Fil-Am boxing sensation piles up unbeaten winning streak to 17

Is John Leo Dato boxing’s newest rising star? (rappler.com)

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

A new star is born.

Filipino-American John Leo Dato is slowly making a name for himself in the boxing scene after taking down Mexican Jorge Romero in the fifth round of their super featherweight clash.

The victory helped Dato earn his 17th-straight professional victory while also maintaining his perfect unbeaten record.

It was all business for Romero as soon as the bell rang after connecting on several combinations and going up in the scorecards in the early rounds of the fight.

However, the Mexican fighter was able to negate Dato’s offense by continuing to press forward and cutting the distance.

Dato’s camp sensed their lack of offense and devised a counter-strategy to go to Romero’s body that became the turning point of the bout.

Dato found out that Romero’s mid-section was his weakness and unloaded a barrage of body punches that saw the Mexican flinch in pain every time he connected.

During the fifth round, Dato finally put on the exclamation point in the match after landing more heavy bombs in Romero’s body that ended the fight.