Estrada decisions Melindo, keeps WBO, WBA titles

MANILA, Philippines - Milan Melindo fell short in his crack at the world title but will come with his head held high after a gallant stand against Mexico’s Juan Francisco Estrada Saturday evening in Macau.

Melindo climbed the ring at The Venetian undefeated in 29 fights. He had something going in the early rounds but the Mexican knew what to do and what not to do.

Estrada used his size and that of the ring to the hilt and was more elusive in the closing rounds. He sent the bleeding Melindo down on the floor in the 11th round.

The 25-year-old Filipino tried his best to stay on his feet in the final round as he looked for the lucky punch that never came.

In the end, Estrada was declared winner on all scorecards and kept the WBO and WBA flyweight titles he took away from Brian Viloria last April at the same venue.

Melindo, from ALA Promotions, failed in his bid to join three other Filipinos as world champions – Merlito Sabillo (WBO minimumweight), Johnriel Casimero (IBF lightfly) and Donnie Nietes (WBO lightfly).

Judges Rafael Ramos and Zoltan Enyedi scored it 118-109 and Takeshi Shimakawa 117-109 all for the 23-year-old Mexican. Those who watched the fight at ringside felt it was closer than the scored suggested.

Melindo backed Estrada a number of times but didn’t seem to have enough behind his punches to really hurt the champion.

Still, Estrada, now 25-2 with 18 knockouts under his name, did the right thing by not going toe to toe and pouring it on in the closing rounds.

Melindo bled from a cut under his left eye from the seventh round.

Genesis “Azukal” Servania retained his WBO Asia-Pacific super bantam title by escaping with a ninth-round technical majority decision over Japan’s Konosuke Tomiyama in a fight that saw both boxers going down four times.

Servania suffered a cut early on and took another which Filipino referee Danrex Tapdasan thought was caused by a headbutt, and the fight went to the scorecards.

Tomiyama thought he had won the contest and started to celebrate until the scores were announced.

Dave Peñalosa of the proud Pinoy boxing clan outclassed Thailand’s Ngaotawa Sithsaithong and scored a knockout in the second round.

Chinese superstar Zou Shiming, who headlined the “Fists of Gold II” card, gave the crowd what they came for – a unanimous win over Mexico’s Jesus Ortega.