Charly Suarez raises his hand after his TKO victory against Tomjune Mangubat in their WBA Asia super featherweight bout. | Screen grab from the live streaming.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Olympian Charly “King’s Warrior” Suarez wrested the World Boxing Association (WBA) Asia super featherweight title by knocking out Tomjune “Wardog” Mangubat in the 12th round on Saturday evening, March 12 at The Flash Grand Ballroom of the Elorde Sports Complex, Paranaque City.
The 33-year-old 2016 Rio Olympics veteran and three-time Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) gold medalist showcased speed, footwork, and accuracy in stopping the more aggressive Mangubat in their thrilling showdown.
Suarez of San Isidro, Davao del Norte earned his first major title in his young pro career. He improved his record to 10 wins with seven knockouts.
Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Mangubat of the Cebu-based Omega Boxing Gym suffered his third defeat with 15 wins, one draw, and 12 knockouts.
The referee, Tony Pesons stopped the bout at the 2:15 mark of the 12th round after Mangubat was pinned against the ropes and got hit with most of Suarez’s combinations.
Before the stoppage, Suarez decked Mangubat with a right uppercut, but the latter managed to get back on his feet only to get punished with vicious combinations, forcing Pesons to stop the bout.
Before getting knocked out, Mangubat was the more aggressive between the two protagonists as he kept moving forward, pressuring Suarez with combinations in the first three rounds.
It forced Suarez to up his guard and move away from Mangubat’s directions.
However, in the ensuing rounds, Suarez started to see the gaps of Mangubat’s offense and capitalized on it. Suarez used his footwork and speed to avoid the forwarding Mangubat and manages to land sharp jabs and straights.
The same scenario repeated in most of the bout with Suarez landing jabs and straights while moving away in front of Mangubat.
In the ninth round, Mangubat started to slow down which gave Suarez the chance to increase his punch output by throwing more combinations, turning the tide of the bout.
In the 11th round, Suarez pinned Mangubat against the ropes and landed vicious combinations, but the latter managed to survive the round.
Suarez landed a right uppercut that knocked down Mangubat for the first time in the bout. The Omega Boxing Gym stalwart managed to get back on his feet only to get pinned against the ropes and receive most of Suarez’s stinging combinations en-route to winning the WBA regional title.
Meanwhile, Igorot prospect Carl Jammes Martin bucked a second round knockdown en-route to scoring an 11th round TKO over Ronnie Baldonado to snatch the WBA Asia super bantamweight title.
The 22-year-old Martin remained unbeaten at 19 wins with 16 knockouts while Baldonado dropped to 15-3-1 (win-loss-draw) with nine knockouts.
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