Fareñas destroys Thai foe in Liloan boxing

US-based Filipino fighter Michael Fareñas drew inspiration from his manager WBO bantamweight champion Gerry “Fearless” Peñalosa in scoring a one-punch knockout of Thai Boonmee Sithsrivinitwitthayakom in the main event of the well-attended “Rambulan sa Liloan” boxing card the other night at the Panphil B. Frasco Memorial Sports Complex in Liloan, Cebu.

Fareñas struggled hard in the first few rounds as Boonmee was in fighting mood and at times flustered the local boy with his excellent counter-punching skills.

The durable Thai often raised his hands, inviting Fareñas to come in and show his stuff. Fareñas gamely obliged and wisely worked on the body of his foe with tenacious precision. Apparently, Boonmee lost steam beginning in round five due to his heavy absorption of Fareñas’ punishing body punches.

Boonmee’s end came at the 1:18 mark of round six when he was caught by Fareñas’ sledge-hammer left uppercut to the paunch. The hapless Thai fell flat on the canvas and was still wallowing in pain as referee Teddy Alivio reached the count of 10.

Aside from improving his record to 22-2-2 now spiked with 18KOs, Fareñas likewise sealed his showdown with Hussein Pazzi (17-8-1, 7KOs) of Tanzania for the interim WBO Oriental featherweight championship in the undercard of Peñalosa’s WBO title defense against Mexican challenger Nestor Rocha on September 20 at the Mindanao Civic Center in Tubod, Lanao del Norte.

In the other abbreviated matches, Jonathan Baat of Wakee Salud Stable floored Daniel Diolan of Zamboanga City in the second round, Rodolfo Sumabong of Cebu scored second round TKO of Renan Branzuela of Bukidnon, while Jason Siaton of Lapu-Lapu City knocked out Elmar Francisco in round two. The other KO triumph was registered by Adonis Aguelo of Mandaue over Randy Megriños of Cotabato in the fifth round.

The rest of the results saw Andy Señeres winning by unanimous decision over Jaime Bermiso and Dave Baliguat stopping Aljered Tuñacao in round two. The fights of Jherpaul Valero against Ponce Villacura and Kevin de la Cruz versus Ramelo Estra both ended in a majority draw.

Aside from Peñalosa, the other dignitaries who graced the show bankrolled by MP Promotions of boxing great Manny Pacquiao were Liloan Mayor Vincent Franco “Duke” Frasco, Cebuano topnotch promoter Rex “Wakee” Salud, former two-division world champion Dodie Boy Peñalosa, OPBF lightweight champion Randy “Kumong Bato” Suico, former OPBF minimumweight titlist Rodel “Batang Mandaue” Mayol, and Pacman’s bosom friend and right-hand man Buboy Fernandez.