Philippines, 21 Feb 2026
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RUBILLAR WINS TUNE-UP FIGHT


PhilBoxing.com


WBC No. 1 Challenger Juanito Rubillar emerged the winner in yet another tune-up fight with Ronnie Ca?ete.

The fight was the main draw of the 44-round professional boxing entertainment promoted by Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde, Jr. in coordination with Mayor Virgilio Valle held Saturday night in the town of Santa Cruz, Ilocos Sur. The show was indeed a fitting follow-up to the professional boxing event held days earlier at the adjacent town of Tagudin, indicating the growing interest in boxing in this part of the country.

The Rubillar- Ca?ete fight ended in a rather anti-climactic fashion when it was stopped in the fifth round due to a cut suffered by Ca?ete above the left eye which came from an accidental headbutt. The clash of heads occurred just when the fight was beginning to heat up. Rubillar was declared the winner via a technical decision as he was ahead on points at the time of the stoppage.

The fight between the two was actually a rematch of their previous meeting last March 11 of this year at Elorde Sports Center. This time, Rubillar was a little bit reserved with his punches while Ca?ete improved his punch production from the previous fight. It was still Rubillar though who was the more active and who connected more punches, usually, his patented hooks to the body, allowing him to grind down a win.

The supporting main event featured female boxers Josie Paciteng of Buguis, Benguet and pretty-faced Sharon Felipe. While Felipe was game throughout, Paciteng connected the more telling punches that ultimately took their toll on Felipe. The fight was finally stopped by Referee Warren Jaro in the fourth and final round when Felipe was grimacing from abdominal pains caused by the shots inflicted by Paciteng.

In a most entertaining bout of the evening, Steve Dimaiisip won a hard-earned split decision over a talented Rommel Bongon in their junior flyweight division fight. Bongon had the upperhand in the early going with his crafty style hitting the confused Dimaiisip at will. Midway through the fight, Bongon seemed to have relaxed himself a bit allowing Dimaiisip to get back into the fight. The rest of the bout was close but Dimaiisip certainly landed the harder punches, allowing him to escape with the win.

The five preliminary bouts produced four knockouts in five bouts with only the curtain raiser ending in a decision when the come-backing Jun Paiman outpointed Ericson Asilo in the featherweight division.

Nesjun Sosa, in his first professional fight, halted another debutant, Ryan Cabigat in 2:53 of the first round in a super-bantamweight bout;

In another super-bantam fight, Jason Igera stopped Andre Alabag in 57 seconds, also in the first round, in the most devastating knockout of the night;

Mervin Batolina came back from a first round knockdown to kayo Noel Basto, also in the super-bantamweight class; and

Undefeated Hilsan Berba (reportedly at 3-0 before the fight) dealt the first loss of Genesis Mabalot (reportedly also at 3-0 before the fight).

Contributing to the success of the event was the warm hospitality of the teachers and staff of the Santa Cruz Elementary School with the school principal, Dra. Manuela Joven. They certainly did their best to make the boxers, trainers, managers, and boxing officials had a comfortable stay. They definitely deserved to be commended for their sacrificing efforts.



Click here to view a list of other articles written by Salvador Lopez.


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