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Ana Julaton’s partnership with American trainer Freddie Roach produced a first title for the Filipino-American lady boxer, the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) female super bantamweight crown.

Three months after losing her bid to win the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) female super bantamweight crown, the Roach-trained Julaton returned at the Casino Rama on Wednesday night and scored a split decision win over Mexican Maria Villalobos.

Denied by Lisa “The Bad News” Brown of claiming the WBA crown last March, Julaton displayed toughness in order to win and add the WBO female super bantamweight crown to her two previous world titles.

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The match lasted 10 rounds, but the two referees saw the fight in Julaton’s favor with judges Harry Davis and Kelly Zolnierczyk scoring the fight at 96-94. The third judge, Bob Bell, scored it 97-94 for Villalobos.

It was the third world title for Julaton, nicknamed “The Hurricane”. She also won the super bantamweight belts of the International Boxing Association (IBA) and World Boxing Council (WBC).

The win also improved Julaton’s fight record to seven wins, with one by way of knockout. She also had two losses and a draw.

Villaobos suffered her fourth defeat against six wins with three by KO.

Roach, a four-time Trainer of the Year awardee by the Boxing Writers Association of America and Manny Pacquiao’s celebrated coach, teamed up with Julaton more than a month before the Fil-Am boxer’s fight against Villalobos. – RCJ/Jon Perez, GMANews.TV