On his home patch in South Auckland, with blood and a smirk splattered on his face, David Tua was shocked when his return to the heavyweight division was quashed tonight with American Monte Barrett awarded a unanimous point’s decision.

Barrett is the only man to knock Tua to the canvas and appeared to be out on his feet in the last rounds.

He was knocked down in the 12th and struggled to get up but must have done enough in the early rounds to convince the judges.

The sold out crowd’s raptures turned to stunned glances when the decision was announced. They thought their Samoan-born Kiwi had his redemption revenge.

Tua bided his time and picked his moments, slowly building his power and intent as the bout progressed, but wit the loss, just the fourth of his career, means he gives up the WBO Asia Pacific and Oriental belts. The 38-year-old said he would not retire but will take time out to consider his credible future in the sport.

Barrett kept the initially inactive and sluggish Tua at bay with his reach advantage and left jabs in the first three rounds. With a flurry of punches and his go-to overhand right hook bearing down, Barrett had Tua bleeding from a small cut above his right eye. The visitor was well on top, but briefly.

Tua was patient. He waited for an opening, a weakness in Barrett’s defence. The infamous left hook made a belated appearance at the end of the fourth round, as he lifted.

But Tua began to consistently rock the 40-year-old New Yorker with powerful combinations and a busier work rate. Barrett slipped behind in the points as the fight changed complexion. “Two Gunz” was out of ammunition, but he did enough early.

Tua hurt Barrett in the 10th round, pinning him against the ropes. He raised his arms in delight to the crowd and thought it was in the bag. Barrett appeared done. The judges thought otherwise.

The 3000-strong, vocal crowd waited through the undercards expectantly and booed Barrett on arrival. Tua received a standing ovation. There was an airy, yet electric atmosphere about this belt. It was career-defining for both fighters. The winner would carry on; the twilight loser faced an uncertain future.

Tua admitted, from his heart, Barrett should have won their first fight in Atlantic City last year, which led you to believe he was motivated and would deliver. He did that, but left it too late.

He needed a statement, either a knockout or convincing point’s victory, to ripple the division of giants that has become stagnant. His last convincing performance was too long ago, against Shane Cameron in October, 2009. Ultimately the 38-year-old was chasing a second world title shot after his defeat to Lennox Lewis in 2000. This could have been a stepping stone. He will now struggle to gain another.

In matching records alone, Tua’s impressive 52-3-2 scorecard dwarfed Barrett’s 34-9-2 in both experience and class. But records often don’t make it into the ring. As was the case tonight.
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New Zealand’s next heavyweight hope, 19-year-old amateur Joseph Parker, easily took care of Australian Nathan Mackay in a three round contest. Parker forced Mackay into two standing eight counts and spit his nose as he builds up to next month’s World Games in Azerbaijan, where he can qualify for next year’s London Olympics.

By: LIAM NAPIER
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/5441460/David-Tua-loses-on-unanimous-points-decision

Filipino boxer AJ “Bazooka” Banal won a bloody scrap, retaining his World Boxing Organization (WBO) Asia-Pacific bantamweight title, with an eight-round technical decision over Canadian Tyson Cove in Cebu, Philippines.

It was a successful defense but complicated for Banal, who bled profusely from a dangerous cut on his right eyebrow after an unintentional clash of heads. Undoubtedly Banal landed the best punches of the fight, especially with combinations initiated by his right jabs, which were followed up by left hooks and right uppercuts.

Cove (15-2, 5KO’s) used a lot of dirty tricks and questionable tactics during the fight, but never lost any points. In the eighth round, the referee stopped the fight, based on the recommendation of the attending physician Dr. Jose Unabia, because Banal’s cut was too severe. The fight went to the scorecards. The scores were 73-79, 74-78, and 74-78 – all in favor Banal.

Banal, 22 years old and ranked by the four major governing bodies, raises his record to 25 wins, 1 loss, and 17 wins by knockout.

After the win, Banal expressed his desire to avenge the only loss of his career. Banal publicly challenged Panamanian Rafael “El Torito” Concepcion. In July of 2008, Concepcion defeated Banal in Cebu in a ​dramatic battle.

“I’m glad I held on to my WBO Asia Pacific title, and now I want to challenge Torito Concepcion,” said Banal to BoxingScene.com/NotiFight.com. “I hope he (Concepcion) gives me a rematch. Now I’m craving to be a better fighter and I want that fight to clear my record. My agent (Don Antonio L. Aldeguer) supports me and agrees.”

Negotiations for the Banal vs Concepcion II are already in progress.

The supervisor of the fight was WBO Vice-President Mr. Leon Panoncillo of Hawaii. The event was organized by ALA Boxing Promotions and televised in the Philippines by ABC CBN Sports.

