MIndanao's boxing legend Mark John Yap is showing no signs of slowing, and will be back in the ring again at a big international event in Vietnam next month.
Yap considered retirement after returning from Japan, which was shortly followed by the pandemic - but was coaxed to lace up one more time in a WBA Title match with Charly Suarez.
His performance was outstanding, and he followed it up with two quality wins shortly after.
The Journey Man was on a short break since January, after welcoming the birth of baby daughter Yuri, and he put on some kilos in that time.
Yap has been on a six week training camp, and competed in an exhibition bout last month with Vietnam youth team member Nguyễn Hà Minh. Despite looking "rusty" early in the match, he dropped his opponent twice in the final round to etch an impressive victory.
Having just recently arriving in Manila, Yap has been under the tutelage of Jetro Pabustan, who put him through a pads session today.
Mark John Yap will fight at The Grand Ho Tram Resort and Casino in Vietnam on Saturday July 15th. You can watch the match here live.
https://www.facebook.com/VSPPromotions/videos/3542723195972770
Despite suffering narrow losses, Ben Ligas and Jules Victoriano produced next level performances in the belt fights in Vietnam last night.
Ligas faced the vastly experienced Uzbek, the much revered "mini Tyson " Olimjon Nazarov. This was quality boxing from both, with "the Sniper" bringing the cleaner punches, but perhaps lacking the aggression of Nazarov, who looked constantly keen for work. This was a hard match to score, as neither fighter was particularly dominant in a see sawing affair, and the body shot in the 11th where Ligas took a knee was perhaps the only real difference.
Dinh Hong Quan is physically indomitable, and with his height and reach, this improving Vietnam boxer is a task for anybody. It was anticipated that Jules Victoriano would give him his toughest test to date, and he definitely didn't disappoint !
This was a great fight, and is probably best viewed in two parts. Victoriano boxed beautifully in the early rounds, but despite landing nice shots, the Vietnam champ kept stealing rounds with some heavier and more direct landed shots. Quan also "appeared" more dominant, more frequently backing Victoriano up and putting him on to combos.
Going into the second half of the fight, Victoriano definitely lifted his output and accuracy, and even gave the Vietnam opponent a couple of "dig deep" moments !
This was an exciting and fantastic match up, that very easily could have been scored a draw, it was that evenly contested! There is no doubt that Dinh Hong Quan produced the best performance of his career last night, and this was really needed because of the beautiful boxing skills displayed by Jules Victoriano.
VSP would love to see these two great young fighters rematch at a later date, maybe on a bigger stage!
Post event, all smiles, and pictured are Coach Toto Laurente, Ben Ligas, VSP Vietnam boss Lim Song, and Jules Victoriano. Great job by all !
