BALDONADO BLASTS MA, WINS WBO ORIENTAL TITLE
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 28 Apr 2017
BEIJING, CHINA - Undefeated but unheralded Ronnie Baldonado scored the biggest win of his two-year pro career when he stopped Chinese boxer Ma Yi Ming in the opening round in their fight for the WBO Oriental flyweight title.
The 21 year old Baldonado never fought for any kind of title in the Philippines and most his bouts were in Cotabato or Davao, away from the television cameras. He was a virtual unknown against the hometown favorite who previously garnered the WBO China and WBO Asia-Pacific belts.
Both boxers traded solid shots when the opening bell rang. But Baldonado caught the southpaw Ma with a couple of hard hooks and Ma dropped to the canvas. Ma stood up but was reeling, seeking refuge on the ropes and was unable to hold back the rampaging Baldonado who landed volley after volley.
Referee Mekin Sumon of Thailand saw that it was only the ring ropes keeping Ma up and that he was glassy eyed, correctly signaled the end at the 1:42 mark.
It was a bad d?j? vu for Ma, who lost to then WBA interim world light flyweight champ Randy Petalcorin, also from the Philippines, in a fight held in a different venue in Beijing two years ago. Ma was also stopped in the first round. The 36 year old Ma was inactive for fourteen months since beating Filipino Jay-ar Diama by split decision in Shanghai. Baldonado sensed the ring rust on his opponent and pounced.
Ma drops to 13-7,7KO?s while Baldonado is now 9-0-1,6KO?s.
In the card?s main event, unbeaten rising star Xiang Xiang Sun dropped Indonesian Roy Mukhlis in rounds three and four and prevailed by TKO to win the WBO Asia-Pacific lightweight title.
There was more taunting than hitting in the opening round but Sun began to find his range in the second. In the third, a short left hook decked Mukhlis who immediately got up.
But in the fourth canto, a series of hard one-two combos sent the Indon on the seat of his pants. He stayed on the canvas till Referee Danrex Tapdasan reached the count of ten at the 2:29 mark.
WBO VP for Asia-Pacific Leon Panoncillo was on hand to award the winning boxers the WBO regional belts.
In a rough and tumble bout, Adili Abulimiti beat Jie Yan by majority decision to win the WBO China National middleweight title. The scores ? Martino Redona and Wang Lin ? 58-56, Salven Lagumbay ? 57-57.
Wu Zhi Yu of China and Kuldep Singh of India battled to a majority draw in their six round heavyweight fight.
In the opening bout, Wang Jianzheng bloodied Isroil Qurbonov?s nose in the second round and stopped him in round four when Referee Atty. Danrex Tapdasan stopped the fight preventing Qurbonov from taking further punishment.
The fight card billed as ?The Showdown in Beijing? was held Thursday at the National Olympic Center Gymnasium of Beijing and promoted by Chen Jia Shu. The fights were officiated by the Professional Boxing Commission of China.
Photo ? Ronnie Baldonado with his WBO Oriental belt inside the dressing room of the National Olympic Center of Beijing.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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