Charly Suarez extends winning run to 17 in Texas

MANILA, Philippines – Charly Suarez stretched his winning run with a unanimous decision over Mexican-American Luis Coria on Saturday, April 13 (Sunday, April 14, Philippine time) at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Dictating the tempo of the 10-round super featherweight bout, Suarez got the nod of two judges with similar 77-74 scores while the third saw it 76-75.

The margin would have been bigger if not for the flash knockdown Suarez suffered when he got clipped by a left hook and his left glove touched the canvas before the final bell rang.

It was the 17th straight win with 9 kncokouts for the 35-year-old Suarez, who was supposed to tangle with the similarly unscathed Henry Lebron (19-0, 10 KOs) in a world title crack eliminator, but the Puerto Rican backed out.

Coria turned out to be a worthy substitute although there was little he could do to overcome Suarez’s all-around skills and fall to 15-7 with 7 knockouts.

Other than Suarez’s last-second lapse, chief trainer Delfin Boholst said he was satisfied with the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympian’s performance.

“What’s more important is he (Suarez) didn’t go injured. So we’ll be ready for our next fight (either in July or August) as promised by Top Rank,” said Boholst, also a former national boxer.

Suarez, a three-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, checked in at 131.8 pounds during the official weigh-in on Friday, with Coria coming in at 131.7 pounds.

Boholst said Suarez would need to return to the Philippines soon as he’s on active status with the Philippine Army with the rank of Private First Class.

After reporting for duty, Suarez would return to the United States and train under Boholst in Las Vegas. – Rappler.com