By Rey Danseco

WORLD rated Juanito Rubillar is now looking for the mandatory shot at the winner of the bout between WBC light flyweight champ Eric Ortiz and Filipino-American challenger Brian Viloria. He finished the ‘Kulog sa Elorde’ card on a rainy Saturday night at the air-conditioned Elorde Sports Center in Paranaque City, Metro Manila, Philippines with a third-round knockout of Edwin Ubatay.

A swift right uppercut instantly floored the game Ubatay just as Rubillar pinned the hapless unranked fighter to the ropes, near the neutral corner.

Ubatay tried but failed to pick himself up from the canvass, as he can’t pull his buttocks from the floor. He smirked a bit, looked at his corner and laid-flat his back down again while grasping for air.

Referee Ferdinand Estrella counted Ubatay out at 1:42 of the third of the scheduled 10-round non-title tiff in the first boxing show of neophyte promoter Edmund Jose cooperation with his brother-in-law Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde Jr.

Rubillar, a veteran of IBF minumumweight and two WBC light flyweight title bouts, and Ubatay started the fight slow and dull.

But the WBC No. 2 and IBF No. 8 light fly contender initially hurt his foe with hard body shots in the next round and managed to score a knockdown after Ubatay’s delayed reaction-drop to the canvass for the first time with five seconds remaining.

Rubillar, who earned the right for WBC title shot at 41st WBC Annual Convention in Moscow, improved to 37-9-7 win-loss-draw records with 17 knockouts.

The Ortiz-Viloria bout will takes place on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales event at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on Sept. 10.

In the co-main event, WBO Asia Pacific flyweight champ Rexon Flores (13-2-4 with 7 KOs) and 53-fight veteran Acasio Simbajon (mistakenly reported as Faustino Simbajon) ended in a technical draw in the second round.

Before referee Virgilio Abainza stopped the fight, he gave Flores standing eight count after the WBO No. 5 contender was floored by body shot and simultaneous accidental clash of head with Simbajon, who suffered a nasty two-inch cut over his head where blood flowed profusely.

“It was a bad cut,” said ring physician Dr. Naseer Cruz.

On the undercard, featherweight prospect Rey Labao (7-0, 5 KOs) remained undefeated after scoring a knockdown with left straight punch to the jaw en route to a unanimous decision win over 8 rounds against gutsy Richard Laano (4-2-3, 2 KOs).

An accidental headbutt forced the schedule 6-round super bantam bout between southpaw Jonel Alibio (3-2-1, 2 KOs) and Michael Romulo (0-1-1) to rule as technical draw at 2:15 of the second round.

Romulo suffered a nasty cut where blood flowed profusely from his right eyelid while Alibio took a little slash between his eyebrows.

Raymond Sermona (1-0, 1 KO), a hard-hitting 5-foot-4 super bantam with 33 inches reach, made a very impressive debut when forced Jimmy Galagate (0-2), whose face was bloody mess from cut in his nose, to retire before the 2nd round bell ring.

Slick-punching 5-foot-5 flyweight Drian Francisco, protégée of former two-time world flyweight champ Erbito Salavarria, improved to 3-0, 2 KOs after posting a shutout decision over four rounds against the tough Jose Samson Martin Jr.

Super feather Abraham “Benny” Palen won his first fight as a pro when Ruel Santos (0-2) retired while setting on his stool after the opening round. Santos claimed the back of his neck was sprained and he couldn’t move it.

Sermona’s brother Ronilo Sermona (3-1, 3 KOs) stopped Joshua Manzano (0-3) at 42 seconds of the 2nd round. Referee Virgilio Abainza counted out Manzano while setting on the canvass after he was caught by a well-time one right straight punch to the jaw.

All bouts will be shown by ELORDE BOXING SPECIALS over Philippine national television IBC Channel 13 at evening primetime on Fridays starting Sept. 2 with this writer and Dennis Principe as commentators at ringside.