JHACK TEPORA’S dream of becoming a world champion has finally come true after an impressive ninth-round technical knockout win over Mexican Edivaldo Ortega to wrest the interim World Boxing Association (WBA) featherweight strap in the main supporting bout of “Fight of Champions” yesterday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tepora dropped Ortega in the ninth round with a picture-perfect right upper cut. Ortega survived the count but Tepora swarmed him with a barrage of punches that forced referee Roberto Ramirez Jr. to stop the match in the 2:38 mark.
“I’m proud of that kid,” Tepora’s head coach Jinggoy Junco told SunStar Cebu. “A job well done. It doesn’t stop here. We will continue to learn and win more championship belts.”
The 23-year-old Tepora was in control the whole fight, targeting Ortega’s body, even hurting him in the opening round.
In the later rounds, Tepora was effective with his counter shots and landed a clean uppercut that knocked down the 28-year-old Ortega in the ninth round.
Tepora remained unbeaten at 22-0 with 17 knockouts, while Ortega dropped to 26-2-1 with 12 knockouts.
With the victory, Junco believes that Tepora is ready for the big names in his weight division.
“If we’re ready for Leo Santa Cruz, why not?,” said Junco. “We also want Joseph Diaz or Jesus Rojas. Or we can also face WBO featherweight Oscar Valdez, it would be a nice matchup,” he said.
Santa Cruz (35-1-1, 19 KOs) is the current WBA featherweight Super champion and the World Boxing Council (WBC) Diamond featherweight titleholder. Rojas (26-1-2, 19 KOs), on the other hand, is the regular WBA featherweight king and will be defending his belt against Diaz (26-1, 14 KOs) next month in Hollywood.
Valdez (24-0, 19 KOs) successfully defended his WBO belt against Scott Quigg and has not fought since March.
In the undercard, Manny Pacquiao sparring partner George Kambosos Jr. (15-0, 9 KOs) stopped JR Magboo (17-2-2, 8 KOs) in the second round, while Gabriel “Flash” Elorde’s grandson Juan Miguel Elorde (26-1, 14 KOs) destroyed Thai Ratchason Sawangsoda (12-3, 12 KOs). (EKA)