By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Johnny Lear of the Philippines failed in his bid to win the WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight title relinquished by Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista who is now fighting as a super bantamweight. The title fight was held in Prajuap Kinkan, Thailand.
Lear lost by a fourth round TKO to Thailand's former WBO bantamweight champion, southpaw Ratanachai Sor Vorapin. The Filipino was dropped twice by the former world champion before the referee decided to call a halt. Lear was coming off a split decision loss to Michael Domingo in a battle for the Philippine bantamweight title last July 15.
The 29 year old veteran Ratanachai improved to 68-9 with 45 knockouts while Lear dropped to 15-13-1 with 5 KO's.
In other action Thailand's 37 year old Pramuansak "Machine Gun" Phosuwan scored a unanimous six round decision over Sherwin Paro. Phosuwan improved his record to 33-1-1 with 18 KO's while Paro fell to 17-6 with 9 KO's.
