AJ Banal

AJ 'Bazooka' Banal earns my affection on nickname alone, but the substance backs it up. A Filipino boxer from Bukidnon, just 5 ft 4 in, training at Cebu's celebrated ALA Boxing Gym, he embodies the hungry, fearless tradition that gave the world Pacquiao. I am a sucker for small fighters who pour outsized will into their fists, carrying a town's hopes into the ring. He won the WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight title, and the courage to step through the ropes at all is its own elite trait. Banal represents, for me, boxing's purest appeal: heart and grit triumphing over physical limits and modest beginnings.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

AJ Banal

Name (Japanese)

アレックス・ジョン・バナル

Reading

あれっくす・じょん・ばなる

Born

December 28, 1988 (age 37)

Origin

Bukidnon, Philippines

Height

163 cm

Occupation

boxer

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Capricorn / Dragon

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.%20J.%20Banal
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AC%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%90%E3%83%8A%E3%83%AB
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3610686

Tags

• boxer

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.