D

aud Yordan will defend his WBO Asia Pacific and Africa title against Japan'€™s Yoshitaka Kato on Feb. 5, a bout seen as a springboard for the Indonesian lightweight fighter'€™s world championship campaign.

'€œThis match is crucial to Daud'€™s efforts to win the WBO title,'€ match promoter Raja Sapta Oktohari said during a press conference on Monday.

The match is scheduled to be aired live on RCTI with an undercard bout pitting Defry '€˜The Hammer'€™ Palulu against Vergil Quivan Puton of the Philippines in the WBO Oriental featherweight title fight.

The world title is currently held by Terry Flanagan of England.

Daud, 28, has won 30 matches in his boxing career, including 24 by KO. His last match, in June, saw him successfully defend his WBO Asia Pacific title and wrest the African title from Maxwell Awuku.

He was to have defended the title once again on Nov. 8 in Bali against Josh King, but the Australian withdrew, citing '€œmiscommunications'€™. The rescheduled match in December did not materialize either.

'€œIt appeared that King had a match against another boxer at the same time. To compensate, Daud'€™s position has since been upgraded to fourth in the WBO rankings,'€ Okto said.

'€œMany boxers take a shot at Daud as a future opponent before challenging the world champion. On the other hand, Daud has to fight a whole load of fights to improve his rankings. We have decided to set Kato as his opponent because the Japanese fighter also wanted to fight Daud,'€ Okto said.

Daud will undergo a two-month intensified training regime under Craig Christian, the Australian having been successful in helping former world champion Chris John defend his featherweight title 13 times during his heyday. One of his defense fights was against Daud in 2011.

'€œIt'€™s pleasure to work with Yordan like I did in the past [with Chris John]. I'€™m sure he will be successful,'€ Christian said.

'€œI will try to work on Daud'€™s speed and power,'€ he said, adding that he would arrange to bring several boxers, including two Australians, to serve as Daud'€™s sparring partners at the training camp.

With Christian in his camp, Daud said he was confident about the match against Kato.

'€œI'€™m 1,000 percent confident about the match ['€¦] I have been preparing hard and analyzing my opponent'€™s fight. But I can'€™t talk about strategy. I'€™ll discuss that with the trainer,'€ said Daud, who hails from Sukadana, West Kalimantan.

'€œI'€™m in good shape. After the June fight I went back to Sukadan to undergo physical and technical training,'€ he said, stripping off his t-shirt to reveal his rippling muscles. '€œYou asked me how my training went '€” judge for yourself,'€ he smiled.

Kato, 31, has a record of 29 wins, nine by KO, and six losses.

Meanwhile, Defry said he was looking forward to the fight.

'€œI have been preparing well, but honestly I need better sparring partners to hone my skills. This is a make-or-break match for me '€” I have no option but to go out fighting,'€ he said. Defry has lost only once in his 13 matches, with 11 KO wins.