Thammanoon Niyomtrong retained his WBA strawweight title by the slimmest of margins.
The game’s longest reigning lively male titleholder rode two knockdowns to a majority choice win over Alex Winwood. Niyomtrong gained 114-112 on two playing cards, overruling a 113-113 rating Saturday at HBF Stadium in Perth, Western Australia
It ought to have been wider, however the precise fighter gained ultimately,
Winwood was angling to greatest Jeff Fenech’s Australian report of profitable a model of the world title in lower than seven fights. He got here up brief in opposition to the longest-reigning titleholder within the recreation.
The 33-year-old Niyomtrong, often known as Knockout CP Freshmart, was sluggish out of the gate. By the fourth spherical, he had labored his means into the struggle.
A left hook from the Thai dropped the Indigenous Australian within the fifth. The sequence was dominated a slip, which preserved Winwood’s early lead.
Niyomtrong, The Ring’s No. 4-rated strawweight, continued to get stronger because the rounds progressed. When Winwood would transfer left, he was caught with a proper hand. When he moved proper, the left hook did the injury.
Winwood had a greater sixth spherical. He used his superior velocity and athleticism to select off the seasoned veteran. A strong proper hand to the jaw from Winwood landed simply earlier than the bell.
The momentum didn’t final for lengthy.
Niyomtrong landed a flush left hook that deposited Winwood to the canvas within the seventh. The native fighter went down arduous. Winwood made it to his ft and wanted a nine-count to get better.
By some means, Winwood survived the spherical. At first look, it solely appeared like a matter of time.
Winwood boxed cautiously within the eighth, circling the ring and protruding the jab. Niyomtrong pressured him, which reaped dividends within the ninth. A sneaky right-hand by Niyomtrong early within the ninth produced the bout’s second knockdown.
Niyomtrong stayed on high of his man from then on out. He punched, he pressured, and he proved why he’s nonetheless a harmful commodity in boxing’s tiniest division.
The win superior Niyomtrong’s report to 25-0 (9 knockouts), whereas Winwood fell to 4-1 (2 KOs).
Niyomtrong has now made twelve profitable defenses of the WBA 105-pound title. His reign extends again to his twelve-round win over Byron Rojas of their June 2016 title consolidation bout. Niyomtrong beforehand held the WBA ‘Common’ Title earlier than the improve.
Saturday marked the 33-year-old’s first struggle since July 2022. The large delay included a number of failed makes an attempt to get Dominican Republic’s Erick Rosa within the ring.
In the long run, the king stayed the king.
UNDERCARD RESULTS
Blake Minto (16-6-2, 4 KOs) as soon as once more confirmed his large tank as he outworked southpaw Steve Gago (14-3, 7 KOs) over ten rounds.
The early bodywork of Minto paid off. The 31-year-old welterweight from New South Wales by no means let up in his midriff assault.
Perth’s Gago, 35, held his personal in spots, however he couldn’t dangle with the sheer physicality of Minto, who spent a lot of the struggle backing up his opponent, outworking him and mauling him on the within.
Gago was docked a degree for holding within the fifth spherical and the struggle received scrappy from there. Any time he managed to push Minto off him, his opponent discovered room to punch earlier than swarming him once more.
Minto appeared contemporary as a daisy popping out for the sixth spherical. Gago appeared in a world of damage within the nook.
Painful physique pictures adopted, they usually have been all from Minto, who stepped into his pictures and received most buy on his punches. The occasional left uppercut was not sufficient to sway the judges Gago’s means
The scores have been 98-91, 99-90 and 97-92, all for Minto
Motion and angles have been the tales of the evening for Louisa ‘Bang Bang Lulu’ Hawton (12-2, 6 KOs) as she juked and jived her solution to a unanimous choice win over Viviana Ruiz (8-2, 4 KOs).
The 39-year-old Perth native, who beforehand held the WBO junior flyweight title, was transferring up in weight to face Ruiz, 41, in a 10-round flyweight contest.
Colombian-born Ruiz, who containers out of Sydney, tried to impose her superior dimension onto Hawton, however her naturally larger body was taken out of the equation when Hawton dropped her early within the second spherical.
Hawton was artful and intelligent after that. She circled left and proper, successfully parried incoming blows and picked off each cost from a decided however outgunned Ruiz.
When the mud settled, the scores have been 97-92 and 95-94 twice.
Australian-based boxing journalist Anthony Cocks has been protecting the game for over 20 years for numerous print and on-line publications.
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