RI fighter Suwito defends WBF title

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)