UAE?ALA Gym?s Milan Milendo retained his WBC youth intercontinental flyweight title with a methodical demolition job of Thai challenger Komrit Twins Gym, while stablemates Rey Bautista and Larry Canillas overcame conditioning problems to score equally devastating knockout victories in Friday night?s Philippines vs. the World fight card in Dubai.
Milendo came out most impressive among the Filipinos as he scored three knockdowns in the first two rounds and then unleashed a series of powerful uppercuts to the body that compelled referee Bruce McTavish to award a TKO victory in 1:23 of the fourth. It was the sixth knockout victory by Milendo.
?I did not get excited or try to rush things after I scored those knockdowns. That?s not the way I fight,? said Milendo, who decked Twins Gym with a wicked left just after the opening-round bell and scored another knockdown with a left uppercut-right hook combination later in the same round. ?Boxing for me is a science, so I don?t really care if I win by a knockout or not. What?s important is I do it in the right way.?
Bautista (28-2, 21 KOs) and Canillas (10-2, 9 KOs), who are both certified knockout artists, took a more tactical, bruising route in prevailing over their opponents. But while Canillas dominated Tanzania?s Fred Sayuni from the outset en route to a sixth-round TKO, Bautista was shaken in a similar sixth-round TKO win over Thailand?s Saichon Sotornpitak, whose aggressive counterattacks left the Filipino looking dangerously vulnerable in several instances.
Fighting in the main event, Bautista drew the loudest cheers and was clearly the most popular of the three ALA boxers. He did not disappoint early on, landing a leading left followed by a right straight that floored Sotornpitak in the first round.
