By LITO DELOS REYES
HARMONITO “Hammer” dela Torre continued his winning form in his second fight in the United States held at the Winna Vegas Resort and Casino in Sloan, Iowa last Friday night (Saturday morning in Manila).
This time the 22-year old dela Torre scored a convincing unanimous decision against the tough Mexican Jose Luis Araiza. Dela Torre got all the nod of the three judges with scores of 80-73, 79-73 and 78-74.
Dela Torre used his stinging jabs and right uppercuts to remain unbeaten with 19 straight wins and 12 knockouts.
“I’m happy with the victory. My opponent was very tough and I learned something tonight. I will just continue to work harder,” said dela Torre in a text message after the fight.
Dela Torre’s young manager Jim Claude “JC” Manangquil was also happy about the performance of his prized fighter from Sanman Promotions of General Santos City.
“Harmonito has improved in his last fight. It’s a good win. We didn’t score a knockout as the opponent was also very tough,” Manangquil said.
The 37-year old Araiza suffered his 19th defeat against 31 wins with 2 draws and 22 knockouts.
“The Mexican was just trying to survive but overall it’s a good learning fight for Harmonito,” said Manangquil.
Harmonito, a former WBF World super featherweight champion has trained for more than six months already with Cuban trainer Moro Fernandez in Miami, Florida.
Dela Torre only scored a majority decision in his first ring outing in the US against Guillermo Sanchez (15-18-1) last May 27, 2016 at the Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino in Niagara Falls, New York.
The Dela Torre-Araiza 8-rounder was promoted by Greg Cohen and Patrick Ortiz of Ringside Ticket with Jerry Alfano of Ring Kings as the matchmaker.
The boxing card, which was under the Iowa Athletic Commission was televised by the USA CBS Sports Network.
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