Is Charly Suarez the best Philippine boxer ever?
Mark Magsayo was striving for the world #1 spot when he battled unbeaten 35 and 0 Rey Vargas in Texas last weekend. Despite a dramatic fight where Vargas was dropped to the canvas, Magsayo showed significant flaws in his game that resulted in him losing his title, and the Philippines now being without a world champ. Magsayo has historically shown an ability to improve with every new challenge, and it is possibly just a matter of time before this Bohol born talent will rise to the top once more.
But he is not the Philippines lone hope to shine bright on the world stage!
Charly Suarez is without doubt the best and most technical boxer that the Philippines has ever produced (and yes, we are including the iconic Manny Pacquiao) !
He has been the most heralded amateur of the last decade, winning three SEA Games gold, and defeated many of the world’s best including Oscar Valdez. Suarez went on to lose controversially at the Rio Olympics to the outstanding Joe Cordina by Split Decision. This British boxer is now the IBF World champ, after destroying Japan’s Kenichi Ogawa courtesy of a stunning round one knockout. Talks are now in the pipeline for Cordina to face the prodigy Shakur Stevenson, assuming the star doesn’t take the inevitable jump to 135 in the near future.
The “King’s Warrior’s” world title claims were scalable long ago. It is now almost part of folklore that he faced the fabled Vasyl Lomachenko on 5 days notice whilst visibly injured, only to make the champion work overtime to earn a victory. The Philippines’ Suarez was out of the ring for 18 months subsequent to that match, in order to rehabilitate from this extraordinary effort.
Charly Suarez has made an immediate impact in the pro ranks, and it is now obvious, that as successful as he was as an amateur, he’s even better suited to the longer round format. Suarez retains a near impregnable defense, and combined with his high punch count, he has dropped only two rounds in his pro career thus far. He also displays an ability to temper speed and power, and recall them at any time they are required. Above all, Suarez is an incredibly relaxed fighter, and this really comes to the fore for him in 12 round bouts.
This unbeaten fighter has amassed 11 wins (7 KO) in extra quick time, and will be making a WBA regional title defense in Manila on August 7th against Mark John Yap. Yap is one of the better internationally performed pinoy in recent years, having successfully defended OPBF titles on multiple occasions in Japan prior to the pandemic.
The Davao born boxer had detractors when he left the amateurs, but has quickly established himself as the Philippines premier talent. He had 5 bouts during 2021, and he will contest 5 in 2022. This is a fighter that takes very little damage, and like his predecessor Manny Pacquiao, has speed to burn and a petrol tank to go with it.
It is expected that Suarez will have at least two more fights this year after his August 7th WBA title defense, and most likely abroad. The plan is to stay busy, keep winning and defending belts, and maintain the rapid ascent from world #60.
There’s no rest when you are chasing a world title !
What is assured is that it is only a matter of time before the world get to see this phenomenon which is Charly Suarez on a global stage, and when they do, they will get to fall in love with Philippines boxing all over again!
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