CAMPBELLTOWN-based Filipino, Roberto ‘Hand of Stone’ Lerio, retained the Australian bantamweight championship belt with a third-round knockout of Australian Brad Hore at the Royal International Convention Centre in Brisbane, Queensland, on Saturday, April 20, 2013.
Lerio dropped Hore three times in the third to earn a kayo win over the dual Olympian who represented Australia at the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games.
“Roberto showed too much power, too much class for the challenger,’ said Lerio’s trainer Todd Makelim, a Filipino-Australian who himself once held the Australian bamtamweight title.
Lerio took the Australian bantamweight belt in April last year with a split decision over Jason Cooper.
His brother Danilo Lerio, who boxed with the Philippine Olympic team in Sydney 2000 and returned to campaign in Australia in 2008, retired from the professional ring last year.
Roberto’s boxing record now stands at 33 bouts from 15 wins, 17 losses and three draws. ###