By Ronnie Nathanielsz
The Philippines Nonoy Gonzales has lost a lopsided decision to Adam Vella of Australia in an IBO Asia Pacific light middleweight title fight held at the Catholic Club in Campbelltown, Sydney last Friday.
Two of the judges had Vella the winner by identical scores of 98-92 while the third judge had the Australian the winner by an even wider margin, 99-92.
The 27 year old Vella formerly held the Australian middleweight as well as the IBO Asia Pacific middleweight titles before dropping down to light middleweight . Vella improved to 18-1 with 6 knockouts while Gonzales dropped to 16-17-1 with 7 KO's.
Gonzales, the Philippines No. 2 ranked super lightweight, surprisingly got a shot at the vacant title despite losing his last five fights. He dropped two unanimous decisions to Thailand's Sataporn Singwanchga in July and September last year in Asian Boxing Council light welterweight title fights before suffering three straight defeats at the hands of Australians Michael Katsidis, Gavin Topp and Daniel Geale this year.
In a supporting bout Filipino Ruben Santillarosa who is listed as a super featherweight scored a surprising third round TKO over Australian welterweight Charlie Vella. It was only Santillarosa's seventh win against 11 defeats with 5 KO's.
