THERE were a couple of noteworthy fights that transpired recently which merits space in our column.
Let’s start with our homegrown talent as Melvin Jerusalem of the ALA stable defeated Toto Landero in the main event of Idol 5 held at the Minglanilla Sports Complex over the weekend. The young, springy Jerusalem showed excellent boxing acumen as he defeated Landero comfortably via unanimous decision.
To recall, Jerusalem was unlucky in his first world title challenge against the formidable Chayaphon Moonsri of Thailand (51-0, 18KOs) the reigning WBC minimunweight king, in January of last year.
The win over Landero improves his record to 14-2, 8KOs, and should also be a confidence-booster as he tries to climb the rankings.
UFC 230. You’ve got to hand it to Danier Cormier. He’s not the most athletic fighter out there. He’s certainly not shredded and cut if you talk about physique. Far from it.
But he gets the job done. And my, what a job he did on Derrick Lewis at UFC 230.
In the first round, he took him down twice and dominated “The Beast.” In the second, Lewis landed with a couple of good punches before DC took him down again twice, and eventually maneuvered his way into a rear naked choke at 2:14 of the second round.
Cormier is the second man in UFC history to simultaneously hold two title belts as concurrently holds the light heavyweight and heavyweight belts.
USYK. In an interesting cruiserweight battle, Oleksander Usyk knocked out popular British champion and former world champion Tony Bellew in the 8th round.
The bout was competitive all throughout, but Usyk’s superior firepower would not be denied that night. In fact, Usyk knocked out Bellew so hard that the latter could not recall actually being on the floor.
Usyk who hails from Kiev, Ukraine improves his record to 16-0, 12 Kos, while Bellew (30-3, 20KOs) announced his retirement post-fight.
VERBATIM “ Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise, the fact that I don’t have a crazy, long fight camp to beat myself down. That may prolong it for me, but right now, I think I have this one and maybe one more. I can still fight in March and hit my retirement date. The one opponent that would matter to me most is Jones, because he’s beaten me twice.” - Daniel Cormier (www.forbes.com)
LAST ROUND. It’s on my kumpare, Atty Erwin Rommel Heyrosa who recently celebrated his birthday. Cheers!