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| Rene Cuarto is the new IBF mini-flyweight champ. GAB |
MANILA--Rene Cuarto became the new International Boxing Federation mini-flyweight champion after stripping the title belt from Pedro Taduran on Saturday at the Bula Gym in General Santos.
Cuarto survived a near knockdown in Round 7 as his accuracy in landing the shots that matter proved to be better than Taduran's aggression.
Despite being the one defending the minimumweight title, Taduran fought as if he was the challenger, dictating the tempo in the early goings with his charge.
Cuarto, however, began showing promise in Round 3 as he finally found some lapses in Taduran's defense.
Taduran came just close to knocking down Cuarto in the seventh round after hitting him with a right hook that forced him to sit down a bit.
Using the solid haymaker as his momentum builder, Taduran began going for the finish in Round 8 as he moved toward Cuarto more often.
But Taduran slowly lost steam in the end as Cuarto recovered and landed some power punches of his own.
The three judges, namely Alberto Dulalas, Sabas Ponpon, and Roel Depsing, all had it 115-113 in favor of Cuarto, who moved up to 19-2-2 overall with 11 knockouts.
Taduran, on the other hand, fell to 14-3-1 with 11 KO's.
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