2 Filipino boxers suffer knockout losses in LA

September 8 ------ Recky Dulay went down in 3 rounds, Rey Perez in 1. Pitted against superior opponents, the USA-based Filipino boxers got manhandled on Sunday, September 6 (Monday, September 7, Manila time) at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Forced to accept the fight in just one week's notice, Dulay could not withstand the right hooks thrown to the body by Cuban southpaw Leduan Barthelemy and fell 3 times in Round 3, the last forcing the referee to stop the beating at the 2:31 mark of their featherweight encounter.

It was the sixth straight defeat for Dulay, born in Catarman, Northern Samar, pulling him down to 11-9, 8 knockouts. Barthelemy, now based in Las Vegas, improved to 16-1-1, 8 knockouts. The end came even swifter for Perez. Rebounding from his first loss in September last year, Russian-Turkish Batyr Akhmedov put down Perez twice with combinations laden with body blows for the stoppage barely 2 minutes and 19 seconds into the junior welterweight encounter.

Akhmedov, a hard-hitting 2016 Rio Olympian for Turkey, climbed to 8-1, 7 by knockouts. The 29-year-old Perez, who hails from Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte, and now resides in North Hollywood, California, suffered his second straight loss and skidded to 24-12, 8 knockouts. Perez also lost by unanimous decision to George Kambosos Jr, a former sparring partner of Manny Pacquiao, in January 2019.

Source: rappler.com/sports