Melligen starts ‘Pinoy Power 2’ with TKO win

Mark Jason Melligen gave the Philippines a rousing start in the “Pinoy Power 2" boxing card with a masterful fourth round TKO of veteran Ernesto Zepeda of Mexico in their 10-round welterweight non-title fight Sunday morning (Saturday night) at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Melligen's win made it 1-0 for the Filipino fighters seeing action in "Pinoy Power 2," which would later feature Bernabe Concepcion, who's challenging Steven Luevano of the US for the WBO featherweight title and Nonito Donaire, Jr., who's eyeing the WBA interim super flyweight crown against Rafael Concepcion of Panama. The 23-year-old Melligen imposed his power on the 32-year-old Zepeda right from the opening bell, staggering the Mexican with his left straights and jabs and by the fourth stanza, opened a pair of cuts above and below Zepeda’s left eye. With Zepeda bothered by the cut, Melligen unleashed a flurry of combos, capped by left to the chin that sent the Mexican down and forced referee Joe Cortez to stop the fight at the 2:40 of the fourth. Statistics showed the Cebu-based Bacolodnon landing 88 punches out of 227 total punches thrown and 66 power shots out of 115 thrown on Zepeda, who managed to connect on only 22 of 149 total punches and 20 of 113 power shots thrown. The win was the 10th straight for Melligen, who hiked his record to 16-1 and 12 KOs. Zepeda, who came off a unanimous decision (UD) loss to Matthew Hatton in the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton gig last May, dropped to 39-13-4. – GMANews.TV