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Hurt and
knocked down in the opening round, Khan came
back strong and gave as good as he got for the
next few before flooring Haley in the fifth.
They kept going back and fourth, hurting each
other on several occasions and showing extreme
heart and determination.
It was a very
close encounter, and as they gave their all in
the last round it was
anybody’s
guess who would be awarded the victory. But two
of the judges scored it for Haley, 95-93 and a
much too wide 97-91, while the third judge had
it even at 94-94.
Haley improved
his record to 4-1 (1), and Khan falls to 8-2
(4).
In a battle of
undefeated Cruiserweight hopes, UBO Asia-Pacific
titlist Benjamin Kelleher from New Zealand
scored a fifth
round technical knockout of
Malayian
Stephen Anak Jenggieng in what was his first
title-defense.
Kelleher, now
4-0-2 (3),
had plenty of
work to do keeping his game opponent at bay, but
did well to connect with uppercuts and hooks. In
round five he hurt Anak with a hard right hand,
and followed up with a second right hand that
send Anak out of the ring and onto the judges
table.
Still game and
tough as they come, Anak made his way back into
the ring in time to continue, but when Kelleher
followed up with a barrage the referee jumped in
and rightly stopped the fight at 2:59 of the
round.
Anak Jenggieng
falls to 2-1 (1).
At Super
Welterweight, former two-time WBC World Champion
Sirimongkhon Iamthuam captured the vacant UBO
Inter-Continental title when he,
some would say
controversially,
outpointed
tough Indonesian Larry Siwu to get on track for
another world championship opportunity.
Iamthuam
suffered a flash knock-down in the first round,
but came back strong in the next few stanzas
before starting to look puzzled by the speed and
activity of Siwu. It was a good fight, and both
had their periods of being on top.
After ten
rounds, Iamthuam was awarded a split decision
after the judges handed in scores of
95-94 and
96-92 for Iamthuam, and 95-94 for Siwu.
In the
process, the highly skilled veteran from
Thailand improved his outstanding record to
92-3 (57),
having turned professional at only sixteen.
Siwu, a former WBO Asia-Pacific and Indonesian
national champion, is now
24-9 (20).
Also at Super
Welterweight, world class Australian Tommy “The
Titan” Browne outclassed another battle-tested
Indonesian in Aleksander Bajawa to lift the
vacant UBO International title with a
technical
knockout in
the
third
round.
Former WBA and
WBC world title-challenger Browne
was really on
top of his game, and fought very determined from
the start.
Bajawa had no
answer for the aggressive Australian, and when
he turned away in round three Browne attacked
and landed a huge right hand that nearly send
Bajawa out of the ring.
The referee
immediately waved the fight off, and the new
champion
is now
34-6-2 (13).
Bajawa sees his record dip to
41-4-4 (14).
22-year-old
Malaysian Super-Prospect Keng Fai Hui won the
vacant UBO Asia-Pacific Welterweight title in
what was only his second professional fight,
stopping
fellow undefeated Indonesian Indra Anser (now
2-1) in
four
rounds.
It was a
fast-paced and very exciting fire-fight from the
start, and both boxers landed some big shots.
Hui appeared the stronger man, but Anser had
plenty of success using his longer range.
In
the fourth, the hard left hooks of Hui had
closed the
right eye of
Answer who was stopped by the doctor.
Hui
(2-0, 2 KOs)
made his
professional debut on February 17, also in
Singapore, and could be on a fast-track to big
things in the near future. If his career path is
anything like his fighting-style, there will
be no slowing down for this young crowd-pleaser.
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