Boxing In Latin America: Saturday Results

It was a big night south of the border last evening with two world title fights argued over, one which ended in explosive fashion while the other was stopped controversially.

At Coliseo Olimpico de la UG in Guadalajara, Mexico, the WBC light flyweight belt was up for grabs with 28 year old reigning champion Rodel Mayol defending his belt for the first time since shocking the division by ending the long title reign of Mexican hero Edgar Sosa in November.

The Los Angeles based Filipino slugger came into the lion’s den to face Guadalajara resident Omar Nino Romero, who held the WBC belt in 2006 and was riding a three bout win streak, including a title eliminator victory over Juanito Rubilar in a rematch this past June.

After a slow start, the two went to war in the second round, letting defense fall by the wayside as the bombs flew in all directions.

Things changed drastically in the third as the WBC champion appeared to KO’d by Romero but upon review the result was declared a technical draw as Mayol had been fouled before the final blow.

Mayol keeps the WBC title and goes to 26-4-2 (20), while Romero’s record now stands at 28-3-2 (11). Expect a rematch.

The undercard featured a true phone booth battle as WBC youth lightweight ruler Daniel Estrada, 22-1 (18), had to climb off the canvas to stop Venezuelan vet Angel Alirio Rivero, 21-8-1 (7), in the tenth and final round.

The Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico played host to the second world title bout as another Filipino fighter, 19 year old Marvin Sonsona, was in action, facing another hometown hero, in this case, Bayamon’s Wilfredo Vasquez Jr for the vacant WBO super bantam strap.

Again, it was a very hard scrap in the early going as the taller southpaw Sonsona sought to keep the local man at bay but soon it was an all out brawl.

Former WBO super flyweight champ Sonsona had jumped up two weight classes for this bout and the stronger career super bantam Vasquez Jr was able to move forward behind a spearing body attack.

By the fourth, Sonsona was in trouble on the ropes and a crushing hook to the body put an end to matters at 2:01 of the round as Vasquez Jr was declared the winner by KO.

Vasquez Jr moves to 18-0-1 (15), following in the footsteps of his father who was a super bantam world titlist in the 1990’s. Sonsona drops to 14-1-1 (12).