FILE – Aston Palicte of the Philippines (R) tries to get up after being knocked down by Jason Moloney of Australia (behind-in corner) during their World Boxing Council (WBC) silver bantamweight and the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) International bantamweight championship title fight in Melbourne on June 5, 2022. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines—Former world title challenger Aston Palicte suffered a fourth-round TKO loss to Mexican prospect Jose Salas Reyes on Sunday (Manila time) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The super bantamweight bout was one of the preliminary fights ahead of the main card headlined by the undisputed welterweight clash between Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford.
Palicte had no answer for Reyes, who unleashed a combination to knock down and put away the Filipino in the fourth.
Jose Reyes stops Palicte in round 4 to remain unbeaten 💯#SpenceCrawford Prelims are LIVE: https://t.co/igGtemX8Kz@kate_abdo @arielhelwani @lthomasnews pic.twitter.com/lvO34u8JDY
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) July 29, 2023
The 32-year-old Palicte (28-6-1, 23KOs) absorbed his second straight stoppage defeat and fourth in his last seven outings.
Reyes, who is only 21 years old, meanwhile, hiked his record to 13-0 with 10 knockouts.
Palicte got his first world title shot in 2018 and lost to fellow Filipino Donnie Nietes for the vacant WBO super flyweight belt.
He had another opportunity to become a world champion a year later against Japan’s Kazuto Ioka, who beat him via TKO in the 10th.