Piala suffers first loss in first title shot

Rodex “The Tank” Piala of Cebu’s ARQ Stable tasted defeat for the first time in his first title fight on foeign shores, bowing to Japanese defending champion Kenji Fujita of Teiken Gym by unanimous decision in their 12-round duel for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Asia-Pacific featherweight belt on Saturday night, June 1, at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

It was Fujita’s first successful defense of the WBO regional crown he seized last January.

The 29-year-old Piala threw limited punches earlier in the match but found his range in round five where he wobbled Fujita with a solid right.

That inflicted a slight cut over Fujita’s left eyelid.

Fujita regained control of the bout in the middle rounds but Piala came alive in the ninth frame and with much aggressiveness landed solid shots to the head that forced Japan’s hometown bet to backpedal.

Piala’s momentum was temporarily halted when he suffered a small cut on the left side of his face caused by an accidental clash of heads.

Despite that, Piala continued to press on the attack until the final bell but it was not enough for the valiant Cebuano ring gladiator to earn the judges’ nod.

The official scores were 116-111, 115-112, and 114-113, all for Fujita, who stretched his unbeaten record to 7-0 spiked with 3KOs.

The previously unbeaten Piala fell to 10-1 with 1KO.