January 26, 2001
CEBU, PHILIPPINES-Unbeaten Filipino southpaw Rev Santillan, 146, wrested the OPBF welter title from Korean Sukhyun Yun, WBC #15 contender, 146 1/2, by a close split decision over 12.
Scored: referee Bruce McTavish (New Zealand) 114-111 and Teddy Silvio (Philippines) 115-109 both for Santillan, 12-0, 11 KOs, and Jaekeun Kim (Korea) 113-111 for Yun, 21-11, 10 KOs.
It was a busy see-saw affair as Yun kept punching from all angles despite his lack of convincing power, while Santillan responded with sporadic but stronger counters all night. The Filipino lefty had him down twice in the 5th and 7th, but the Korean displayed his tremendous stamina and will power in sweeping the last five sessions. The slippery canvas bothered smooth proceedings of the hard-fought contest, which was disappointedly stopped time and again.
Sensational WBC #13 ranked prospect Randy Suico, 130, impressively kept his Philippine national super-feather title as he battered tricky and hard-hitting lefty Dante Paulino, 130, with sledge-hammer uppercuts and finally stopped him at 0:32 into the 8th round.
Suico, 12-0, 10 KOs, will appear in Tokyo against ex-Thai champ Singhnum Yamakigym, 42-5, 40 KOs, on March 3, which will be a good test for the 20-year-old bright prospect.
Promoter: Rex Wakee Salud.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi.
(1-26-01)