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Charly Suarez TKOs Jorge Castaneda in 3, Alan Garcia suffers shock KO loss

Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Fighters Network
20
Sep

Charly Suarez took out his frustrations on Jorge Castaneda, knocking down the Texan twice to score a third round stoppage Friday on the Munguia-Bazinyan undercard at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Az.

Suarez (18-0, 10 KOs) was originally scheduled to face unbeaten Andres Cortes in a WBO eliminator before Cortes withdrew due to an injury in training. That bout was originally supposed to be the co-featured bout, but Suarez remained on the card, facing Castaneda just before the ESPN televised portion of the card.

Suarez, 36, of San Isidro, Davao del Norte, Philippines scored the first knockdown of Castaneda (17-4, 13 KOs) midway through the round after a right hand lead set up a left hook that Castaneda couldn’t handle. After rising, Castaneda was dropped once more by a series of right hands that brought an end to the fight.

Suarez, a 2016 Olympian for the Philippines, is rated no. 3 by the WBO and no. 5 by the IBF at 130 pounds.

In the upset of the night so far, Top Rank prospect Alan Garcia saw his unbeaten run come to an end as he was knocked out in five rounds by unheralded Ricardo Fernandez (16-13, 1 KO). Garcia (14-1, 11 KOs) was caught by a perfectly timed overhand right as he dropped his left while throwing a right hook along the ropes.

“Kid Kansas” Garcia was put down for the count in their eight round scheduled lightweight bout.

Suarez wasn’t the only Filipino junior lightweight to score a win on the undercard.

Demler “DJ” Zamora (14-0, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas won an eight round unanimous decision over Gerardo Antonio Perez (12-5-1, 3 KOs), with the judges’ scorecards reading 80-72 on two cards and the third giving a round to Perez at 79-73.

The 21-year-old Zamora, a Filipino American southpaw trained by Kay Koroma, has now gone the distance in his last three fights.