Mendoza's plan failed in his fight with Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista whom he liked to knockout in the 6th round.
The Filipino featherweight champion Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista defeated Mexican Miguel Angel Mendoza in style, stopping the challenger in the sixth round of the main event of Pinoy Pride X at the Hoops Dome in Cebu Saturday night.
Bautista floored Mendoza with a left hook to the head in the middle of the sixth round, and Mendoza was counted out by referee Danrex Tapdasan. It was a strong performance for Bautista, who retained his International Boxing Federation (IBF) featherweight title in the process.
Bautista showed patience throughout the bout, refusing to get caught in a brawl with Mendoza who has a reputation for being a knockout artist. But it was Bautista who showed his power first, sending Mendoza to the canvas twice in the first round with quick left straights.
The Mexican fighter started to bleed in the second round, but still continued to challenge "Boom Boom." He was not very effective in his offensive attack, however, opting to go for wild, swinging punches that often hit nothing but air. Bautista also showed his ability to take a punch as he decided to stay in front of Mendoza for most of the bout. Despite getting tagged with some punches from the Mexican, "Boom Boom" stayed up right and was able to counter with short punches to Mendoza's head.
The fight was marred with several timeouts, however, as referee Tapdasan warned both fighters for low blows. He also stopped the clock to give Mendoza time to get checked out by the ringside doctor. For Mendoza, it was the first loss of his career and his first fight that went past the fifth round. He had won each of his past 17 fights via knockout.
