DACQUEL RETAINS OPBF TITLE VIA UNANIMOUS DECISION

STILL THE KING. Referee Yuji Fukuchi (extreme right) raises the hand of OPBF light flyweight champion Rene Dacquel. Also in photo are Dacquel’s manager Kato (extreme left) and trainer Dino Olivetti of Team United Boxing. (Photo by BRICO SANTIG)

By LITO DELOS REYES

FILIPINO slugger Renie “Commander” Dacquel came back strong in the late rounds with a knockdown in the 8^th round to score a come-from-behind victory via a unanimous decision to retain his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) super flyweight title against Japanese challenger Go Onaga on Sunday night at the Prefectural Budokan in Naha, Okinawa, Japan.

Dacquel started slow and allowed Onaga to take the early rounds. But the 25-year old Filipino pug from Team United finally found his range by bombarding the challenger with body shots and combinations.

Dacquel knocked down Onaga in the 8^th round and continued to dominate the last remaining rounds.

All three judges Silvestre Abainza (117-110), Biney Martin (115-112) and Yoshikazu Furuta (114-113) scored in favour of Dacquel.

It was Dacquel’s first title defense of the crown he won via a 9thr ound technical knockout against then undefeated Rathaphol Suwaonsoda last April 1 at the Negros Occidental Multi-Purpose Gym in Bacolod City.

Dacquel, a former WBC Youth world super flyweight champion, improved his record to 18 wins with 6 losses, 1 draw and 6 knockouts while Onaga dropped to 27W-3L-2D-18 Kos.

It was the first loss suffered by the 36-year old southpaw after winning his last 10 fights, six of them by knockouts.

The 12-round Dacquel-Onaga championship match was supervised by OPBF president Juan Ramon Guanzon of the Philippines.

Two other Filipino boxers, however, bowed to their Japanese rivals on points in the undercard.

Super featherweight Jovill Marayan (9W-23L-3D) lost to Masatoshi Kotani (19W-2L-0D) while light flyweight Jeffrey Galero (14W-2L-0D) bowed to Seita Ogido (11W-2L-1D). – LITO DELOS REYES

(from left to right) OPBF president Juan Ramon Guanzon, OPBF light flyweight champion Rene Dacquel, promoter Kato, challenger Go Onaga and OPBF supervisor Dr. Nasser Cruz. (Photo by BRICO SANTIG)