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Underdog Arnold Garde scored the
biggest victory of his career on
Sunday, March 12, when he won
the vacant World Boxing
Federation (WBF) Asia Pacific
Light Flyweight title with a
close split decision over fellow
Filipino Ronie Tanallon at the
T´Boli Covered Court in T´Boli,
Philippines.
Headlining “T´Boli Thunder 2”
promoted by Sanman Promotions,
It was a very competitive fight
throughout all ten rounds, but
Garde secured the victory when
he scored a knock-down inside
the final ten seconds of the
fight, flooring Tanallon with a
right uppercut.
Tanallon, nicknamed “Ultimate
Warrior”, did his moniker
justice as he beat the count of
referee Ramuel Ovalo, but time
ran out for Garde to follow up.
However, it would turn out that
winning the final round by 10-8
was the deciding factor for
Garde.
Two judges, Jaime Mata and Sabas
Ponpon, had him winning by
scores of 95-94 and 96-93
respectively, while judge Romy
Fordaliza voted for Tanallon by
95-94. Had Tanallon won the
final round, which it could be
argued he was on his way to, he
would have been the winner by
majority decision.
Garde, who showed his class when
he lost a competitive decision
to former world champion Randy
Petalcorin in his last outing,
improved his professional ledger
to 8-4-2 (3). Tanallon, the
reigning Philippines champion at
Strawweight, drops to 10-4-1
(2).
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