By Ronnie Nathanielsz
WBA Pan African light flyweight champion Bert Batawang scored an impressive fifth round stoppage of former Philippine champion Eugene Gonzales in an exciting fight card at the Mandaue Sports Center Saturday night.
Batawang who is rated No. 4 by the IBF and No. 9 by the WBA dropped Gonzales with a cracking left in round two and then sent the RP No. 6 down once again when referee Teddy Alivio correctly ruled a knockdown after Gonazales’ gloves touched the canvas.
Gonzales who hails from the L&M Stable in Manila was upset over the call and came charging back in an unorthodox fashion to frustrate Batawang in the next two rounds, showboating and smiling while connecting with a couple of good right hands.
But Batawang quickly buckled down to business and decked Gonzales with a vicious flurry of punches and although he beat the count Batawang waded into the former champion who absorbed a barrage of blows and was in no condition to continue, forcing international
referee Teddy Alivio to call it off at 2:23 of the fifth round.
Gonzales stablemate and RP No. 5 ranked flyweight Jun Eraham proved far too experienced and shifty for comparative newcomer Isidro Balabat and won by a TKO when Balabat’s corner decided their fighter had taken a pounding and didn’t let him come out for the seventh round.
Eraham opened a nasty welt under the left eye of Balabat who was as game as they come but the show-boating Eraham was far too good and his total of 27 fights gave him a decided edge over Balabat who had fought only seven times.
But the most impressive fighter in the card promoted by well-known Cebu boxing man Sammy Gello-ani in cooperation with Viva Sports and sponsored by Tanduay, the No. 1 Rhum was 20 year old super flyweight Robert Allanic who is handled by long-time Cebu resident and boxing fan Cliff Smart.
The 20 year old Allanic scored a spectacular third round TKO over veteran John Ray Verano who battled gamely but was no match for the stylish southpaw who decked him with a perfectly-timed left hook in the opening round and had him reeling across the ring with beautifully timed combinations from then on.
Verano’s manager Leonil Lazarito wisely decided to stop the battering suffered by his fighter at the 1:20 mark of the third round even as Verano was decked once again but wanted to continue what appeared to be a hopeless battle.
One of the highlights of the fight card telecast on the top-rated weekly boxing show the “Main Event” on RPN 9 was the presence of Viva Hot Babes Briana Blanco and Katrina Gonzales who served as the Tanduay round girls drawing rave reviews from fight fans ten of whom received Tanduay gift packs for correctly answering boxing trivia questions in-between the fights.
