Pinoy Melligen knocked out in US

ARGENTINEAN  Sebastian Andres “Pimienta” Lujan scored his 12th straight victory as he knocked out Top Rank welterweight prospect Mark Jason “Mighty” Melligen in the main event of ESPN’s Friday Fight Nights held at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas last Friday.

The veteran Lujan, who was only a replacement for Mexican Freddy Hernandez, improved to 38-5-2 (win-loss-draw) with 24 victories by knockouts. The 25-year-old Melligen, on the other hand, dropped to 21-3-0 with 14 KOs.

Melligen of ALA Promotions was downed four times in the match with Lujan sealing off the victory with a devastating ninth-round knockout that ended the Bacolod native’s winning streak of five.

“We already knew that it was going to be a very tough fight for Mark,” said ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer. “We are disappointed. This is his biggest setback in his career.”

Melligen was originally set to face Hernandez before the latter backed out due to a cut suffered during sparring.

“We have to go back to the drawing board to figure out our future plans for him (Melligen),” added Aldeguer.

Melligen first dropped to the canvas in the sixth round after absorbing a snappy right in the head.  In the seventh round, Melligen was downed again after a furious exchange 20 seconds before the end of the round. Another right landed in Melligen’s face in the middle of the eighth for another knockdown for the Argentinean. Lujan again launched another flurry of punches to down Melligen for good in the ninth round.

Lujan has already fought world champions in the welterweight division, including two-time Mexican World champion Antonio Margarito, who he lost to via 10th round TKO.  He has also beaten one of the toughest fighters in boxing in Jose Luis Castillo via a 10-round unanimous decision. He also fought a popular boxers such in Serhiy Dzinziruk for the WBO light middleweight title but lost via a 12-round unanimous decision.  /Correspondents  Dale  Rosal and Rene Bonsubre Jr