FORMER Olympian Charly Suarez proved that he’s indeed ready for the next level following a impressive technical performance against tough veteran Marjohn Yap in the main event of Ultimate Knockout Challenge (UKC) Tiger: “Annihilation” on Aug. 7 at The Grand Ballroom of the Elorde Sports Center in Parañaque City.
The 33-year-old Suarez knew going into the fight that he was in for a tough fight because Yap is a talented and experienced former regional champion that has fought some of the elite in his division.
Suarez fought intelligently and used his technical skills to beat Yap, who was very game and never backed down. Suarez picked his punches well and occasionally exploded for some vicious combinations. Suarez landed a left hook that opened up a cut at the bottom of the 33-year-old Yap’s right eye.
Yap showed a ton of heart and did his best to try and knock Suarez out. Suarez, however, was very elusive and punished Yap everytime he missed.
“It was a great learning experience for me. This fight taught me how to be patient and be tactical when facing a resilient boxer like Yap,” said Suarez.
Suarez got the nod of all three judges with lopsided scores of 120-108, 120-108 and 118-110.
Suarez successfully defended his World Boxing Association (WBA) Asia super featherweight belt and improved to 12-0 with seven knockouts.
Yap suffered his fourth straight loss and dropped to 30-17 with 15 knockouts.
In other championship bouts, hard-hitting Al Toyogon (13-6-1, 9 KOs) knocked out Cebu-based Allan Villanueva (11-3, 8 KOs) in the second round to claim the vacant World Boxing Foundation Asia-Pacific lightweight strap in the main supporting bout.
Aussie Lin Sandstrom (6-2-1, 2 KOs) won the vacant WBA Asia Women’s super flyweight title with a unanimous decision over Thao Kwunchit Khunya (4-12-1, 1 KO) in one of the main features.
In the undercard, Ali Canega (6-0-1, 4 KOs) remained undefeated with a third round technical knockout of Marbon Bodiongan (15-10-2, 11 KOs); Jerald Into (5-0, 4 KOs) outclassed Vietnamese Van Hai Nguyen (2-1, 1 KO) via unanimous decision; Aussie Michael Pengue (7-2, 4 KOs) beat Gerry Patenio (5-14-2, 3 KOs) by majority decision; Eusebio Corotan Jr. (2-0-1, 1 KO) knocked out Jhan Villasista (0-1) in the first round; Antonio Uy (2-0, 2 KOs) scored an opening round knockout of Patrick Ballatong (0-1); and Aisha Alico (7-12-1, 5 KOs) settled to a unanimous draw with Allen Joy Solidarios (0-0-1).