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Pacquiao knocks out Solis in 8th round

• Posted by animo on April 15th, 2007 filed in Daily Blog, Philippine News, Photography, Sports

(UPDATE 3)

Agence France-Presse, Inquirer
Last updated 08:43pm (Mla time) 04/15/2007

MANILA, Philippines–Manny Pacquiao unleashed a lethal right-left combination punch to knock out the erstwhile unbeaten Jorge Solis of Mexico in Round 8 and defend his World Boxing Council International superfeatherweight crown at the Aladome, San Antonio, Texas on Sunday (Manila time).

He stepped up his aggressive attack in the seventh and sent his Mexican opponent down at 1:16 in the eighth, when referee Vic Drakulich counted Solis out, Agence France-Presse reported.

“Magaling din si Solis, pero mas malakas ang mga tama ko sa kanya [Solis is good, but my punches against him were stronger],” Manny Pacquiao surrounded by jubilant supporters, told dzBB radio in a post-match interview.

Solis attempted to hit Pacquiao with straight jabs in the earlier rounds but could not penetrate the champion’s defense.

In Round 6, not even an accidental head butt that that left Pacquiao cut over the left eye could stop him from sending Solis to the canvass for the first time in the match.

In the 8th round, Pacquiao unleashed punishing combination punches to knock down Solis twice before the referee ended the fight.

Pacquiao, who holds the World Boxing Council’s “international” super featherweight title, and is the WBC’s No. 1 contender to the super flyweight world title held by Juan Manuel Marquez of Mexico, improved to 43-3-1 with 35 wins inside the distance. Solis fell to 32-1-2.

A world title fight between Pacquiao and Marquez would seem a logical next step. The two met in a classic featherweight bout in May 2004 that ended in a draw.

However, the match-up could be stymied by the fact that Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank both claim they have possession of a valid contract with Pacquiao.

While the lawyers sort things out, Pacquiao can again turn his attention to May 14 elections in the Philippines, where he is standing as a legislative candidate.

Last month, the General Santos City native’s lawyer, Franklin Gacal, submitted Pacquiao’s certificate of candidacy to run in South Cotabato.

The combination of Pacquiao’s political and pugilitic pursuits caused a brief uproar earlier this month, when fans protested a bid to ban television coverage of Saturday’s bout lest it give him an unfair advantage in the polls.

Broadcast outlets were flooded with calls and text messages demanding the 27-year-old hero’s fight be shown.

“There are rules in elections but Pacquiao is a phenomenon. He is the only thing right now that excites the whole country,” Philippine Daily Inquirer sports columnist Recah Trinidad told Agence France-Presse.

“How can you sacrifice that just because of some silly political exercise?”

On Saturday’s undercard, Mexico’s Cristian Mijares successfully defended his WBC super flyweight crown with a unanimous decision over former flyweight title holder Jorge Arce.

With scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111, Mijares improved to 31-3-2, with 12 wins inside the distance, and retained a title he captured on September 18.

Edgar Sosa captured the vacant WBC light flyweight belt with a majority decision over former champion Brian Viloria.

Mexico’s Sosa improved to 27-5, with 14 wins inside the distance, thanks to a surge in the final rounds. Two judges scored the bout 115-113, while a third called it 114-114.

“I did enough to win, but he stepped it up in the championship rounds, and that was the difference in the fight,” Viloria admitted.

Viloria, who fell to 19-2-1, held the title for nearly a year before losing to Omar Nino on August 10.

Nino then tested positive for methamphetamine and was stripped of the belt.

Full blow-by-blow details of the bouts are at the Pacquiao Files’ Running Account of INQUIRER.net.

With reports from Agence France-Presse in San Antonio, Texas. Originally posted at 11:59 am