STORY OF PHILIPPINE BOXING PART XXIX: ROLANDO PASCUA WINS WBC WORLD LIGHT FLYWEIGHT TITLE IN ONE OF THE BIGGEST UPSETS IN BOXING HISTORY
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 03 May 2020
Rolando Pascua was born Rolando Tomongtong on November 19, 1965 in Cebu. He had his professional debut on August 3, 1986 and scored a unanimous decision win over Eddie Dulay in Pasay City.
Pascua grabbed 14 straight wins with 3 KOs before he suffered his first loss, a controversial hometown split decision defeat to Jum Hwan Choi in Seoul, South Korea on January 28, 1988. Choi was decked in the 6th round but got up to win on two judges' scorecards.
He subsequently won by TKO over Romy Austria in Round 9, Jun Altarejos in Round 6, Joseph Pacling in Round 3, Fernando Baja in Round 9 and Ernie Gulla in Round 3. He also wrested 6 UD and 1 MD wins.
On January 30, 1990, he lost to Napa Kiatwanchai in his home turf in Bangkok, Thailand by unanimous decision.
Just 6 days before Christmas, he fought the most memorable fight of his life, on December 19, 1990 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. He scored a stunning upset win over Humberto "Chiquita" Gonzalez, one of the best fighters in the world in the 90s.
Gonzalez was a legend, having held the WBC three times, IBF and lineal light flyweight titles. The Ring included him on their list of the 100 greatest punchers of all time. He was also elected into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2006.
The Mexican went down in the 6th round with a combination to the head and never got up, making Pascua, a virtual unknown in the global boxing scene, the new World Boxing Council world light flyweight champion.
The revelry however was short lived. Pascua lost his WBC light flyweight title to Mexican Melchor Cob Castro by 10th round TKO at The Forum in California on March 25, 1991. Gonzalez never got the rematch he wanted to avenge his upset loss.
He recovered from the fall to win convincingly against foreign foes, against Ghana's Michael Ebo Danquah by 3rd round TKO, Thailand's Kaaj Chartbandit by UD, South Korea's Chang-Kyu Chang by 8th round technical decision, Japan’s Toshio Aikawa by 9th round TKO, and Japan’s Yukinari Oshiro by 9th round TKO.
Pascua won the Philippine super flyweight title over Rey Paciones on February 20, 1993 by 12th round TKO.
He lost to Thailand's Chatchai Sasakul by unanimous decision in his attempt at the WBC international flyweight championship in Bangkok, Thailand on April 28, 1993.
Pascua won by unanimous decision over former two-division world champion Dodie Boy Peñalosa and against Japanese Hiroshi Kobayashi.
He lost at another shot at the world title when he was stopped by Mexico's Julio Cesar Borboa in the 5th round by TKO. Borboa was floored in the 2nd round but Pascua also went down in the fifth for the stoppage in their IBF super flyweight championhip in Sonora, Mexico on November 26, 1993.
Pascua won the Philippine super flyweight title over Mauro Saucelo by UD and defended it against Kid Refamonte by 6th round TKO and Juanito Boy Cuma by UD. He lost the Philippine belt to Raffy Montalban by 10th round TKO.
He was defeated by Samson Dutch Boy Gym of Thailand for the World Boxing Federation super flyweight championhip in by 8th round KO in Phrae, Thailand on January 8, 1995.
Pascua also lost to future world champion Gerry Peñalosa by 8th round KO. He failed in his last attempt at an international title against Johnny Bredahl of Denmark for the International Boxing Organization world bantamweight championship on March 29, 1996.
He lost ten and won four of his last 14 fights from 1996 to 1999 and decided to retire. He collected 45 wins, 17 by KOs, and 25 losses with 12 KOs in 70 professional bouts per Boxrec.com.
Top photo shows Pascua knocking out Gonzalez.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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