FILIPINO pugs Michael Dasmariñas and James Bacon were both knocked out in their respective fights in the United States on June 20.
Dasmariñas was demolished by International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Association (WBA) bantamweight king Naoya Inoue in three rounds at the Virgin Hotel Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Inoue showed his superior skill and dropped Dasmariñas in the second round with a left hook to the body. The 28-year-old Japanese superstar dropped Dasmariñas for the second time with another body shot in round three before stopping him with a left hook to the body at the 2:45 mark of the same round.
Inoue remained unbeaten and 21-0 with 18 knockouts, while Dasmariñas dropped to 30-3-1 with 20 knockouts.
Inoue will be closely watching the all-Filipino world title unification bout between World Boxing Council (WBC) bantamweight king Nonito Donaire Jr. and World Boxing Organization (WBO) bantamweight title holder Johnriel Casimero on Aug. 14. Inoue plans to unify all the titles in the bantamweight division.
On the other hand, Bacon was knocked out by Alexis Rocha in the second round at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas.
Rocha dropped Bacon with a lead right hook to the jaw in the second round and knocked him out near the ropes with the same deadly punch in the same round.
Rocha bounced back from his first career loss and improved to 17-1 with 11 knockouts, while Bacon suffered his first career loss in the US and fell to 26-4 with 17 knockouts. (EKA)