By Rey Danseco
DINDO Castañares has failed to meet expectations when he suffered a knock out loss in a grudge match against Japanese prospect Daigoro Yamamoto, on Sunday in Osaka, Japan.
The Japanese No. 3 contender took a vicious right cross and came off the canvas in the third round, exchanged hard punches with the 24-year old Filipino puncher, who is rated by the OPBF as the No. 2 super lightweight, until he landed a well-timed countering right hand punch to the visitor.
Castanares, a native of Inayawan in Cebu, decked the floor and picked himself up with rubbery legs, downed again until referee declared the fight was over at 2:58 of the seventh round in a scheduled 10.
The setback derails Castanares’ aim to get a shot for another major title. He dropped to 17-4-2 with 13 knockouts while Yamamoto improved to 10-2-3, 8 KOs.
Their first two fights in October 2002 and on September 11 also held in Osaka, ended in a draw and the third fight was supposedly served as springboard for Castanares stardom.
Castanares’s four blemished in his record were all by knockouts. He lost two in a row in Tokyo, Japan to OPBF light welter champion Masakazu Satake by an eighth round annihilation and Venezuelan Richard Reina in second round stoppage in 2003 before he was clobbered in the third round by Aswin Cabuy on July 6, 2004 at the RCTI Studio in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Castanares only victory in overseas fight was a fourth round knockout of New Zealand-based Colombian Guillermo "Pantera" Mosquera on Dec. 11, 2004 at ETA Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.
