RI fighter Suwito defends WBF title

JAKARTA (JP): Suwito Lagola of Indonesia defended his World Boxing Federation welterweight title by outpointing Leroy Owens of the United States with a unanimous decision.

The three ring judges from the U.S., Thailand and Indonesia awarded 118-111, 118-110 and 117-110 respectively, in favor of Suwito.

For Suwito, the Thursday's match at the Granadha Building was his first title defense. He captured the WBF title in September 1996 by outboxing Jaime Lerma of the U.S., also with a unanimous decision.

Throughout the 12-round bout with Elmo L. Colonea of the Philippines as the referee, Suwito nearly overpowered his opponent with a series of punches.

Suwito even could have stopped the fight in the fourth round, but Owens was saved by the bell.

Since the first round, Suwito, who has been hailed as a natural boxer, pressed his opponent with a series of right and left hooks, jabs and straight punches to Owens's face. Until the third round, Owens found it difficult to counter most of the punches by Suwito who danced around the ring throwing a combination of punches to Owens' face and body.

In the fourth round, Suwito made a hard punch to Owen's chin, sending the boxer reeling toward the ropes. Elmo quickly went in to break up the fight and started the 10 count on Owens. The American fighter recovered before the 10th counting.

Suwito then put up the pressure on Owens with a series of punches. Owens could not withstand the attack and nearly fell on the canvas, but was saved by the bell.

Throughout the remaining seven rounds, the victory was in Suwito's hands as he added more points. A unanimous decision gave Suwito the match.

Afterwards, Owens said he was not well prepared for the fight as he was replacing Frank Pena, who was injured during training in the U.S.

"I only had one week to prepare so I was not fully prepared, " Owens said.

Owens further said his defeat was due to a right hand injury. "I felt pain in my right fist in the first round when our fists clashed against each other."

Owens, however, admitted his defeat and said that Suwito deserved the win. "Suwito is very strong and I had difficulty fighting him. He deserves to be number one in the WBF welterweight division."

Suwito said he was satisfied with the bout, and Owens was a tough boxer.

"I am satisfied with my victory although I did not put a good performance. This title is not only for me, but also for Indonesia," Suwito said.

The match was witnessed by Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman, Jakarta military commander Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso and Rudolf S. Warouw, secretary-general of the Indonesian Sports Council. (lnt)