“It was a huge win and a really stiff test for me,” said the 27-year-old Cataraja.
Cataraja controlled most of the fight and consistently landed with his left straight. He even rocked Heno a couple of times with his solid punches in the early rounds.
But later in the fight, the 30-year-old Heno probably sensed that he was down on the scorecards and stepped on the gas pedal. He hurt Cataraja in the eighth and ninth rounds. However, Cataraja didn’t panic and intelligently clinched Heno every time he gained momentum.
“In the eighth round I didn’t see the uppercut and it rocked me but I was able to recover. It was in the ninth round that I was really groggy after he hit me in the head with a hook,” Cataraja admitted. “I recovered at around the 11th round. I didn’t lose steam but my legs just weren’t there. I wasn’t able to recover the weight that I lost during the weigh-in.”
Cataraja got the nod of all three judges with scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 118-110.
Cataraja won the vacant Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) super flyweight title and remained undefeated at 16-0 with 13 knockouts, while Heno dropped to 15-2-6 with five knockouts.
Cataraja learned a lot from the fight and he still believes that he must improve if he intends to fight at the world championship level.
“I need to improve my stamina and develop more power,” said Cataraja.
“I think I need more fights like this before I can be ready for a world title fight.”
Cataraja will most likely enter the World Boxing Council super flyweight rankings after winning the OPBF belt. He’s already ranked No. 6 by the World Boxing Organization and No. 13 by the International Boxing Federation.
Dave Apolinario (18-0, 13 KOs) made quick work of Indonesian Frengky Rohi (8-13-1, 3 KOs) and stopped him in two rounds.
The 24-year-old Apolinario dropped Rohi twice in the second round and forced him to quit on his stool.
In the undercard, Alex Santisima Jr. (6-0, 2 KOs) remained unbeaten with a disqualification win over Ramel Antaran (5-21-2), Michael Romarate (15-1-1, 10 KOs) had an impressive ring comeback with a fifth-round knockout of Kim Lindog (8-15-1, 5 KOs), Jaymar Gaballo (3-0, 2 KOs) walked away with a disqualification victory over Ryan Makaputin (13-21-2, 4 KOs) and 19-year-old Kenth Gaballo won his pro debut with a majority decision win over Jorge Perez (0-4). (EKA)