Tiger Ari: Eder Olivetti and His OPBF Championship Career
Tiger Ari was the ring name of Filipino southpaw Eder Olivetti, also known as Tiger Asakura. Based in Biñan, Laguna, he competed at super featherweight and held the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation championship. His record includes long campaigns in the Philippines and Japan, followed by an IBO title challenge in South Africa.
Career and championship record
Olivetti came from a boxing family. His father, Oscar Olivetti, fought as Oscar Reyes and held Philippine and Oriental junior-lightweight titles. His younger brother Dino also became a professional champion. A 2001 Philippine Star profile explained that manager Ruben Ortiz gave Eder the Tiger Ari name through his Ari Industries business; other fighters in the same group also used Ari ring names.
He turned professional in 1984 and won his first OPBF super-featherweight championship in 1992. His first reign ended against Eun-Sik Lee in South Korea in September 1993. A January 1994 points defeat against former world champion Samart Payakaroon followed. He subsequently built another long unbeaten stretch before regaining the vacant OPBF title against Kenji Ryuki in Osaka in November 1999.
The second reign included repeated assignments in Japan. He defeated Kazunori Fujita in February 2000, retained against Atsushi Tamaki that December and beat Ryuhei Sugita in Nagoya in February 2001. He returned to Okayama for another defense against Fujita in July 2001. The contest ended at fourteen seconds of the second round after a cut left Fujita unable to continue, according to the contemporary Philippine Star report.
His later career included an IBO super-featherweight championship opportunity against Cassius Baloyi in Brakpan in April 2002, which ended in defeat. His final listed contest was a points loss to Ernest Johnson in Fresno in February 2003. These dated bouts place his career in the 1980s through early 2000s. His OPBF championships were regional titles, separate from the unsuccessful IBO challenge, while the dated contests place his competitive activity before the later generation of Philippine super-featherweight contenders.
Sources
Additional sources: https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Tiger_Ari; https://qa.philstar.com/sports/2001/07/18/93650/tiger-defies-father-time; https://boxerlist.com/boxer/tiger-ari/15763
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