Former champion Jimrex Jaca, of the Philippines’ Wakee Salud Stable, returned to Kanazawa, Japan and scored a fifth round knockout in his first bout after losing the Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) super-bantamweight title.

Now campaigning at featherweight, Jaca demolished unranked Japanese Isamu Sakashita at 1:56 of the 5th round Sunday night.

The Cebu province-based Jaca, who is the OPBF No. 8 ranked featherweight, improved to 22-1 record with 9 knockouts.

After losing the crown on the scales, Jaca got the lone blemish on his record when his Japanese challenger Yasuo Kunimi knocked him down twice en route to a 7th round stoppage on May 30 in Kanazawa.

In Bangkok, Thailand, Rud 4K Kevkatche failed to capture the Asian Boxing Council super featherweight title from Saddam Kiatyongyuth last Friday.

The three judges unanimously saw Kiatyongyuth, who retained his title for the first time, ahead on the scorecards, 119-110, over 12 rounds.

According to Fightnews, two other Filipinos named Joen Honno and Renate Morono also failed against separate Thai foes in the same card.

Honno reportedly lost (TKO at 1:02 of 12th round) to ABCO featherweight champion Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo, while Morono was stopped by 1999 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Somchay Nakbalee at 1:24 of round six on the Onesongchai Boxing Promotion card.

However, Antonio Comia from the Games and Amusement Board revealed that no Filipino boxer was registered as Honno and he suspected that Morono was actually the long laid-off fighter by the name of Renato Moreno.

In whatever case, Comia made it clear that it was only Kevkatche who had the permission to fight abroad. “Si Kevkatche lang ang nag-asikaso ng papers dito last week. Kaya kung lumaban si Moreno o ‘yong iba pa, illegal ‘yon,” said Comia.

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