Tapales returns with a win Gaballo shocked in the opening round!
On Friday the Midas Hotel and Casino in Manila played host to an interesting card, featuring several notable Filipino fighters in action, in some fairly interesting looking match ups on a Sanman Promotions card.
The main event of the show saw former unified Super Bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales (38-4, 20) bounce back from his 2023 loss to Naoya Inoue, as he stopped Thai visitor Nattapong Jankaew (12-4, 8) inside a round to claim the WBC Asia Super Bantamweight title. Both men looked to get their distance early on, with Tapales taking the center of the ring within seconds of the fight starting. Nattapong tried to get Tapales’ respect with a body shot but it was clear the Filipino barely felt it, and took it as a sign he could take anything the Thai offered. With that in mind he went on the hunt and dropped Nattapong a few moments later in the neutral corner. Nattapong wasn’t hurt, but it was clear that Tapales was smelling blood as he got straight back on the offensive and made Nattapong uncomfortable from the restarter. Nattapong ended up in the neutral corner again where he was dropped a second time, this time from a huge overhand left. From there Nattapong’s time was running out and he was dropped a third just moments later, forcing the referee to stop the bout.
In the co-main feature we had a huge shock as hard hitting Filipino Reymart Gaballo (27-2, 22) was upset by 36 year old Mexican veteran Kenbun Torres (14-5, 10), who scored his first stoppage win since 2016. This was a giant upset, one of the biggest of the year, and also a truly wild and crazy fight, despite only lasting 2:33. The first 20 seconds were relatively quiet but it wasn’t long until they were unloading bombs on each other, with Gaballo getting the best of the early action with his quicker shots. Torres took them well and showed hit veteran composure whilst Gaballo had pretty consistent success until about 80 seconds into the round. Then things changed, as the Filipino was caught by a wild counter left hook that buckled the knees of Gaballo. He tried to fight back but was dropped moments later for the first knockdown of the fight. He got back to his feet but Torres smelled blood and dropped his man for the second time. This was a much bigger knockdown, and may have actually come from a clash of heads as Torres leaped at Gaballo looking for a left hook, with Gaballo looking unsteady on his legs, and probably should have been stopped here, especially given there was almost a minute of the round left. Instead the referee let him continue, and Torres went for the finish, unloading a huge flurry and not relenting until Gaballo hit the canvas for a third time. It was a horror job by the referee who should have stopped the bout after the second knockdown, and had plenty of opportunities during the flurry, but chose to stand by and allow Gaballo to take several shots he really didn’t need to take.
Given how the second knockdown came about, and Gaballo’s lack of awareness afterwards, it is possible that their was a nasty clash of heads, regardless, the referee allowed way too much punishment after it, and we do need to wonder whether the GAB will investigate his performance here.
Also on this card China's Yesimuhan Yeerken (3-0, 1) scored a career best win, out pointing Reymond Yanong (13-10-1, 10), over 8 rounds, Jesarial Ancajas (3-0, 1) took a 6 round decision over Herovan Beltran (2-2, 1), Alvin Medura (11-10, 7) scored an upset over the previously unbeaten Bryan Ascano (9-1-1, 5), ending a 5 fight losing run dating back more than 2 years, whilst David Santisima (4-0, 3) blew out Reynald Condes (3-4-1, 1) and Abubakar Yanon (3-0, 3) continued his perfect start by stopping Joshua Solis (2-3, 1).
The main event of the show saw former unified Super Bantamweight champion Marlon Tapales (38-4, 20) bounce back from his 2023 loss to Naoya Inoue, as he stopped Thai visitor Nattapong Jankaew (12-4, 8) inside a round to claim the WBC Asia Super Bantamweight title. Both men looked to get their distance early on, with Tapales taking the center of the ring within seconds of the fight starting. Nattapong tried to get Tapales’ respect with a body shot but it was clear the Filipino barely felt it, and took it as a sign he could take anything the Thai offered. With that in mind he went on the hunt and dropped Nattapong a few moments later in the neutral corner. Nattapong wasn’t hurt, but it was clear that Tapales was smelling blood as he got straight back on the offensive and made Nattapong uncomfortable from the restarter. Nattapong ended up in the neutral corner again where he was dropped a second time, this time from a huge overhand left. From there Nattapong’s time was running out and he was dropped a third just moments later, forcing the referee to stop the bout.
In the co-main feature we had a huge shock as hard hitting Filipino Reymart Gaballo (27-2, 22) was upset by 36 year old Mexican veteran Kenbun Torres (14-5, 10), who scored his first stoppage win since 2016. This was a giant upset, one of the biggest of the year, and also a truly wild and crazy fight, despite only lasting 2:33. The first 20 seconds were relatively quiet but it wasn’t long until they were unloading bombs on each other, with Gaballo getting the best of the early action with his quicker shots. Torres took them well and showed hit veteran composure whilst Gaballo had pretty consistent success until about 80 seconds into the round. Then things changed, as the Filipino was caught by a wild counter left hook that buckled the knees of Gaballo. He tried to fight back but was dropped moments later for the first knockdown of the fight. He got back to his feet but Torres smelled blood and dropped his man for the second time. This was a much bigger knockdown, and may have actually come from a clash of heads as Torres leaped at Gaballo looking for a left hook, with Gaballo looking unsteady on his legs, and probably should have been stopped here, especially given there was almost a minute of the round left. Instead the referee let him continue, and Torres went for the finish, unloading a huge flurry and not relenting until Gaballo hit the canvas for a third time. It was a horror job by the referee who should have stopped the bout after the second knockdown, and had plenty of opportunities during the flurry, but chose to stand by and allow Gaballo to take several shots he really didn’t need to take.
Given how the second knockdown came about, and Gaballo’s lack of awareness afterwards, it is possible that their was a nasty clash of heads, regardless, the referee allowed way too much punishment after it, and we do need to wonder whether the GAB will investigate his performance here.
Also on this card China's Yesimuhan Yeerken (3-0, 1) scored a career best win, out pointing Reymond Yanong (13-10-1, 10), over 8 rounds, Jesarial Ancajas (3-0, 1) took a 6 round decision over Herovan Beltran (2-2, 1), Alvin Medura (11-10, 7) scored an upset over the previously unbeaten Bryan Ascano (9-1-1, 5), ending a 5 fight losing run dating back more than 2 years, whilst David Santisima (4-0, 3) blew out Reynald Condes (3-4-1, 1) and Abubakar Yanon (3-0, 3) continued his perfect start by stopping Joshua Solis (2-3, 1).