By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Undefeated 22 year old southpaw Rey Labao scored a fourth round knockout victory over former Nigerian amateur champion Sunday “Bright” Isaiah before a huge crowd at the Mandaluyong City gym where Filipino ring idol Manny Pacquiao carved a name for himself some ten years ago.
Labao, the Philippines’ No.2 ranked featherweight caught Isaiah with a vicious left to the side of the body sending the Nigerian crumpling to the canvas in pain and unable to beat the count of international referee Ferdinand Estrella. The time was 2:03 of the fourth round.
Until the sudden ending Isaiah had battled southpaw Labao with some good combinations but the power of the protégé of Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde Jr proved too much in the end. It was Labao’s eight knockout in 11 wins with no defeats.
The Labao-Isaiah fight will be telecast on the top rated weekly boxing show “The Main Event” at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday over RPN 9 sponsored by Tanduay, the No. 1 Rhum whose 2006 calendar girl Rene Summer who acted as round girl for the main event was a smash hit with the fans.
In the second main event veteran Baby Lorona Jr had a frustrating night against a charging Jun Alba and had to settle for a unanimous ten round decision. Despite catching the onrushing Alba with several good shots southpaw Lorona who appeared to have lost some of the sting in his punches couldn’t put him away. All three judges scored it for Lorona by margins of 98-93, 99-91 and 98-92.
In an action-packed bout Mandaluyong City boy Jun Talape scored an impressive ten round unanimous decision over veteran Mark Sales with both fighters engaging each other in furious exchanges to the delight of the hometown crowd. Talape won on the scorecards of all three judges, 99-91, 97-93 and 97-93 to improve to 13-4 with 5 KO’s.
In a slambang four round battle between women boxers, Jujeath Nagawa of Baguio City scored a unanimous decision over game Baina Londo of Maguindanao while stylish Drian Francisco won by a seventh round TKO over journeyman Jongjong Gagante and promising Dexter Mendoza scored a fourth round KO over Benjie Aceron in the fight card of Elorde International Promotions hosted by the city government of Mandaluyong led by Mayor Neptali “Boyet” Gonzales.
