Jonas Sultan landed a right straight to Frank Gonzales in their eight-rounder non-title bout in Florida. | Photo from ProBox TV Twitter page
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Former world title challenger Jonas Sultan ended his long boxing hiatus with an emphatic victory against American frank Gonzales in the undercard of ProBox TV fight card held at the Whitesands Events Center, Plant City, Florida in the United States on Wednesday, September 6, 2023 (Sept. 7, Manila Time).
Sultan, a native of Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte who is now based in Florida, made easy work to clinch his 19th victory in 25 bouts with 11 knockouts and six defeats.
He defeated Gonzales via unanimous decision in his first fight as a super bantamweight.
Meanwhile, Gonzales suffered his fourth defeat in 16 bouts.
It can be recalled that Sultan fought for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) interim world bantamweight title against British Paul Butler in Liverpool, England last April 2022.
However, Sultan lost by unanimous decision against Butler, forcing him to take a rest for more than a year.
Before that Sultan won the WBO Inter-Continental bantamweight title against the heavily favored Carlos Caraballo in New York which catapulted him in the world rankings.
During the bout on Wednesday, Sultan didn’t show any signs of ring rust after pounding Gonzales with vicious combinations.
Sultan floored Gonzales in the second round after the latter absorbed a flurry of punches that completely caught him off guard.
Gonzales fought back, tagging Sultan with hooks, but the latter kept on pressing forward with his assault until the bell rang.
In the fifth round, Sultan knocked down Gonzales, again, after they engaged in a fierce exchange.
Sultan landed a left hook followed by a right uppercut that downed Gonzales on his knees. Carried by the situation, Sultan threw two more punches to the kneeling Gonzales, forcing the referee to slash two points against the latter from the judges’ scorecards.
Still, Sultan was unfazed by the deduction and remained relentless in the remaining rounds, convincing the three judges at ringside to give him the unanimous decision victory after eight rounds. / dcb
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