MANILA – Filipino Vic Saludar successfully retained the WBO world minimumweight championship after a unanimous decision victory over Japanese Masataka Taniguchi on Tuesday night at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
It was the first successful defense of the Polomolok, Cotabato del Sur native for the world title that he won at the expense of Japanese Ryuya Yamanaka last year.
Saludar has been dominant in the first three rounds as he unloaded body shots on Taniguchi. The Japanese attempted to respond in the next few round as he landed solid shots but the Filipino was unhurt.
Saludar continued to control of the match in the second half of the match with his solid punches but Taniguchi made its move in the eighth round as he rocked the Filipino with his combination punches.
Despite being tired from the lengthy match, Saludar regained his dominance in the last two rounds as he kept Taniguchi at bay with hits to the head. At the end of the game, Saludar won all the judges scores at 118-110, 117-111, 117-111.
With the victory, the 28-year-old Saludar has improved his boxing slate to 19 wins and three losses with 10 stoppage victories. The 25-year-old Taniguchi dropped his record to 11-3-0, 7 KOs.
Filipino boxer Jerry Castroverde (10-6-0, 5 KOs), meanwhile, failed to follow up the victory of Saludar after a knockout loss to Japanese fighter Shu Utsuki (4-0-0, 3 KOs) in a non-title match./PN
