By Salven L. Lagumbay –

Reigning WBO female minimum weight champion Su-Yun Hong retained her title with a split decision verdict over Japanese challenger Mari And hours ago in Seoul, Korea.

Hong took the early initiative, piling up points, but the challenger came out stronger in the latter rounds in what was described by WBO supervisor Leon Panoncillo as a ‘great back to back action fight.’

Judge Kyung-Hun Lee had it 99-91 and Bruce McTavish saw it 98-92 both in favor of the defending champion while Katsuhiko Nakamura saw it for the challenger, 96-94.

It was the Korean girl’s second defense of the WBO title she took by outpointing Thai Teeraporn Pannimit in Macau last year. She initially defended the title with a fifth-round TKO over Buangern Onesongchaigym last April 27 in Jinju City, South Korea.

With the win, Hong now improves to 9 wins, 0 loss, 5 KO’s.

Referee for the fight was Danrex Tapdasan Esq., while special mention goes to the hardworking Aaron Jang of the Korean Boxing Commission.

http://philboxing.com/news/story-86181.html

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Su-Yu-Hong Champion

Jinju, KOREA–World Boxing Organization (WBO) female minimumweight world champion Su-Yun Hong of South Korea impressively retained her world crown with a fifth round technical knockout victory here over game Thai challenger Kuanern OneSongchai Gym.

The win improved Hong’s unblemished record to 8 wins with 1 KO in her first defense of the world title he won by dethroning another Thai Teeraporn Pannimit last year in Macao, China.

“The champion proved too much. She was just too good today,” said fight supervisor Leon Panoncillo in an interview at ringside, after the referee stopped the bout sensing the Thai was in clear danger had the fight dragged on.

OneSongchai Gym took the first round by outboxing the tentative reigning champion, but as soon as the second round started, Hong took off like a house on fire, taking the challenger to school with a variety of shots to the head and body.

The Thai’s trainer Michael Du, in a separate interview, said his fighter was in no shape to continue, and accepted the referee’s fine verdict.

This city hopes to promote more WBO fights in the future, and most likely, prodigious Korean banger Mino Kim will be tapped to headline the next event.

“The WBO is made up of very professional officials and supervisor. We want to have their belt. The officials don’t give us any problem, and they are always on time for scheduled meetings and other activities. The best so far,” said Korean Boxing Commission’s Aaron Jang.

http://philboxing.com/news/story-82787.html

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