By Ivan Stewart Saldajeno/PNA
MANILA — Michael Dasmariñas and Samuel Salva earned their rights to vie for the International Boxing Federation titles after beating their opponents at Rising Stars at Resorts World Manila in Pasay on Saturday night.
Dasmariñas, who had to let go of his International Boxing Organization bantamweight title for a chance at its IBF version, defeated Kenny Demecillo via unanimous decision.
Banking on his precise shots to the body, Dasmariñas got the nod of all three judges, 117-111, 116-112, 115-113, to put himself back into title picture.
He in the process stretched his unbeaten streak to 12.
Meanwhile, Salva also took a unanimous decision victory over Rene Mark Cuarto to become the mandatory challenger for the IBF minimumweight belt.
Salva began taking over in Round 4 and took two 116-112 leads and a 117-111 edge over Cuarto.
Salva remains perfect after 17 bouts.
Meanwhile, Cris Leon shocked Singapore’s Muhamad Ridhwan in one of the featured under card matches.
Leon, who came into the fight with a losing record, stunned the crowd when he knocked Ridhwan, who previously fought for a world title, down in the fourth round and even came close to scoring another one in Round 5 had the latter not saved by the bell.
However, Leon still had to overcome a one-point deduction and a Ridhwan knockdown in the final period of the six-rounder to take the split decision win.
Two judges had it 56-55 Leon, while the third judge gave the same score only that he had it for Ridhwan.
Leon moved up to 12-5-18 win-draw-loss slate, while Ridhwan suffered his second straight defeat after an 11-0 start.