Cebuano Peñalosa Jr. survives knock down to beat Marcos

Dodie Boy Peñalosa Jr. survived a scare as he recovered to beat Donriel Marcos by third-round technical knockout (TKO) in the main event of the “Dugong Kampeon” fight card at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City.

Peñalosa went down early in the first round with a wild right overhand from Marcos, then went down again in the second after a low blow.

But the 21-year-old fighter from the famed Peñalosa boxing clan recovered immediately, pounding his foe with multiple body shots and thunderous right hooks that forced Marcos’ corner to stop the fight at the 2:54 mark of the third.

The victory was Peñalosa’s seventh victory in as many outings. All wins were by knockouts.

“I admit that I was very careless and overconfident,” said Peñalosa, nephew of two division world champion turned promoter Gerry Peñalosa.  “I was not even defending myself. For me, this is the biggest lesson I have learned so far,” added Peñalosa, whose next scheduled fight is on Dec. 17 still here in Cebu.

Gerry Peñalosa was planning to let his nephew be included in the undercard of Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez rubbermatch this November but is now calling it off.

“Not yet, it’s too early,” said the former champ. “He needs more improvement first. He needs a lot more of experience.”

For Dodie Boy Peñalosa Sr., it was a hard but good lesson to learn for his son.

“Basin kadto para iyaha jud to nga knockdown, para ma leksiyon jud siya,” said Dodie Boy Sr.

It wasn’t only Dodie Boy Jr. who fell during the match. In an odd situation, referee Tony Pesons tripped and fell in the middle of the Peñalosa-Marcos showdown.

Meanwhile, Michael Fareñas dethroned Philippine featherweight champion Edgar Gabejan via a 12-round unanimous win.

The bout ended with judges Edgar Olalo and Edward Ligas identically scoring it 115-109 and Noel Flores calling it at 116-108 all in favor of Fareñas.

Dodie Boy Jr.’s younger brother Dave also passed an acid test after winning over John Edu Torbiso through a four-round unanimous decision.

Eden Sonsona won via TKO in the seventh round over Godwin Tubigon in their junior featherweight matchup.

Tubigon’s corner had to throw in the towel twice to surrender before Pesons halted the bout.

Reynan Empic knocked out Sanai Stable’s Sherwin Caday in the third round with a right hook at 2:49 mark.

Omega Stable’s Jimmy Paypa staged a lopsided win over CCSC’s Anthony Sabalde in a unanimous decision win after six rounds of boxing.

Another win from Omega came from Vergilio Silvano after he defeated Lionel Legada of the Jaro Stable also via a majority decision.