By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Promising Richard Claveras retained his WBC Asian Boxing Council light flyweight title with a stunning 1st round knockout of Indonesian challenger Demsi Manufoe at the Mandaluyong City Gym on Saturday evening.

Claveras added another knockout to his impressive credentials which now stands at 12 wins all coming by way of knockouts with 2 draws while Manufoe dropped to 9-4 with 6 knockouts.

It was hardly a workout for the 25 year old Claveras from the United Boxing Gym of Malate. He hurt Manufoe with a right to the solar plexus and then finished off the Indonesian with a right to the liver sending him flat on his face to be counted out by international referee Ferdie Estrella at 37 seconds of the opening round.

Claveras who is from Silay City, Negros Occidental lived up to his nickname “explosive” after coming off a 2nd round KO of Rodel Tejares last December 9.

In the supporting main event Philippine flyweight champion Ardin Diale made even shorter work of another Indonesian Rommy Wassar, scoring a knockout in 30 seconds of the first round prompting United Boxing  International Promotions Edgar De Castro and Ryuta Kato to tell BoxingScene/Manila Standard/Viva Sports they will now look for worthy opponents from other countries or match top Filipino contenders against fighters like Claveras and Diale.

Diale caught Wassar with a left to the side of the body and followed it up with a right hook and an uppercut to send the hapless Indonesian crashing to the canvas.

With the win Diale, who is ranked No. 2 by the Oriental Pacific Boxing Federation, is hoping to earn a rematch against champion Koki Ito of Japan to whom he lost by an 8th round knockout in an absolute war last June 17, 2014. He is now 27-9-3 with 14 knockouts.

Asian Boxing Scene described the fight as a thriller which started well for Diale who dropped Eto in round three to give him a 39-36 lead under the open scoring system at the end of the 4th round.

The fight was a slugfest and Eto was again on the receiving end in round seven as he was dropped for the second time but the Japanese showed his fighting heart in round eight and turned things around.

Asian Boxing Scene reported that  both men slugged it out with the intention of ending it right there  and then with Eto groggy at one moment and ready for the taking before Diale was hurt moments later and was dropped twice.

Diale threw everything he had at Eto but blew himself out in the process and a follow-up attack by Eto, after stunning Diale, forced the stoppage in a remarkable turnaround that many viewed as one of the top come from behind wins of 2014.