Melindo lives up to hype, halts Rosas

MANILA, Philippines - Milan Melindo stretched his unbeaten record to 29 as he essayed a 10-round technical knockout victory over Mexican Francisco Rosas in the main event of the Pinoy Pride Series 8: Philippines vs Mexico fight card Saturday at the Waterfront Hotel and Casino in Cebu City.

Melindo dominated Rosas with his power punches, battering his rival with a combination of body and head shots and forcing the Mexican to quit on his stool after the 10th round of their scheduled 12-round bout for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Inter-Continental flyweight crown.

The impressive win has convinced ALA Promotions president Michael Aldeguer to line him up for a crack at a world title.

“We will work hard to get Milan a title shot for his next fight, although it’s hard if you are not the mandatory challenger,” said Aldeguer.

The ALA Promotions executive has mentioned reigning World Boxing Association (WBA) flyweight champion Hernan “Tyson” Marquez as one of those they are eyeing to challenge.

Melindo failed to knock down the 31-year-old Rosas although the Mexican was bloodied by the end of the fight for what seemed to be a broken nose inflicted by the Filipino in the third round.

But Aldeguer believed Melindo, 23, could have knocked out Rosas had the Mexican not shown up five pounds over the 112-pound limit during Friday’s official weigh-in.

“If Rosas came in at the exact weight, Milan would have knocked him out,” Aldeguer said of the Mexican, who fell to 22-9 with 13 KOs.

Melindo’s ALA stablemate Jason Pagara, however, took a 10-round unanimous decision loss to Mexican Rosbel Montoya.

Scores were 96-94, 99-91 and 97-93 all in favor of Montaya.

But the Mexican failed to win the WBO Youth Asia-Pacific title – now declared vacant – as he also came in above the 140-pound limit during the weigh-in.

Genesis Servania, meanwhile, also remained undefeated in 15 fights as he beat veteran Mexican Gerson Guerrero.

Servania won by scores of 80-72, 79-73 and 78-74 in one of the main undercards of the promotion presented by ALA Boxing and giant network ABS-CBN.