Mysterious Mexican Claims Second Top Pinoy Scalp
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 28 Aug 2024
Torres (R) inflicts Cataraja's first loss.
Mystery Mexican fighter Kenbun Torres claimed a second straight top ranking Filipino bantamweight victim via 10 round split decision over KJ Cataraja in a featured bout held in at the Yamato Gym in Sulta, Japan.
Earlier, Torres pulled a shocking first round technical knockout win in Manila over former WBA and WBC interim bantamweight titlist Reymart Gaballo who was then in line for a world title crack and was supposedly fighting Torres in a tune up. Torres downed Gaballo three times in forcing the stoppage.
The shock defeat not only put Gaballo out of contention but resulted in him losing his world ranking where he was rated as high as #5 previously by the IBF.
Cataraja did not underestimate the Mexican but apparently he gave him too much respect fighting defensively and on his backfoot for almost the entire fight although in the overall, he landed the clearer and more telling punches against Torres.
The questionable officiating of the Japanese referee Tomohiro Imamura also did not help Cataraja in swaying the judges to his favor against Torres who resorted to showboating and daring KJ to attack and hit him in several instances.
Imamura failed to call a clear knockdown near the end of the fourth round ruling that KJ's punch came at the bell. Worst, he even directed the judges to deduct one point from the scorecard of Cataraja at the break for alleged persistent low blows.
As a result, Cataraja lost by split decision, his first career defeat in 18 bouts with a judge scoring the fight in his favor, 96-95 but the two other judges both scoring it 96-93 in Torres favor.
A rematch seems in order, in Japan or the Philippines.
But meanwhile, the mysterious Mexican, Kenbun Torres has struck again!
What makes Torres a mystery?
First, before the Gaballo fight, he had a deceiving fight record of 13 wins, 9 by KOs against 5 defeats, 2 by KOs.
He is also listed as just a super flyweight, ranked #9 in Mexico.
Finally, he had an almost ten years hiatus in his boxing career after starting in 2003 where he had just two defeats in 12 bouts until 2007 where inexplicably he stopped prize fighting and returning to pro boxing only in 2016. After three fights, two wins and a loss, he again stopped boxing. He resumed fighting in 2023 until to date where after suffering three straight losses in five bouts, he has since seemed to experienced career rebirth resulting to his two straight wins against fop Filipino bantamweight fighters, no less.
Granting the Gaballo win was a huge upset of an unsuspecting Filipino fighter who treated Torres as no more than a stay busy foe, what the 36 year old Mexican demonstrated against Cataraja is something KJ or any other Filipino fighter pitted against him has to seriously take into account.
Note that two of his last three losses came when Torres faced bigger opponents. This means that the mysterious Mexican had fought opponents as heavy as super bantamweight and featherweight and may have already developed the power to beat one with the help of training he is getting in Japan. His residence is listed as Osaka, Japan.
Without lifting a finger, Japan eliminated two Filipino threats to its bantamweight hegemony using an adopted mysterious Mexican.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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