Cebuano pug Mayol leads

Rodel Mayol of Mandaue City beat Ernie Marquez of the United States via fourth round technical knockout yesterday at the San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino in California.

Mayol targeted Marquez’ midsection and hurt his opponent in every round until the referee, Wayne Hedgepith stopped the fight at the 2:43 mark of the fourth.

Mayol improved his professional record to 30 wins, 5 losses and 2 draws with 22 KOs in his fourth victory in a row since losing his WBC light flyweight world title to Omar Nino Romero of Mexico.

Marquez, who was a substitute for Mexico’s Luis Maldonado, dropped to his 9th career loss against 9 wins and 3 draws with 3 KOs.

Actually, Filipino boxers scored a clean sweep in this fight card promoted by Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions in association with Top Rank.

Bernabe Concepcion (31W-4L-1D, 17KOs) won a 10-round split decision verdict against Aaron Garcia (10W-3L-2D, 2KOs) of the United States. Concepcion, from Binangonan, Rizal, won the WBC Continental Americas title in a hard fought 10 rounder highlighted by back and forth action and vicious counter punching.

Two judges had it 96-94 for Concepcion while one judge had Garcia the winner, 93-97. More important than the belt, Concepcion finally put a stop to his two-bout losing streak.

Richie Mepranum (25W-2L-1D, 3KOs) of Sarangani won by unanimous decision over Rigoberto Casillas (7W-6L-1D, 5KOs) of Mexico. The scorecards read: 79-73, 79-73 and 78-74. Mepranum has won three straight since losing in his WBO world flyweight title bid against Mexico’s Julio Cesar Miranda last year.

Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao made a special appearance in this fight card to support the cause of the Filipino fighters.