By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Rugged Raymond Sermona lived up to his nickname “Foreman” in recognition of his fighting style which resembles that of former heavyweight champion George Foreman, by scoring a 1st round TKO over Japan’s Zuri Kannan at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Thursday.
Sermona, a featherweight, came in at 124 ½ pounds while Kannan tipped the scales at 126 for the eight round bout.
Sermona who was coming off a hard-fought majority decision over veteran Celso Danggod in a six round bout last June 27 was the aggressor from the opening bell against the southpaw Kannan forcing the referee to call a halt at 1:57 of the very first round.
With the win Sermona improved to 12-1-3 with 7 knockouts while Kannan suffered only his second defeat to drop to 8-2-2 with 2 knockouts. The Japanese fighter won an eight round decision in his last fight against Yuji Hattori on March 13, 2009.
Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde who handles Sermona met him at the airport upon his arrival Friday afternoon and told BoxingScene.com, insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports that Sermona will fight Balweg Bangoyan for the WBC Intercontinental title on August 29.
Due to his long eight month break the WBC has stripped Bangoyan (13-0, 7 KO’s) of his International 122 pound title. The WBC said Balweg had won the belt on October 11, 2008 from defending champion Sande Otieno and failed to defend it since.