By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Pan Asia Boxing Association junior lightweight champion Jun Paderna retained his title with a third round knockout victory over No. 3 contender Chotipath Wangprated of Thailand in an exciting fight card at the San Andres Sports Center, late Friday.
Paderna who was the aggressor from the opening bell against the taller and heavier Wangprated who lost any hope of winning the title when he came in two pounds over the 130 pound limit, occasionally caught Paderna with a stinging right straight but failed to hurt the champion.
Eventually Paderna caught Wangprated with a vicious combination that sent the Thai challenger sprawling on his back and the referee didn’t even bother to count. The tome was 2:09 of the third round. With the win Paderna improved to 13-5-1 with 7 knockouts while Wangprated dropped to 6-6-2 with 2 KO’s.
Lanky Eriberto “Yukka” Gejon put himself in line for another crack at the WBA minimum weight title with a second round KO of stocky Thai fighter Yoddoi Sioshei who couldn’t overcome the tremendous height and reach advantage of Gejon who used a stinging left and a perfectly-timed right uppercut to put the game Thai out for the count at 1:58 of the second round. Gejon who lost a controversial decision to Japan’s Yutaka Niida last December is eager to avenge the loss in a rematch and is hoping that his manager Rex “Wakee”Salud can get it done.
The fights at San Andres received the wholehearted support of Mayor Lito Atienza and his son Ali Atienza, the presidential assistant for youth and sports and was sponsored by Tanduay, the No.1 Rhum.
