By Lawrence Casiraya
PASAY CITY, METRO MANILA- Kelvin “The Big Hit” Fitial won against Roque Martinez to claim the Pacific Xtreme Combat (PXC) heavyweight title in their rematch at PXC 24 held at Resorts World Manila.
The 6-foot-3 Saipan native, looking to put up a successful challenge this time after their previous match ended in a controversial draw, came out aggressive looking to strike early.
But Martinez, the three-time PXC heavyweight champ, managed to put up a decent counter punch-kick strategy and survived the first round. In the second round, Fitial connected with successive knee strikes to the head, leaving Martinez with a bloodied nose.
Martinez, who was the heavier fighter at 266 pounds, survived a flurry of punches before Round 3 ended. Fitial resumed his attack in the next round and managed to come up on top of Martinez before pounding him repeatedly to score a referee stopped contest.
“I trained hard for this fight. I really wanted this belt, I've been dreaming of this my whole life,” Fitial said during the post-fight interview.
Meanwhile, Filipino fighters Rogelito Plomeda and Carlos Tiongson, both from Submission Sports Philippines, fought in earlier bouts but came up short, losing against respective opponents.
Josh Alvarez of Guam forced Plomeda to submit in the second round via rear naked choke in their bantamweight match. Plomeda was actually able to stun Alvarez after landing a huge right hand but failed to capitalize, allowing his Guamanian opponent to survive a follow up attack.
Guam’s Ricky Camp won against Tiongson also in their bantamweight bout. After a tentative start in Round 1, Camp started pressuring his Filipino opponent with his ground and pound strategy, eventually winning via referee stopped contest (RSC).
Meanwhile, Harris Sarmiento, a fighter of Filipino descent but fighting out of the United States, won against former PXC lightweight champ Alex Castro of Guam.
To watch video footage of the PXC-24 fights, go to www.loqal.ph (http://loqal.ph/).
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