Monday, October 16, 2006 Kumong Bato wins OPBF title; Sonsona keeps RP belt By Rommel C. Manlosa Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THAI boxer Pongpetch Chuwatana stayed longer than expected, before falling to the solid punches of Randy “Kumong Bato” Suico, who took the vacant Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) Lightweight title via technical knockout in the fourth round.
Before that, Eden Sonsona kept his RP superflyweight title after scoring a TKO win over challenger Jerope Mercado on the 9th round Saturday evening at the Mandaue City Sports Complex.
Meanwhile, the other Suicos, Benedict and Apol also disposed of their opponents quickly in the undercard of the event promoted by Manny Pacquiao Promotions and Rex “Wakee” Salud International Promotions.
Benedict was too much for veteran Edwin Ubatay, who was knocked out in 2:05 of the second round, while Apol was quicker with a first-round knockout at 2:51, over Jun Pader.
Chuwatana, who had to shed two extra pounds a day before the fight, went toe-to-toe with the hard punching Suico on the first and second rounds.
But the stings of Suico’s punches took its toll in the second when the Mandaue City warrior opened a cut below Chuwatana’s left eye after an uppercut.
Counterpunches
Feeling the pain, Chuwatana had to protect himself from Suico’s heavy punches, while occasionally throwing counterpunches to prevent the aggressive Mandauehanon from inflicting more damage.
But an uppercut to the chin put Chuwatana down on the canvass midway through the fourth.
Although the Thai fighter was able to beat the count, Suico was all over him again 10 seconds later, throwing wicked combinations to the body.
Chuwatana fell on his knees and referee Bruce Mactavish quickly stopped the fight at 2:08 of the fourth round.
Meanwhile, Sonsona capitalized on Mercado’s lack of defense, as he scored a stunning win over the Cebuano challenger to keep his belt.
Guard down
Mercado, who was ahead on points 78-75, 78-75 and 76-76 on the three judges’ scorecards, let his guard down and Sonsona caught him with a hook to the chin that put him down on the canvass.
Sonsona, who is not known knockout puncher, then swarmed on Mercado after the eight mandatory counts and put him down once again with a vicious uppercut and referee Tony Pesons stopped the bout at the 1:22 mark of the ninth round.
Other winners include Boggie Delada with a 2:33 stoppage win in the first round over the shorter Mario de Asis, Darrel Pucdol scoring a TKO win over Ronnie Peñonal at the 1:14 mark of the second round, and Gedion Amba scoring a decision win over Rolly Mandohinog.
