TOKONAME, Japan — Kenneth Llover entered his world bantamweight title elimination match against Michael Angeletti of the United States on Saturday thinking that his tank was full.
But the fancied Filipino southpaw was surprised to learn that his tank — though filled to the brim before the opening bell — had a leak.
The tank wasn’t just dripping’ it was gushing.
In the end, two of the three judges at the Aichi Sky Expo awarded Angeletti the right to challenge for the International Boxing Federation bantamweight throne of Mexican Jose Salas Reyes.
Australian Cal Zappia scored it 116-111 for Angeletti while Japanese Saemi Okaniwa saw it 115-112 also for the rangy and crafty American.
Thai Cherchai Srirata had it in favor of Llover, 115-112.
Llover was awarded a knockdown in the second round although a video replay proved that Japanese referee Koji Tanaka made a wrong call.
Llover, who had to shed of excess baggage before making weight, actually started well as he thrilled the crowd whenever he would press the attack in the first three rounds.
But the Cavite-bred banger, who was being groomed as the country’s next world champion, suddenly slowed down.
With Angeletti sensing that Llover’s gauge was dropping at an alarming rate, he began stalking and pursuing his favored opponent.
Although he didn’t get to the point of knocking Llover out, it was crystal clear that he was running the show beginning the fifth round.
The phase intensified in the ninth round, knowing that he had to finish strong to earn the verdict.
“Llover put up a hell of a fight,” Angeletti, who ran his win-loss mark to 15-0 with eight knockouts, told DAILY TRIBUNE afterwards.
“I could see that he was fading fast,” he added.
Llover, meanwhile, suffered his first defeat and fell to 17-1 with 12 knockouts.
A move to super-bantamweight is his team’s next move as the loss only proved observations that Llover was no longer comfortable making 118 pounds.
