NEW YORK — At 14-0 with 14 knockouts, Carlos Caraballo was groomed to be Top Rank boxing’s next big star.
Days before his fight with Filipino bantamweight Jonas Sultan, the promotional giant inked the 25-year old Puerto Rican and Miguel Cotto protege to a lucrative multi-year deal.
But something strange happened inside the Hulu theater at the famed Madison Square Garden in New York: Caraballo couldn’t figure out the 29-year old Sultan (18-5 (11 KOs), who escaped with a razor-thin 94-93 decision on all the scorecards.
“He punched hard and will one day be a champion, but I was really determined to win that fight,” Sultan told Sports On Air.
The 29-year old Sultan, who looked worse for wear than his younger opponent after the 10-round brawl, fashioned out the upset by knocking down Caraballo in the second, third, sixth and ninth rounds.
Caraballo himself was assessed a knockdown in the fourth round when his gloves touched the ground.
But his four 10-8 rounds were enough to secure the W.
Sultan thus becomes a force in the talent-rich bantamweight division where champions such as Nonito Donaire, Naoya Inoue and John Riel Casimero rule.
Sultan’s camp is still plotting his next move, said MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons.
