Alex Santisima (left) and Jhunrille Castino (right). | Facebook photos
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Two Filipino boxers faltered in their scheduled fights at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, March 2.
Cebu-based Alex Santisima Jr. and PMI Bohol Boxing Gym’s Jhunrille Castino suffered knockout defeats in the hands of Japanese prospects in the same fight card put up by Teiken Promotions.
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Santisima, who fights for ZIP-Sanman Boxing Team based in Cebu City, suffered a seventh-round knockout in the hands of unbeaten Japanese prospect Subaru Murata, while Castino also got knocked out in the fourth round against Kota Kaneko.
Fascinatingly, the two boxers both got knocked out with body punches.
They eerily suffered the same fate as countrymen in Jerwin Ancajas and Jonas Sultan last February who also lost to Japanese opponents in their big fights held Tokyo, Japan.
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Santisima and Castino both got knocked out with the same punch — left hook to the liver.
In Santisima’s case, he got knocked out by Murata in the seventh of their eight-rounder non-title bout, while Castino was stopped by Kaneko in the fourth round.
The defeat stained Santisima’s erstwhile unbeaten record. He now has eight wins with one defeat and two knockouts, while Murata improved to six wins with six knockouts.
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On the other hand, Castino dropped to a 14-5 (win-loss) record with four knockouts, while Kaneko remained undefeated with a 5-0 (win-loss) record with four knockouts.
Despite getting knocked out, both Santisima and Castino fought well.
Santisima forced Subaru in a toe-to-toe battle and landed telling blows, entertaining the crowd from the opening to the seventh round.
Like Santisima, Castino had his moments in their short-lived bout after landing power punches, but Kaneko used his height and reach advantage to gain upper hand.