OPBF champ Suico crumbles in LA fight

In what could be a crushing blow to his world championship bid, Cebuano hard-puncher Randy "Kumong Bato" Suico lost by majority decision to ex-IBF lightweight champion Javier "Chatito" Jauregui of Mexico over 10 heats yesterday at the USC Lyon Center in Los Angeles, California.

In his report posted on Fightnews.com, boxing writer Francisco Salazar stated Jauregui was very sharp in the early rounds, but Suico, the reigning OPBF super featherweight champion, turned up the heat down the stretch and was stalking the former champ towards the end of the bout.

But while one judge evenly penned the bout at 95-all, the two other judges surprisingly, if not questionably, had identical scores of 99-91 and 99-91 in favor of Jauregui.

Thus, Jauregui improved his win-loss-draw record to 50-12-2 with 34KOs, while the WBC ranked No.4, WBA No.7, and IBF No.13 130-pounder Suico suffered his only second defeat in 24 pro fights spiked with 20KOs. Suico's setback is seen to be an impediment of the Mandaue City fighter's dream of becoming a world champion someday.

In the supporting main event of the boxing show presented by Oscar de la Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, super lightweight prospect Ben Tackie (27-5, 16 KOs) won a close majority decision over Norberto Bravo (20-10-2, 12 KOs).

Neither fighter took a step backward and all rounds were closely contested. The scores were 95-95, 95-94, and an out of line 98-92 for Tackie.