By CALVIN CORDOVA
TAGBILARAN CITY — A Boholano boxer put on a superb showing on Saturday night, Feb. 26, and moved closer to becoming a world champion.
Regie Suganob, fast emerging as the face of the Bohol-based PMI Boxing Stable, proved to be the better fighter in the duel of unbeaten boxers, beating Mark Vicelles via technical decision in the main event of “Kumong Bolanon IX” at the Calape Sports and Cultural Center in Calape town, Bohol.
The fight was halted at the 1:39 of the mark of the eighth round when ring physician deemed Vicelles unfit to continue to fight after sustaining a deep cut in the right eyebrow as a result of an accidental head butt.
Vicelles, the visiting fighter from the Cebu City-based Omega Boxing Gym, suffered the cut in the sixth round.
Before the fight was halted, Suganob was leading in all scorecards with judge Gil Co scoring it at 80-71, Australian judge Adam Height saw it at 78-73, and Greg Ortega had it at 77-74.
Suganob, thus, improved his record to 13-0 while handing Vicelles his first defeat in 18 fights.
More importantly, the win made Suganob the mandatory challenger against the International Boxing Federation world light flyweight champion Sivenathi Nontshinga of South Africa.
Vicelles’ camp had guaranteed a victory within eight rounds. Vicelles’ trainer, Julius Junco, even gestured a slit-throat during the weigh-in.
For Suganob, he did the talking on top of the ring.
With his speed, pinpoint punching and power, Suganob was just too much for Vicelles.
The hometown crowd went wild in the fourth round when Suganob floored Vicelles with a right straight, which happened to be the Boholano’s main arsenal.
Vicelles survived the knockdown but found no answer to Suganob’s onslaught until the fight came to its anticlimactic ending.
“The game plan was to move in and out. I just followed it and that’s why I was able to get the win. Maybe, I got lucky too,” said Suganob.
Suganob said he would just await the decision of his handlers led by PMI Boxing Promotions Floriezyl Echavez Pudot as to when he could fight for the world title belt.
“I am ready for a world title fight. I will work hard for it. I am ready but I know I still need to improve a lot of things in my arsenal and I will work on it,” said Suganob.
In the co-main event, Suganob’s stablemate Shane “Sugar” Gentallan (7-0, 4KOs) snatched the WBO Oriental Youth minimumweight title by scoring a second-round knockout win against Indonesian Faisol Akbar (6-7-1, 2KOs).
