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Suarez retains WBA Asia crown

$\"Charly$ <\/p>\r\r

RIO Olympian Charly Suarez successfully defended his World Boxing Association (WBA) Asia super featherweight title on Sunday night at the Elorde Sports Complex in Para\u00f1aque City.<\/p>\r\r

The 33-year-old Suarez outboxed fellow Filipino boxer Mark John Yap to defend his belt via unanimous decision, 120-108, 120-108, 118-110, and stayed undefeated.<\/p>\r\r

Suarez, the pride of Davao del Norte, raised his win-loss card to 12-0 laced with seven knockouts. On the other hand, the 33-year-old Yap dropped to 30-17 with 15 knockouts.<\/p>\r\r

Suarez had to recover from his early round woes as the veteran Yap bombarded the former with stiff jabs and hooks to the body.<\/p>\r\r

Finding his footing midway through the bout, the 5-foot-5 Suarez started to dominate the 5-foot-6 Yap when he opened up a cut beneath Yap's right eye following a streaking left hook coupled with a quick right straight.<\/p>\r\r

Yap kept on fighting but Suarez was already in firm control down the stretch, fending off the Cagayan de Oro native fighter with left-right combinations and nifty counter attacks.<\/p>\r\r

\"It was a great learning experience for me. This fight taught me how to be patient and be tactical when facing a resilient boxer like Yap,\" said Suarez.<\/p>\r\r

It was Suarez' first successful defense of the WBA Asia belt which he won last March.<\/p>\r\r

Suarez knocked out compatriot Tomjune Mangubat in the 12th round to win the WBA Asia superfeatherweight crown five months ago.<\/p>\r\r

Suarez then defeated another fellow Pinoy pug in Junny Salogaol via unanimous decision last June as preparation for his fight against Yap.<\/p>\r\r

As an amateur, Suarez represented the Philippines in the 2014 Asian Games, where he notched a silver medal in the lightweight class.<\/p>\r\r

He went on to fight in the 2016 Rio Olympics but lost in the preliminaries.<\/p>\r\r

Suarez also showcased his wares in the Southeast Asian Games, winning a gold each in the 2009, 2011 and 2019 editions. He settled for bronze in the 2017 Games.<\/p>","article_custom_fields":"{\"\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_keywords\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_description\":[\"\"],\"seo_meta_title\":[\"\"],\"sponsored_flag\":[\"\"],\"offer_flag\":[\"\"],\"featured_article_flag\":[\"\"],\"drupal_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":null,\\\"properties\\\":{\\\"PUBLISHED\\\":0,\\\"PROMOTED\\\":0,\\\"STICKY\\\":0},\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"wp_custom_json\":[\"{\\\"type\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"fields\\\":[]}\"],\"article_tags\":[\"\"],\"show_image\":[\"off\"],\"Disable_Ad\":[\"off\"],\"disable_player\":[\"off\"],\"column\":[\"\"],\"kicker\":[\"\"],\"edel\":[\"\"],\"delu\":[\"\"],\"delt\":[\"Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.\"],\"premium\":[\"off\"],\"Redirect_URL\":[\"\"],\"page_number\":\"0\",\"initial_publication\":\"\",\"date_created\":\"2022-08-08 19:47:55\",\"date_modified\":\"2022-08-08 19:49:08\",\"last_modified_user\":\"Sherwin Arnaiz\",\"section_color\":\"#08F304\",\"target_page\":\"0\",\"cxense_metatags\":null}","cms_type":"live","author_id":1576,"section_id":3,"seo_meta_keywords":"Suarez,retains,WBA,Asia,crown","seo_meta_description":"","seo_meta_title":"Suarez retains WBA Asia crown","publish_time":"2022-08-09 00:13:00","related_articles_ids":"","article_tags":"","sub_section_id":0,"visit_count":120,"sponsored_flag":0,"offer_flag":0,"featured_article_flag":0,"media_gallery_flag":0,"video_gallery_flag":0,"highlight_flag":0,"top_story_flag":0,"is_updated":0,"is_old_article":0,"old_article_id":0,"article_byline":"Niel Victor C. Masoy","ts":"2022-08-11 00:57:10","last_edited":"2022-08-08 19:49:08","alt_publish_time":"2022-08-08 19:49:10","image_path":"{\\\"image_path\\\":\\\"manilatimes\\\\\/uploads\\\\\/images\\\\\/2022\\\\\/08\\\\\/08\\\\\/96426.jpg\\\",\\\"cms_type\\\":\\\"live\\\",\\\"small_image\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"is_updated\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_cropping\\\":\\\"{\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\":{\\\\\\\"image_original_width\\\\\\\":860,\\\\\\\"image_original_height\\\\\\\":503,\\\\\\\"icd_image_type\\\\\\\":\\\\\\\"original_image\\\\\\\"}}\\\",\\\"is_copied\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"media_type\\\":\\\"0\\\",\\\"image_caption\\\":\\\"Charly Suarez (left) AFP FILE PHOTO\\\",\\\"image_alt_text\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"image_count\\\":1}","author_name":"Niel Victor C. Masoy","section_name":"Sports","sub_section_name":"","slide_show":0,"breaking_news":0,"visit_count_update_date":null,"old_cms_article_id":null,"permalink":"2022\/08\/09\/sports\/suarez-retains-wba-asia-crown\/1853845","show_image_in_thumb":0,"api_status":2,"a_custom_data":"{\"exclude_from_gallery\":null,\"lead_image_id\":null}","publication_id":2,"max_publish_time":"2022-08-09 00:13:00","page_number":"0","homepage_article_flag":0,"article_shortlink":null,"cropped_image":0};

Suarez retains WBA Asia crown