Cuello, Lopez on cue in title bids

Two Filipino prospects won by spectacular knockouts in Mexico last Saturday to come a step closer to clinching title shots and the probability is they’ll be joining Manny Pacquiao, Nonito Donaire Jr. and Brian Viloria as the country’s reigning world champions before the year ends.

Denver Cuello, 24, disposed of late hometown replacement Sebastian Arcos at 2:24 of the third round of a minimumweight bout in Quintana Roo while Sylvester Lopez, 23, knocked out highly touted Oscar Ibarra at 1:23 of the eighth to wrest the WBC silver superflyweight crown at the Plaza de Toros in Juriquilla. 

Cuello is lined up to face Mexico’s Carlos Perez for the vacant WBC silver minimumweight title in Los Cabos on Oct. 15 and a win will seal a showdown with No. 1 contender Ganigan Lopez for the soon-to-be-vacant WBC 105-pound throne on Dec. 10 in the undercard of a Mexico card featuring WBC lightmiddleweight champion Saul (Canelo) Alvarez. According to Cuello’s manager Aljoe Jaro, WBC minimumweight titleholder Kazuto Ioka is expected to relinquish his crown after a second defense in November, paving the way for the Cuello-Lopez eliminator.

Sylvester Lopez, the No. 1 contender, fortified his bid to challenge newly crowned WBC 115-pound champion Suriyan Por Rungvisai of Thailand by knocking out Ibarra, cited in the WBC website as “on the verge of a world title.” Rungvisai’s first mandatory defense will be against Lopez. The Thai scored a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Tomas Rojas to capture the WBC title in Srisaket last Aug. 19. Suriyan, 22, has fought here twice, losing a 10-round decision to Javier Mulalan in Baguio City in 2007 and drawing with Fernando Lumacad in Naga City the next year.

Jaro said Cuello won’t return home until after the Ganigan Lopez fight. Cuello will stay in Las Vegas with Jaro’s friend Carlos Vazquez, a retired Filipino US Army veteran. Jaro flies back to Manila on Friday then will rejoin Cuello in Las Vegas on Oct. 3 with trainer George Sol.

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The other day, Jaro and Cuello went to Guadalajara for a press conference where Canelo Promotions president and chief executive officer Eddy Reynoso announced the Perez fight on Oct. 15. Jaro recently sealed a deal with Canelo to promote Cuello in Mexico. Reynoso has assigned former WBC featherweight champion Oscar Larios, who lost to Manny Pacquiao on points at the Araneta Coliseum in 2006, to watch over Cuello during his stay in Mexico.

Cuello was as good as advertised in demolishing Arcos, an overnight substitute for Patricio Camacho. He dropped Arcos twice in the second and once in the third. A left to the body and a right uppercut to the chin finished off the Mexican. Camacho had weighed in with Cuello the day before the fight but developed cold feet.

“Camacho got scared at the last minute,” said Cuello. “He suddenly pulled out and luckily, Arcos was available. The fans loved Denver. They were impressed with how he knocked out Arcos. Everyone is calling him the little Pacquiao. In the third round, the referee didn’t bother to count as Arcos went down for the third time in the fight. It’s Denver’s dream to become a world champion and he’s been waiting for the opportunity a long time. He’s not throwing away this chance of a lifetime.”

Cuello has now won seven in a row, all by knockout, since losing on a controversial third round disqualification to Juan Hernandez in Mexico City last year. 

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Lopez and Ibarra were engaged in a give-and-take brawl from the onset. Lopez trapped Ibarra against the ropes and mercilessly flailed away at the Mexican, prompting referee Gerald Ritter to step in. The Filipino led on two of the three scorecards when the fight was stopped as judges Rey Danseco and Julie Lederman had it both 67-66 while David Candido saw it 67-66 for Ibarra.

Lopez raised his record to 17-3-1, with 13 KOs, and was the only Filipino winner in the Plaza de Toros card which saw Ricky Sismundo lose to Mexico’s Dante (Crazy) Jardon on a seventh round knockout and veteran Juanito Rubillar bow to another Mexican Edgar Jimenez on points. Sismundo, 24, was no match for Jardon, a 5-7 1/2 prospect who improved his record to 19-1, with 17 KOs. Rubillar, 34, has now lost five straight as his record fell to 48-18-7, with 23 KOs. The scores were 99-90, 98-91 and 98-92 for Jimenez. It could be the end of the line for Rubillar who has lost in six world title fights dating back to 1999.

Also last Saturday, Filipino Michael Landero lost a unanimous 12-round decision to Hekkie Budler for the vacant IBO minimumweight title in Gauteng, South Africa. The setback snapped Landero’s streak of nine straight wins. The judges had no difficulty choosing the winner as Robert Byrd had it 119-109, Tony Nyangiwa 118-110 and Isaac Tshabalala, 119-109.