Saulong falls to Japanese champ Iwasa in title fight

Ernesto Saulong gave it his best shot but fell short on his bid to dethrone Japanese Ryosuke Iwasa Thursday night at Ryogoku Sumo Arena in Tokyo.

The judges, however, saw the heavily favored Iwasa the clear winner by scores of 120-108, 119-109, 118-110, in their battle for the ternational Boxing Federation junior featherweight crown.

The 28-year-old Saulong saw his record dip to 21-3-1 with eight knockouts, while the lefty Isawa, also 28, improved to 25-2, 16 knockouts.

This was Iwasa’s first defense of his belt after he beat countryman Yukinori Oguni in September of 2017 for the title.

Though he agreed on the outcome, head trainer Joven Jimenez said he feels that the scores were not a true reflection of how the 12-round bout went.

“He (Saulong) had a good showing,” said Jimenez, also the chief trainer of International Boxing Federation junior featherweight champion Jerwin Ancajas, through Viber.

Saulong’s loss saw his three-fight win streak get snapped and his last loss was against Lwandile Sityatha of South America for the WBO International bantamweight belt in December 2015.