Pinoy fighters KO foes in undercard x

MACAU — Filipino boxers Harmonito de la Torre and Dan Nazareno, Jr. caught part of the spotlight in yesterday's "Clash in Cotai" fightcard after pulling off masterful knockout wins over their respective foes to the delight of their fellow countrymen who came in droves to this tiny Chinese territory to witness history taking place at the luxurious Venetian Hotel and Casino here.

Under the dazzling riot of colors that adorned the sprawling Cotai Arena, the General Santos City-native De la Torre opened the glitzy 10-bout show with a third-round stoppage of Indonesian Jason Butar-Butar in their non-televised super featherweight bout scheduled for six rounds.

After De la Torre sent Butar-Butar flat on the mat with a powerful uppercut, the referee first ruled a knockdown but later changed his mind after the Indon couldn't stand up and beat the count. The official time was at 1:23 of round three.

The 19-year-old De la Torre, thus, stretched his unbeaten record to 11-0 now spiked with 6KOs, while Butar-Butar was impaired to 15-11 (11KOs).

Moments later, Nazareno also made shortwork of Liam Vaughan, stopping the hapless British fighter with almost a minute left in the second round of their four-rounder super welterweight duel.

The Pampangueno brawler came out firing right from the opening bell, landing beautiful combinations before rocking Vaughan with solid head shots towards the end of the opening session.

Smelling blood, Nazareno further pressed on the attack, punishing Vaughan with an assortment of head and body blows that forced the Briton's corner to throw in the towel at 59 seconds of round two.

Nazareno improved to 18-10 now dotted with 14KOs, while Vaughan suffered his only second defeat in 10 fights.  (FREEMAN)