Pacio destroys Saruta in first round to retain ONE strawweight title

MANILA, Philippines, September 27 ------ The Philippines still has its champion in ONE Championship. Joshua Pacio retained his ONE strawweight world title after a first round technical knockout of rival Yosuke Saruta in ONE: Revolution in Singapore on Friday.

In his first taste of action since the pandemic began, Pacio made quick work of his 34-year-old rival. Around three minutes had passed in the first round when Pacio caught Saruta with a right counter, which staggered the Japanese fighter. While Saruta tried to escape, Pacio was ruthless and chased his opponent with heavy punches until he was cornered. It didn't take long for the referee to stop the fight, with the official time of stoppage at 3:38 in the opening round. Pacio thus put an emphatic end to his rivalry with Saruta, winning the rubber match, 2-1, in their head-to-head matchups.

Earlier, Pacio's stablemate Lito Adiwang also scored a win — his ninth in his last 10 bouts — against China's Hexigetu. However, Filipino Roel Rosauro lost in the first bout of the night, coming up short against the debuting James Yang.

Source: philstar.com