By REYNALD MAGALLON
Vincent Astrolabio’s bid to become a world champion ended in a blink of an eye.
A swift, whistling shot to body left the Filipino challenger grimacing in pain as defending champion Junto Nakatani retained his World Boxing Council bantamweight belt via a sensational first round knockout victory on Saturday, July 20, at the Kokugikan National Arena in Tokyo, Japan.
The 27-year-old pride of General Santos City seemed to be holding his own in the early going of the contest before the undefeated Japanese champion delivered the vicious left to Astrolabio’s midsection, putting a shocking end to the bout with still 23 seconds left in the opening round.
Astrolabio did not immediately feel the hit as he was still able to backpedal before falling down to his knee, gasping for air.
He tried to stand up and fight through the pain but just couldn’t continue anymore with referee Thomas Taylong waiving off the contest – much to the surprise and amusement of the crowd.
Nakatani, who further solidified his name as one of the world’s rising pound-for-pound fighters, kept his record unblemished with 28-0 slate, with 21 knockouts.
While the Japanese had the reputation of delivering sensational knockouts, he admitted that he expected the fight to go the distance. Instead, he hardly broke a sweat and even apologized for the abrupt end of the fight.
“I thought it was going to be a long fight,” said Nakatani.
Astrolabio was connecting on occasional counters before he was caught overreacting to a quick right to the head from Nakatani. He managed to block the jab but his guard went a little too high, leaving his midsection wide open to which the Japanese made sure to take advantage of by unloading the killing blow.
The Filipino pug failed on his second shot at a world title after also losing to Jason Moloney in the World Boxing Organization bantamweight championship last year.
He fell to a 19-5 record while absorbing his second knockout loss of his career.
