MANILA – Filipino boxers Marlon Tapales and Jhack Tepora scored impressive victories to keep their world title aspirations alive on Saturday night (Sunday in Manila) at the Soboba Casino in San Jacinto, California.
Tapales, a former world championship title holder, got back on the winning track following a third round stoppage victory over Mexican Roberto Castaneda in the bout scheduled for 10 rounds.
Tapales was aggressive in the opening round and was able to score a knockdown on Castaneda. Referee Ray Corona saved Castaneda from severe physical damage as he halted the match with 1:37 in the third round.
With the victory, the WBO/IBF No. 4 ranked super bantamweight Tapales improved his record to 33-2-0 win-loss-draw, with 16 stoppage wins, while Castaneda’s slate drpped to 23-12-2 with 16 KO wins.
Tepora, meanwhile, cruised to a unanimous decision victory over American Jose Luis Gallegos in his return after losing his belt on the scales on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao and Adrien Broner.
There was no knockdown in the 10 round bout but Tepora got the nod of the three judges with identical scores of 99-91 all in his favor. Tepora is still undefeated at 23-0-0 with 17 KOs, while Gallegos has 16-7-0, 12KOs card./PN
