By Rey Danseco

VETERAN Filipino fighter Jess Maca has earned respect despite getting a strong message to hang up his gloves after losing a complete shutout to a youthful opponent in a televised bout Saturday from Soweto, South Africa.

The 33-year old Maca, once billed as “crafty”, lost a unanimous decision in a 10-round non-title fight against unbeaten World Boxing Association (WBA) Intercontinental super bantamweight champion Gabula "Tiger" Vabaza (55.34kg) at the Orlando Community Hall sa Soweto, South Africa.

One judge, Len Hunt scored nine rounds with one even for Vabaza (100-91). Judge Godfrey Meje had it 99-94 and Jaap van Niewenhuizen was off the mark with a 97-93 scorecard.

Maca fought for the first time outside of Asia in his entire career. Maca (54.63 kg) hardly landed a meaningful punch on his tricky opponent who used lateral movement and the perimeter of the ring throughout the fight.

What the South African fans learned in this fight was Maca's ability to take punches from a highly recognized world title prospect and seven-year younger fighter from East London.

“Maca is very strong and experience, but Vabaza outboxed him every round,” said Serbia-born promoter Branco Melenkovic, a naturalized South African, in an email to Times sports, referring to the countless right jabs from Vabaza’s southpaw stance throughout the 10 rounds in what became little more than an exhibition bout.

“Vabaza caught Maca with some very hard shorts, but Maca took it well.”

The defeat was Maca’s second straight loss and dropped his ledger to 43-21-6 with 17 knockouts. Despite 21 defeats, Maca has only been stopped once in his 15-year career.

The 26-year-old Vabuza improved to 21-0-1, with 15 KOs. Vabuza is hoping to move up his current rankings in the alphabet divisions. vabuza is currently ranked 7 in the WBA, 8 in the WBC and 13 in the IBF.

Maca, reached a number four ranking by the WBC when he was fighting in his prime. He lost the spot in December 2002 when he was defeated for his OPBF bantam crown by Japanese challenger Hozumi Hasegawa. Maca was coming off a unanimous decision loss in a bid for the WBO Asia Pacific featherweight title against champ Terdsak Jandaeng last April 11 in Bangkok, Thailand.

Maca ruled the OPBF 118-lb class for four years and six months from May 9, 1998 until southpaw Hasegawa dropped him with a double left in the third to win a split but well-received decision on May 18, 2003 in Kobe, Japan.
 
NOTE : The veteran writer REY DANSECO is based in Manila and the Sports Editor of Bagong Tiktik (Spy), one of the leading daily in the Philippines. He is also a pro-boxing judge and television commentator of weekly program Ringside@Elorde that airs from 11 p.m to 12 midnight every Saturday over NBN Channel 4 in the whole country. He also writes for Manila Times ( www.manilatimes.net ), which was established in 1898.