Watch AJ Banal beats Jose Angel Beranza by unanimous decision (with video). There was no knockout this time but Filipino KO artist AJ “Bazooka" Banal piled up enough points despite a point-deduction for low blow to beat Mexican Jose Angel Beranza in their 10-round junior featherweight non-title bout Saturday night in Honolulu, Hawaii (Sunday in Manila).
Banal thus made it 2-of-2 for the three Filipino fighters seeing action in the “Island Assault" card topbilled by the “Hawaiian Punch" Brian Viloria, who’s defending his IBF light flyweight title against Mexican Jesus Iribe in the main event.
Banal thus made it 2-of-2 for the three Filipino fighters seeing action in the “Island Assault" card topbilled by the “Hawaiian Punch" Brian Viloria, who’s defending his IBF light flyweight title against Mexican Jesus Iribe in the main event.
Junior welterweight Dennis Laurente earlier got the Philippines off to a fine start, outpointing Mexican Zaid Zavaleta in their own 10-round gig.The 20-year-old Banal, who had KO’ed all his foes in his last six wins, landed crisp shots alternately on Beranza’s head and body most of the way, opening a cut above the Mexican’s right eyelid by the end of the fifth.
The Bukidnon-born Banal continued to land power shots but Beranza would not go down, and even the Mexican managed to connect on a flurry of punches before the end of the eighth.
An accidental clash of heads wounded Banal over the left eye in the ninth and opened another cut on Beranza, this time over his left brow.
The cut though, didn’t affect Banal’s attacks in the last two rounds.
A low blow cost Banal a point deduction in the ninth but the Filipino had already accumulated a big edge on all the judges’ scorecards: 99-92, 98-91 and 98-92.
With the win, the Cebu-based Banal hiked his win-loss record to 20-1-1 (16 KOs), his lone loss coming from Panama ’s Rafael Concepcion in the July 2008 battle for the interim WBA superflyweight title in Cebu . It was also the first non-KO win for Banal since October 2006 when he scored a UD decision over Indonesia ’s Angky Angkota, also in Cebu .
The 33-year-old Beranza dropped to 32-16-2 (25 KOs), his seventh loss in his last nine fights.
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The cut though, didn’t affect Banal’s attacks in the last two rounds.
A low blow cost Banal a point deduction in the ninth but the Filipino had already accumulated a big edge on all the judges’ scorecards: 99-92, 98-91 and 98-92.
With the win, the Cebu-based Banal hiked his win-loss record to 20-1-1 (16 KOs), his lone loss coming from Panama ’s Rafael Concepcion in the July 2008 battle for the interim WBA superflyweight title in Cebu . It was also the first non-KO win for Banal since October 2006 when he scored a UD decision over Indonesia ’s Angky Angkota, also in Cebu .
The 33-year-old Beranza dropped to 32-16-2 (25 KOs), his seventh loss in his last nine fights.
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