Pinoy pug Labao falters in OPBF title bid
PHILIPPINE lightweight champion Rey Labao lost in his bid to dethrone OPBF lightweight champion Yoshitaka Kato of Japan last Saturday at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
Labao,who was the mandatory challenger, lost by unanimous decision with scores of 117-111, 116-112, and 115-113.
The 28-year-old Labao previously won five fights in a row since losing to Will Tomlinson in Australia by unanimous decision in 2010 for the WBO Asia-Pacific junior lightweight title.
Labao dropped to his fifth career loss for a 24W-5L-16 KO record.
The 28-year-old Kato, on the other hand, improved to 26W-4L-1D, 7 KOs.
Kato won the vacant Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) 135-pound division title last May by beating countryman Motoki Sasaki by unanimous decision. /correspondent Rene Bonsubre, JR.
