ARVIN Magramo pulled off a stunning upset by defeating former world champion Rene Mark Cuarto via unanimous decision in the main event of “Manny Pacquiao’s Blow by Blow” card, one of the highlights of the 2nd Pacquiao Elorde Awards, on Thursday, March 20, 2025, at the Okada Manila Hotel and Casino in Parañaque City.
Magramo shocked Cuarto by dropping him twice in the fifth round. The first knockdown came from a powerful left hook to the body, followed by a lunging right straight just before the end of the round.
All three judges scored it in favor of Magramo with scores of 116-110, 116-110 and 114-112.
With this victory, Magramo claimed the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) International light-flyweight title and improved to 19-2-1 with 11 knockouts. Cuarto, meanwhile, dropped to 23-8-2 with 13 knockouts.
In another featured bout, Adrian Lerasan (15-8, 7 KOs) captured the Philippine bantamweight strap after a third-round stoppage of Noli James Maquilan (10-3, 7 KOs).
Lerasan decked Maquilan with a counter right straight. Maquilan managed to stand, but Lerasan finished him off at the 2:36 mark of the third round.
Roderick Bautista (8-0, 6 KOs) also stopped Alec Xandrhe Bonita (8-1-2, 5 KOs) in the third round of their WBC Asian Silver flyweight title bout.
Bonita’s corner threw in the towel and the fight was stopped at the 1:36 mark. However, the throne remained vacant because Bautista was ineligible to win it after coming into the fight overweight.
In the undercard, Eman Bacosa (6-0-1, 4 KOs) defeated Congolese warrior Arnaud Darius Makita (2-3, 2 KOs) by unanimous decision. Marsolo Pandian (4-1-2, 1 KO) edged out Alex De Quiroz (3-2, 3 KOs) by split decision, while Joel Garcia (5-1, 1 KO) also defeated Regin Jay Santiago (2-1-1, 1 KO) via split decision.
Ricson Hanginan (2-0-1) beat Jersey Nuñez (2-1-1, 1 KO) by majority decision and Jian Denver Mananquil (1-0, 1 KO) had an impressive pro debut with a first-round knockout of Jim Jarina (0-1).
The event was graced by boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, along with the Philippines’ current world champions: WBC minimumweight king Melvin Jerusalem and International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight titleholder Pedro Taduran. / EKA
