Tough Filipino Rolando Bohol came from nowhere to win a flyweight world title and then move up in weight and face some of the best fighters of his era.

Bohol, who was the only child from his mother's first marriage, was born in Himamaylan, Negros Occidental, in the Philippines on December 25, 1965.

"Growing up is a lot good memories," Bohol told The Ring. "My father was a farmer, we weren't rich, but doing well enough to make a living. Early on, I was interested in Kung Fu. My Mom told me to stay away from it. She wanted me to get a good education and become an engineer but it was not meant to be."

Boxing wasn't initially on his radar before he started training for self-defense when he was 12 years old.

"My earliest memory of boxing was in my province, in Himamaylan National High school in Negros, I was in [the] second year [of] high-school," he recalled. "You know how you have the intramurals, inter-city, and so on. I started in the intramurals. I was so scared, I kept looking at the canvas. [The fight was] three-rounds fight, I got paid 50 pesos and we used t-shirts to wrap our hands as gloves. I never looked at my opponent. But I won that fight, and the rest is history.

"From there, I joined an inter-city meet in Bacolod City, won the gold medal at the West Visayan meet. I was sent to the 1983 Palarong Pambansa in Tacloban City and won a silver medal. At that point, boxing was just a hobby, but the growing joy inside made me believe it could be something more."

He went on to more success winning the National Open gold medal and was the Palarong Pambansa silver medalist.

After over 40 amateur fights, mostly wins, Bohol turned professional at 18 in January 1984.

"I was excited my pro debut," said Bohol, who had to settle for a draw with Bert Baco. "It was four rounds and my purse was 400 pesos [Nearly $7 in today's money.] Back in the day 400 pesos was a lot of money."

Four wins later and he edged past Baco (MD 6) in a rematch. He moved his record along to 13-0-2 before coming unstuck.

"I felt very disappointed when I lost to Dadoy Andujar for the first time in my boxing career, but I consider it as a great lesson to learn from the mistakes I made," said Bohol.

It proved invaluable and despite a close loss in South Korea, he kept progressing.

"I was the IBF No. 1 contender, the champion is my fellow Filipino Dodie Penalosa and most of my countrymen don't want us to fight each other for title because we are both Filipino," he explained. "Papa Sarreal Sr. told me that I will fight for the WBC title against Sot Chitalada of Thailand, but Dodie Penalosa lost the title to Chang Ho Choi. That's why Papa Sarreal negotiated right away and contacted the IBF president Robert Lee for Choi mandatory title defense against me because I was the No. 1 contender."

And that opportunity came when his team were able to bring Choi to Manila in January 1988.

"The Choi fight was very tough," he said. "In the second round [there was an] accidental headbutt and then by Round 7 my right eye is completely closed, so I'm fighting with one eye until the 15th Round and won by decision.

"It means a lot, my dream came true and also means a lot to the Elorde and Sarreal family. After the fight [there was] no celebration, Mrs. Elorde and I went to the church right away and prayed. The following days, weeks and months later was about media coverage and interviews."

He successfully defended his title against Jo Woon Park at the famed Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City (known as the venue for Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier's Thriller in Manila) in May 1988.

"Park beat four Filipinos prior his fight against me, including Dadoy Andujar, he knocked him out," said Bohol. "Park was a good warrior.

"It was a good fight in my home country in front of over 20,000 people watching. I won in front of politicians, movie stars and sports celebrities."

Next, Bohol headed to London to face Duke McKenzie in late 1988.

"It was a great experience, I visited Buckingham Palace, the changing of the guard, it looked amazing," he recalled of his time in the U.K. "In the early rounds of the fight, I was doing well but about halfway through the 11th round my legs cramped and I wanted to do more but my body was not responding. My forehead was swollen in the eighth round, but I managed to keep going until I got stopped in 11 rounds and unable to continue because of it.

