Bloodied Banal defeats Cave

CEBU, Philippines - With blood flowing from his right eyebrow and enduring some dirty gimmicks by his opponent, ALA Boxing Gym stalwart AJ “Bazooka” Banal kept his composure to defend his WBO Asia Pacific bantamweight title with an eighth round technical decision victory over Canadian Tyson “Prince of Hali” Cave in the main event of the “Pinoy Pride 7: Battle of Mactan” the other night at the jampacked Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City.

It was expected to be an interesting match-up between two fighters with different styles, but cheers turned into boos as Cave refused to engage in a toe-to-toe battle. Instead, he turned the bout into a wrestling match by shoving and throwing down Banal to the canvass.

With him frequently crying out low blow to referee Tony Pesons as he was hit by Banal in the waist area, the slick Cave landed clear low blow to Banal in the sixth round that sent crowd jeering with displeasure.  

But Cave’s tactics did not stop Banal from coming forward and landing some solid punches to the head and body of the 29-year-old Canadian.

In the fifth, a clear accidental headbutt opened a cut on Banal’s right eyebrow and with blood gushing out from Banal’s eye, Cave capitalized by landing jabs to the ALA fighter.

Cave continued his punch and clinch style, but he was rocked after being hit by Banal’s vicious body shot that almost pinned him down in the sixth round. As usual, Cave escaped the wrath of Banal by shoving the pride of Ermita down in the canvass.

The chasing game continued as the fight went on but Banal’s bleeding got worse that forced ring physician Jose Unabia to stop the fight at the 2:32 mark in the eighth round. Banal was leading on the three scorecards – 79-73, 78-74 and 78-74, thus, the technical verdict.

Commotion ensued as the crowd angrily confronted Cave and one of the boxer’s trainers threw a pair of gloves to one spectator.

After the match, Banal admitted he was not satisfied with the outcome as he was dying to knock Cave out. “Sige lang siya (Cave) og dagan. Ako lisud nako pagkita sa akong mata ako lang giantos pero di man mosukol og sinumbagay,” he said.

Banal's chief strategist Edmund Villamor said they were not expecting a dirty fight from Cave.

“Expect ko sa iyang style nga kanang lihay ug magdagan-dagan pero nakalitan mi sa kagrabe kahugaw niya moduwa, naa tanan wrestling, low blow nya tukmod,” added Villamor.

For his part, ALA president Michael Aldeguer saw some bright spot with the outcome as Banal proved to have matured in conquering pressure especially from an unorthodox fighter like Cave.

“The good thing here is that you can see the maturity was there for AJ and if only the fight continued he could have win convincingly,” said Aldeguer.

He also confirmed that Banal is assured of a dream rematch against Panamanian Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion next year here in the Philippines.

“Probably in January next year, but probably Banal will be fighting one more this October as a preparation for Concepcion.”

In the supporting bout, Michael “Bruce Lee” Domingo punished Indonesian champion Richard “King Cobra” Samosir into submission in the sixth round, while knockout artist Lorenzo “Thundervolt” Villanueva stretched his unbeaten streak to 21 in style, stopping Indon Eddy Camaro at 1:02 of the first round. 

Also, Boholano Romeo “Jaku” Jakosalem won the Philippine light welterweight title after destroying Eusebio Baluarte in 2:53 of the opening round. - THE FREEMAN