Charly Suarez poses after successfully defending his WBA Asia super featherweight title. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Rio de Janeiro Olympian Charly Suarez successfully defended his WBA Asia super featherweight crown in scintillating fashion Sunday night at the Elorde Sports Complex in Parañaque.
The 33-year-old Davao Del Norte pride defeated veteran international campaigner Mark John Yap via a 12-round unanimous decision, winning on all three scorecards, 120-108, 120-108 and 118-110.
“It was a great learning experience for me. This fight taught me how to be patient and be tactical when facing a resilient boxer like Yap,” said Suarez.
Yap initially displayed veteran moves when he befuddled Suarez with stiff jabs and hooks to the body.
Suarez took full control of the bout midway through the sixth round when he opened up a cut beneath Yap’s right eye courtesy of a powerful left hook coupled with a quick right straight.
Yap showed a lot of guts second half of the fight but Suarez’ left-right combinations and counterattacks were too much to handle for the Cagayan De Oro-native fighter.
The win improves Suarez record to 12-0, with seven knockouts while Yap dropped to 30-17 with 15 KOs.
It was Suarez’ first successful defense of the WBA Asia belt which he won last March.