CUELLO EARNS WORLD TITLE SHOT WITH SMASHING 2ND ROUND KO OF LOPEZ
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 20 May 2012
Devastating puncher Denver Cuello, the World Boxing Council straw-weight Silver champion has retained his belt in a title eliminator with a smashing 2nd round knockout of No. 1 ranked Ganigan Lopez of Mexico in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico on Sunday morning.
Cuello, a stablemate of WBC flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro is determined to follow in his footsteps and win another world title for the Philippines and he showed he had the ability to do that with his devastating knockout of Lopez.
The prot?g? of former boxer and now manager/promoter Aljoe Jaro dropped Lopez in the opening round and ended the one-sided battle by sending the Mexican challenger to the canvas in the second round with a series of vicious shots to the head and body.
In an exciting but short-lived battle of southpaws Cuello showed his hand-speed and precise punching in the opening round and some solid defense against the aggressive Lopez at the start of the second round before nailing the top-ranked contender with a series of combinations.
Lopez was out for the count at 2:37 of the second round. The referee was Frank Garza.
With the win Cuello improves to 29-4 with 14 knockouts while Lopez drops to 28-5 with 13 knockouts.
WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman who earlier predicted Cuello would win although he said Ganigan Lopez was a good fighter told the Manila Standard that ?it was a shock here. But yes, Cuello can punch.?
Sulaiman conceded that there was ?some confusion? over the world title clash against 23 year old champion Kazuto Ioka of Japan who has a record of 9-0 with 6 knockouts but who apparently doesn?t want to fight Cuello. In fact Ioka is scheduled for a unification title fight against WBA champion Akira Yaegashi (15-2, 8 KO?s) on June 20.
However, Sulaiman said he will sort it out.
A few hours before entering the ring at the Antiguo de la Feria in Celaya, Ganigan Lopez vowed to beat Cuello, citing a double motivation to win the fight.
The No. 1 ranked Mexican said a win will give him a chance to fight for the title of Ioka and it will also help him win the WBC Silver belt.
Lopez said ?I?m confident of winning. This is a great shot, I can?t waste it. I will face the No.2 fighter in the straw-weight division in my country and nobody is going to take my title away. I want to fight for the world title so I will perform a great fight.?
The Mexican challenger said he had seen Cuello fight and ?he?s strong, he always attacks and he?s ready to counter-=attack. But fighting in Mexico is a great handicap.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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