With time not on his side, Rio de Janeiro Olympics veteran Charly Suarez continued his bid to fast-track his word title quest with a lopsided decision win over Mark John Yap late Sunday in Paranaque.
Suarez, though given trouble by Yap, won by scores of 120-108 (twice) and 118-110 by the judges at ringside at the Flash Grand Ballroom of the Elorde Sports Center.
The victory enabled Suarez, 33, to make a successful defense of his World Boxing Association lightweight super-featherweight title.
Known for his ring savvy and toughness, Suarez banked on his counter-punching skills to prevent Yap from scoring an upset.
A cut on Yap’s right eye was opened in the sixth stanza but Suarez still found his foe unwilling to dance to his music.
The win raised Suarez’ record to 12-0 with seven knockouts while the defeat dropped Yap’s mark to 30-17.
Before deciding to enter the pro ranks, Suarez was one of the country’s premier fighters.
He won three Southeast Asian Games gold thrice apart from taking the silver in the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
During one of his many forays in Europe, Suarez even took on Vasyl Lomachenko, now regarded as one of the world’s finest fighters.
Lomachenko defeated Suarez but the Filipino went the distance with the two-time Olympic champion and two-time world amateur kingpin.