BAUTISTA, BANAL WIN IN PAYBACK!

Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista of the Philippines won by unanimous decision over tough-as-nails Antonio "Barrio" Meza of Mexico in the well-attended 'Payback' event at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

The scores were 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112, all for Bautista who now improved to 24-1-0 (17 KOs). Meza dropped to 23-3-0 (16 KOs).

The duo had torrid toe-to-toe exchanges throughout the fight with Bautista getting the better of most of it. Both fighters were hit by hard punches but refused to go down.

Meanwhile AJ "Bazooka" Banal, considered by many as the world's hottest prospect, continued his march towards the world recognition by dispatching another tough Mexican in Jovanny "Bambino" Soto.

With Banal's all around ring wizardy, he completely dominated Soto throughout the fight timing up Soto with hard uppercuts and crosses early on but the Mexican showed his toughness by refusing to go down.

In the night round however, Banal hit Soto with a devastating cross that sent Soto to the canvas for the mandatory 10-count. Soto was able to beat the count but Banal went for the kill with a barrage of punches that sent Soto reeling in the ropes before the referee stopped the contest for a 9th round TKO victory by Banal.

The Domingo-Mathias fight is still ongoing as of this writing. After the Domingo-Mathias bout, the Melindo vs Amisa will be the last fight of the day that begun around 9 a.m. this morning.