By Ronnie Nathanielsz

 

Bert Batawang’s bid to win the IBF light flyweight title and avenge the defeat of countryman Rodel Mayol was virtually smashed by Mexican champion Ulises Solis who battered and outclassed the game 36 year old  Filipino before wildly cheering fans in his hometown of Guadalajara, yesterday.

 

All three judges had Solis ahead by a shutout at the end of eight rounds, 80-72, in his sixth successful title defense and his second against a Filipino challenger.

 

According to philboxing.com’s Dong Secuya who was at ringside, Batawang’s only moments came in the first half of the fourth round when he nailed Solis with some good shots to the head and body as he continued to chase Solis who appeared to be hurt. However, the champion quickly recovered to effectively steal Batawang’s best round in the fight.

 

Secuya reported that “from the fifth round onwards it was all  Solis’ show as he tagged Batawang with jabs and combinations and crisp counters every time Batawang attempted to throw some punches which were few and far between..” Batawang  suffered a cut on the right eyebrow by a legitimate punch in the eighth round before referee Pat Russell, according to Secuya, “ mercifully stopped the mismatch at 2:33 of the ninth round as Solis chased Batawang who appeared to be defenseless.”

 

With the loss Batawang who said he was immobilized by a hard left from Solis on his right rib cage in the fifth round, dropped to 50-7-0 with 34 KO’s while Solis improved to 26-1-2 with 20 KO’s. Aside from seeking to dethrone Solis who had successfully defended the title five times since winning it via a unanimous twelve round decision over Will Grigsby on January 7, 2006 in his home territory, Batawang expected to draw some confidence from the fact that countryman Rodel Mayol  had Solis on the verge of a knockout in the sixth round of their title fight last August 4 but couldn’t finish off the champion who survived a knockdown and came back to score an eighth round TKO. But that hope proved to be futile as Solis was clearly a much better fighter than expected.