Fuentes TKOs Japanese foe to keep OPBF belt

CEBU, Philippines - ALA Boxing Gym mainstay Rocky Fuentes retained his Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) flyweight title with a resounding eigth round TKO win over Japanese challenger Yasuto Aritomi yesterday at the    International Conference Hall in Nagoya, Japan.

In the same fight card, Fuentes' stablemate Marjun Yap (13-4, 7KOs) was not as lucky, losing by unanimous decision to Hiromasa Ohashi (21-9-3, 15KOs).

It was Fuentes' third defense of the OPBF throne he seized by defeating hometown prospect Masafumi Okubo by majority decision last March 9 at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

In his previous defense last June 5 also at the historic Korakuen Hall, Fuentes stopped Shigetaka Ikehara in the 11th round.

The 24-year-old Fuentes now holds a 27-2-2 win-loss-draw record packed with 17KOs, while Aritomi slipped to 17-2-2 spiked with 8KOs.  (FREEMAN)