Venezuela’s Fernando Toro came to Manila, charging his way to a dream victory against former champion Marlon Tapales in their super bantamweight bout in the Thrilla in Manila II card at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
But ‘The Nightmare’ struck.
Tapales, who has held world titles at bantamweight and super bantamweight, stopped Toro in the sixth round of their eight-round matchup Wednesday at the Big Dome.
With Toro already wobbled by the volume of punches received from the Filipino slugger, Tapales landed huge body shots and a booming right hook with less than a minute remaining.
The home bet sent the Venezuelan to his knees, and the referee started the 10-count.
But ‘El Indio’ was unable to beat the count as the referee called a stop to the contest at the 2:31 mark of the round.
Tapales thus rose to a 25-4 win-loss record with 22 knockouts, while Toro slipped to 11-3.
The two boxers traded huge shots in the first round, with Tapales even rocked momentarily.
But the pride of General Santos City started to build some momentum, landing clean and crisp punches much to the delight of the crowd.
In the fourth round, Tapales kept on hunting his opponent, landing counters and hooks, but Toro was too slippery to send off to dreamland.
But Toro showed some signs of slowing down, as Tapales continued landing punches. He kept the pressure on, but his opponent’s activity made him hard to catch.
All changed in the sixth round though, as Tapales’ shots became too much to handle.