Lopez, Bito score a double kill for Pinoy pugs

Silvester Lopez made short work of Thailand’s Wandee Singwancha, scoring a second-round technical knockout win, to retain his World Boxing Council (WBC) international super flyweight championship in stunning fashion at the Ynares Sports Center over the weekend. Beating Singwancha to the draw, Lopez caught the Thai - left open as he was set to unleash his right - with a swift and vicious left hook to the kisser near the close of the first round that left him dazed and kneeling on the canvas. After knocking down Singwancha once more in the middle of the second, Lopez finally ended the fight with a three-punch combination, capped by another stinging left cross that sent the Thai to his knees for the third and final time. American referee Gene del Bianco, then, stepped in to stop the contest, calling it a night for the outclassed Thai in two minutes, 10 seconds of the second round in the “Bakbakan sa Elorde." “When I saw him lowering his defense and going for a punch, I made a quick counter punch. I used my speed more," said the 22-year-old Kabalasan, Zambonga Sibugay native, who was himself surprised but pleased at the quick outcome of the match. “He’s strong, but I’m not bothered. I want to win," added Lopez in making his second successful title defense while raising his record to 14 wins (10 KOs), two losses and one draw. “He (Singwancha) didn’t see that left coming near the end of the first round," Canadian assistant trainer David Trehanne of the punch that led to the Thai’s downfall. “It really hurt him and our boy was never the same after that." The loss was the Thai’s second straight to a Filipino in a little over a year after being stopped also in the second round by Marvin Sonsona in May 2007. The Thai pug dropped his mark to 62-13-1. According to promoter Bebot Elorde, who also handles Lopez, the Filipino boxer now moves up as the WBC No. 1 contender in the division “which was what WBC president Jose Sulaiman promised us before we set up this match." Ryan Bito made it a double kill for the Filipinos, surviving a toe-to-toe encounter with sturdy Sooksan Chaichan Sangmuangloei in the early rounds before wresting the WBC international flyweight crown with a 10th-round TKO. After tagging the Thai with hard right to the body, Bito uncorked a furious flurry of blows to force Del Bianco again to stop the fight in 1:44 of the round, sparing Sanmuangloei from further punishment. “He’s a solid puncher, but I can endure it," said the 24-year-old Bito after the bruising match, which upped his record to 15 wins, three by knockout, against five losses and three draws. - RCJ, GMANews.TV