Macau—Two Filipino boxers yesterday grabbed their share of the boxing spotlight after scoring abbreviated victories in the undercard of the Manny Pacquio-Brandon Rios fight at the Venetian Hotel, here.
Unbeaten Harmonito dela Torre opened the 10-bout card with a spectacular third round knockout of Indonesian Jason Butar-Butar in their super flyweight bout scheduled for six rounds.
The General Santos City native padded his unbeaten streak to 11 with six KOs.
Then Dan Nazareno Jr. made it a perfect day for Filipino fighters when he scored a technical knockout (TKO) victory over England’s Liam Vaughn (8-2, 2KOs) in the 59-second mark of the second round of their super welterweight duel.
The Pampanga-native Nazareno improved his record to 18 wins, 10 losses with 14 KOs. His corner includes former two-division world boxing champion Dodie Boy Peñalosa, Jonathan Peñalosa and Philip Louis Garduque.
Vaughn is handled by trainer Freddie Roach, Miduel Diaz and Marvin Somodio.
Another Filipino felt like a winner himself when boxing promoter Aljo Jaro’s ward Rex Tso scored a sensational first round TKO win over Susu Sithjadeang in their bantamweight clash scheduled for six rounds.
Jaro, Dr. Nasser Cruz, Jay Lau and Dong Mahinay are handling the unbeaten Tso, who improved his record to 8 wins, 2 draws with 4 KOs.