Filipino boxers score 2-1 versus Mexicans
Filipino boxers outmatched their Mexican counterparts, 2-1, in the Pinoy Pride 8: Philippines vs. Mexico boxing event Saturday night at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.
Leading the way for the Philippines was Milan “El Metodico” Melindo, who defeated Mexican Francisco Rosas via technical knockout (TKO) in the main bout.
Following suit was Bacolod native Genesis “Azukal” Servania, who beat veteran Gerson “El Nene” Guerrero in their eight-round bout in the undercard.
However, Jason “El Nino” Pagara failed to make it a sweep as he lost to Mexican Rosbel “Lobito” Montoya.
The win gave Melindo the WBO intercontinental flyweight title and at the same time hiked his record to 25-0-0 (win-loss-draw) with 9 knockout wins.
Rosas, who dropped to 22-9-2 with 13 KOs, managed to avoid being knocked out but still received a beating from Melindo in their 12-round showdown.
“Nabuhat jud nako ang angay nakong buhaton,” said Melindo. “Pero tungod lang jud tingali sa iyang gibug-aton, wala nako siya matumba.”
Rosas came in five pounds heavier of their 112-lb catch weight during the official weigh-in Friday night and managed to slice the excess weight to 113.5 later that night.
Although he was slightly heavier than Melindo, Rosas struggled from the start.
Melindo connected with his uppercuts early on and that became a problem for Rosas as blood began to drip from his nose from the third to the 10th round.
Melindo actually worked on Rosas’ face all-night long, hoping to land a big one that could have knocked the Mexican down. Rosas managed to stay in the fight by trading punches but Melindo’s speed and accuracy was too much for him.
Referee Bruce McTavish stopped the fight before the start of the 11th round, making Melindo the new WBO intercontinental flyweight champion.
With the impressive victory, ALA Promotions President Michael Aldeguer said a world title fight is being arranged for Melindo.
They are eyeing WBA flyweight champion Hernan “Tyson” Marquez as Milan’s next opponent. They are also looking at other options before realizing the title shot.
“We don’t want to rush things up,” Aldeguer said. “We have to carefully plan what’s next for Milendo. From what I have seen right now, he is very ready for a world title fight.”
“He told me he wanted Giovannie Segura but for me, we still have to give him maybe one to two fights because it’s a very big offer to fight off a world champion. He must first build up his reputation in the boxing world,” added Aldeguer.
FORCED TO RETIRE
Meanwhile Servania’s lopsided win over Guerrero may have been a bitter pill to swallow for the Mexican.
The veteran 34-year-old Guerrero (34W-9L, 26 KOs), stood his ground against the 20-year-old Servania (15W-0L, 5 KOs) but failed to use his experience to his advantage.
The Mexican’s right eye was almost shut and Servania continued to pound on Guerrero until the final bell. The scores read 80-72, 79-73 and 78-74 all for Servania.
After the fight, Guerrero said that he was retiring from boxing.
Aldeguer, meanwhile, said this is a stepping-stone for Servania.
“We know that he is still young. For me, he has still a lot of tests to go through,” said Aldeguer.
Pagara, on the other hand, said he was not in good condition that led to him being severely battered by Montoya in their WBO Youth Asia Pacific light welterweight championship bout.
“Wala jud ko sa akong kondisyon. Akong bukton ug abaga perting bug-ata, wala ko kasabot sa akong gibati atong awaya,” said Pagara, whose face was swollen after the fight.
Pagara suffers his second career loss and dropped to 27-2-0, 16 KOs.
“We had big plans for him, but after this, we will go back to the drawing board and start over again to find out what went wrong, ” said Aldeguer.
