Rising star Denice Zamboanga and grizzled veteran Honorio Banario earned tough victories during ONE: King of the Jungle, Friday at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
In a coming-of-age performance, 23-year-old Zamboanga stymied former contender Mei Yamaguchi, earning a dominant unanimous decision win to stake her claim as the rightful contender to Angela Lee.
Zamboanga was simply too powerful compared to the 37-year-old Japanese atomweight — especially in the third round. Despite figuring in the deep waters of the bout, Zamboanga still landed the heavy blows to close out the bout.
Zamboanga raised her slate to 7-0 while dropping Yamaguchi to 21-12-1.
On the other hand, Banario had a triumphant return to the featherweight division, eking out a split decision win over Shannon Wiratchai.
It was a tightly-contested bout that saw both fighters evenly split the first two rounds.
In the third round, Banario went to his grappling game to stop the Thai.
Banario snapped his three-fight skid with the win to go up to 15-10. On the other hand, Wiratchai fell to 9-6.
Fil-Kiwi Mark Abelardo (19-7) could not come home with the win, suffering a unanimous decision loss to undefeated American prospect Tony Worthen (7-0).
