Filipino knock out artist, Aston Palicte of Bago City, Negros Occidental, Philippines displayed his talents in front of an international crowd as he scored a seventh round TKO victory over Ismael Garnica of Mexico in their scheduled 10-round super flyweight bout at the Venetian Resort in Macau on Saturday night.
The hard hitting Palicte, who is promoted by MP Promotions and fighting for first time overseas, outworked and dominated Garnica throughout the fight, and got the win when referee Eddie Claudio had seen enough punishments to waived the fight at the 2:19 mark of the 7th round.
This was Palicte’s seventh straight knockout victory since his knockout loss against Romnick Magos way back in December of 2012.
With this impressive win, big fights lie ahead for the 24-year old Palicte. The win also improves his record to 17-1, 15 KO’s, while Garnica dropped to 13-6-1, 5 KO’s.
In an 8-round lightweight bout, Raymond Sermona (17-5-5, 8 KOs) of the Philippines failed to secure a win in Macao as he got knocked out in the first round by Mexican lightweight star, Jose Felix Jr. (29-1-1, 24 KOs)
The 22-year old Felix Jr. made a quick work of his Filipino foe as he started the fight by throwing his jabs to establish his distance. Sermona on the other hand was patient with his attacks as he waits his opponent to go into offensive. The end came at the half way mark of the round as a looping right hook to the side of the head dropped Sermona to his knees, and he failed to beat the count. Official time was 1:47
In an all out war for the vacant WBA International super flyweight title, Michael Enriquez (10-3-1, 6KO) of Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines almost pulled off a huge upset as he dropped a very close unanimous decision loss against undefeated Rex Tso (16-0-0, 9KO) of Hong Kong.
The war started immediately from the opening bell. Both fighter connected with their power bombs and staggered each other. The lone knockdown of the fight came in the fourth round, as a short left hook from Tso, after being rocked, dropped Enriquez down for the count. In the end, the 10-8 fourth round in favor of Tso served to be a big difference as the judges scored the fight 95-94, 95-94, 96-93 in favor of the highly popular Tso.
In the evening’s main event, undefeated IBF flyweight champion Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand silenced the Chinese crowd as he defended his title with a unanimous decision victory over double Olympic gold medallist, Zou Shiming of China.
The 35-year old Ruenroeng, who is under the watchful eyes of Filipino trainers Frank Jaro and promoter/manager Aljoe Jaro, maximized his 5-inch reach advantage. He landed more effective jabs and maintained his distance against his Chinese challenger Shiming, who is trained by Marvin Somodio, also a Filipino, along with famous world class trainer, Freddie Roach.
Despite being knockdown in the second round, where the champion appeared to slip, Ruenroeng managed to impress the judges as he got a 116-111 on all three judges’ scorecards.
With the victory, Ruenroeng improves his record to 15-0 5 KO’s, while Shiming tasted his first defeat in his young pro career drops to 6-1 with 1 KO
In other results:
NABO Super Welterweight Championship: Glen Tapia def. Daniel Dawson via TKO in the 3rd rd. Official time 1:42
IBF Super Lightweight Eliminator: Ik Yang def. Patomsuk Pathompothong via TKO in the 6th rd. Official time 1:47
Super Welterweight Bout: Kuok Kun Ng def. Chingchai Kiatpracha via KO in the 3rd rd. Official time 2:35*
*Kiatpracha dropped Ng in round one
