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| Kenneth Llover scored his biggest knockout win yet. Ivan Saldajeno (file photo) |
MANILA—Kenneth Llover scored arguably the biggest win of his pro career after quickly downing Keita Kurihara on Monday night at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
With the win, Llover, the former interim champ, unified the OPBF bantamweight title, drawing him closer to a possible world title shot consideration.
Llover began the finishing blow after connecting on a left hook that first sent Kurihara down, and despite the latter making the eight-count, another left hook sent him down for the second time.
Kurihara still got to stand up, but after Llover connected on yet another left hook that stunned him, the referee decided to call it a night at the 2:33 mark of Round 1.
Llover, a 22-year-old sensation from General Trias, scored his ninth knockout win and 14th overall as he remained unbeaten in his career.
According to his manager, boxing legend Gerry Penalosa, in a press conference last week before his stalwart flew to Tokyo, Llover, currently ranked 12th by the International Boxing Federation, could be in line for a possible world title eliminator right here in the Philippines in the near future.
With his win, Llover is also expected to go way up the bantamweight rankings of OPBF's mother organization, the World Boxing Council.
The WBC ranked number 12 Kurihara, on the other hand, dropped to 19-9-1 with his shock loss to Llover, who is ranked 31st by the said boxing body.
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