Araneta bombs foe in one round

CEBU, Philippines —  Omega Gym standout Christian Araneta delivered the shortest and most devastating win in Omega Sports Promotions International’s two-part “Kumbati” boxing show staged behind closed doors under strict health protocols last Friday, December 18, at the IPI Sports and Recreational Complex in Barangay Tingub, Mandaue City.

Living up to his deadly moniker “The Bomb”, Araneta needed only two minutes and 15 seconds to demolish Cagayan de Oro City’s Roland Jay Biendima in the main event of the “Kumbati 7”.

The Borbon, Cebu-native Araneta thus bettered his record to 19-1 now spiced up with 15KOs.

On the undercards, former ALA Gym star “Prince” Albert Pagara and the unbeaten Ifugao “Wonder Boy” Carl Jammes Martin both made a triumphant return after several months of inactivity because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Pagara, seeing action for the first time under the banner of MTK Global Promotions, clearly still had some ring rust in pulling off a unanimous decision victory over Virgil Puton of Cotabato.

Judges Edward Ligas and Teddy Alivio had identical scores of 78-74 while Rolando Mendoza had it 79-73 for Pagara, who improved to 33-1 with 23KOs.

In stark contrast, Martin was sharp as ever, dominating Rosales throughout their 10-round encounter to earn the nod of all three judges in lopsided fashion, 100-90 twice and 98-92.

Martin thus raised his perfect record to 16-0 packed with 14KOs.

In the other matches, Peter Apolinar edged Danilo Tampipi by unanimous verdict, while Franco Serafica

won by TKO at the end of first round over Matthew Fondales.

Meanwhile in “Kumbati 6”, Tomjune Mangubat came up with a TKO victory at the end of round three over Reymond Empic; Carlo Bacaro stopped Ryan Maano at 2:37 of the third round;Reggie Suganob beat Robert Ates by unanimous decision; while Benny Canete prevailed over John Roque Villagonzalo by TKO at 1:32 of round two.