By Ronnie Nathanielsz
The Philippines No. 5 bantamweight Pedro Malco dropped a unanimous ten round decision to WBO champion Rtanachai Sor Vorapin in a non-title bout at the Blaisdell Center Arena in Honolulu, late Wednesday.
Dayton Morinaga of the Honolulu Advertiser reported that Vorapin used one hand to beat Malco because according to the Thai world champion “ I hurt my left hand in the first round, so I started to play around. I had to protect my hand and couldn’t punch hard.”
Morinaga said Vorapin fought with an unorthodox style throughout the bout and at times appeared to be toying with Malco. But after the fight Vorapin said it was part of an unexpected strategy after he hurt his hand.
Malco landed his fair share of punches throughout the bout although he never appeared to hurt Vorapin in a fight where there were no knockdowns. Vorapin admitted that Malco was “really tough. I was having a hard time knocking him out.”
With the win Vorapin improved to 65-8-1 while Malco dropped to 13-11-3. Should Vorapin retain his title in a fight scheduled this October, he is likely to defend the crown against WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight champion and WBO No. 2 Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista early next year.
