By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
One round, one punch.
All it took was one powerful shot to the liver that brought Filipino rising star Jhack Tepora down to the canvas against Colombian Oscar Escandon, giving the PH boxer the first loss of his professional career.
Picked as the heavy favorite to win the fight, boxing analysts no longer considered the Colombian as a threat to Tepora’s rising career as he was 15 months inactive in the sport before their bout.
Tagged as “Tepora’s bout for a title shot,” the 24 wins-17 knockouts record of Tepora was drawing the attention of boxing promoters as one of MP promotions’ prized boxers and will need to take down Escandon in dominant fashion before getting the bigger fights in the featherweight division.
With 1:45 left in the opening round, Escandon looked to punish Tepora with shots in the body and Tepora seemed to carry the power but 15 seconds after, the Filipino became stagnant in his position and caught a lethal left hook to the liver that brought him down.
With Tepora unable to recover, boxing analysts and fans were in shock at what they saw, everything happened in a blink of an eye.
The PH boxer’s loss denied his chances for a title shot and will have to wait for the next possible matchups in order to regain his standing among fighters.