By: Carlos Costa
http://www.boxingscene.com/aj-banal-targets-rafael-concepcion-cove-win–42142

Froilan “The Sniper” Saludar won a third World Boxing Organization title with a rousing 10th round TKO over a game and gutsy Gabriel Pumar, the former WBC International minimum weight champion before a good crowd at the picturesque Island Cove Resort and Leisure Park in Kawit, Cavite.

The undefeated Saludar hammered Pumar with thunderous body shots throughout but the superbly conditioned Japan-based fighter refused to buckle under the onslaught and often fought back tenaciously with solid combinations of his own.

However, after Pumar caught Saludar with a clear low blow in the tenth round, the second after an earlier infraction in the fourth , a seemingly incensed Saludar went after Pumar with a flurry of vicious punches capped by a couple of cracking rights that sent Pumar crashing into the ropes and almost down before he was embraced by referee Danrex Tapdasan who wisely called a halt at 2:54 of the round.

With the win Saludar captured the WBO Asia Pacific flyweight crown to add to his WBO Asia Pacific Youth championship and WBO World Youth Championship titles while improving his record to 13-0-1 with 10 knockouts.

Pumar who won the admiration of fight fans for his gallant stand dropped to 14-6-1 with 9 knockouts.

After taking the first two rounds with thundering right hooks to the body and a couple of stinging right straights against the southpaw Pumar, Saludar was momentarily shaken when Pumar caught him with an uppercut and a flurry of punches before Saludar hit back with some vicious shots to the body and head in the third round.

A Pumar low blow early in round four angered Saludar who almost sent him through the ropes with vicious body shots but Pumar fought back with several shots to the head. After the action eased up in rounds 5 to 7, Pumar connected with a good right hook in the eighth followed by two good lefts before he jumped in and caught Saludar with a nifty right.

In a scheduled ten round super flyweight battle southpaw Jerwin Ancajas kept his unbeaten streak going with an 8th round TKO over tough Jason Egera in a slambang encounter that saw Egera wilt under a barrage of body shots and as Ancajas chased him around the ring referee Tapdasan stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:38 of the round.

In another action-packed bout super featherweight Rey Labao scored a 5th round majority technical decision over Jose Ocampo when the ring physician instructed referee Sammy Bernabe to stop the bout after Ocampo was bleeding from a cut over his right eye which the referee claimed was caused by an accidental head-butt.

However, repeated slow motion replays by AKTV IBC 13 which telecast the fights on a slightly delayed basis showed it was a perfect left straight that opened up the cut.

Two of the three judges had Labao who whooped it up in the center of the ring the winner with Salven Lagumbay scoring it 48-47 and Epi Almeda 49-46 while Romy Yulo had it even at 48-48..

By Ronnie Nathanielsz
http://www.boxingscene.com/froilan-saludar-grabs-another-wbo-strap-kawit–42410

Promising Froilan “The Sniper” Saludar, known for his awesome punching power goes for the WBO Asia Pacific flyweight title in a clash with former WBC International minimum weight champion Gabriel “Big Gunz” Pumar at the Island Cove Hotel and Leisure Park in Kawit, Cavite on Saturday.

The fight card will be telecast over AKTV Channel 13 at 9:00 p.m.

Saludar, brother of Asian Games gold medalist Ray Saludar is undefeated in 13 bouts with 12 wins, one draw and 9 knockouts.

He won the WBO Asia Pacific Youth title with a smashing 1st round knockout of Remuel Obidos on November 20, 2010 and followed this up with a 2nd round TKO over tough Jecker Buhawe in his first title defense on December 22, 2010.

Saludar scored a devastating 1st round TKO last February 19 in the boxing hotbed of Cavite over Thailand’s Liempetch Sor Veerapol who had previously given current WBO flyweight champion Brian Viloria a difficult time before Viloria won by a 7th round TKO.

In his last title defense Saludar knocked out Indonesia’s Jack Amisa who had 38 fights in his career with 20 wins in the very first round, once again demonstrating the WBO world No. 4 ranked contender’s punching power.

Although his opponent Pumar has lost his last two fights against Japanese opponents, his experience fighting abroad against some top class opponents including world champion Nkosinathi Joyi is expected to help him in trying to cope with the power of Saludar.

Pumar won the WBC International minimum weight title with the Filipino southpaw scoring a stunning 7th round TKO over fancied Tshepo Lefele in South Africa on March 31, 2006. He also put on a fine showing in a close ten round loss to current WBA flyweight champion Daiki Kameda on May 13, 2009 in Japan.

Since the loss to Kameda, Pumar won four fights in a row including three by knockouts. He has a record of 16-6-1 with 9 knockouts.

http://philboxing.com/news/story-58207.html