CHRISTMAS IS STILL MERRY FOR PHILIPPINE BOXING
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 25 Dec 2012
The double defeat of the greatest Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao is so painful for Philippine boxing this year. But the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ brings joys to the Christian world so we have to be merry this Christmas. Even the victims of typhoons ?Pablo? and ?Sendong? still staying at evacuation centers and tent cities have all the reasons to celebrate Christmas even the simplest way they can.
So we count on the positive things that happened to Philippine boxing in the year 2012 and we can still declare that it was a good year and there are still reasons to say Merry Christmas to Philippine boxing fans.
We still have four world champions: Nonito Donaire, Donnie Nietes, Brian Viloria and Johnriel Casimero. We have two silver champions: Sylvester Lopez and Denver Cuello.
Donaire is one of the top ten boxers pound-for-pound in practically all renowned magazines and websites. He holds the WBO, The Ring and WBC Diamond super bantamweight title. He won four times this year with victories over Wilfredo Vasquez, Jr. (split decision), Jeffrey Mathebula (unanimous decision), Toshiaki Nishioka (9th round TKO) and Jorge Arce (3rd round KO). He is a strong candidate for Fighter of the Year award.
Viloria snatched two impressive wins this year. He prevailed over Omar Ni?o Romero by 9th round TKO for the successful defense of his WBO flyweight title. Then he unified the flyweight division after 47 years by annexing the WBA (Super) flyweight title by a 9th round TKO of Hernan Marquez.
Nietes successfully defended his WBO light flyweight title by scoring a unanimous decision over Felipe Salguero. It was his seventh straight victory over a Mexican boxer. He has won three bouts in the hostile Mexican territory the past years.
Casimero won the IBF interim light flyweight title over Luis Alberto Zarate by 10th round TKO in a riot marred contest. The champion Ulises Solis was stripped of his title for failure to defend it on the imposed deadline. So Casimero became the IBF world light flyweight champion. He defended it with a split decision win over Pedro Guevara in home country in Mexico.
Cuello has gained three impressive victories this year: Kid Suryana (4th round TKO), Ganigan Lopez (2nd round TKO), and Ivan Meneses (unanimous decision). He won the WBC international minimumweight title over Meneses in the opponent?s territory in Mexico.
Lopez won the WBC Silver superflyweight title last year by 8th round TKO against Oscar Ibarra in Mexico. This year he defeated Yuki Fukumoto by 4th round TKO. He lost though in his world title fight to Yota Sato in Japan by unanimous decision.
Sonny Boy Jaro scored the biggest upset this year by a sixth round TKO over Pongsaklek Wonjongkam whom he floored five times enroute to the stoppage. The Thai was the WBC and The Ring flyweight champion and was one of the world?s top boxers pound-for-pound. Jaro lost the title though in his first defense to Toshiyuki Igarashi in Japan by split decision.
Merry Christmas to one and all from me, my wife Chona and sons Mallory, Marton and Marlon!
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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