|
SAN ANTONIO, Texas: Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao
warmed up for his upcoming election fight Saturday by stopping
previously unbeaten Jorge Solis in the eighth round of their
scheduled 12-round super featherweight bout.
Pacquiao, Ring magazine’s 2006
fighter of the year, was having some trouble solving Mexico’s
Solis in the early rounds, but was galvanized by an accidental head
butt that left him cut over the left eye in the sixth.
Pacquiao landed a bevy of hard
punches in both the sixth and seventh before sending Solis to the
canvas in the eighth with a right uppercut that punctuated another
series of brutal blows.
Solis got to his feet but was
immediately dropped again and couldn’t beat the count of referee
Vic Drakulich.
“In the early rounds I took it
easy,” Pacquiao said. “But when I got a cut I was throwing more
combinations and pretty soon I knocked him out.”
Pacquiao, who holds the World
Boxing Council’s “international” super featherweight title,
and is the WBC’s No. 1 contender to the super flyweight world
title held by Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico, improved to 43-3-1 with
35 wins inside the distance. Solis fell to 32-1-2.
A world title fight between
Pacquiao and Marquez would seem a logical next step. The two met in
a classic featherweight bout in May 2004 that ended in a draw.
However, the match-up could be
stymied by the fact that Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank both
claim they have possession of a valid contract with Pacquiao.
While the lawyers sort things
out, Pacquiao can again turn his attention to May 14 election in the
Philippines, where he is running for Congress.
Last month, the General Santos
City native’s lawyer, Franklin Gacal, submitted Pacquiao’s
certificate of candidacy to run in South Cotabato.
The combination of Pacquiao’s
political and pugilistic pursuits caused a brief uproar earlier this
month, when fans protested a bid to ban television coverage of
Saturday’s bout lest it give him an unfair advantage in the polls.
Broadcast outlets were flooded
with calls and text messages demanding the 27-year-old hero’s
fight be shown.
On Saturday’s undercard,
Mexico’s Cristian Mijares successfully defended his WBC super
flyweight crown with a unanimous decision over former flyweight
title holder Jorge Arce.
Edgar Sosa captured the vacant
WBC light flyweight belt with a majority decision over former
champion, the Fil-American Brian Viloria.
Mexico’s Sosa improved to 27-5,
with 14 wins inside the distance, thanks to a surge in the final
rounds. Two judges scored the bout 115-113, while a third called it
114-114.
“I did enough to win, but he
stepped it up in the championship rounds, and that was the
difference in the fight,” Viloria admitted.
Viloria, who fell to 19-2-1, held
the title for nearly a year before losing to Omar Nino on August 10.
Nino then tested positive for
methamphetamine and was stripped of the belt.
President Arroyo lauded Sunday
Pacquiao’s victory.
“The fighting faith of Manny
Pacquiao is the fighting faith of the Filipino—the dream of
victory after victory in the firmament of world competition . . .
Manny stands for the dream of every Filipino in the ring of life and
the arena of the future,” she said.
Executive Secretary Eduardo
Ermita said there might not be a hero’s welcome for Pacquiao
because of the political situation.
 --AFP
and Sam Mediavilla
|
