Dubai: The Filipino trio of Genesis ‘Azukal’ Servania, Rey ‘Boom Boom’ Bautista and ‘King’ Arthur Villanueva withstood a testing Dubai debut before scampering home to wins at the ‘Pinoy Pride 27: Duel in Dubai’ late on Friday.
Backed by a capacity crowd at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), Servania successfully defended his WBO Intercontinental Super Bantamweight Championship belt in a controversial 10th round technical knockout after his Mexican opponent Jose ‘Matador’ Cabrera decided not to continue.
Earlier, Bautista — the most popular of the trio — had also received a controversy-marred technical majority decision against another Mexican, Juan Jose ‘Piquet’ Martinez in their 10-round elimination fight for the Super Featherweight belt.
Villanueva, the third Filipino in the fray, won on a split decision against Henry ‘El Crespo’ Maldonado, with the Nicaraguan refusing to shake hands with his opponent claiming that he had been cheated of the win.
The only clean win for a Filipino boxer came through Larry Abarra’s unanimous decision against Thailand’s Chatpayak Nuengkawkawhok in one of the three fights listed on the sidecard.
Things were evenly balanced between Cabrera and Servania with the Mexican taking the early initiative and attacking his opponent, who claimed to be battling a leg cramp. But the Filipino fighter, who extended his clean record to 25 wins and no losses, gradually fought his way back, even knocking down his opponent at the end of the second round.
Despite being the superior fighter from then on, Servania failed to consolidate his position and get a knockout blow after sending his Mexican opponent reeling in the fifth round. In the ninth round, Cabrera hit Servania below the belt and the referee issued a stern warning to the Mexican challenger.
By the end of the same round, Cabrera started bleeding following a close exchange between the two boxers. Servania went back to his corner while Cabrera started remonstrating with the referee about an alleged head butt that gave him a gash below the left eye. The Mexican’s coach informed the Filipino referee that his boxer would not continue, thus forcing a technical knockout.
“This win is for Dubai and I am happy to keep my record intact,” Servania said.
“There were times when I found the going tough due to the cramp, but I’m glad I just hung in there,” he added.
Villanueva’s win against the Nicaraguan boxer was no cakewalk either. With both fighters going the distance of 12 rounds for the vacant IBF International Junior Bantamweight Championship, the judges announced a split decision in favour of the Filipino to take his record to 26 wins with no losses.
Feeling cheated by the three judges, Maldonado at first refused to shake hands with his opponent, but was gracious enough to hug Villanueva after some coaxing from his coach.
Bautista’s win was not easy either. He was head-butted by Martinez causing a gash below his left eye. The ring-side doctor was called and New Zealand referee Bruce McTavish called off the bout with the scores reading 67-65, 68-65, 66-66 in favour of Bautista at the end of the seventh round of the 10-round bout.
