Junior flyweight contender Randy ‘Razor’ Petalcorin 29-3-1 (22) suffered internal bleeding in his world title loss to Nicaraguan banger Felix ‘El Gemelo’ Alvarado 34-2 (30) on Monday night, according to Australian promoter Peter Maniatis.
Petalcorin was stopped in the seventh round of a competitive bout for the vacant IBF 108-pound title at the Midas Hotel & Casino in Manila that was broadcast on ESPN+ in the United States and ESPN5 in the Philippines.
In an explosive contest the physically strong Alvarado was able to push Petalcorin back for much of the fight with the pair trading bombs for the first six frames, but it was the 29-year-old Nicaraguan who clearly had more dynamite in his gloves.
The consistent aggression of Alvarado paid dividends in the seventh when he dropped Petalcorin three times with savage body shots, forcing the referee to wave off the contest at the 2:04 mark.
“It was even after the sixth on the IBF scorecards,” Maniatis told Fightnews. “Randy was suffering internal bleeding from the third round and was swallowing too much of his own blood.
“We aren’t sure what caused Randy to bleed internally, but he suffered low blows during the fight. Felix Alvarado is a beast, toughest guy in the division and Randy was beating him.”
Maniatis said that Petalcorin will take a break over Christmas before returning in the new year.
“We will go back to the drawing board for now as the ESPN people and MP Promotions, Joe Ramos and Sean Gibbons said, Randy will be a future star,” he said.
At just 26 years old southpaw Petalcorin still has a bright future in the sport. His performance had one excited viewer in particular on the edge of his seat for the contest.
“Senator Manny [Pacquiao] was texting the MP Promotions president during the fight for Randy to jab and spin off angles and when Randy was doing that, he was winning the fight,” said Maniatis, who co-promoted the show alongside MP Promotions and Sanman Promotions.
