Llover faces South African in Kyrgyzstan in title eliminator

Amid the thrill and excitement over hot bantamweight prospect Kenneth Llover’s eighth-round stoppage of two-division world champion Luis Concepcion, there was one fellow who expressed a bit of caution over the victory.

Gerry Peñalosa, who handles Llover and promotes him, told a group of scribes Sunday that there are holes that need to be plugged.

“I rate his performance as an 8 (out of ten) because it’s hard to be perfect and besides there are some things that he (Llover) still lacks,” Peñalosa said after his successful show at Winford Resort Casino in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

After racking up back-to-back first-round knockout wins in Japan, Llover found himself struggling to take out Concepcion with ease.

While he scored knockdowns in the second and third rounds, Llover could not put away the game and gutsy Panamanian immediately and he needed to soften him up for the kill.

Only after a heavy barrage in the eighth prompted referee Carlo Baluyut to call a halt to the one-sided contest as Concepcion got struck with solid shots to the head, wobbly and shaken.

Still, Concepcion lived up to his vow earlier that he didn’t travel all the way Central America to assume the role of a sacrificial lamb.

He may have been inactive the last two years and already pushing 40 but Concepcion stood his ground and even made life a bit difficult for Llover, who is widely considered as the Philippines’ next best thing, by absorbing an enormous amount of punishment and throwing haymakers often.

The win boosted Llover’s win-loss record to 15-0 with ten knockouts and up next for him is a world title eliminator against South African Landi Ngxeke on 26 October in Kyrgyzstan.

“This fight is a step up to another level for Kenneth,” said Peñalosa, who works in partnership with Kameda Promotions in building up the 22-year-old Llover.

Peñalosa swears Llover even looked “erratic at times” but the good thing is that his fighter possesses killer instinct and remains in the learning stage.

“This was a fight that is important and taught him a lot of things.”

Even Llover admits it was a valuable learning experience give the track record of Concepcion.

“I learned a lot of things from this fight against a tough, durable and experienced opponent,” said the Filipino southpaw, who is the reigning Orient-Pacific Boxing Federation 118-pound champion.

The next time he fights, Llover promises to be a lot better.