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.
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