MANILA – Filipino boxer Giemel Magramo captured the WBO International and WBO Oriental flyweight championship after an eleventh round technical decision win over Chinese Wenfeng Ge on Saturday at the Suzhou Olympic Sport Center in China.
The upset victory allowed Magramo to successfully defend the WBO Oriental belt for the second time while also snatching the WBO International diadem from the erstwhile unbeaten Ge.
Aside from unifying the flyweight championships, the Paranaque City native fighter also moved a step closer from challenging WBO world flyweight titlist Kosei Tanaka of Japan.
Magramo was the aggressor early in the game as he landed solid blows on the inside of Ge.
The Chinese boxer tried to turn the match to his tide in the third round but the Filipino targeted his opponents with body shots.
Magramo continued his dominance in the next rounds as he pressured Ge with his body hits. Ge had solid hits on Magramo early in the eighth frame but the Filipino quickly ngated it with his power punches.
Magramo went for the kill in the ninth and tenth round as he targeted Ge’s head and body. The Filipino nearly floored the Chinese with a solid right to the head late in the 10th but the latter managed to survive.
The bout was stopped by the referee, however, heading into the 11th round as he deemed that Ge will not be able to keep in step with Magramo with his face swollen with numerous cuts.
With the victory, the 24-year-old Magramo improved his boxing record to 23-1-0 win-loss-draw, with 19 stoppage wins. Ge suffered his first defeat to drop to 11-1-0 with six knockout triumphs./PN
