Monday, December 22, 2008 Maraon stops foe in 1st round
M'LANG, North Cotabato -- Top bantamweight prospect Jundy "Pretty Boy" Maraon finally ended his long absence from the ring with a stunning first round knockout victory.
Featherweight Lorenzo "Thunderbolt" Villanueva, on the other hand, continued his spectacular winning run with his 11th knockout win in as many professional fights Saturday night here.
Maraon, 23, now based in Salinas, California but who had to rush back home to the Philippines to see action in the birthday boxing card in honor of his manager, North Cotabato Vice Governor Manny Piñol, was so overwhelming that his opponent, Arjet Caballes of Manila, did not even find time to sweat. He disposed of his Manila-based opponent in just over one minute of the first round.
Maraon was the alternate fighter to Saranggani's Richie Mepranum in the undercard of the Pacquiao-De La Hoya fight. When Mepranum showed up for the fight, he was scheduled to appear in the Solo Boxeo card in Alameda, Los Angeles along with teammate Glenn Gonzales.
Maraon's Mexican opponent, however, failed to catch a plane to Los Angeles and Top Rank had to cancel the fight but not after giving the Filipino fighter his purse for showing up at the fight venue.
The first round knockout-win ended Maraon's 15-month lay off following a series of injuries. He is now set to fight for the vacant North American Boxing Organization (Nabo) junior bantamweight title on Feb. 21.
The 22-year-old Villanueva needed a shorter time to demolish the veteran Jun Pader after the Midsayap, North Cotabato sensation caught Pader with a stunning left straight to the face.
The referee counted out the badly hurt Pader at 1:06 of the first round.
It was Villanueva's 11th knockout win in 11 professional fights. But unlike in his previous fights where he just flayed with his punches, his fight against Pader showed a big improvement in his movement.
Other results saw bantamweight Rolando "Smooth Operator" Magbanua knocking down Richard Betos in the first round and going on to win by unanimous decision.
It was the 23-year-old Magbanua's 13th win in 13 professional fight with 8 KOs.
Bantamweight Glenn "The Rock" Porras, 23, also knocked out Richard Laano of Manila in the second round with a stunning right hook. Porras is now 19 wins (13 by KO) and 2 losses.
Junior featherweight Reynaldo "Boy of Steel" Belandres, 23, meanwuole, scored a TKO in the 2nd over Jerry Manganip. Belandres is now 11 wins (8 by KO) and 1 draw.
Junior flyweight Edrin "The Sting" Dapudong, 23, stopped Manila's Allen Matucas in the 4th; bantamweight Rey Juntilla won over Bernard Amper by UD in 6; and junior flyweight Jermie Jabel stopped Dodong Salde in the 3rd round.
