Marlon Tapales of the Philippines celebrates with his manager Rex ‘Wakee’ Salud moments after knocking out former two-time world champion Pong Luang Sor Singyu to annex the WBO bantamweight title yesterday in Thailand. (Dong Secuya of philboxing.com)
The Philippines has a new world boxing champion!
Marlon “Maranding Nightmare” Tapales survived two knockdowns in the fifth round and stopped two-time world champion Pong Luang Sor Singyu in the 11th canto to annex the WBO world bantamweight title yesterday in Ayutthaya, Thailand.
The win however, was anything but easy for the Cebu-based warrior who bucked two knockdowns in the fifth after absorbing solid body shots from the Thai champ.
The first knockdown came when the Thai champion connected with a wicked body shot and fell Tapales. Sor Singyu followed it up with another body shot that downed Tapales again with still plenty of time left.
Sor Singyu, sensing that Tapales was ready for the taking, went for the kill. But Tapales, displaying a lot of heart, survived the round as Sor Singyu appeared to have gassed out
Tapales turned the fight around in the sixth when he downed the Thai with his signature combinations in a battle highly regarded as fight of the year candidate.
The Thailander’s end came in the 11th when Tapales connected with a bone-crushing right hook to Sor Singyu’s head followed by an uppercut and a left straight that sent the latter down for good.
In the championship rounds, Tapales appeared to be the fresher boxer as Sor Singyu had lost wind and at the end of the 10th, went to his corner with a bloodied mouth.
Tapales who is the mandatory challenger, improved his record to 29 wins with 12 knockouts and two losses. More impotantly, the win put him in the same pedestal as reigning world champions Donnie “Ahas” Nietes and Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire Jr.
It was Tapales’ eighth straight win since losing by decision to Mexican David Sanchez in 2013 when they battled for the WBC Silver super flyweight title. He earned the right to face Sor Singyu when he won the WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight title.
Sor Singyu went down to 52-4-0, 35KOs.
Tapales thus become the 4th reigning Filipino world champion and the 4th world champion of boxing impressario Rex ‘Wakee’ Salud.
Sor Singyu suffered a broken jaw and was brought to the hospital after the fight.
“Ako i-dedicate ang akong pagdaug sa akong pamilya, sa among team ug sa atong pinanggang presidente si Digong Duterte nga mao ang akong idol. Usab sa among congresswoman nga si Angging Quibranza Dimaporo kay pinangga ra ba ko kaayo ana niya,” (I dedicate my victory to my family, to my team and to our beloved president Digong Duterte who is my idol. Also to our congresswoman Angging Quibranza Dimaporo who always takes care of me.) Tapalaes said in a post-fight interview.
Sor Singyu won the WBO world bantamweight title for the first time in 2012 by defeating the more favored AJ Banal of ALA Boxing Gym via a ninth round TKO. He lost the title to African Paulus Ambunda in his first title defense but managed to climb back to the top of the rankings by putting on a three-fight winning streak and earned a world title shot and lost to Japanese Tomoki Kameda on 2014. He won the title back last year by beating ALA Promotions’ Japanese boxer Ryo Akaho in Thailand by a knockout and successfully defended it against Filipino Jetro Pabustan by decision last February in Thailand. /with Dong Secuya of Philboxing.com