MELINDO, BAUTISTA, CANILLAS SCORE KNOCKOUT WINS IN DUBAI
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 24 Apr 2010
Dubai, UAE -- ALA Boys Milan Melindo, Rey 'Boom Boom' Bautista and Larry Canillas all came away with knockout victories over their respective opponents in front of an intimate crowd of several hundred at the Chi@The Lodge here Friday night in what organizers described as a mildly successful event in an attempt to bring boxing to the huge Filipino population at the Emirates.
The Cagayan de Oro native Melindo (21-0-0, 6KO) who was defending his WBC Youth Intercontinental title, sent Komrit Twinsgym (15-4-0, 11KO) of Thailand to the canvas in the first minute of the first round and again towards the end of the round looking to make short work of the travel-weary Thai who arrived only the previous night in Dubai as a last minute replacement of original opponent Devis Perez of Columbia who failed to make his way here after flights in Europe were disrupted due to Iceland volcanic ash hovering above the continent.
Komrit however refused to let go and even made the fight a bit interesting in the second and third rounds by coming up with his own flurries during heated exchanges with the stalking Melindo. But the highly confident Melindo finally catches Komrit with solid combinations in the fourth round that sent the Thai to the canvas for the second time and final time when veteran referee Bruce McTavish didn't even bother to count ending the contest and allowing Melindo to retain his title.
Top photo: Milan Melindo (L) staggers Komrit Twinsgym on the way to the canvas during their bout Friday night at Chi@TheLodge in Dubai Friday night.
Rey 'Boom Boom' Bautista (C) heads to a neutral corner after sending Saichon Sotornpitak of Thailand crushing to the canvas during a first round action Friday night at Chi@TheLodge in Dubai.
Larry Canillas (R) looks on as his opponent Fred Sayuni of Tanzania heads for the canvas.
Photos by Dong Secuya.
Comebacking Rey 'Boom Boom' Bautista (28-2-0, 21KO) continues to inch his way back into contention by dispatching Saichon Sotornpitak (10-2-0, 5KO) of Thailand in the 6th round. Bautista sent Saichon to the canvas in the first round and although it appeared that Bautista won every succeeding rounds in the scorecards, he nevertheless looked vulnerable during the contest as Saichon was able to time the Bohol native with effective counters. Bautista finally put away Saichon at 1:59 of the 6th round with an overpowering offensive to the retreating Thai which was caught with powerful left-right combination to the head before collapsing to the canvas.
In the opening bout, Cebu's Larry 'Bon Jovi' Canillas (10-2-0 9KO) fought cautiously in the opening rounds veering away from his usual never-say-die style but nevertheless controlled the tempo of he fight timing Fred Sayuni (6-4-4, 3KO) of Tanzania with powerful bombs where only Sayuni's tenacity had allowed him to stay in the contest. In the fifth and sixth rounds however, Canillas stepped up the gas that saw Sayuni gasping for breath from Canillas onslaught and finally went down at 1:04 in the sixth round.
Referee Ben Necesario stopped the contest after Sayuni refused to continue even though he beat the count and had been told by his corner to go on fighting.
The hostilities started late at 9 p.m. only after the evening prayer has been finished in this modern Muslim city where its landscape is dotted with seemingly endless number of buildings that tower facing the Arabian Gulf and hosted one of the world's three 7-star hotels, the Burj Al Arab, the world's tallest building, the 160-floors Burj Khalifa and the self-proclaimed eight-wonder of the world, The Palm.
'The Philippines vs The Rest of The World' boxing event was promoted by veteran Dubai promoter Zack Taumafai / KO Promotions in association with the Philippines' ALA Gym.
The fights are scheduled to be telecast by the giant broadcast network ABS-CBN on Sunday, April 25, over Channel 2 with a replay on Studio 23.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
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