BOXING

CABATUAN CHAMP LOSES MOTHER
Cuello Draws With Del Castillo;
Retains RP Miniflyweight Title

By ALEX P. VIDAL

Slick-punching Denver Cuello of Jaro Boxing Stable retained his RP minimum weight title with a technical draw with Cebu’s Rollen del Castillo in the third round of a 12-round title fight dubbed “Matira ang Matibay” at the Thunderbird Resort and Casino, Binangonan, Rizal on October 28, 2007.
Referee Ver Abainza halted the action at 1:34 upon the advice of the ring physician after the 19-year-old defending titlist Cuello from Cabatuan, Iloilo suffered a nasty cut above the right eyebrow caused by accidental headbutt.
Under the rules in a championship bout, a fight is automatically declared as technical draw if the injury is inflicted before the fourth round.
Before the stoppage of the action, Cuello (12-2-3, 5 KOs), whose mother, Irene, died of heart attack in Brgy. Tuy-an, Cabatuan, Iloilo days earlier, scored a flash knockdown in what appeared to be a push in the second stanza.
An accidental headbutt in the opening round also opened a small cut in the left eyebrow of the Cebuano customer from the fabled SGG Stable who is rated No. 1 contender.
Both champion and challenger thrilled the crowd with impressive display of skills and Class A performance.
“I dedicate this fight to my mother who passed away. I will go home in Iloilo to attend her burial,” said Cuello, whose father Demetrio works as offset operator in a printing press owned by the West Visayas State University, Iloilo City.
The 11-bout, 74-round double Philippine championship card promoted by Aljoe Jaro International Promotion, also produced one of the most fantastic knockout wins ever registered in the local ring when RP 108-lb king Sonny Boy Jaro kept his crown with a spectacular one-punch stoppage of challenger Alfred Nagal of Cavite City.
In the supporting main event, RP No. 4, 116-lb contender Richard Olisa put away rugged former RP champion Celso Danggod with a 9th round technical decision win. Bantamweight Dante Cantiga eked out a split decision win over Sonny Gonzales in another 10-round appetizer; and Jayson Perater pounded out a unanimous decision win over Dandy Francisco in a 6-rounder.
WBO bantamweight ruler Gerry Penalosa and his wife Goody, accompanied by a security provided for VIP guests, showed up and was applauded by fans upon formal introduction.

New York Firm Donates $40,000
To McTavish’s ‘Street Children’ Project
Ecstatic that his Street Children foundation in Clark, Pampanga got a windfall of US$40,000 (roughly P2 million) from New York based-OMSG Company, New Zealand international referee Bruce McTavish, who now lives in Angeles City, Pampanga, declared that the donation “is God send.”
“Boxing is my love but helping people is my honor,” gushed Mc-Tavish, one of the world’s top referees and the most active in the country today both locally and internationally.
As president of the Rotary Club of Clark Centennial, McTavish said he and his club’s top priority is to feed and educate 70 children who have been abandoned by their parents. “It costs P300,000 a month,” he explained. “So the $40,000 is God send.”
The donation was materialized after officials of the OMSG Company, which also donated P100,000 to McTavish’s foundation six years ago, held a conference at the Holiday Inn Clark recently. /MP