Undefeated 20-year-old Filipino boxers Harmanito Dela Torre and John Vincent Moralde proved too much for their Indonesian opponents on Saturday, September 13, at the Lagao Gym in General Santos City, Philippines, winning World Boxing Federation (WBF) titles.
On a big show promoted by Sanman Promotions and labelled as “Battle Of The Pentagon”, Dela Torre, going in as the WBF International Super Featherweight Champion, captured the vacant Interim World title by defeating Isack Junior in emphatic fashion.
Dela Torre was on top from the start and put on a world class performance, dominating Isack and landing quick combinations almost at will. In round four Dela Torre connected with hard shots to the head, and then shifted his attack to the body and send Isack down for the full count with a vicious shot.
The victor, 14-0 (9), will now face the winner of a fight later this fall in South Africa for the full WBF World Super Featherweight title. Isack Junior drops to 22-6-2 (8).
At Super Bantamweight, reigning Philippines national champion John Vincent Moralde beat Jason Butar Butar by unanimous decision to lift the vacant WBF International crown.
It was a highly entertaining encounter, with Butar Butar coming forward at all times and Moralde using his superior boxing skills to outbox the visitor. While Moralde won most of the rounds, Butar Butar never stopped trying and did have some success.
Although accurate and fair, the scoring of the judges did not do Butar Butar justice after a spirited and very game effort, but Romy Fordalize and Sabas Ponpon Jr. both had Moralde winning by 99-91, while judge Abdul Marajan saw it a 100-90 shut-out.
Moralde improved his professional record to 11-0 (6), while Butar Butar is now 16-14-1 (12).
www.worldboxingfederation.net
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
