Boxing: Palicte makes statement with Silvano knockout

MANILA, Philippines – Aston Palicte made the most out of his second showdown with Vergilio Silvano, knocking out the durable journeyman in the seventh round on Friday, June 24 at the Philippine Navy Gym in Bonifacio Global City, Philippines.

Palicte (21-2, 18 knockouts) dropped the southpaw Silvano (21-7-1, 12 KOs) with a right uppercut in the fifth round, but was ruled himself to have gone down in round 6 when Palicte tripped over Silvano as Silvano threw a punch.

The 10-8 stanza was negated the following round when Palicte landed another right uppercut to the chin – which was set up 20 seconds earlier by a hard uppercut to the body – to put Silvano down for the count at the 2:42 mark.

The win earns Palicte the IBF Pan Pacific junior bantamweight title, which Palicte’s manager Jason Soong hopes will earn them a top 10 world ranking with the New Jersey-based sanctioning body.

“I was sure I would knock him out because I already know his game,” said the 25-year-old Palicte, who was trained by his older brother and former boxer Vincent Palicte for the first time.

Soong, who was promoting his first boxing event in several years, says he will petition the IBF for a fight with the current 115-pound champion McJoe Arroyo of Puerto Rico.

“There’s room for improvement but I’m very happy,” said Soong. 

Palicte fought a much more disciplined fight than he did in their first meeting last November, when he bombed away looking for an early knockout and gassed out later in the fight. Palicte of Bago City, Philippines still managed to drop Silvano of Cebu City twice in their first fight and win a unanimous decision.

This time around Palicte used his rangy left jab and looked for counterpunch opportunities against the aggressive Silvano, who had fought for a world title in 2013 against Katsunari Takayama 3 divisions lighter at strawweight. The loss was only Silvano’s second by knockout after he was stopped by Jonathan Taconing in 11 rounds in 2014.

With the win, Palicte successfully put distance between himself and his split decision loss to Junior Granados in Mexico this past March.

Barriga fight cancelled 

The co-main event was originally slated to be the pro debut of 2012 Filipino Olympian Mark Anthony Barriga, but the fight was canceled on the day of the bout due to his opponent failing a medical. Soong says he will likely place Barriga’s fight on another promoter’s card in July.

Instead, the second-to-last bout featured Lolito Sonsona, a junior bantamweight from General Santos City in his first fight since 2014. Sonsona, who is the cousin of former WBO junior bantamweight champion Marvin Sonsona and the brother of veteran boxer Eden Sonsona, returned to the ring with an 8-round unanimous decision win over John Ray Logatiman.

Two of the judges scored the fight 78-74, while the third scored it 77-75.

Sonsona (19-1-4, 8 KOs) admitted to Rappler he had felt discouraged after losing a decision to Ardin Diale in 2011, and drawing two straight fights against Albert Alcoy. He said he took time off to decide whether he wanted to continue fighting.

Palicte vs Silvano II, Sonsona vs Logatiman and two other full fights from this card will be available to view on Rappler.com next week. – Rappler.com