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Philippines, 23 Oct 2024 |
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Mayol blames cramps and dehydration for failed title bid By Jonathan Davis PhilBoxing.com Tue, 25 Sep 2012  Rodel Mayol, who lost in his challenge for the IBF Super Flyweight title of Juan Carlos Sanchez in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, last Saturday night, said he suffered from cramps and dehydration and was very tired going into the middle rounds up to the fateful 9th round when he was knocked out. His face, still swollen and the cut on his left eyebrow barely healed, the dejected Rodel Mayol said the heat inside the cavernous Gimnacio Polifuncional arena, which was filled to the rafters, made him weak. Then he felt cramps in his legs at the start of the 5th round which greatly hindered his movement in the ring. This, he ruefully narrated to Philboxing, during our early Sunday morning ride on the shuttle bus to Los Mochis airport on our flight back to Los Angeles, via a connecting flight to Hermosillo. Some reports quote the Promoters as having said, the fight was tremendous. And truly it was, because even up to the final rounds, there were moments that it still looked like anybody's game. It was back and forth, ebb and flow, both, in the action inside the ring, and in the collective emotions of supporters outside the ring. It was a spectacle while it lasted. Juan Carlos Sanchez was not only the defending Champion, he was also the local hero and crowd favorite, and his distinct advantage in height and size was very evident when both combatants stood before each other during the mid ring instructions. But all those perceptions changed in the first four rounds, when Rodel Mayol was outsmarting the Mexican Champion in almost every department, outpunching him, while weaving from side to side, popping his head with straight rights, darting in and out and constantly frustrating Sanchez, and silencing the partisan crowd. Mayol's corner could not have been prouder than in those four rounds when their ward was boxing like the "Batang Mandaue" of old, and seemed headed to an upset victory. Then, inexplicably, in the 5th round, Rodel Mayol was getting pummeled, and gone was the side to side movement, instead, he was getting solidly hit. And, for the first time, he was starting to hold, while the Champion unload punches above and below, one thunderous blow backed Mayol to the ropes in the waning seconds of the round, but, as they engaged in a furious exchange, Mayol sneaked in a big counter right, decking Sanchez just as bell rang. The Champion's corner tried to protest that the round was over, as Referee Allen Huggins gave Sanchez the mandatory count. Juan Carlos Sanchez took all the rounds after that, handing Mayol the worst beating in the 8th round, where the Filipino warrior would have gone down had he not gotten a breather when the Referee twice called on his corner to fix his dangling glove tapes. The 9th was a foregone conclusion. Mayol, who had been fighting on an empty tank since the 6th round, had nothing left, but Juan Sanchez fought cautiously, picking his shots and spearing Mayol from a distance, knowing his opponent was always a live wire if he engaged recklessly. At the end of the 8th round, two judges scored it 77-74 for Mayol, while one judge had it 76-75 for Sanchez. The Mexican Commentators panel of Fox Deportes which televised the fight live in Mexico and in the United States, showed an unofficial score of 77-74 for the Filipino after the 8th round. Undeterred in his failed bid to win the Super Flyweight crown, Rodel Mayol says, he intends to go back down to the Flyweight division which is his natural weight, and hopes to be given a crack at the winner of the Brian Viloria-Hernan Marquez championship. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Jonathan Davis.  |
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