THE dream is now partly fulfilled for Z “The Dream” Gorres after he captured his first international title – and the first Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) super-flyweight belt for ALA Gym – following a masterful unanimous decision victory over Waengpetch Chuwatana of Thailand in Sammy Gello-ani’s “A Dream Come True” Saturday night at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex.
Filipino judge Salven Lagumbay scored the bout 119-107, Thailand’s Pinit Pradsayab had it 118-109 and a 120-106 decision by Bruce Mactavish of New Zealand all were in favor of Gorres, a member of Mandaue City’s “Fearsome Foursome.”
However, Gorres’ stablemate Rocky Fuentes was not as lucky, as he lost his bid to win the vacant RP flyweight belt to Rex “Wakee” Salud’s Jojo Bardon by a split decision after 12 rounds.
KO win
WBO Asia-Pacific super-flyweight champion Czar Amonsot also won his fight, scoring a unanimous decision over Thailand’s Decho Bankluaygym after a 10-round heated exchange of power punches.
While promising AJ Banal knocked out Dechapol Bankluaygym in just 49 seconds of the opening bell in a scheduled six-round event.
“I was a little bit frustrated because Waengpetch did not give me a chance to win this bout by a knockout but I am satisfied with the outcome because I was able to stand his power punches while I out-scored, outpunched and out-jabbed him from all angles,” said Gorres after the fight.
Waengpetch gamely engaged the 22-year-old Gorres, of Estancia, Ibabao, Mandaue City, in the first three rounds, which was a big mistake as Gorres connected a searing uppercut to the chin that sent him crawling to the canvas in the third round.
Waengpetch then tried to avoid the lethal punches of Gorres by either holding, clinching or running around the ring.
His antics however cost him a point deduction for excessive holding to the head in the eighth round.
Impressed
“I was impressed with the way Gorres fought,” said Golden Boy Promotions vice president Eric Gomez, who was with international matchmaker Sampson Lewkowicz, WBO Asia-Pacific chairman Leon Panoncillo Jr. and ALA Boys business manager Michael Koncz at the ringside. “He is a complete fighter.”
“But I think he was trying to impress the crowd more than he wanted to win the fight by knockout. He should have thrown more body punches to wear his opponent out before going head hunting,” said Gomez.
Gorres improved to 24-1-1 (11 KOs), while Waengpetch dropped to 23-8-2 (17 KOs).
The sellout crowd was the biggest turnout in any of Gorres’ fight. An estimated 10,000 fans queued for three hours before the gate was opened at 6 p.m.
Still, the perennial problem of scalping and fake tickets did not escape the promotion.
SGG Promotions physical arrangement in-charge Clarice Catipay showed Sun.Star-Cebu six tickets they confiscated at the gate.
Warning
“We have already made some measures to avoid this but still they were able to copy our tickets,” said Catipay. “We posted warning signs at the entrance to buy tickets only at the ticket booth but still there were a lot of people who did not heed our call.”
The fake tickets had the seal, stamp and signature of the original ones. However, the color and the thickness of the paper were not the same.
Michael Aldeguer, son of boxing patron Antonio Aldeguer, personally supervised the operations at the entrance, making it hard for fake tickets to get through the gates.
Fuentes looked sharp in the first two rounds but Bardon picked up his game in the third, hitting a series of sharp blows that nearly sent the ALA Boy on the canvas.
After 12 rounds, ringside judge Ben Necesario and Edward Ligas scored the bout 115-113 for Bardon, while Jon Davis scored it 115-113 for Fuentes. Fuentes, the only ALA Boy who lost his fight in the card, dropped to 13-4-2 with eight KOs, while Bardon, who lost his first bid to become the Philippine champion to Sonny Boy Jaro on Feb. 6 last year in his own hometown in San Carlos City, improved to 19-8-2 with nine KOs.
Other winners
ALA Boy Rey Caitom was also very impressive with his second knockout win after five fights. He knocked out Jay Adrian in just 48 seconds of the first round.
Robert Allanic also scored a unanimous decision win over Roberto Rubillar, while Glen Masicampo beat the blooded Nori Iwatani by unanimous decision.
Former national amateur gold medalists Frank Albia, Nic Banal and Ni?olito Jalnaiz also had successful debuts. Albia beat Jose Galamiton by unanimous decision, Banal scored a majority decision win over Rolly Baclayo and Jalnaiz scored an impressive TKO win at 2:33 of the second round.
