MANILA – Filipino boxer Giemel Magramo fell short in his bid to capture the World Boxing Organization (WBO) world flyweight championship following an eighth round technical knockout loss to Japanese fighter Junto Nakatani at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan last night.
It was a tough defeat for the Paranaque City-native Magramo, whose preparation for the all-important world title clash was disrupted due to postponements brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.
Nakatani set the tone early as he hurt Magramo with his solid left hand and body shots. The Japanese went with his domination in the second and third frames with his body shots and uppercuts.
Nakatani continued to punish Magramo in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds as he mashed the Filipino boxer with body shots and landed uppercuts on his jaw. Magramo did not have any response to the Japanese’s attacks.
In the seventh round, Magramo was dominated further by Nakatani and the Filipino was hurt towards the end of the round. Sensing that, Nakatani went for the kill in the eighth and was able to drop Magramo midway in the round.
Magramo, looking exhausted, broken and beaten, was able to stand up from the knockdown at the count of nine, but referee Nobuto Ikehara opted to waive off the match to prevent further damage from the Filipino.
With the defeat, the 26-year-old Magramo saw his record drop to a 24-2-0 win-loss-draw slate, including 20 stoppage wins while Nakatani remained undefeated with 21-0-0, with 16 wins by way of knockout./PN
