Moralde, Duno dominate foes in GenSan to remain unbeaten

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines – John Vincent Moralde had to overcome a stubbornly tough opponent with an awkward southpaw style but maintained his unbeaten record. 

The 21-year-old featherweight from Davao City moved to 15-0 (7 knockouts) with a unanimous decision win over Anthony Sabalde (10-5, 5 KOs) on Saturday, February 13 at Gaisano Mall Atrium. All 3 judges scored the bout 98-92 for Moralde in the main event of Sanman Promotions’ Brawl at the Mall 2 event.

Moralde, though unbeaten, struggled in the early going finding the range with his jabs and right hands, often resorting to holding to stifle his opponent’s aggression in the first third of the fight. The crowd was decidedly behind the out-of-town underdog, cheering whenever he pressured Moralde to the ropes.

As the fight wore on, Moralde’s accuracy rate increased and so did the swelling over the eye of Sable, a Cebu City resident and member of the Wakee Salud boxing stable. Moralde began to find the target more and more with his right hands as Sabalde’s corner was without an enswell compress to reduce the swelling around his eyes. 

The ringside doctor entered Sabalde’s corner following the eighth round to gauge whether Sable was fit to continue, but the fight resumed with Moralde playing target practice with Sabalde’s face but never pressing for a knockout.

End of round 5. I have it 3-2 for Moralde over Sabalde, who is very aggressive and tricky #boxing #rstream pic.twitter.com/TRqOLIsNoZ

— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) February 13, 2016

Jim Claude Manangquil, who promotes Moralde, says the next move is to have Moralde train abroad – either in the United States or in Australia – and says there has been interest from international promoters in getting involved with his career. 

In the co-featured bout, junior lightweight Romero Duno (9-0, 8 knockouts) fought past the fifth round for the first time but eventually stopped durable veteran Jason Egera (21-17, 10 KOs) before the eighth round of a scheduled 10-rounder began.

Duno, 20, of Tagum City, fought cautiously against the pressure-fighting Egera, 31, but scored knockdowns in rounds one and two with his heavy right hands. Still, despite the one-sided beating he was taking and being on an 8-fight losing streak, Egera still had enough life in him to  entertain the crowd with his dance moves between rounds.

There was no more dancing after the sixth, when Duno dropped Egera for a third time with a right hand to the chin as Egera pursued Duno to the ropes. The fight was stopped following a particularly uncompetitive round 7, with Egera citing an injury to his arm. 

The highlight of the undercard was 19-year-old General Santos City native Reymart Gaballo, who blew away Bryan Samson in 1:28 of the first round in an 8-round schedule bantamweight fight. 

Gaballo (12-0, 10 KOs), set up the first knockdown with a left hook that stunned Samson, followed by a succession of blows that sent him into the ropes. Samson (5-6, 3 KOs) rose up, but was back on the floor moments later after a perfectly executed uppercut – the kind a boxer throws thousands of time on the punch mitts – landed on Samson’s chin and sent him down on a delayed reaction.

Filipino bantamweight Reymart Gaballo (12-0, 10KO) with a savage first round KO of Bryan Samson in GenSan #boxing pic.twitter.com/D6D8xpYnVM

— Ryan Songalia (@ryansongalia) February 13, 2016

Sanman Promotions’ next show is scheduled for March 8 in South Cotabato, with the main event to feature Misamis Oriental native Raymond Tabugon (17-4-1, 7 KOs) in a 10-round fight against an opponent to be named. – Rappler.com