MANILA – Filipino boxer Jonas Sultan escaped with a close unanimous decision win over Puerto Rican Carlos Caraballo to clinch the WBO Intercontinental bantamweight belt on Saturday night (Sunday in the Philippines) at the Madison Square Garden in New York.
Despite sending his opponent to the ground four times, the Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte native just managed to escape with a 94-93, 94-93, 94-93 score from the three judges.
Both fighters tested each other in the opening round before Sultan made his move at the onset of the second round with his first knockdown of Caraballo via a right hand to the chin.
Sultan once again scored a knockdown in the third round. He landed a left to the body of Caraballo. The Filipino was nearly penalized after landing a punch to the head of the Puerto Rican while he was down.
Sultan was counted on by the referee towards the end of the third round when he appeared to avoid an ensuing right hook but wound up touching his glove to the canvas in an effort to steady himself.
Caraballo went on to have a strong fourth and fifth rounds. He pummeled Sultan with straight lefts and hooks, with the Filipino having wobbly legs but managed to survive the round.
Sultan regained his form in the sixth round. He landed a flush right hand to send Caraballo crashing to the canvas for the third time. Puerto Rican was slowly to get up but still beat the referee count.
The Puerto Rican bounced back in the next two rounds as he rocked the Filipino in the seventh round before inflicting cuts on Sultan in the eighth with several straight left hands.
Caraballo, however, found himself on the canvas for the fourth time in the ninth round with Sultan landing a flush left hook behind a pawing right hand.
Both fighters continued to trade punches in the final three rounds with the Filipino connecting with left hooks and right hands but the Puerto Rican was able to protect himself from another fall.
With the victory, Sultan increased his boxing record to 18-5-0 win-loss-draw, with 11 stoppage victories, while Caraballo dropped to 14-1-0, including 14 KO victories./PN
