Singwangcha, Mancio retain titles

CEBU, Philippines - Marco Demecillo-Singwangcha of Rex "Wakee" Salud Stable and Jerson “Smooth Operator” Mancio of the ALA Boxing Gym triumphed over separate foes in contrasting fashion to retain their titles last Saturday night in different venues in Mindanao.

Over in Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte, the 22-year-old Singwangcha grinded through a close unanimous decision victory over the previously undefeated Giovanni ‘Little Giant’ Escaner of Parañaque City to keep his Philippine super flyweight crown.

Singwangcha found Escaner a tough customer to handle for most of their 12-round battle , but utilized his maturiy and vast experience to outgun his Manila-based challenger and eventually earn the nod of the three judges.

The official scores were 117-116, 116-114, and 115-113 all for the Iligan City-native Singwangcha, who now holds an improved 19-1 win-loss record spiked with 14KOs. Escaner, for his part, saw his 10-fight winning streak come to a sudden red stop.

Aside from successfully defending his crown for the second time, the win also restored Singwangcha's confidence and put him back on the right track after absorbing his first career setback at the hands of ALA mainstay Arthur Villanueva four months ago in Davao City.

Singwangcha's buddies from Noy Pacing Flores Gym of Mandaue City also hurdled their respective assignments.

Melmark Dignos won by unanimous verdict against Bryan Capangpangan, Carlo Demecillo decked Juanito Tumugsok at 2:56 of the third round, Kenny Demecillo stopped Edward Camion at 2:16 of the sixth round, Anthony Sabalde knocked out Jeffrey Jimenez at 1:51 of the second round, while Gadwin Tubigon beat Doriel Ramos to the pulp on the way to a lopsided unanimous decision win.

At the Magsaysay Park in Davao City, Mancio kept his Phl light flyweight belt after decking Jovel Romasasa in the third round in the main event of the “ALA-Cobra Tunay na Lakas Boxing” series.

Mancio, thus, bettered his record to 18-3-3 now dotted with 9KOs, whils Romasasa fell to 10-11 with 4KOs.

On the undercard of the Davao fightcard, Ralph Lulu won by TKO at the end of the sixth round over Ronerex Dalut, Reymund Tabogon eked out a split decision win over Engelbert Moralde, John Vincent Moralde stopped Jestoni Makiputin in the third round, Bonjun Loperez defeated Rocky Incepido by majority decision, while Jessie James Boiles and Glendon Ramos fought to a majority draw. (FREEMAN)