Former WBC lightflyweight champion Rodel Mayol of Mandaue City won a 10-round majority decision over Javier Gallo of Mexico at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s successful WBO welterweight title defense against Sugar Shane Mosley.
One judge scored the fight 95-95, while the other two judges scored the bout 98-92 in favor of Mayol.
Mayol started strong and took the first eight rounds but Gallo managed to score in the latter rounds.
This was Mayol’s second straight win since losing his world title last June 2010 to Mexico’s Omar Nino Romero.
Last November, Mayol stopped Pompetch Twins Gym of Thailand in seven rounds at the Ynares Sports Complex in Pasig City.
The 29-year-old Mayol continued his training at the Wild Card Gym of Freddie Roach after spending close to a month in Pacquiao’s camp in Baguio City and Rex ‘Wakee’ Salud’s gym in Cebu. He was supposed to fight in Thailand this June against Wisanu Kokietgym but left Cebu for the U.S when he received the offer to fight in Las Vegas.
‘Mayol makes
me Proud’
“He has always made me proud,” says Dominggo Mayol, the 76-year-old grandfather of Rodel at their home in Mandaue City. Rodel is from Barangay Alang-Alang in Mandaue City.
While the rest of the family was busy preparing food for yesterday’s fiesta celebration in Mandaue City, Dominggo sat in the living room and waited for his grandson’s fight to be shown on the television. He never left the living room the entire morning.
But Rodel’s fight was not shown on TV. It was their neighbors who were able to watch the game through pay-per-view and were the ones who told them about Rodel’s victory.
Dominggo was accompanied by Rodel’s youngest son, Raylan, who was wearing a shirt with a print “Daddy is my idol.”
Rodel is already based in the United States with his wife and eldest son. They left Raylan in the care of their grandparents.
“I was really worried when he told me that he will be having this fight. I don’t want him to get hurt, his opponents in the past were strong,” Dominggo said.
His fellow Cebuano boxers from Ala Gym were also impressed with Rodel’s victory.
“We are so proud of him. We knew he’s a good fighter,” said Rey “Boom-Boom” Bautista.