MANILA – Negrense boxer John Michael Zulueta took home the ABF and IBF Asia light flyweight title with a fourth round technical knockout win over Mark Anthony Florida at the Philippine Marine Corp. in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.
It was the second and third light flyweight championship won by the Calatrava, Negros Occidental native after capturing IBO Oceania edition last March with a win over Ariston Aton.
Zulueta had been dominant since the opening bell on Saturday night. He pounded Florida with his solid left and right combinations until the latter conceded the match at the end of the fourth round.
With the victory, the 24-year-old Zulueta improved his record to 11-0-2 win-loss-draw with four stoppage wins.
Florida saw his slate dropped to 12-9-0 with nine knockout wins.
Meanwhile, Pontevedra-native Robert “Toto” Landero hiked his record to 11-4-0 (with two knockout wins) as he cruised to a unanimous decision win over Joel Lino (10-3-1, 3 KOs).
In the other undercard match, Silay City native Richard Claveras (18-7-2, 15 KOs) suffered his fourth consecutive defeat after a technical decision loss to Giemel Magramo (24-1-0, 20 KOs).
In the main event, Pedro Taduran (14-2-0, 11 KOs) emerged as the new Filipino world champion after bagging the IBF world minimumweight title with a technical stoppage win over Samuel Salva (17-1-0, 10 KOs)./PN
