Tapales, Palicte, Canoy stop rivals in GenSan

Given chances to redeem themselves, former world champion Marlon Tapales and former title contenders Aston Palicte and Joey Canoy delivered on Saturday, November 21 in General Santos City.

Showing the form that gave him the WBO bantamweight crown in 2016, Tapales disposed of veteran Eden Sonsona in the 2nd round to better the stoppage victories of Palicte and Canoy over Reymark Taday and Jovab Lucas, respectively, at the Sanman gym.

Palicte, who held four-division champion Donnie Nietes to a draw in their clash for the WBO super flyweight title in 2018, repeatedly landed body shots to subdue Taday in the 3rd round.

Canoy, who lost to Nkosinathi Joyi in their duel for the WBO minimumweight belt on December 16, 2019, took 4 rounds to put Lucas down.

Rising stars Dave Apolinario and Michael Casama also won via the short route to extend their unbeaten runs in the fight card dubbed “The Restart.”

Dominant throughout, Apolinario notched his 14th straight win with 9 knockouts after Bonjun Loperez was unable to answer the 5th round of their flyweight tussle.

Casama made it a perfect 6 wins in 6 fights with 6 knockouts by halting Virgil Degoma in round 2.

Sending Sonsona down 3 times in the 1st round, Tapales rebounded from an 11th round TKO loss to Ryosuke Iwasa on December 12, 2019, and raised his record to 34-3 with 17 knockouts.

Reeling from 6 straight defeats, Sonsona fell to 36-12-2, 13 knockouts.

Using his long jabs more, Tapales climbed to 27-4-1 with 23 knockouts while pulling down Taday to 10-13-11, 5 KOs.

Local boy Canoy rose to 16-4-1 with 9 KOs and handed Lucas his third loss against 4 wins and 2 draws.

Sanman Promotions head JC Manangquil said he was glad to play a role in boxing’s comeback in the country after being shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Manangquil, he’ll be working to give Tapales, Palicte, and Canoy bigger fights next year. – Rappler.com