OLYMPIAN Mark Barriga continues to make waves on the comeback trail after winning his second fight for the year.
Mark Barriga vs Ramel Antara recap
The 28-year-old Barriga scored a unanimous decision against Ramel Antaran in the undercard of the Philippine welterweight championship match between Adam Diu Abdulhamid and Jason Egera in GenSan on Friday night.
Barriga, trained by fellow former national team member Delfin Boholst, won by scores of 76-75, 77-74 (2x) and improved his record to 11-1 (2 KOs).
The native of Danao, Cebu made a boxing comeback at the start of the year after more than a two-year sabbatical from the ring, carving out a fourth-round stoppage of Junuel Lacar in Mandaue City.
Barriga, who represented the country in the 2012 London Olympics, vied for the IBF mini-flyweight crown against American Carlos Licona in the undercard of the first ever meeting between heavyweight champions Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder at the Staples Center in December 2018.
The Filipino lost to Licona by split decision, before deciding to momentarily retire from boxing.
Aside from Barriga, two Filipino former world title challengers in Richie Mepranum and Aston Palicte also saw action in the sixth episode Sanman Boxing’s bubble series fight promotion.
The comebacking 34-year-old Mepranum, who twice fought for the WBO flyweight title but both lost to Julio Cesar Miranda and Juan Francisco Estrada, stopped Nicardo Calamba in the second round, while Palicte, who failed in both his shot at the WBO super-flyweight crown, dominated Rolan Jay Biendima via unanimous decision (100-89 3x).
Mepranum improved to 36-8 (11 KOs), while Palicte is now 28-4 (23 KOs).
In the main event, Abdulhamid won the PH 147 lbs. title belt with an eighth-round stoppage of Egera.
The other supporting bouts saw Michael Casama making quick work of Joe Tejones in just two rounds, Joey Canoy hacked out a unanimous decision over Michael Camelion, the same with Bryl Bayogos against Elizer Ambon, while Kenneth Egano stopped Nathaniel Juan in just the opening round.
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