Prospects Gorres, Melindo beat foes, boost stock for world quest

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino prospects Z "The Dream" Gorres and Milan Melindo pulled off contrasting wins Saturday night in Cebu City to boost their respective rankings and earn probable shots at a world title. Gorres delivered a crowd-pleasing 7th round technical knockout win over Roberto Leyva of Mexico while Melindo dominated former world champion Muhammad Rachman to score a unanimous decision win in their 10-round minimumweight bout at the Waterfront Hotel in Cebu. A southpaw, Gorres used his speed and good lateral movements to frustrate his Mexican opponent from Baja. In the fourth round, he had Leyva reeling off the ropes after connecting on a barrage of punches. The end came at the 1:29 mark of the seventh round after referee Bruce McTavish stopped the fight to put an end to the carnage. Gorres improved to 29-2-2 with 16 knockouts in his first shot at the bantamweight class while bagging the little known World Boxing Organization Oriental 118-pound title. He fell short of winning the WBO super-flyweight crown two years ago when he lost to Mexican Fernando Montiel in their 12-round title fight in Cebu City. For his part, Melindo kept his unbeaten record going by pounding out a big win over Rachman, the Indonesian former International Boxing Federation (IBF) kingpin. The rising Filipino boxing star won the fight by scores of 97-93, 98-92, and 96-94. Melindo pressed Rachman early on and proved to be the better fighter as the bout wore on, eventually outlasting his 37-year old opponent. Rachman was the same titleholder dethroned by Filipino Florante Condes in their IBF minimumweight showdown in Jakarta, Indonesia two years ago. -GMANews.TV