One KO Wonders: Rolando Pascua

[BoztheMadman]

The first man to knock out Humberto Chiquita Gonzalez and also take his zero, Rolando Pascua’s story is really a cinderella man’s. He not only had 5 defeats before facing Gonzalez, his record didn’t indicate he had the power to knock him out. After that one stunning victory and upset in 1990, he would lose the WBC title in his very first defense and then just fade away as a fighter. 
 

Born 19 November 1965 in Cebu City, Philippines, his real name is Rolando Tomogtong. He stands 5’5 or 165 cm and he fought from the southpaw stance. His first pro fight was on 3 August ‘86 and he won on points against Eddie Dulay after 4 rounds. He went 14-0 with 3 ko’s before losing to South Korean Jum Kwan Choi away in Seoul by a 10-round split decision, despite dropping Choi in round 6. After four more losses on points and ten more wins, he was suddenly chosen to fight the WBC champion from Mexico, Humberto “Chiquita” Gonzalez, who was 30-0, 24 of those by knockout. Pascua by comparison only had 8 ko’s of 24 and was expected to be easily destroyed by the champion. The fight happened at Great Western Forum in Inglewood on 19 December 1990 and Pascua, 4 inches taller than the 5’1 Gonzalez, did a lot better than expected from the get go and evenly exchanged with the champion. With his height and reach advantage, he was able to effectively counter Gonzalez’s onslaught and repeatedly shook him with precise punches. Gonzalez had a good round 4 and shook him a few times but Pascua remained composed.

In round 6 Pascua was on the offense again and landed many good punches before he finally nailed Gonzalez with a left and a right which sent him down hard. He didn’t make the count and the Filipino underdog was now the new WBC light flyweight champion! It was a huge upset but Pascua would not fight Gonzalez again, instead he made his first defense against another Mexican-Melchor Cob Castro, who had a record of 30–2-4. The fight was again at the Great Western Forum, 25 March ‘91 and it was a competitive one, but Pascua experienced bitter defeat when he had to surrender in the 10th round, losing by TKO. Castro then himself lost in his first defense against Gonzalez, ironically. Pascua returned to the ring only 3 months later and won by TKO3 against Michael Ebo Danquiah of Ghana. After winning five straight fights, he lost by KO7 to 26-0 Yoon-Un Jin of South Korea, 23 August 1992. After winning three fights by TKO, on 28 April 1993, he faced the future flyweight world champion Chatchai Sasakul in Bangkok and lost by UD10, fighting for the WBC International flyweight title. On 17 July that year, he scored his second best victory by defeating former two-weight IBF champion Dodie Boy Penalosa by UD10. 
 

He then landed a fight for the IBF super flyweight title but had to go to Mexico to fight champion Julio Cesar Borboa, after having only one fight in that division. It was on 26 November ‘93 in Coliseo Hermosillo and Pascua first put Borboa down in the second round, but was himself down and stopped in the fifth. Two scorecards were even at the time and one had Borboa ahead. After also being stopped by corner retirement in 4 rounds against Thanomsak Sithbaobay in April next year, on 8 January 1995 he fought Samson Dutch Boy Gym for his WBF title and lost by KO8. Only 3 months later, he fought the younger brother of Dodie Boy, Gerry Penalosa, and got knocked out in 8 rounds again. It was obvious he was now damaged goods. On 29 March 1996, he fought Johnny Bredahl for his IBO bantamweight title in Denmark and got knocked out in 1 round. He also fought Veeraphol Sahaprom on 7 April ‘97 but lost on points in ten rounds. He finally retired in late 1999, after losing his last five fights. Between 1996 and 1999, his record was 4 wins and 12 losses. 
 

His final record is 45 wins (17 by ko) and 25 losses, 12 by ko. Rolando Pascua was a warrior and a kill or be killed type fighter. He only had that one great shining moment, but what a moment it was. Gonzalez would get knocked out twice more only, by Michael Carbajal and Saman Sorjaturong, two awesome fighters. That is what makes Pascua’s victory so remarkable. He was however unable to retain that momentum, he just was too erratic obviously. This is then what makes him a ONE KO WONDER!