INDONESIAN KO ARTIST BLINKS; AVOIDS FIGHT VS. VILLANUEVA
By Manny Piñol
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 04 Jun 2014
It was billed as the Clash of the Big Punchers, a battle between boxers who possess awesome punching powers based on their knockout records.
Indonesian undefeated featherweight champion Defry Palulu, touted as the next Chris John with an impressive record of 10 wins with 9 knockouts, would have gone up against the punching machine from Midsayap, North Cotabato, Lorenzo "Thunderbolt" Villanueva (25 wins, 1 loss, 22 KOs) in a regional title fight on June 28 in Davao City.
The fight contract was emailed and the tickets and posters were ready for printing.
But at the last minute, Defry Palulu's handlers had a change of heart.
Instead of fighting Villanueva, who holds the distinction of sending to the canvas all of his 26 opponents, including the only fighter who defeated him, former world champion Daud Cino Yordan of Indonesia, Palulu signed up to fight AJ Banal on June 21.
Palulu was supposed to appear in the first staging of The Boxing Revolution, a new boxing promotional series by Sonshine Sports Management, along with another Indonesian, Ichal Tobida who was scheduled to fight former world flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro.
An angry boxing matchmaker Aljoe Jaro, who arranged the bouts, decided to cancel the Jaro-Tobida fight as well.
The Villanueva-Palulu fight would have been a boxing spectacle because both fighters possess tremendous power as shown by their knockout records.
With 9 of his 10 professional victories coming by way of knockout, Palulu has a 90% KO percentage while Villanueva, who knocked out 22 of his 26 opponents has an 88% KO percentage.
The June 28 fight card scheduled at Almendras will have to undergo changes because of the backing out of the Indonesian fighter.
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