MANILA – Negrense boxer Aston Palicte was once again denied of world championship after a 10th round technical knockout loss to WBO super flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka of Japan on Wednesday night at the Messe Convention Center in Chiba, Japan.
It was the second time that the Bago City, Negros Occidental-native Palicte failed to clinch a world title after his world title clash with fellow Negrense Donnie Nietes ended in draw last year.
Palicte was aggressive early on as he threw a lot of punches but Ioka used sleek movement to avoid Palicte’s attack and counter with his own shots to dominate the next four rounds.
Knowing that he was way behind in the scorecards, Palicte started strong in the seventh round throwing a lot of hard punches and combinations many of which managed to hurt Ioka.
Palicte continued his aggression in the eighth but still unable to finish off Ioka until the latter took advantage of a gassed out Palicte with a combination and a flurry of punches forcing referee Kenny Chevalier to end the match.
The world championship was historic for the 30-year-old Ioka as he became the first Japanese boxer to clinch four world championship in as many divisions (minimumweight, light-flyweight, flyweight, super-flyweight).
With the defeat, the 28-year-old Palicte saw his boxing record dropped to 25-3-1 win-loss-draw, including 21 stoppage wins, while Ioka improved his slate to 24-2-0, with 14 knockout victories./PN
