RUBILLAR RETAINS OPBF TITLE
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 18 Nov 2007
OPBF light flyweight champion Juanito Rubillar retained his title with a smashing fifth round TKO victory over mandatory challenger Beung Joo Lee of South Korea at the San Andres Sports Center in Manila, Friday night.
Before a distinguished gathering of WBC officials that included OPBF president Frank Quill, former world super bantamweight champion Oscar Larios and Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez, Rubillar put on an impressive performance justifying his elevation to the No.3 spot in the WBC ratings at the just-concluded 45th Annual Convention of the organization at the historic Manila Hotel.
Rubillar, the 30 year old southpaw who fought Mexican warrior Jorge Arce twice but lost twelve round decisions, the second of which was controversial, didn?t seem bothered by the postponement of the title defense for five days due to his illness.
Looking for an opening and timing his punches to near perfection, Rubillar decked the challenger with a cracking left straight in the second round and pounced on the Korean who survived the round after internationally-known referee Kenny Bayless who officiated the second MannyPacquiao- Erik Morales fight gave the Korean a mandatory eight-count,
The fight card itself was given a tremendous boost with WBC referee/judge Malcolm Bulner, a former Olympic boxer acting as officials supervisor and three nattily dressed judges all from the highest ranks of the WBC.
Rubillar continued to nail Lee with vicious shots to the body that saw the challenger grimace and then switched to the head with devastating effect and it was only a matter of time before the challenger would fall. As he was taking an unmerciful beating in round five after going down once again, Lee?s corner threw in the towel clearly realizing that the southpaw Rubillar was simply too good for the challenger who had won the Korean light flyweight title last February with a 4th round KO of Yong Suk In.
Rubillar who won the OPBF title with a 7th round TKO over talented Indonesian Irfan Ogah in October last year defended his title for the first time and sent Japan?s Ken Nakajima into retirement with an impressive fifth round KO in Osaka last June 24.
With his win Rubillar improved to 41-10-7 with 19 knockouts and said in a post-fight interview that he was looking forward eagerly to a title shot against Edgar Sosa and that at his age time was running out. The soft-spoken Rubillar who is managed by Gabriel ?Bebot? Elorde said Elorde had told him he would be given a shot at the title if he won impressively, which he did.
Both Larios who watched the fights intently and Gomez told us they were impressed with Rubillar, his composure and what to many seemed like his new-found punching power. Gomez said ?hey, this kid is good.?
The entire fight card which was one of the best in recent months and had the added distinction of the presence of such boxing luminaries as Larios, Gomez, Quill, Bulner, Bayliss and several WBC officials and executives will be telecast on the ?Main Event,? the top-rated weekly boxing show presented by Viva Sports over RPN 9 and sponsored by Tanduay, the No.1 Rhum with support from Pagcor and PCSO.
Top photo: Juanito Rubillar (L) looks at the fallen Beung Joo Lee of Korea as Referee Kenny Bayless comes in to initiate the count in this bit of action from the Rubillar-Lee fight last Friday at the San Andres Gym in Manila. Photo by Dong Secuya.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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