MARLON TAPALES KNOCKS OUT WBO BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPION PUNGLUANG IN THE 11TH ROUND IN AN EXPLOSIVE TITLE SHOWDOWN
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 27 Jul 2016
Mandatory challenger Marlon "The Nightmare" Tapales scored a sensational 11th round knockout of WBO bantamweight champion Pungluang Sor Singyu to give the Philippines its fourth world title in an explosive showdown in the historic city of Ayutthaya some 85 kilometers north of Bangkok.
The other champions are WBO light flyweight Donnie Nietes, the longest-reigning Filipino world champion, IBF light flyweight champion Johnreil Casimero and WBO super bantamweight anfd five division woerld champion Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire.
WBO official fight supervisor Leon Panoncillo who had earlier predicted a good fight, in a conversation with The Standard, said "it was one of the best fights I've seen in Thailand."
Panoncillo told The Standard that Pungluang dropped Tapales twice in the 5th round but Tapales rose from the canvas and came back to drop Pungluang in the very next round and as the Thai champion faded in going for a knockout, Tapales capitalized on this and went after Pungluang, the two-time world champion who first won the vacant title with a 9th round knockout of AJ "Bazooka" Banal at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Panoncillo told us "it was a very exciting and very competitive fight."
He said Tapales won "impressively" and came back after he saw Pungluang tiring out and from then on it was all Tapales before he knocked out the Thai champion at 37 seconds into the 11th round.
Panoncillo said it was a close fight and at the time of the stoppage judge Lisa Giampa had Tapales ahead 94-93, Gerardo Martinez had it 95-94 for Tapales while the third judge had it 96-91.
The small Filipino delegation led by well-known promoter Rex "Wakee" Salud erupted in a celebration that silenced the usually noisy Thai fans in a hot and humid afternoon.
Tapales who had to shed off one pound before the official weigh-in on Tuesday connected with some solid combinations although he seemed tense as a smirking, highly confident Pungluang connected with his own counter-punches.
At the start of the 6th round Tapales who had been forced to travel for hours to get to the venue and earlier at the official press conference appeared to have regained his strength and nailed Pungluang with a right hook to the head that dropped the champion and turned the tide of the close and explosive fight.
Tapales who becomes the third world champion nurtured by an elated "Wakee" Salud, the others being the brothers Gerry and Dodie Boy Penalosa, began to stalk Pungluang who went on the defensive even as Marlon gained in confidence.
With the win Tapales improved his record to 29-2-0, with 12 knockouts while Pungluang Sor Sinhyu dropped to 52-4-0, 35KO.
Trainers Fernando Ocon and Brix Flores who had both predicted that Tapales who had trained hard would win were elated even as Flores wh o claimed Tapales was the best boxer in the country today was vindicated.
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