By Ronnie Nathanielsz 

 

WBC No. 3 ranked Jonathan “Lightning” Taconing has scored an impressive 10th round TKO victory over  former WBO light flyweight champion Ramon Garcia Hirales in Mexico  in a ten round bout in which he risked a mandated title eliminator  for the crown held by Mexico’s Pedro Guevara.

 

Guevara is set to defend his title against  WBC Asian Boxing Council light flyweight champion Richard Claveras in Sinaloa, Mexico on April 11 despite the fact that the Filipino is ranked only No. 26 by the WBC.

 

It was the 28 year old Taconing’s eighth straight win which improved his record to 21-2-1 with 18 knockouts. He was  coming off a win over Indonesia’s Oscar Raknafa who retired in the 4th   round of a scheduled ten round bout last December 21, 2014.

 

Liza Elorde, wife of Taconing’s manager Johnny Elorde informed the New Standard/krikya360.com - “it was stopped in the 10th round because Garcia Hirales was about to fall. Great fight.”

 

The talented southpaw won the vacant  Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation title with an 11th   round TKO over Virgilio Silvana on March 25, 2015 but in  a heartbreaking technical draw in a title fight against Thailands’s Kompayak Porpramook when he had the WBC champion in trouble in his corner before South Korean referee Jae-Bong Kim stopped the bout because of a small cut suffered by Porpramook in an accidental clash of heads in the fourth round  creating a howl of protest from the Filipino’s manager Johnny Elorde who raised the issue with then WBC president Don Jose Sulaiman especially after the referee deducted a point in the 5th round for the accidental clash oif heads in the fourth..

 

This reporter also spoke to Don Jose who created a panel to review the tape and suspended referee Jae-Bing Kin for one year.

 

The 32 year old Ramon Garcia Hirales, the identical twin brother of another former champion Raul “Rayito” Garcia dropped to 20-6-1 with 12 knockouts with one of those defeats being against Donnie “Ahas” Nietes who grabbed Hirales’ WBO light flyweight crown with a unanimous twelve round decision at the University of St. La Salle Coliseum in Bacolod City on October 8, 2011.

 

In his last fight Ramon Garcia Hirales dropped a lopsided twelve round decision in a clash for the vacant IBF title against Javier Mendoza, also of Mexico, on September 20, 2014. 

 

Mendoza will defend his title against former flyweight challenger Milan Melindo on May 9 in Mexico.

 

Taconing and his trainer Eddie Ballaran along with newly crowned WBO Asia Pacific super bantamweight champion Juan Miguel “Migs” Elorde, son of manager Johnny Elorde had  arrived in Mexico after a grueling two-day trip but Taconing expressed confidence he can handle the jetlag as well as the hostile crowd.