Déjà vu of 2008 as A.J. Banal loses by knockout to Sor Singyu

2008 was four long years ago. For AJ Banal (28-2-1, 20 KOs), it must have felt like yesterday.   Banal suffered just the second loss of his career, falling to Pungluang Sor Singyu (42-1-0, 27 KOs) at the SM MOA Arena, Saturday. The Thailand native used a ninth round TKO to claim the vacant WBO bantamweight title. Pungluang Sor Singyu was behind on the scorecards coming into the ninth round of the fight, but the Thai stuck to his game plan and kept on moving forward, even if he was being peppered with strong punches. Sor Singyu finally bore though Banal’s defense and used a quick combination to drop his opponent. Although Banal made it to his feet, veteran referee Tony Weeks felt that the Filipino was in no shape to continue. He waved off the fight, awarding the vacant bantamweight title to Sor Singyu. Banal started the fight well, winning most of the earlier rounds, but none of the Filipino fans felt comfortable as they remembered that this was also how Banal started his fight against Rafael Concepcion, in his first shot at a world title back in 2008. Lightning unfortunately struck twice for Banal, as he once again went home without an international title. The two fighters had an accidental clash of heads in the third round that caused a cut on Banal’s right brow. A point was deducted from Banal’s score in the sixth round by Weeks for repeated low blows. Sor Singyu returned the favor in the eighth and this time it was Banal who was given time off to rest from the low blows. Banal repeatedly tagged Sor Singyu with strong punches throughout the fight but he failed to find the proper combinations to send the Thai down. It also appeared like Banal was very comfortable in the fight as he was even showboating on a couple of occasions. This will be a bitter pill to swallow for Banal as his ALA Promotions moved heaven and earth to be able to stage the fight in the Philippines. ALA battled the rich and powerful One Songchai Promotions of Thailand to get the rights for the fight because they wanted Banal to win his world championship in front of his adoring countrymen, but it all went for naught. On the undercard, Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista (34-2-0, 25 KOs) escaped with a split decision victory over Daniel Ruiz (27-6-1, 19 KOs) to snare the WBO international featherweight title. Judges Salven Lagumbay and Samson Libres scored the fight 116-112 and 115-113, respectively, for Bautista, while Epi Almeda scored it 115-113 for Ruiz. Jason Pagara scored a huge first round knockout win over the formerly undefeated Miguel Antoine of Barbados. With the victory, Pagara, who kept his WBO international light welterweight title, upped his record to 30 wins with only two defeats, with 19 of those wins coming via knockout. Antoine had bragged about wanting to face Manny Pacquiao next after beating Pagara, but his night ended two minutes and 48 seconds into the first round. Marlon Tapales (20-1-0, 7 KOs) also scored a stoppage victory, knocking out Indonesian pug Rasmanudin (15-3-0, 8 KOs) at the 1:10 mark of the second round. Journeyman Michael Domingo upped his record to 45-16-2, with 24 KOs, when he stopped Ugandan Mudde Ntambi Rabison (19-3-1, 7 KOs) with well-placed body shots. The grandson of the late great Gabriel “Flash” Elorde also scored a victory in the undercard. Juan Martin “Bai” Elorde (13-1-0, 6 KOs) won via fourth round knockout over Gerry Sismundo (8-14-1, 6 KOs). This was Elorde’s second straight knockout victory after suffering his first career loss on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao versus Antonio Margarito card in Arlington, Texas. - AMD, GMA News