LIBRANZA, ASTROLABIO KO RIVALS IN SEN. PACQUIAO'S BIRTHDAY SLUGFEST

STILL UNDEFEATED. Genisis Libranza (2nd from left) scored his 11th straight win and 8th knockout by stopping Ronerex Dalut in the 3rd round last Dec. 17 at Robinson’s Place in Gensan. Behind them is promoter Raides “Nonoy” Neri (black shirt)

By LITO DELOS REYES

GENERAL Santos City – MP Davao Stable’s Genesis “Cobra” Libranza and Vincent “Explosibo” Astrolabio had both remained undefeated after knocking out their opponents in the MP Promotions’ year-ending presentation “Boxing Blast in Gensan” last Saturday night at the Robinson’s Place here.

Both Libranza and Astrolabio damaged their opponents with their hard punches.

Libranza landed a crisp right overhand to knock down Ronerex Dalut in 2:31of the 3^rd round in the main event. He first downed Dalut with a body punch early in the same round. But Dalut was able to beat the mandatory count of referee Ramil Ovalo.

Dalut, however, was again staggered by a jab which was followed by a barrel of punches unleased by Libranza, who finally caught him with a right on the face.

Dalut lost one tooth and could hardly speak after the fight. Libranza scored his 11^th straight win and 8^th knockout while Dalut suffered his 20^th defeat against 9 wins and 2 draws.

“Regalo ko po itong panalo ko sa aming Boss Manny sa kanyang birthday ngayon,” said Libranza.

Astrolabio, on the other hand, landed left-right body punches to stop veteran Renante Suacasa in the corner for the knockout in 2:59 of the 9^th round.

The hard-punching Astrolabio also broke the jaw of Suacasa, who was advised by ring physician Edgar Tan to go to the hospital later after the fight.

Suacasa was also earlier downed at the corner in the 5^th round by Astrolabio’s body punches. Astrolabio, who improved his record to 7 straight wins with 6 KOs survived the ring antics of Suacasa, who dropped to 7 wins with 19 losses.

Seven other fighters from MP Davao Stable also won in the undercard.

Michael “Chieftain” Bravo bombarded Ian Ligutan with left-right combinations for a technical knockout in 1:07 of the 3^rd round while Ronnie Baldonado knocked out Raymund Dayham (8-8-1-7) in 1:17 of 1str round.

Jing Aguan stopped Holly Quinones in 1:16 of the 2^nd round while Joebert Torena stopped Rio Gulatan.

Three others all scored unanimous decisions. Orly Silvestre beat Rodel Tejares, Aries Buenavidez outpunched Lino Antaran while Joel Lino finally beat Joey Antonio in their rematch.

Vincent Dayaganon was the lone casualty of MP Davao Stable after he suffered a shocking 1^st round knockout from Dave Maningkil.

Meanwhile, Sanman Stable’s Adam Diu Abdulhamid and Ronnie Tanallon scored contrasting wins in the undercard.

Abdulhamid survived against Manila’s Raymond Yanong via a split decision while Tanallon went home with a UD against Rez Padrogane.

Maasim Mayor Jojo Lopez’s Vince Paras and Garen Diagan both won via knockouts. Paras landed solid body shots to force Jefrey Alejandre to quit during the rest period of the second round while Diagan stopped Jimbo Namion in 51 seconds of the 1^st round.

The boxing card was promoted by Raides “Nonoy” Neri in celebration of the 38^th birthday of Sen. Manny Pacquiao,