Lots of action last night at the Cebu Coliseum in Cebu City, Philippines where Bert Batawang, Rodel Mayol and Federico Catubay all rolled on to victory.
36 year old southpaw light flyweight Batawang, 52-7 (36), enjoyed his second win in a row following a failed bid to unseat IBF Champion Ulises Solis by stopping well-traveled Thai Samransak Singmanassak, 32-19-1 (36), in the fourth.
Singmanassak had a 12 year youth advantage on his side going into the bout and was giving Batawang a good fight before walking into the perfect right hand that knocked him out at 0:37 of the fourth round. With the win, Batawang secures the vacant WBO Oriental Light Fly title.
Mandaue City resident Rodel Mayol, 24-3 (19), returned to the win column with a fifth round stoppage of another Thai fighter, Wisan Sor Suchanya, 9-7-1 (2), at light flyweight.
Mayol rights a career that had been on shaky legs after losing a WBC Minimumweight title shot to Eagle Den Junlaphan two years ago and included an eighth round stoppage at the hands of IBF Light Fly Champ Solis last August.
Local super flyweight Federico Catubay, 21-14-3 (11), also got back on track with a eighth round technical decision against Brix “Bomb” Ray, 3-4-1 (2), seven months after suffering a twelfth round TKO to Vic Darchinyan for the vacant IBO crown.