Rene Mark Cuatro pulled off a shocker in General Santos City, taking a unanimous decision victory over Pedro Taduran to win the IBF World Minimumweight Championship during MP Promotion’s The Puncher, Saturday.
Cuatro, 24, got the nod of judges Alberto Pulalas, Sabas Ponpon Jr., and Roel Peasing with identical scores of 115-113.
Knowing the power that Taduran possesses, Cuatro took the cerebral approach in the 12 round affair, settling for counter punches that frustrated the champion
Taduran, a native of Albay, picked it up in the seventh round as he started to connect cleanly.
Cuatro was able to survive Taduran’s flurry as the latter rounds saw him dictate the tempo once more en route to his first world title.
Cuarto raised his record to 19-2-2 (11KO) while Taduran dropped to 14-3-1 (11KO).
The event held in Bula Gym was supervised by the Games and Amusements Board, headed by chairman Baham Mitra.
In other bouts, young Vincent Astrolabio (16-3) made short work of Jerry Pabila (6-5) with a first round knockout win, Orlie Silvestre (16-6-2) took a unanimous decision win over Bonjun Loperez (12-15-1), while Genisis Libranza (20-1) blasted John Mark Apolinario (20-15-3) with a first round KO win as well.
