## ROLLY MATSUSHITA WINS OPBF 118LB BELT

July 31, 2011

KOBE, JAPAN

Japan-based Filipino boys battled in a quest for the vacant OPBF bantam belt renounced by also a Philippine import Malcolm Tunacao on Sunday in Kobe, Japan, where Rolly Matsushita (AKA Rolly Lunas; 30-8-1, 17 KOs), 118, dispatched Zerofit Jerope Zuiyama (AKA Jerope Mercado; 24-2-3, 8 KOs), 118, at 0:58 of the eighth round in a scheduled twelve.

Though regarded as a competitive fight, it became a one-sided slaughter from the opening round, when Rolly decked the lanky rival with vicious rights twice and apparently took the leadoff. Jerope, from the second on, fought back hard, but Rolly looked much more effective in swapping punches in the close quarter. The sixth saw Rolly again floor him with a solid right, and it became more and more lopsided as the contest progressed. Rolly, in round eight, dropped the fading foe with a left uppercut for the fourth time in this bout, and a towel was thrown in while the referee Fukuchi was still counting. In this case, it (towel-tossing during the third manfs counting) is registered as knockout in Japan.

Rolly, 27, once had an ambitious crack at the WBA belt against Anselmo Moreno only to lose a nearly shutout decision in Panama in 2008. Prior to this shot Rolly had held the OPBF 118-pound belt, and then captured the OPBF 122-pound belt by an upset triumph over Wethya Sakmuanklaeng in January 2009. The Filipino hard-puncher lost the regional belt via seventh round TKO by Hiromasa Ohashi (the current OPBF champ) in June 2009, and suffered a severe hand fracture to have a long hiatus for more than a year. With a couple of combacking wins by stoppages, Rolly was given an opportunity to his previous OPBF bantam throne, which he thus impressively acquired. Should his opponent and loser not have been a compatriot, his title-winning joy would have been double.

Promoter: Senrima Kobe Promotions.

(7-31-11)

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