Toto Landero bucked a slow start to become the new WBC Eurasia Pacific Boxing Council minimumweight champion, outlasting former titleholder Rolly Sumalpong with a twelve round majority decision win at The Mall of Asia Atrium in Pasay City, Thursday night.
The Dante Almario Boxing-pugilist struggled to find his range early into the fight but was able to gain traction later in the bout. After landing a solid left hook to his opponent during the third round, he was able pressure Sumalpong to the corner with a flurry of hard shots, leaving the Elorde boxer backpedalling away from danger.
Despite being the relatively shorter fighter, Landero banked on his in-your-face strategy. He relentlessly attacked his taller opponent’s defense with smothering body shots. Sumalpong, who earned the title by defeating JC Fransico eight months ago, tried to launch his own offense but had little success.
Urged by his cornermen to be more aggressive, Somalpong opened the ninth round by landing stiff jabs followed by a sneaky uppercut to the prone head of Landera. It was short-lived however as Landera reasserted himself until the final bell.
It proved to be enough for the twenty year-old Landera to win the fight when the scores was announced with Judges Greg Ortega and Carlo Baluyot scoring the bout 116-112 and 115-113 repectively to his favor while Virgilio Garcia seeing it as a 114-114 draw.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkdEcpkP-U4
Landera improves his record to eight wins and two draws while Sumaplong drops his record to 9-2-1.
In the co-main event, the battle for the vacant WBC International super bantamweight between Joe “Misako” Noynay and Alie Laurel ended in a draw after a closely contested affair.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76kLyuDYFRU
“Misako” looked better to start the fight, showing improvement on his striking in comparison to his previous fights. However, the MP Boxing representative quickly returned the favor when he countered with a quick right hook that temporarily stunned the Cebuano.
Laurel displayed better ring control in the third in getting the better of their exchanges. He started to land hard shots of his own that forced Noynay to clinch. Both men continued to trade punches but neither wanted to give even the slightest of advantage to one another in the fourth, ending the round with identical scorecards from the judges.
Entering the midway rounds of the fight, Laurel proceeded to land stiff shots coming from different angles. Moreover, he showed better defense in nullifying Misako’s jab that gave him a slight edge.
Things were about to break open in Laurel’s favor until Joe landed a solid left hook that rocked him. The solid shot was followed by a number of punches that floored Laurel. Laurel was fortunately able to stand up before the eight count during the eleventh round.
Laurel and Noynay continued their wild exchanges in the final round but fatigue eventually caught up on both men up until the final bell. The scores reflected how close the fight was with Judge Jerrold Tomeldan scoring it 114-113 in favor of Noynay while Judge Herman Tayag scored the same for Laurel. Ferdinand Estrella, however, saw the bout as 114-114, ending the bout in a split draw that makes the WBC International belt still vacant.
In the first main event of the evening, Eranio Semillano successfully defended his WBC EPBC superflyweight title, stopping Japanese challenger Kyota Otsuka with an eleventh round TKO victory.
Here are the results from Elorde Boxing’s “Night of Champions”:
Eranio Semillano def. Kyota Otsuka (TKO, 11th round)
Joe Noynay and Alie Laurel fought in a draw (Split Draw)
Toto Landero def. Rolly Sumalpong (Majority Decision)
Jung Mum Sun def. Marco Niones (TKO, 2nd round)
Ernie Mino, Jr. def. Seo Da Won (UD)
Arnel Baconaje def. Menard Avila (TKO, 2nd round)
Glenn Medura def. Rolando Niones (TKO, 1st round)
Allan Vallespin def. Menard Zaragoza (TKO, 3rd round)
Jeffrey Arienza def. Edsil Jungco (TKO, 3rd round)
Germaine dela Rosa def. Meljun Penapil (Split Decision)
