By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Add three more to the growing tally of Filipino boxers beaten in fights abroad after Philippine bantamweight champion Joel Bauya dropped a six round decision to WBO champion Ratanachai Sor Vorapin, super bantamweight champion Alex Escaner suffered a fourth round knockout against WBO No. 6 ranked featherweight Terdsak Jandaeng and Nino Suelo lost a six round battle with Asian Boxing Council No. 2 minimum weight Nethra Sasiprapa.
Ratanachai Sor Vorapin, the 28 year old southpaw who lost by a sixth round TKO to former WBC super flyweight champion Gerry Penalosa in a WBC International super flyweight title in November 25, 2000 proved far too shifty for the slow-moving Bauya who decked the world champion in round three but failed to press his advantage allowing Ratanachai to come back strongly. The Thai hammered Bauya in the next three rounds and had him on the verge of a knockout. With his win Ratanachai improved his record to 60-8 with 41 knockouts while Bauya lost his third successive fight. All three judges had Ratanachai the winner by an identical score of 58-56.
Escaner was no match for the hard-hitting Terdsak who destroyed the Filipino champion with a thundering left straight in the fourth round to retain his WBO Asia-Pacific super bantamweight crown. The undefeated Terdsak improved to 13-0 with 11 knockouts while Escaner who won the Philippine title with a unanimous decision over Reynaldo Tribo last September 17 dropped to 9-9-2 with 4 KO’s. Terdsak was coming off a smashing fourth round knockout over veteran former Orient Pacific Boxing Federation champion Samuel Duran last October 4.
The third Filipino to lose was Nino Suelo who lost a unanimous six round decision to Asian Boxing Council No. 2 minimum weight Nethra Sasiprapa.
