Milan ?El Metodico? Melindo Superbly Methodic in Capturing the IBF Interim World Light Flyweight Title
By Reylan Loberternos
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 27 Nov 2016
Cebu City ? Facing an unfamiliar foe with world championship pedigree and a contender rated considerably higher at number 3 by the International Boxing Federation (IBF), Cagayan de Oro City?s very own Milan ?El Metodico? Melindo was in his sharpest form as he dominated Thailand?s Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr in 12 action-packed rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory and the IBF interim world light flyweight belt that goes along with it at the jam-packed Cebu Coliseum for ABS-CBN Sports presentation of Pinoy Pride 39, Road to Redemption, Saturday night.
Two judges, quite surprisingly, had it narrowly at 115-113 on their scorecards for Melindo, while the third one scored it 117-111 also for Melindo, who improves to 35-2-0 (win-loss-draw) record with 12 of his wins by way of knockout, while Sakkreerin Jr. drops to 31-5-1.
It was a tactical chess match between two fundamentally sound counterpunchers right from the get-go. The 23-year-old Sakkreerin Jr employed crisp jabs to keep Melindo at bay, but the latter was able to penetrate the defence with lightning-quick counterpunches to stymie the attack of his very spry foe.
Melindo showcased his vast arsenal of punches, coupled by his piston-like jabs all throughout the fight. There were moments, however, when Melindo would abandon his jab and Sakkreerin Jr would immediately capitalize and initiate his attack with better success. The Pinoy pug would then rebound with a barrage of punches to immediately take back control of the exchanges.
Two failed title bids didn?t dampen Melindo?s hopes to become a world champion. His determination and resolve was very evident. And now that he?s already a world champion, his next goal is to get rid of that ?interim?. Akira Yaegashi of Japan holds the regular IBF world light flyweight diadem. A Melindo-Yaegashi clash is most assuredly in the offing.
TIDBITS: Watch out for budding star Jeo ?Santino? Santisima. Philboxing.com creator Dong Secuya and I strongly believe that Santisima is Philippine Boxing?s next big thing. The 20-year-old out of Masbate City packs a punch on both fists and showed the maturity of a grizzled veteran inside the squared circle. He stopped the very tough Rex Wao of Baguio City via nasty blows to the breadbasket. Pacland?s Virgilio Dalogdog aka dragon_79 was also in attendance all the way from the Municipality of Balamban.
Comments are highly appreciated. You may email them to reylanloberternos@yahoo.com.ph and you may follow me on twitter @reylan_l
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