PETE Apolinar will defend his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight strap in enemy territory against kickboxing star Yoshiki Takei on Aug. 26, 2022 at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.Apolinar will be defending his OPBF belt for the first time after winning the belt last April 2 with a 10th round knockout of veteran Jhunriel Ramonal in Parañaque City.The 27-year-old Apolinar recently went to Japan along with world-ranked super flyweight KJ Cataraja as Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue’s sparring partner in preparation for his world title unification bout with Nonito Donaire Jr. on June 7.Apolinar is currently ranked No. 18 by the World Boxing Council (WBC).After losing to former world title contender Jeo Santisima early in his career, Apolinar won 10 straight fights that include wins over Jess Rhey Waminal and Jetro Pabustan.Apolinar suffered a roadblock last year after losing to Jong Seon Kang via an eighth round technical knockout in a World Boxing Organization (WBO) Oriental featherweight title fight in South Korea.Apolinar bounced back with an impressive win over Ramonal.Meanwhile, Takei is a decorated kickboxer, winning the 2017 and 2019 K-1 World Grand Prix -55KG Tournaments. He’s also the 2016 Krush Bantamweight Tournament champion and the 2015 WINDY KICK super flyweight champion.The 25-year-old Takei transitioned to boxing in 2021, scoring a first round stoppage of Kazunori Takai. He followed up his impressive boxing debut with two more first round knockouts of Azusa Takeda and Kazuhiro Imamura. He continued where he left off in 2021 with a second round knockout win over Shingo Kawamura last April 22.Apolinar is 16-2 with 10 knockouts, while Takei is 4-0 with four knockouts.