Invasion Repelled

Once again, the Filipino boxers proved their dominance in the sport, emerging victorious in an event dubbed “Invasion: Philippines vs. the World” held at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, witth all four Filipinos winning their matches.

A.J. “Bazooka” Banal of the Philippines started it off by defeating Caril Herrera of Uruguay in a referee-stopped fight in the fourth round match, an eliminator for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) move up to the No. 1 spot. The Filipino dominated the Uruguayan, scoring with several punches on the latter’s face. Herrera had to take a standing eight-count after being brought down to his knees at the end of the third round by a series of face punches by Banal. The fight, ruled a technical knockout in favor of the Filipino, was stopped at 1:18 into the fourth round.

In the second match, Filipino Ciso Morales defeated Yoo-Shin Kim of South Korea in the fourth round as the referee stopped the fight in 2:24 of the fourth round, seeing that Yoo-Shin, face bloodied with a cut on the left eye, had taken enough punishment from the Filipino, who successfully retained his World Boxing Organization (WBO) oriental super bantamweight title.

In the next match, Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista of the Philippines knocked out Genaro Camargo of Mexico in the second of a 12-round match. Bautista knocked down the Mexican twice in the first round and sent him down for the good 57 seconds into the second round. Bautista thus retained his World Boxing Organization (WBO) inter-continental super bantamweight title.

In the main event, veteran Filipino boxer Gerry Peñalosa beat challenger Ratanachai Sor Vorapin of Thailand to retain his World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight title, via referee stoppage with 29 seconds remaining in the eighth round. Peñalosa knocked down the Thai thrice, in the fifth, seventh, and earlier in the eighth before the referee stopped the fight.

It was in the fifth round that Peñalosa started punishing the Thai with a series of combinations that nearly knocked him down, at one point sending him down on his knees. Vorapin, however, managed to put his arms around Peñalosa’s waist to break his fall.

pinoy boxers