CARLO Demecillo put on an impressive boxing display and forced Justine Darap to quit in his stool at the end of the fourth round in the main event of “Daluyong ng mga Kamao” on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at the Tacloban Convention Center Astrodome in Tacloban City.
“I’m happy with what Carlo showed in the fight. He’ll be back in the rankings,” Demecillo’s coach, Big Yellow Boxing Gym head trainer Christopher “Ping-Ping” Tepora, told SunStar Cebu.
The 27-year-old Demecillo was very patient in the opening round and utilized his long reach by using his jab. Darap was more aggressive and mixed it up to the head and body. Demecillo, however, landed an overhand right to the head that rocked Darap.
The 25-year-old Darap came out swinging in the second round. He hurt Demecillo with an overhand right and a left hook later in the round.
Demecillo did well in the third round and connected with his counterpunches effectively.
Demecillo stepped on the pedal in the fourth round and exchanged heavy blows with Darap in a grueling fourth round. He landed a solid right hook to the head of Darap and landed some heavy combinations to end the round.
Darap had enough and didn’t stand up from his stool going into the fifth round, forcing the referee to wave off the fight.
“That was really our game plan to slowly soften him up. He was really hurt with Carlo’s body shots. We saw that he was hurt in the third round. That’s why I told him to step it up in the fourth,” said Tepora.
Demecillo won the Philippine Boxing Federation bantamweight belt and ended a two-fight slump. He improved to 17-8-2 with 10 knockouts.
Darap suffered his third straight loss and fell to 11-5 with seven knockouts.
Demecillo’s teammate, Reycar Auxilio, settled to a split draw with hometown bet Jimmy Cannu in the co-main feature.
One judge had it 77-75 for Cannu, while the other judge scored it 78-74 for Auxilo. The third judge scored it even at 76-76 for a split draw.
Cannu is now 4-1-2 with one knockout (KO), while Auxilio 4-3-1 with three KOs.