TSO STOPS MUKAI IN HK RING WAR
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 12 Mar 2017
HONG KONG ? Rex Tso took more risks than usual and engaged Hirofumi Mukai of Japan in close-quarters combat much to the delight of the crowd that packed the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Center to the rafters.
Tso, known as Hong Kong?s ?Wonder Kid?, exchanged hard punches with fellow southpaw Mukai from the opening bell. An accidental headbutt temporarily stalled the action which inflicted a cut on Mukai?s left eyelid. The fight was allowed to continue and in the second Tso knocked down Mukai for the first time in the fight.
Mukai got up and sizzling toe to toe action continued in the subsequent rounds. Tso?s croner implored him to go to the body. In the sixth, Mukai was decked by an accumulation of head shots.
The action did not slow down one bit and blood from Mukai?s cut continued to ooze. In the eighth round, Mukai was pinned to the neutral corner and Tso, faked a head shot then fired a left straight to the liver that sent Mukai down for good. Referee Danrex Tapdasan signaled the end at the 37 second mark.
Tso?s impressive belt collection now includes the WBO International, WBO Asia Pacific and WBC Asia super flyweight titles. Supervising for the WBO was VP Asia Pacific Leon Panoncillo while Thai Damrong Simakajornboon was the WBC supervisor.
An interesting sidelight to this fight was that both camps had a Filipino trainer in their corner. Tso had Jake Verano, who is also his companion when he trains at the RWS Gym in Cebu, while Regie Campos was one of Mukai?s cornermen.
The main undercard bout saw Mark Anthony Geraldo beat Kenny Demecillo by unanimous decision in their all-Filipino battle for the WBO Oriental bantamweight title. (see separate story)
For the rest of the undercards: The third Pinoy on the card, Rey Migreno, needed only 23 seconds and an overhand right to knockout Japanese Yuki Strong Kobayashi.
Phun Kumat lost a lopsided decision to Takuya Watanabe (Japan). Scores for the Japanese were 80-72 by Samson Iu and Surat Soikrachang, 79-73 from Edward Ligas.
Tom Taw lost a split decision to Tsun Yin Jeremy Lee, Raymond Poon lost by split decision to Tat Fai Yiu.
Sures Gurung of Nepal beat Wai Hung Tong by unanimous verdict, Shun On Chan beat Pak Tsung Cheung also by unanimous decision and Kan Sun Leung lost to Edwin Ng by unanimous decision.
The bouts were supervised by the Professional Boxing Commission,
Intl.
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