Filipino shocks Joyi in Monaco

Heading into the IBO Junior-flyweight encounter against Rey Loreto, the South African had by far the better pedigree of the two having already annexed the IBO and IBF titles when campaigning as a minimumweight.

Loreto had a patchy record of 17 wins and 13 losses in a 30-fight career but what wasn’t accounted for was his power which proved to be Joyi’s undoing as the Filipino pulled off a major upset in the principality.

But a leaky defence meant that Joyi ate a fair share of leather before a big overhand 49 seconds into the third round ended any hopes he had of adding a third world crown to his name.

At that stage Joyi was already looking shaky after a succession of punches left him wobbled by the end of the second round and when the bell sounded for the third Loreto sensed the end was nigh and chased the knockout.

“He’s okay. He just got caught and I’m disappointed. That’s the way it is,” Gert Strydom, who guided Joyi into battle, said from Monte Carlo over the weekend before admitting that he wasn’t sure if his fighter could bounce back.

Meanwhile, Junior Makabu got the job done as expected when he disposed of a hapless, and seriously out-of-shape, Ruben Mino in their cruiserweight contest.

The Argentine foe had a record of 20 wins with all coming via stoppage but he was grossly mismatched against the heavy-hitting Makabu.