Monday, September 22, 2008 Tuñacao wins RP bantamweight title
EVEN if the knockout the Mandaue fight fans sought never happened former World Boxing Council flyweight king Malcolm “Eagle Eye” Tuñacao was still triumphant over the visiting Monico Laurente and wrested the Philippine bantamweight crown in his own backyard at the Mandaue City plaza last Saturday night in the first episode of ALA Promotions and Summit Natural Drinking Water’s boxing series dubbed “Fight Night.”
Tuñacao edged Elorde Stable’s Laurente via a split decision after the 29-year ex-world champion was favored by the two judges with scores of 115-112 and 115-113 while the third judge saw the fight 114-113 for Laurente.
Tuñacao was in control most of the time with three-punch combinations and counterpunches as his main arsenal but he failed to pull the trigger on his 24-year-old opponent.
In almost every round Tuñacao hurt Laurente with his heavy bombs but when Laurente was staggering, Tuñacao failed to t deliver the finishing blow and allowed the dazed Laurente to recover.
However, in the 12th round Tuñacao got aggressive and delivered a bombardment of lefts and rights but it was just too late to score the knockout that the Mandaue boxing fans anticipated.
Despite the bad weather, a hefty crowd still gathered at the Mandaue City plaza to witness their very own homegrown talent fight for the Philippine title.
With this victory Tuñacao improved his professional boxing record to 23 wins 2 defeats and 3 draws with 15 KOs, while Laurente fell to 7 wins 4 losses with only 1 KO. (EKA)
