MANILA – Filipino boxer Jonas Sultan made a triumphant ring return after a seventh-round knockout (KO) win over American Sharone Carter on Saturday night (Sunday in the Philippines) at the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
The Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte native boxer started the match as the aggressor where he successfully connected a solid left hook that staggered his American foe.
Sultan continued unloading left and right combinations in the succeeding rounds, but Carter managed to counter the attacks yet not enough to drag the Filipino slugger down.
Sultan went for the kill at the latter part of the seventh round with a blistering combination – a series of unanswered shots and enough to send Carter down. After the fall, the Carter managed to recover, but referee Ray Corona ended the bout in favor of the Filipino boxer.
It was Sultan’s first match since August 2019, when he scored a seventh-round technical KO victory over fellow Filipino fighter Salatiel Amit in Ormoc City Superdome. He was a last-minute insertion to the John Riel Casimero-Guillermo Rigondeaux undercard as he was brought in to the United States to be Casimero’s sparring mate.
With the knockout win, the 29-year-old Sultan improved his boxing record to 17-5-0, tallying his 11th stoppage victory. On the other hand, Carter fell to a 2-5-0 slate, with three wins within the distance.
Meanwhile, Raymond Tabugon failed to duplicate Sultan’s triumph after suffering a fifth-round stoppage defeat to the heavily-favored Juan Carlos Payano of the Dominican Republic.
Payano set the tone early by knocking down Tabugon late in the first round. He then dominated the Filipino fighter in the succeeding rounds before the match halted in the fifth frame, where the referee ruled in favor of the Dominican Republic boxer.
With the loss, Tabugon dropped his record to 22-14-1, including 11 wins by way of knockout, while Payano upgraded his record to 24-5-0 and also registered his 12th stoppage win./PN
