SILVANO WINS WBO ORIENTAL TITLE, SONSONA STOPS EGERA
By Rene Bonsubre, Jr.
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 08 Sep 2013
BALAMBAN,CEBU ? Virgilio ?Maton? Silvano and Jetly Purisima turned up the heat inside the packed Balamban Sports Complex and gave fans a memorable twelve round ring war Saturday night. Silvano staggered Purisima in the opening round but he recuperated and in the second round stunned Silvano with a well-timed left.
Silvano managed to stay on his feet and the two southpaws tore at each other like rabid dogs. They exchanged hooks and uppercuts at close quarters in the subsequent rounds and matched each other shot for shot.
A lot of the rounds were close and the action went back and forth. Both took a lot of hard body shots and Purisima was reeling in the 8th but still managed to recover and trade punch for punch. Purisima was hurt by a low blow in the ninth and was already breathing through his mouth. But Silvano could not finish him off despite landing a series of head jarring straights in the next round.
Purisima continued to fire back but Silvano finally knocked him down in the 12th; it may have been due to exhaustion and accumulation of punishment. Silvano tried to go for the knockout and Purisima?s glove touched the canvas.
Referee Atty. Danrex Tapdasan initiated another ten count seconds before the final bell rang for a dramatic finish.The boxers got a well deserved applause and Silvano was awarded the vacant WBO Oriental junior flyweight title by scores of 116-110, 116-110 and 115-111. On hand for the event was WBO VP for Asia-Pacific Leon Panoncillo.
The 23 year old Silvano, who fights out of the Omega Boxing gym, is now 17W-2L-1D, 10 KO?s while the 25 year old Purisima drops to 17W-13L-4D, 5 KO?s.
Top photo - Silvano with his new WBO regional belt flanked by two round card girls.
SONSONA STOPS EGERA IN EIGHT
Former WBO world superflyweight champion Marvin Sonsona showed no ill-effects from his almost nineteen month lay-off against the tried and tested battler Jason Egera of Siaton, Negros Oriental.
Sonsona was light on his feet and used Egera for target practice with his rapier right jab and well-timed straights. Egera closed the distance in the third and landed hooks to the body.
Sonsona used lateral movement to get out of danger and pummeled Egera with sharp uppercuts and crosses in the ensuing rounds and picked him apart, inflicting a cut on Egera?s left eyelid.
Egera, also a southpaw, gamely fought back but the referee decided that Egera had enough punishment for the night at the start of the 8th round.
This was Sonsona?s first fight since the 5th round KO win over Carlos Fulgencio of the Dominican Republic at the Lapu-lapu Hoops Dome last year. Sonsona is now 17-1-1,14KO?s while Egera drops to 21-9, 10KO?s.
TEAM SONSONA TOGETHER AGAIN
Sonsona is reunited with his old team ? trainer Jun Agrabio (left in photo ) and manager Dr. Rajan Yraola (right). They guided the Gensan southpaw during his dazzling ascent from 2007 to 2009.
SALUDAR BEATS ALCOS
World ranked flyweight Froilan ?The Sniper? Saludar also came back from a twelve month hiatus to beat Julius Alcos by unanimous decision. Saludar was the aggressor all throughout and Alcos used his veteran smarts and defensive skills just to survive.
All three judges scored it 100-90.
For the other undercard matches: Jordan Catubay beat Junny Salogaol by unanimous decision (79-73, 78-74 and 78-74), Jahleel Payao knocked out Roel Garcia in round two (Time 1:08), John Keenan Villaflor won a hard fought unanimous decision over Jaybie Haya by scores of 57-56, 57-56 and 58-55. Haya was deducted a point in the third for a clash of heads that caused a cut on Villaflor?s left eyelid.
Cristian ?The Bomb? Araneta knocked out Gary Rojo in 49 seconds of the third round, Jilbert Gumera needed only 40 seconds to knockout Mark Tubo and in the opening bout of the night, Salatiel ?Pakyaw? Amit won by second round knockout over Jesse Suacasa. (Time 2:15, Suacasa down twice).
The fights were supervised by Celso Miranda, Rolando Mendoza and Glen Agena of Gab-Cebu. This boxing promotion billed as ?DIGMAAN SA KAMAO? was presented by International Pharmaceuticals,Inc. and will be shown on a delayed basis on GMA News-TV.
POSTSCRIPT:
Sonsona has fought only once a year since 2011. Trainer Jun Agrabio told this writer during the weigh-in that it was Sonsona who approached his old mentors. This could be a good sign. Fans and fight pundits hope that Philippine boxing?s prodigal son will get to see action on a regular basis. He is a rare talent and an instinctive boxer. But can he finally overcome his inner demons?
His team should also work on his fighting weight and what division he really belongs. Sonsona was at 130 lbs during the official weigh-in.
The game Egera told this writer after the bout that he really wanted to continue. But it was obvious he was taking a lot of punches.
Silvano vs Purisima was the best local fight I?ve seen this year. This was reminiscent of Purisima?s losing ring battle against Merlito Sabillo in 2010 except that Purisima did not suffer a knockdown in Bacolod City.
With a regional belt in hand, exposure against foreign fighters would be the obvious next step for Silvano.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Rene Bonsubre, Jr..
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