Miel Fajardo destroys Argentine foe in 65 seconds to earn world title shot

Filipino flyweight prospect Miel Fajardo’s boxing gloves haven’t warmed up on his hands and yet his Argentine opponent Tobia Reyes was already down on the canvas five seconds into their bout. Fajardo’s vicious left landed clean on the head of Reyes right on their first exchange — a shot that served as a prologue to the short but punishing next 60 seconds for the Argentine. Fajardo only needed a little over a minute to dispatch Reyes in front of his home crowd in Galvez, Argentina to earn a shot at the International Boxing Federation (IBF) world title following their eliminator fight on Sunday, April 12 (Manila time). The 26-year-old pride of Agusan del Sur, rated No. 4 in the world rankings, knocked down third ranked Reyes thrice before another booming left got the job done as the referee stopped the fight in the opening round. Sensing blood in the water after the first knock down, Fajardo let go of his fists and showered Reyes with combinations. The Argentine managed to stand up after getting knocked down twice after the first one — even purposely spitting his mouthpiece after the third down to try to buy him some time to rest and recover. That hardly mattered, however, as Fajardo went for the kill and had Reyes laying flat on his back after another big left — much to the shock of the partisan crowd in the venue. Fajardo improved to a 14-3-2 record and is now in line for the IBF world flyweight title currently held by Japanese champion Masamichi Yabuki.