Pacquiao, 2 other Pinoys beat rivals

World-renowned Filipino boxing king Manny "The Destroyer" Pacquiao led two other Filipino fighters in wrecking their respective Mexican opponents, all within the short distance, in the "Double Trouble" card at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California last Saturday night (late morning in Manila).

The 27-year-old Pacquiao capped the clean sweep of Filipino boxers by knocking out Mexican trial-horse Hector Velasquez with one second remaining in round 6 of their scheduled 12-round bout before a roaring crowd of 10,684.

"This victory proves that I'm still the king of the ring. I'm still the champion," said Pacquiao, after his masterful destruction of Velasquez that also earned him the WBC International super featherweight crown.

The triple knockout binge of the Filipino boxers started with the undercard win of Brian "Hawaiian Punch" Viloria via a spectacular first round knockout over defending WBC light-flyweight champion Eric Ortiz of Mexico.

It was followed by the 19-year-old ALA teenage sensation Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista who made his maiden ring appearance in the US with a stunning third round knockout over Mexican Felix Flores Murillo in their bantamweight match.

While Pacquiao basked in convincing triumph, his tormentor Erik Morales suffered a shocking loss by unanimous decision to 1996 USA Olympian Zahir Raheem in their 12-round bout for the WBC International lightweight championship.

Despite Morales' setback, however, Top Rank has announced that the hotly anticipated Pacquiao-Morales rematch is still on this January 21. There was no site yet set for that bout but it will be telecast on HBO Pay Per View.

After his loss, Morales expressed his intent to go down to the super featherweight division and challenge Pacquiao, who he narrowly beat by decision last March 19 at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. "I'm going back down to 130lbs to fight Pacquiao. Pacquiao says he wants to take my head off. Let's see if he can do it."

The 30-year-old Velazquez started the first round aggressively, hitting Pacquiao with a slew of jabs, but the Filipino warrior dominated the next five rounds with more telling blows. Pacquiao opened the sixth round with a right hook that staggered Velasquez, then punished the Mexican with a flurry of crunching punches to the head and body down to the closing seconds.

Velaquez briefly eked his way out of trouble but Pacquiao caught him up with crackling left uppercut for the floor, the first time in eight years the Mexican met such fate. Velasquez got up at the count of eight but with rubbery legs and glassy eyes, referee Dr. Lou Moret promptly stopped the bout at 2:59 of the round.

The win improved Pacquiao's win-loss-draw record to 40-3-1 spiked with 31KOs. Velasquez slipped to 42-11-2 with 31KOs.

Viloria unleashed a powerful right straight that sent Ortiz down to the seat of his pants. Ortiz tried to get up but his knees failed prompting referee Raul Caes, Jr. to stop the match at 2:59 of the first round.

Viloria, who made public his being a Filipino even wrapping himself up with the Filipino flag on the ring, stretched his unbeaten streak to 18-0 now dotted with a dozen knockouts. Ortiz fell to 24-5-1.

Viloria's victory made him the third member of the 2000 US Olympic squad to win a world title, joining Jeff Lacy and Jermain Taylor.

The 19-year-old Bautista, the reigning WBO Asia-Pacific bantamweight titlist, showed he was the lord of the division by sending Murillo out to the canvas at 1:177 of the third round.

He kept his undefeated record intact, now at 17-0 embellished with 13KOs.