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First man to defeat Manny Pacquaio makes comeback at 38

Phil D. Jay
WBN Editor

(Picture by Jacklyn Sia)
Rustico Torrecampo returns with knockout win after 14 year absence

On February 9th 1996 in the Philippines, the great Manny Pacquiao, destined to be one of the greatest boxers of all time, suffered his first professional defeat in his twelfth contest at the age of 18 against an enigma of a man by the name of Rustico Torrecampo.

Fellow Filipino southpaw Torrecampo was 24 at the time and had a chequered record of 11-4-4,with 3 KO’s. Torrecampo knockout out the youngster in three rounds and at the time it was just another flyweight prospect losing his unbeaten record against another, little did we know what was to follow from the teenage “Pacman.”

Torrecampo lost four of his next seven fights after defeating the future seven-weight world champion and retired at the age of 25 in 1997 with an unfulfilled career behind him. He is now 38 and after a fourteen-year retirement, got back in the ring in February to knockout Jovanie Bualan in three rounds, just like he did against Pacquiao.

His next fight is yet to be lined up and who knows if anything has changed or improved in the gap between his first career and his embarking on a new one, but it will be interesting to see if the first man to beat the great Pacquaio, can ever reach those heights again or whether he will forever be the answer to a trivia question.
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