Vincent Astrolabio is eager to land right back in the title mix.

The former title challenger from the Philippines will hit the road to face Nawaphon Kaikanha in a scheduled twelve-round, WBC bantamweight title eliminator. The sanctioning body confirmed the stakes along with officials for the bout which will headline an August 26 show in Bangkok, Thailand.

Interestingly, both have suffered defeats in the past twelve months to Australia’s Jason Moloney (26-2, 19KOs), the current WBO bantamweight titlist. Moloney defeated Astrolabio via majority decision to win the vacant WBO title on May 13 in Stockton, California. Bangkok’s Kaikanha dropped a twelve-round decision to the Aussie in their WBC title eliminator last October 16 in Melbourne, Australia.

None of the four officials are originally from Thailand or the Philippines. The only one with local ties is judge Joseph Gwilt, who was born in England and now lives in Thailand.

Yuji Fukushi (Japan) was assigned as the referee, along with judges Gwilt, Malcolm Bulner (Australia) and Hisatoshi Miyasaki (Japan).

Bulner was the referee for Kaikanha’s aforementioned defeat to Moloney. None of the other three officials have ever worked a bout involving either boxer.

Astrolabio (18-4, 13KOs) has not fought since his loss to Moloney. The upcoming title eliminator will mark his fourth straight road trip. The extended travel log includes a ten-round win over former lineal junior featherweight king Guillermo Rigondeaux last February in Dubai and a sixth-round knockout of Nikolai Potapov in their IBF title eliminator last December 17 in Las Vegas.

Kaikanha (58-2-1, 48KOs) won 20 in a row prior to his loss to Moloney. The 31-year-old veteran contender has since won a pair of confidence-restoring knockouts versus lower level opposition.

The winner will be named the mandatory challenger for the WBC bantamweight title. Tijuana’s Alexandro Santiago (28-3-4, 14KOs) outpointed legendary former Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire to win the vacant title on July 29 in Las Vegas.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox