Sanman’s Plania, Moralde survive foes in ‘Brawl in the Mall’ to stay unbeaten

MAKATI — “Magic” Mike Plania and John Vincent “Mulawin” Moralde had to go through the wringer to remain unscathed as they survived not just their respective able opponents but also a hostile crowd last Sunday night in the Brawl in the Mall: Undefeated at the Makati Square Arena here.

Plania clinched the vacant World Boxing Federation (WBF) International bantamweight belt with a majority decision win over Lorence Rosas, while Moralde survived a ninth-round knockdown to pull off a split decision victory over Jimmy Aducal.

Apart from Plania and Moralde, two other stalwarts of the Sanman Boxing Gym emerged victorious to complete a 4-0 sweep for the General Santos City-based stable.

“I was not satisfied with my performance. I still have a lot to work on to prepare myself for bigger fights,” said Plania, moments after sealing his 10th straight win.

Rosas of Makati’s MSA Gym jumped the gun on Plania, opening the first round with a barrage of attacks that put his opponent on the defensive end.

The fight had to be stopped several times as Plania’s mouthpiece kept falling out of his mouth.

The loose mouthpiece cost Plania precious points as he was slapped with a point deduction in the third.

Plania got a huge break when Rosas was also deducted in the seventh round for an intentional headbutt.

Plania started to assert himself in the eighth where he wobbled Rosas with crisp head shots.

Judge Jerrold Tomeldan saw the bout at 94-94 all, while the two other judges Gil Co and Nowell Haduca had it 96-92 and 95-93, respectively.

“Mike just turned 19. I was impressed with the way he fought especially against a touigh opponent like Rosas,” said Jim Claude ‘JC’ Manangquil, chief executive officer of Sanman Promotions.

Moralde, on the other hand, ran out of gas but still found a way to survive Aducal.

“I thought of stopping in the ninth. But I didn’t have enough training since I had to attend to my wedding. This is a lesson learned for me,” said Moralde, who has now 16 wins — seven of them were knockout victories.

“I was shocked to see him (Moralde) fight like that. It was his worst performance, but we are not giving up on him. He has to realize that you cannot take your opponent lightly and you have to take your training seriously,” said Manangquil.

Unlike Plania and Moralde, Reymart Gaballo and Marquil Salvana had an easy time dispatching their foes.

Salvana scored two knockdowns before finishing off Lowell Saguisa at 2:32 of the first round, while Gaballo needed 61 seconds to dispose Marlon Arcilla.