World Boxing Federation (WBF) International Light Flyweight Champion Jether Oliva moved up to Flyweight on Sunday October 5 and added the WBF Asia Pacific title to his resume in Glan, Philippines, with a clear victory over Indonesian Jemmy Gobel.
The title was only on the line for Oliva, as Gobel failed to get under the Flyweight limit at the official weigh-in on Saturday (he was one Lbs. Over), but Oliva didn’t let the disadvantage get in his way, and put on a disciplined and convincing performance.
The 27-year-old from General Santos City took control from the start, and used his superior technical skills to out-box Gobel. While it was at times a one-side affair, Gobel did sporadically have his moments and was never close to being stopped.
After ten rounds of boxing there was no doubt that Oliva had won a clear unanimous decision, and improved his professional record to 22-2-2 (10).
Gobel, a 32-year-old from Jakarta, drops to 18-25-5 (13) and has probably seen better days, despite still being a very tough competitor.
“Danger Zone” was promoted by Sanman Promotions, in cooperation with MP Promotions headed by Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao, and BF Promotions.
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.
