Mixed fortunes for Laurente, Elorde in Pacman undercard

GRAPEVINE,Texas—Dennis Laurente and Richie Mepranum emerged triumphant, but Juan Martin “Bai” Elorde failed in his first international test Saturday (Sunday in Manila) in the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito showdown at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington City. Familiar with Rashad Holloway’s style, Laurente won by unanimous decision in their eight-round welterweight tussle kicking off the 90-round card promoted by Top Rank.

Mepranum, on the other hand, salvaged a split decision over Houston’s Anthony Villareal in an eight-round flyweight bout. Pressured by veteran Angel Rodriguez, also from Houston, Juan Martin, grandson of the late great Gabriel “Flash”  Elorde, yielded a close but unanimous 39-37 decision in their four-round super featherweight tiff that snapped a string of 11 victories back home. The late Elorde was the junior lightweight king of the world from 1960-1967, the longest in the division. Judge Brock Groom scored it 77-75, A. Velasquez saw it 79-73 and Bryce Ligeti had it 78-74; all in favor of Laurente, who improved his record to 35-3-4 with 17 knockouts. It was the 13th straight win for Laurente, who hails from Palompon, Leyte. His last loss came in 2006 against Indonesia’s Daudy Bahari in Jakarta.  The 6-foot Holloway fell to 11-2-2, five knockouts.