FILIPINO ring giant Rev Santillan kept his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) welterweight title after scoring a unanimous decision Saturday over No.10 challenger Taisei Marumoto at the Osaka Prefectural Gym in Osaka, Japan. Ringside judges Arnel Pasion of the Philippines scored the bout 118-114; RJ Tyongkor of Thailand saw the fight 118-112 and Japanese Hisatushi Miyazaki counted it 117-11, all for Santillan, who stamped his class anew as the region’s best 147-pound fighter. Santillan maintained his aggressiveness throughout the bout as he kept the challenger on his guard, limiting the Japanese to minimal offense. With constant pounding and pressure, the Filipino champion did not allow Marumoto to dance away as Santillan won all except two rounds from Pasion and Tyongkor, while losing only three from the Japanese judge. The victory improved Santillan’s slate to 21 wins, one loss and one draw, peppered with 15 knockout victories, while Marumoto dropped to a 15-5-1, 7 KO record. However, the other Filipino fighters who joined Santillan in Osaka were not as lucky. RP mini-flyweight champion and OPBF No.1 contender Elmer Gejon (12-5-1, 5 KOs) lost by majority decision to WBA No.15 Karsunari Takayama (13-1, 6 KOs) after an exhilarating 10-round exchange of punches. The scores were 96-94, 98-93 and 96-96 for Takayama. Controversial draw Romeo Buhawi (9-5-1, 9 KOs) suffered a more humiliating defeat after losing to WBA No.15 Zaiki Takemoto (15-4-2, 10KOs) at the 2:25 mark of the sixth round. The southpaw former Philippine champion Rogelio Galicia plucked a controversial split draw with Japan No.9 super-flyweight Yuki Murai after eight rounds. The WBA ranked No.7 Galicia (23-3-1, 8KOs) dominated the first seven rounds of the fight, keeping the Japanese fighter on the run most of the time before Murai took the last round to his credit. However, it ended up a split draw after the scores were read: 78-75 for Galicia, 78-76 for Murai and a 76-76 draw. Ken Nakajima also scored a majority decision over Rey Orais, 77-76, 77-76, 76-76, after eight rounds.
