FORMER world champion Marlon Tapales was impressive in his ring return following a long layoff after knocking out veteran Eden Sonsona in two rounds in the main event of Sanman Promotions’ “The Restart” at the Sanman Gym in General Santos City.
Though he was far from his true fighting weight, Tapales still moved well and looked sharp. He landed a right hook to the midsection that dropped Sonsona to the canvass.
Sonsona survived but was decked again with a right hook to the head.
The 31-year-old Sonsona continued to fight on and landed some of his combinations in the second round.
Tapales landed a perfectly-timed uppercut to the head of Sonsona that dropped him for the third time.
Sonsona stood up but his head was down and seemed like he didn’t want to fight anymore, which forced the referee to stop the fight in the 46 second mark of the second round.
The 28-year-old Tapales bounced back from his loss to Ryosuke Iwasa and improved to 34-3 with 17 knockouts, while Sonsona suffered his sixth straight defeat and dropped to 36-12-2 with 13 knockouts.
“I want to thank God that I was able to return to fighting and also wan to thank boss JC (Manangquil) who gave me this fight,” Tapales, the former World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight champion, told SunStar Cebu. “I will continue to train so that when the opportunity comes that I’ll be given a big fight then I’ll be ready.”
Unbeaten prospect Dave Apolinario (14-0, 9 KOs) stopped Bonjun Loperez (12-14-1, 6 KOs) in four rounds. Loperez, who was dropped once in the opening round, quit on his stool at the end of the fourth.
Two-time world title Aston Palicte (27-4-1, 23 KOs) also forced Reymark Taday (10-13-1, 5 KOs) to quit at the end of the second round.
Michael Casma (6-0, 6 KOs) made quick work of Virgil Deguma (9-7, 4 KOs) and stopped him in the opening round, while Joey Canoy (16-4-1, 9 KOs) knocked out Jovab Lucas (4-3-2, 2 KOs) in three rounds.
“We delivered as promised. A night of 100% knockouts. Thanks to all fans who supported us all these years. We will never get tired of bringing you exciting events that will also launch our new breed of Filipino world champions,” said Sanman Promotions CEO JC Manangquil of his successful “Bubble” boxing event, which was streamed live on Sanman Promotions’ official Facebook page. (EKA)