Joe Booc Tejones: best little fighter you've never heard of because he keeps getting ****ing robbed!

This kid is probably at the outer fringes of world class, but you wouldn't even know that because of his rotten luck on the scorecards, especially when he goes abroad. Earlier today he fought unbeaten prospect and fellow 21 year old Li Yiran in the Silk Road's eastern terminus of Xī'ān. They fought on even terms for a few rounds (@PinoyProdigy and I both had it scored 38-38 by this point, albeit via totally different routes, agreeing on no single round in that span) but from there on Tejones completely dominated until the referee deemed (questionably) that cuts on Yiran rendered him incapable of continuing, and (questionably) that he sustained those cuts from a headbutt rather than from Tejones' incisive punches. They went to consult the official judges' scorecards for a technical decision, at which point all three judges, all of whom just happen to be Chinese, turned in a unanimous verdict that belied the reality of Tejones beating Yiran up in the 5th, 6th and 7th. One had it a shutout at 70-63 and his colleagues submitted tallies nearly as egregious, 69-64x2.

Then I heard this wasn't his first time giving an opponent a fright but failing to snatch their zero due to some..."outside interference".

Come to find out - just a little over a year ago he beat up Pathinya Phumidet, aka Singsayan CP Freshmart in Thailand, for the WBC Youth world title...down at flyweight (today's Yiran vs. Tejones contest was for the same belt up at feather). He nearly had the unbeaten young Bangkokian out a few times, but shockingly was determined to have lost 7 of 10 rounds, losing a UD. Even the Thai people commenting on YouTube are ashamed of that decision!

His loss in November, in a failed bid for yet another WBC Youth world title making a pit stop at super bantamweight and getting thwarted by the now 14-2-1 Tenta Kiyose sounds a little more legitimate. He also suffered his only stoppage defeat to date in Japan, against the formerly mega-hyped talent Hinata Maruta (who is still formidable even if he now appears to have come hurtling from Olympus shorn of his immortal aura) - in, you guessed it, a WBC Youth world title bout in a 4th weight class, at bantamweight.

He also has two close points losses to Filipinos in domestic clashes. I can't find much information on those, but the earlier of the pair was a split decision.

It could well be, if the defeats in the Land of the Rising Sun are indeed the only blemishes that hold water, that his record ought to be 14-2, which may not seem that different from 10-6 but can make the difference between receiving the billing (and receiving from pro judges the concordant "benefit of the doubt" of) a prospect, and being relegated to journeyman status. And that's a damn shame.

Here is Tejones vs. Phumidet:

This content is protected

...and Tejones vs. Yiran:
http://video.sina.com.cn/l/h5/1723102.html
(skip to about 22 minutes in)

I'll leave those without further comment, letting people watch and make up their own minds.

 

...and there's not too much shame in that defeat, either. Some might feel Haruta was "exposed" because of the amount of hype that was being thrown his way, but the kid still beat Canoy in his debut, grabbed the WBC Youth title just two fights later, and could still be a force. His loss to Otake is probably not incomparable to Lomachenko's to Salido, honestly.

 

...and you just know that Phumidet & Yiran are both going to continue to headline cards, with protected unbeaten records built up in front of hoodwinked local fans ignorant of their genuine level until they get cashed out - all while Tejones subsists on a diet of peanuts on the road, deserving to win far more often than not but drifting closer to (and eventually perhaps over) the .500 line.

 

So we became friends on Facebook today, and I found out that Joe currently has five running nicknames at present. I'm not sure of the precise origin for any of them (ie self-chosen or affixed by the Filipino boxing media/peers, or relatives & friends) or which have sentimental value but that is simply way too many. So let's help narrow it down to just one for him to be known by, at least on English-speaking internet boxing forum threads (and who knows, maybe from here it'll stick and end up being listed on BoxRec or even printed on his trunks).

Choices (will make a poll - again, these are from his own page on social media):

Joe Booc "Honey" Tejones
Joe Booc "The Fighter" Tejones
Joe Booc "Cowboy" Tejones
Joe Booc "Mr. Buyog (Mr. Bumblebee)" Tejones
Joe Booc "Kaliwete (The Lefty/Southpaw)" Tejones

 

This is actually perfect.

 

As rough a week as it has been for 2/3 of the young Pinoy southpaw musketeers with Tejones robbed against Yiran in China on Tuesday and Marco John Rementizo getting blitzed on Sunday in Quezon City by Mark Jeshuel Bonifacio, the final (and eldest, at 23) member of their circle of friends, Jaysever Abcede, managed to crush Yutthana Kaensa in an upset in Thailand.

Tejones shares a hometown of Valencia City with Abcede, so they might go way back, while stable mate & training partner Rementizo hails from Cagayon de Oro, a much larger coastal metropolis from which Valencia is a 3 hour drive inland.

 

This content is protected

Translation please? From context-clues in the comments it seems he's venting about the Yiran fight..

 

Tejones vs. Yiran finally up on YT:

This content is protected