By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Filipino rising star Jonas Sultan failed to clinch another boxing world title bid after falling at the hands of English fighter Paul Butler for the World Boxing Organization (WBO) interim bantamweight championship belt.
Coming in as a late replacement to the disqualified Johnriel Casimero, Sultan lost via unanimous decision, 116-112, 118-110, and 117-111 after 12 rounds.
The Filipino pug did what he could and displayed his signature hounding pressure and swinging power shots but Butler’s fight strategy proved to be more effective.
Butler picked his timings well and didn’t fall for Sultan’s traps in joining the brawl. Instead, the English boxer settled for the technical approach of scoring points without getting hit for most of the rounds.
Sultan had a great start in the fight especially during an explosive round three where he caught Butler several times with his powerful quick bombs.
Butler chose to engage in some of the brawls during the first three rounds but was quick to adjust for the rest of the fight and got more clean punches than Sultan.
During the eighth and ninth rounds, Sultan showed signs of hope after connecting on several three-punch combinations that negated Butler’s consistent jab throws.
However, Butler retaliated with four consecutive left jabs and was quick to backpedal for defensive purposes.
“I didn’t expect him to run and be that difficult to hit. He also knows how to connect with clean shots. I hurt him but I couldn’t follow up,” said Sultan.
Meanwhile, Casimero, who was disqualified due to weight cut violations by using the sauna, is still waiting for the decision of the WBO if he will be stripped of his bantamweight belt or not.
