By Rey Danseco
 
Florante Condes Jr. captured the Philippine Boxing Federation (PBF) minimumweight title when he made erstwhile champ Philip Parcon his 14th knockout victim over the weekend at Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall in Cainta, Rizal - on the outskits of Manila.

Condes, a Binangonan-based fighter, knocked out Parcon at 1:44 of the sixth of scheduled ten-round title fight that was staged by his manager Ailjoe Jaro and supported by Sta. Lucia, Eastern Consumer Sales Corp., Reli Travel and Tours, Ginie KTV, Western Appliances and Governor Casimiro Ynares of Rizal.

Condes had no trouble hitting the taller boxer from Davao City. By the fourth round, the 25-year old Condes floored Parcon for the first time with vicious punches to the face.

In the fatal round of the fight, Codes, ranked as the No. 2 minimumweight by the Games and Amusement Board (GAB), never gave Parcon a chance to regroup with his incessant bombardment of combinations.

It was the first time the 23-year old Parcon put the crown on the line after winning the vacant title with a 10 round unanimous decision win over Dennis Juntillano on May 22 in Kidapawan City, North Cotabato.

Condes’ fashion of victory was his fourth in six-fights that were held this year. He started his 2005 campaign with 4th round knockout of Allan Dugang on January 3 in Cagayan de Oro, a 9th round stoppage of ALA Boy Rollen del Castillo, a first round knockout of Sanan Nonglek 3K Battery in Mandaluyong and Angono (Rizal) in February and April, respectively.

Condes lost to then future WBO Asia Pacific minimumweight champ Benjie Sorolla on a 10 round split decision on May 1 before posting back-to-back wins with 4th round knockouts against Danny Linasa in June and Jhay Herla in October.

Condes improved to 14-4-1 with 14 KOs, while Parcon dropped to 15-11-2, 5 KOs.

In other featured fight, Philippine Super-bantamweight champion Alex Escaner (21-12-5, 9 KOs) retained his title while RP light-flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro (20-4-3, 12 KOs) scored a fine victory.

Escaner picked himself up from a knockdown by landing a cracking left uppercut to the jaw of his challenger in the second round to score a a split draw against the hard-hitting third-ranked contender Bernabe Concepcion (10-2-1, 5 KOs) over 12 rounds.

The judges scored the bout 114-113 for Escaner and 115-111 for Concepcion. The third official saw it 113-113, which made Escaner retain the belt in his second title defense.

Jaro stopped Kengkart Sakpracha of Thailand in the first round with hard punches to the body.