FRANCISCO, FLORES WIN WBO TITLES
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 31 Dec 2006
Undefeated Drian Francisco capped his impressive streak this year with a seventh round TKO victory over game Thai 16 year old Phichitchok Singmannasak to win the vacant WBO Asia Pacific flyweight title while world-rated Rexon Flores scored a lopsided unanimous decision over tough Thai contender Wisan Sor Suchaya to win the WBO Intercontinental light flyweight crown at a jam-packed Mandaluyong City Gym last night.
Although Singmannasak often taunted Francisco to get it on, the lanky Filipino who at times also did a little showboating didn’t lose his composure and continued to nail the Thai with a series of vicious combinations that bloodied his nose. After the sixth round in which Singmannasak took a bad beating internationally respected referee Bruce McTavish asked the Thai as well as his corner whether he wanted to continue and told them to throw in the towel if they felt he was taking too much punishment.
However, it was McTavish who wisely called a halt at 1:03 of the seventh round after Francisco hammered Singmannasak with a series of unanswered punches. McTavish told the young Thai he was too young to take such a beating and wanted to protect him from getting seriously hurt so he could fight another day.
The win, Francisco’s fifth TKO in 2006 established the 25 year old as one of the many promising youngsters emerging on the Philippine boxing scene although he still has a long way to go before emerging as a world class boxer. With the win Francisco improved his record to 10-0 with 7 knockouts while Singmannasak suffered his first defeat and now sports a record of 9-1 with 4 KO’s.
Flores made it a double celebration for the Philippines when he pounded out a lopsided unanimous decision over Wisan Sor Suchaya who absorbed a terrible beating for twelve rounds but stood his ground although there were occasions when Flores appeared to have Suchaya on the verge of a knockout.
All three judges, Virgilio Garcia, Rodrigo Perez and Edwin Sese turned in identical scorecards of 118-109 even though American referee Gene Del Bianco deducted a point from Flores in the final round for hitting Suchaya on the back of the head.
With the victory Flores who is rated No. 7 by the WBO improved his record to 17-3-4 with 9 knockouts while Suchaya dropped to 8-4-1 with 2 KO’s.
The exciting fights will be telecast on the top rated weekly boxing show “The Main Event” at 2:00 p.m. on Sundays over RPN 9 sponsored by Tanduay, the No.1 Rhum whose round girls, Viva Hot Babes Carla Samonte and Maricar Daniega were a big hit with the fans.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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