after he lost that fight. We rushed him to the hospital for an operation because he could no longer bear the pain,” said Neri.

“It’s a warrior mentality by Vincent. He didn’t complain about anything while they were preparing in Davao and then in Tokyo. He really fought with a big fighting heart despite feeling that there’s something wrong in his body, but he is not making any excuses out of it,” said MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons.

Astrolabio is already recovering from his operation and is expected to return to training once he regains clearance from the doctors.