"[I was] very disappointed. The McKenzie fight I already accepted win or lose I'm moving up to junior bantamweight because I was having a hard time making the 112-pounds limit to compete in the flyweight division."

Bohol returned and in his third fight he got off the canvas to stop Maphai Narachawat (TKO 6) for the vacant OPBF junior bantamweight title.

An ill-conceived move up to bantamweight saw him lose to future world title challenger Jose Valdez (UD 10) in Hawaii. Bohol dropped back to 115-pounds and lost his OPBF title to Tatsuya Sugi (SD 12) in December 1989.

Bohol dropped into gatekeeper status when he faced rising star Yuri Arbachakov (L KO 2), former bantamweight titlist Miguel Lora (L PTS 10) and future bantamweight titleholder Junior Jones (L UD 10).

"Arbachakov is a great fighter, very clever amateur style, always moving," he recalled. "Lora very elusive as well and Jones is also a tough opponent."

Bohol got back in the win column and continued to mix in good company. He beat countryman and former two-division world champion Dodie Boy Penalosa (UD 10) but lost to future two-division beltholder Gerry Penalosa (UD 10) and two-time bantamweight titlist Daorung Chuwatana (UD 10) but beat former junior flyweight champion Tacy Macalos (UD 10) and gained revenge over old rival Sugi (RTD 9).

"After the couple wins in Honolulu, I supposed to fight Julio Borboa for the IBF world junior bantamweight championship but for some reason the fight is canceled," he revealed "According to the matchmaker [IBF bantamweight titlist Orlando] Canizales was looking for a possible opponent, so they offered me to fight Canizales instead.

"I was ranked high in the junior bantamweight but they put me to bantamweights ratings to fight Canizales. [It was] absolutely too big for me - the same as Junior Jones and Happy Lora - and I got stopped in the fifth round."

Bohol fought once more, again up at bantamweight, where he was stopped by Johnny Tapia (KO 2) in Albuquerque, New Mexico in December 1994.

Although Bohol was only 28, his best days were behind him and he decided to retire from boxing with a record of (34-15-3, 7 knockouts).

"After boxing, I started playing in the Hawaii pool tournaments, 8-ball and 9-ball tournaments," he said. "Then I started working at the Hawaiian Waikiki Beach Hotel, Waikiki Banyan, Waikiki Sunset as Front Office Bell Attendant to keep me busy while I figured out what to do with my life after boxing.

"I created a 24hourshopnet.com [and ran that] from 2005 to 2022. I used to sell electronics and almost anything and everything, products on the internet. I partnered with Amazon. I retired after the pandemic."

Bohol, now 59, is married, lives in Las Vegas, he has four children and six grandchildren.

He graciously took time to speak to The Ring about the best he fought in 10 key categories.

Yuri Arbachakov: "[He was a good] amateur boxer, quick left jabs and straight right hands."

Orlando Canizales: "Hard to catch him, always moving around."

Canizales: "Arbachakov and Canizales almost the same footwork but I would say Canizales, he had good lateral movement."

Canizales: "Arbachakov had fast hands, amateur style, jab and straight [punches.] Canizales [focused] more on combo's but was quick."

Canizales: "Either Lora or Canizales. I would say Canizales because he ws very elusive and hard to catch him."

Canizales: "During our fight I'm only a flyweight and he's a regular bantamweight, so physically he's stronger."

Chang Ho Choi: "Choi had a good chin, he never went down in any fights. When he moved up to junior bantamweight and fought the hard hitting [WBA titleholder Khaosai] Galaxy he got knocked out [in 8-rounds]."

Junior Jones: "[Jones] had a strong right hand and [was a] good body puncher. I'm glad I was in good shape when I fought him. He never dropped me, I managed to take some hard punches and I felt good after the fight. Chang Ho Choi had strong right hand."

Miguel Lora: "He had good good footwork, fast hands, good left hook and very clever."

Canizales: "Good footwork, smart, speed and power. The complete package as a boxer."