Boxing
Petalcurin decisions Thai foe in thrilling PKO encounter
AKTV
Randy “Razor” Petalcurin scored a unanimous twelve round decision over tough and rugged Thai challenger Samartlek Chaiyonggym before a huge crowd at the Mandaluyong City Gym Saturday.
The 20-year-old southpaw showed dazzling hand-speed and rapid-fire combinations
The Thailand fighter lived up to his promise to be aggressive and engaged Petalcurin in several terrific exchanges. Samartlek refused to quit despite being dropped three times in the fight and came charging back every time he was down on the canvas.
Petalcurin had a fairly even opening round and sized up his opponent. He then opened up and caught him with a left uppercut in round two that snapped the Thai’s head back before dropping him in the third round with a series of left uppercuts and a cracking right hook.
A low blow by the challenger in the sixth round forced referee Ferdinand Estrella to give Petalcurin time to recover before the champion nailed Samartlek with a beautiful right counter in round seven.
Another perfectly-timed left uppercut dropped Samartlek, who was almost sent crashing through the ropes in the eighth round. The Thai was down a second time and Estrella correctly ruled it a slip.
Petalcurin let his hands go in round nine and this time dropped Samartlek with a vicious right hook. Each time the challenger went down, he got up quickly and grunted while going after the champion.
The 27-year-old Thai fighter tried to make a fight of things throwing some solid right hands and on one occasion stunned the champion.
Samartlek caught Petalcurin with a low blow for the second time in the fight in the eleventh round. Both fighters were visibly tired from the debilitating heat and humidity. Petalcurin however found one last surge of energy to wind up with a blazing five-punch combination in the dying seconds of the last round.
There was no doubt about the decision but the Thai challenger received a well-deserved round of applause from fights fans.
The Mandaluyong City Gym incidentally was where reigning pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao first made a name for himself in the mid-1990s.
All three judges had Petalcurin a comfortable winner with Ver Abainza scoring it 119-106, Gil Co 118-107 and Thai judge Chalerm Prayadsab turning in a 116-109 scorecard.
In the post fight interview, Petalcurin said “Nayanig din ako, pero naka-recover din naman. Siguro dahil na rin sa init,” said the champion.
Immediately, an elated and confident Petalcurin announced that he’s ready to challenge for a world title.
“Handa na po tayong lumaban para sa world title,” said the Filipino champion.
Meanwhile, the rematch between Jhunriel Ramonal and Ariel Delgado for the Philippine Boxing Federation (PBF) super-bantamweight crown again ended up in another technical draw owing to a cut suffered by Ramonal due to accidental headbutt.
The fight was stopped in the fourth round.
The two also fought to a technical draw (1st round) two years ago when two accidental headbutts resulted in separate cuts on both fighters.
