Elite pro boxers Gretel De Paz and Florivic Montero relied on their heavy hands polished through years of experience in the ring to dispose of separate rivals in professional muay thai and mixed martial arts bouts held recently at the Quirino Stadium in Bantay, Ilocos Sur.
De Paz scored a convincing unanimous decision win over an equally tough foe in Rosemarie Recto, after three rounds of muay thai action in the fight promotion that featured various combat disciplines.
It was a mighty display of striking skills by De Paz and Recto, who were not strangers to each other as they both tried out for a slot in the national kickboxing team and lived together for a couple of weeks in a bubble kickboxing training camp in La Trinidad, Benguet last December.
A native of Biliran, Leyte, De Paz was a former Philippine bantamweight boxing champion, and last fought in the ring in February 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic put a halt to the staging of professional combat sports.
Montero, who won the Philippine flyweight boxing title in July 2019 before going stagnant, proved to be the more dominant striker in her MMA tussle with Mary Glyde Salazar, scoring a knockout win with 26 seconds left in the 2nd round.
From boxing, they tried and proved to be a force to reckon with in other disciplines.
The Games and Amusement Board-sanctioned event was dubbed Bakbakan sa Ilocos, which was part of the provincial government’s celebration of Kannawidan 22 supported by Gov. Ryan Singson.
Montero and De Paz train under Elorde Southbox owned by promoter Cucuy Elorde.
They are both being considered to be part of the national team by the Samahang Kickboxing ng Pilipinas, which will conduct its final selection in March for the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in May.