Regie Suganob (left) throws a jab while Mark Vicelles defends himself in their IBF world light flyweight title eliminator in Calape, Bohol, on Saturday evening. | Glendale Rosal
CEBU CITY, Philippines — PMI Bohol Boxing Stable’s pride Regie “The Filipino Phenom” Suganob put on a masterful performance against Mark “Rasta Mac” Vicelles despite an anticlimactic eighth round stoppage in their much-awaited world title eliminator showdown of “Kumong Bol-Anon 9: A Tribute to Maestro,” main event on Saturday evening at the Calape Sports and Cultural Complex, Bohol.
Suganob pulled himself closer to win a world title shot after becoming the mandatory title challenger against the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world light flyweight champion Sivenathi Nontshinga of South Africa.
The bout on Saturday evening was one of the most anticipated bouts of the year as it pitted two of the Philippines’ top unbeaten prospects in the light flyweight division.
However, the 25-year-old Dauis, town Bohol native emerged victorious via an eighth round technical decision.
The 27-year-old Vicelles of Cebu-based Omega Boxing Gym suffered a huge cut on his right eyebrow he suffered in the sixth round from an accidental head butt.
Ring physician Dr. Rene Bonsubre was forced to stop the bout at 1:39 mark of the eighth round after assessing that the cut was too severe for Vicelles to continue fighting, resulting to the technical decision.
All three judges saw Suganob winning the bout after eight rounds. Gil Co scored 80-71, while Aussie judge Adam Height had it 78-73, and Greg Ortega with the closest one at 77-74, all in favor of Suganob who remained unbeaten in 13 bouts with four knockouts.
Meanwhile, Vicelles absorbed his first pro career loss with 17-1-1 (win-loss-draw) with 10 knockouts.
Fourth round knockdown
It was a complete opposite to what Vicelles’ trainer, Julius Junco predicted that they will knockout Suganob in the eighth round during the presser last Friday.
Suganob impressed his fellow Boholano boxing fans with speed, accuracy, and power.
He floored Vicelles, a known power puncher in the fourth round with a stinging right straight that stunned the visiting Omega Boxing Gym stalwart.
Vicelles quickly got up from the knockdown only to receive a couple more combinations which electrified the crowd.
Suganob outboxed and outmaneuvered Vicelles during their bout, making the latter look like a moving target. The same scenario where Suganob landed a straight and a couple of combinations, while circling the ring continued in the ensuing rounds.
However, Vicelles displayed tremendous heart, especially in the seventh round when he engaged Suganob toe-to-toe landing powerful hooks to the head and body, while blood was oozing from his cut, but the latter survived the round.
“Sa ako ra jud sa duwa, confident kaayo ko sa duwa. Sakto ko sa preparasyon, akong mga ka sparring nindot. Si Jay-r Raquinil akong ka sparring, abtik ug kusog. Dili ingon nga sayon to nga away, nakuha lang jud nako siya sa akong game plan,” said Suganob.
(It was my game plan, I was very confident with my game plan. I have enough preparation and my sparring partners were good. Jay-r Raquinil, my sparring partner, is fast and strong. I am not saying that the fight was easy, I just got him in my game plan.)
“Ready na ko sa world title. Atong paningkamotan ato nang makuha ang world title. Mas ato pang iimprove kung unsa atong kuwang dapat atong idugang sa atong training. Siguro daghan pa ko angay iimprove, pero nindot akong performance akong gipakita, kuwang pa lang gyud,” he said.
(I am ready for a world title fight. We will try hard to get the world title. We will now improve on what we lack and add it to our training. Perhaps, I still have a lot to improve on, but I showed a good performance, (but) it is still lacking.)
Suganob: World title fight ready
For Suganob’s promoter, Floriezyl Echavez Podot, his prized ward which he described as “The Face of PMI Boxing” is ripe for a world title fight.
“Kinahinugan na siya para sa world title. Naay ganahan Japanese promoter nga adto siya paduwaon sa Japan, pero amo pa nang gitrabaho tanan. Naay gusto Japanese promoter nga modala, si Eddie Hearn gusto sad mo promote. Most probably gusto namo mahitabo either sa Manila or Cebu. Sa Manila ang kasabot namo didto kay didto sa Okada, pero daghan gaingon nga ang Cebu kay ang Mecca of Boxing sa Pilipinas. So ato nang tan-awn tanan kung asa nindot,” said Podot.
(He is most ripe for a world title. A Japanese promoter wanted him to fight in Japan, but we are still working on that. There is also a Japanese promoter who wanted to handle him, Eddie Hearn also wanted to promote him. Most probably we want this to happen in Manila or Cebu. In Manila, we are talking to Okada, but many are saying to do it in Cebu because this is the Mecca of Boxing in the Philippines.)
He also said that they were targeting to stop Vicelles in the 10th round, and so they upped their pace in the eighth round to slowly dismantle Vicelles to fulfill their game plan, but the bout was stopped in the eighth.
“Luoy pud kung ipadayon pa nato to paghuman sa eight rounds kay nakuha na man gyud nato ilang boxer. Ang atong boxer, presko pa kaayo. So, mao to, very happy kaayo mi kay na execute ni Regie ang game plan namo,” said Podot.
(I would pity the boxer if the fight was allowed to continue after eight rounds because our boxer already owned him. Our boxer, (is) still very fresh. So, that is why, we are very happy that Regie was able to execute our game plan.)
Newly added champ
Besides Suganob’s impressive outing, PMI Bohol Boxing Stable welcomed its newest champion, Shane “Sugar” Gentallan (7-0, 4KOs) who bagged the WBO Oriental Youth minimumweight title.
The unbeaten 24-year-old Boholano boxer knocked out Indonesian Faisol Akbar (6-7-1, 2KOs) in the second round of the fight card’s co-main event.
Gentallan joined fellow WBO regional champions from PMI in Virgel Vitor and Daniel Nicolas.
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