Alex Escaner Stops Undefeated Konishi
By Rey Danseco
Philippine super bantamweight champion Alex Escaner of Paranaque City’s Marty Elorde Stable has boasted his boxing career when he scored a devastating stoppage win against a previously undefeated Japanese upstart on Sunday at Industrial Hall in Gifu, Japan.
Escaner sent local knockout artist Akio Konishi to the canvas with vicious left hook to earn a technical knockout win at 57 seconds of the second round. In the first, Konishi was hit with a punch in that should have been grounds for a disqualification because it came almost at the same time as the bell to end the round.
“Dapat po first round tapos na ‘yong Hapon kaya lang, sabi ng reperee, bell na
daw kaya binawasan ng (dalawang) puntos si Alex at pinapahinga (ng tatlong minuto) ang Hapon kasi nawalan talaga ng malay,” said Lunas, who traveled in Gifu for four hours from Kanazawa to give Escaner a morale boast.
“Noong second round nagpalitan at nang tinamaan ng maganda ni Alex (si Konishi), na-groge (yong Hapon) tapos nag-follow up nang nag-follow up si Alex, kaya di na nakatayo,” the 23-year old Bicol-native champion related. “Nawalan talaga ng malay at binuhat na ng stretcher.”
According to newly crowned Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight champion Rolly “Matsushita” Lunas, Konishi was removed out of the ring in a stretcher.
Takashi Yokozeki, Konishi's manager/promoter, suggested a disqualification win for Konishi after the first round, but officials of the Japanese Boxing Commission ruled that the scheduled 10-round bout must resume.
When the second started, Konishi still felt the lingering effect of the damage in almost bell-beating hard blow, failed to contain Escaner’s barrage of punches in the second round. The Japanese fell like a sock of rice on the lower rope and the referee never bothered to start a count, opting to stop the fight.