By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Three Filipino boxers Sherwin Manatad, Gilbert De La Torre and Rollen Del Castillo have been badly beaten in a fight card at the International Conference Hall in Nagoya, Japan.
Super flyweight Manatad was knocked out at 2:59 of the fourth round by undefeated 22 year old Japanese Kohei Ohba in a scheduled ten round bout. With the win Ohba who is ranked No. 14 by the WBC improved to 16-0 with one draw and 10 knockouts while Manatad was reportedly 3-18-0 with no KO’s according to the Boxrec website. However, well known Japanese journalist, matchmaker and boxing manager Joe Koizumi reported Manatad’s record was 15-21-4 with 1 KO.
De La Torre also lost by knockout to another undefeated fighter, No. 2 ranked Japanese flyweight Masaharu Naganana. . The 22 year old Naganana improved to 11-0-2 with 2 knockouts while De La Torre dropped to 9-5-1 with 1 KO.. De La Torre was dropped in the fourth round, sent to the canvas twice in the sixth and was finally decked for the full count at 0:20 of round seven of a scheduled ten rounder according to Koizumi.
The third Filipino fighter to lose was 19 year old minimum weight Rollen Del Castillo who dropped an eighth round technical decision in a scheduled ten rounder to Toshikazu Waga who improved to 13-3 with 4 knockouts. Del Castillo is now 13-5 with 6 knockouts. Waga dropped Del Castillo who is ranked No.2 by the OPBF with a wicked right in round seven but Koizumi said the ringside doctor asked the referee to stop the fight as the Japanese was bleeding profusely. There was no indication as to why he was bleeding. Two judges had Waga the winner 78-75 while a third judge scored it for the Japanese 79-74.
