Carl Jammes Martin keeps WBO Asia belt after dominating Tanzanian foe

Carl Jammes Martin.

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--Carl Jammes Martin retained his WBA Asia super bantamweight title after an impressive showing against Tanzanian opponent Charles Tondo on Saturday night at SM City San Lazaro.

The rising star boxing prospect from Lagawe, Ifugao also stayed perfect in his career as he tallied his 20th win in as many bouts.

Martin was dominant almost all night long, delivering more blows to Tondo in both the quantitative and the qualitative aspects of their 12-round affair.

Despite the shots he received, Tondo stood tall and pushed Martin to the final bell, although all the three judges had the bout in favor of the latter for the unanimous decision win.

Greg Ortega had it 118-110, while Gerald Bassig and Gil Co both scored the match 119-109 for Martin.

Tondo lost for the sixth time in his career against 12 wins and two draws.

In the co-main event, Miel Fajardo pulled off a quick finish to beat Richard Claveras.

In a supposed 10-round flyweight action, Fajardo needed only 41 seconds to knock Claveras out, tagging him with a "liver shot" through a left hook.

The scene stealer of the fight card, however, was a four-round flyweight encounter between Mark Santiago and Aldren Tayaban.

Despite getting knocked down in the first round, Tayaban showed heart and pushed Santiago to the limit.

Judge Alfie Jocosol somehow failed to recognize Santiago's knockdown and gave it a 38-all tie, but Elmer Costillas had it 38-37 and Eddie Nobleza scored it 39-36 for Santiago, who won in his pro debut.

Tayaban, on the other hand, dropped to 1-1.

Both boxers, however, left Cinema 6 of the said mall, which was turned into a sports arena for a night, with some cool cash as their bout was named Fight of the Night, earning them a PHP5,000 bonus each.

In the other matches, Jose Roda beat Eduardo Mancito via unanimous in an eight-rounder, Arjhay Recto defeated Jake Acude via majority decision in a four-round showdown between debuting pro boxers, and Louie Albino edged debuting John Lauriaga via split decision.

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