By Ronnie Nathanielsz
In what appeared to be a mismatch, the Philippines JR Sollano was stopped in the fourth round of a scheduled twelve round title fight by South Africa’s WBC International lightweight champion Ali Funeka at the Orient Theater in East London.
Funeka was making the third defense of his title and according to boxing writer Ron Jackson of Super Sport, the champion was in outstanding form using his left jab effectively against the shorter Sollano and won the first three rather uneventful rounds.
Jackson said Sollano who had a record of 12-7 with 9 knockouts was “unable to get past the probing left of Funeka” who has a record of 29-1-2 with 23. In fact the Filipino was reported to have landed only three or four scoring punches in the first three rounds.
Johnson reported that Funeka “ picked up the pace at the start of the fourth round and began landing some stinging combinations before backing up Sollano into the neutral corner where a short right to the jaw dropped him on his back against the ropes.”
Sollano managed to beat the count but as he staggered forward Belgian referee Daniel van de Wiele stepped in to call a halt at 2:45 into the round.
The 29 year old Funeka’s only loss was to reigning IBF junior lightweight champion Mzone Fana.
